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Dirt Critters gets off to great start
By Tim and Luke
Great to see so many of the Dirt Critters on Tuesday, including several new recruits. We had 8 in the older group and 9 in the younger group, all of whom enjoyed riding the upgraded tracks at Rifle Butts.
Rifle Butts is riding better than ever now so I hope you can take the opportunity to get your kids using it during the week and not just on Tuesday afternoons.
Dirt Critters follows a rough program designed to expose the kids to some different types of riding; some nights it'll be XC (cross country), some will be more Enduro/ Downhill, and some will be Single Track rides. Next Tuesday we'll be doing some timed XC laps; then just before the Christmas breakup we'll do it again to see how much the kids have improved over the term.
MTB riding doesn't finish after Grade 6, and it has been pleasing to see a number of our ex-Dirt Critters moving up into the open-age ranks (at Rifle Butts Reserve from 6pm each Tuesday).
We do encourage kids to have a go at MTB racing once they are confident on their bikes, through our participation in the Alpine Cycling Club's Junior MTB race series. There are seven races over the summer, and we will post a link to info/entry details prior to each one. We have 12 current or former Dirt Critters travelling to Bright this weekend to compete in the first race; best wishes to Blake, Duke, Ben, Errol, Hunter, Baz, Finley, Alastair, Miles, Angus, Jedd and Scout.
We have plenty of room for extras, so please feel free to spread the word around and invite friends to come along.
Contact dirtcrits@gmail.com or call Luke on 0455 604 785 for more information.
Gravity Enduro Review
By Dave Empey
It was the first Gravity Enduro of the year on Tuesday and following on from the huge turn out for the XC the week before we had 26 riders turn out in near perfect conditions.
The trail work that has been done recently has been a big improvement and made racing a lot more pleasant (if there is such a thing as pleasant racing?).
Racing was tight but Rueben Bateup showed everyone a clean pair of heels and took the win by 10 sec from Ryder Chadd and family bragging rights. In third place we had Ant Bateup with a solid performance. Ant, may I suggest buying Rueben, a 26-inch bike that weighs 30 kgs?
We had a dead heat for fourth in the battle for All Terrain Cycles workshop bragging rights with Archie Smith and Shannon Rademaker not being able to be separated, even on a count back.
Another significant family contest that took place was Ross’, with Tim being outdone by Ben ;although Tim did have quite the dirt nap at the last corner.
The Vivash’s also had a 3-way family battle with Luke coming out on top followed by Sienna and Serena.
It was great to see The Workshop team turn en mass with Stu Clarke, Ronnie and Fred all racing.
It is good to see so many new faces and old faces turning up and enjoying the racing.
We had a full class of female riders last night again; this is very pleasing! Sienna Vivash took the win over Serena Vivash closely followed by Arial Stava.
Here are the results.
Many thanks to Ant Bateup, Damian Grundy and Cameron Dobson for the work they have done in rectifying the trail damage of the past wet years. It’s a great improvement on the past trail conditions.
It was a dark and stormy night…
By Tim Hall
20 riders lined up for the second race of the season, held Thursday 17 October on the Howes Creek Road ‘out and back’ course. Only two late scratchings from the list and, given the inclement weather, that’s fairly good. We’re a hardy bunch at the club! (A note to anyone who scratches late before the race, it’s helpful to the handicapper if you send them a text message as well – thanks.)
We rode between the bands of rain, with a dump before the start, drizzle throughout and a dump afterwards when we were finished and rolling back into town. Everyone stayed upright in the wet, so well done riders.
Micala Jacobs was the lone Limit rider, followed by the pair of Craig Wilson and John Eisner. Tim Hall, Simon Hall and Ian Conrick followed, riding solidly together with Simon cracking the whip to keep the pace up. (Simon) Hall was over from Benalla for his second ride with the club. Hall, Hall and Conrick picked up Eisner and Wilson before the turn around point at the end of the sealed road to make a group of five.
Behind them, Steve Curnow, Jason Parker, Janine Appleton, Adam Baker and Tim Ross started well together, but dropped Curnow and Baker early. Second block consisted of Jarrod Appleton, Adrian Dowd and Rueben Bateup, riding well to stay away from Block with Ryder Chad, Steve Duke, Ant Bateup and Darren Bakker. Nice to see a bit of young blood out on the course with Ryder and Rueben.
Talia Appleton and Andy Garrett rode together from Scratch, Garrett coming over from Euroa to join us for the night. Bit of a mis-match between these two in terms of size, with Garrett probably twice the body weight of Appleton and looking powerful, and yet was heard lamenting afterwards that Appleton was riding away from him even on the downhills. It’s all in the power-to-weight ratio Andy.
Second Block, Block and Scratch all stayed away from each other, so they are all riding well.
Coming back into town, (Simon) Hall and Conrick slowly whittled away at the group. Eisner first to go, then Wilson and then (Tim) Hall.
Conrick took the honours at the line over (Simon) Hall, bearing witness to the benefits of all the gravel-ride training he has been doing. That’s two in a row for Conrick; actually three in a row if you count the last race of last summer.
Ross, Parker and Appleton were storming in behind them (pun intended), but (Tim) Hall couldn’t hold onto Wilson even on the uphills, thoroughly cracked after the effort with (Simon) Hall and Conrick.
Here are the results.
Thanks as always to the marshals and officials, particularly for keeping us safe with the rain and the road traffic. Racing next week is on the Whitfield Road, turning around at Long Lane and finishing on Graves Road. Hopefully it’s a bit drier.
Demo a gravel bike!
Many thanks to all of you that came along to have a look at All Terrain Cycles’ Mansfield Gravel Expo on Saturday. One of the highlights was a chance to go for a demo ride on one of the gravel bikes brought to town by Specialized.
The even better news is the bikes are still here! If you’d like to try one out over the next week or two, call into All Terrain Cycles and have a chat to Shannon, Bruce or Andrew.
Or maybe join the weekly ATC Gravel Ride on Monday at 5.30 and take one for a ride then. We have the Specialized Diverge STR in 52cm, 54cm, 56cm and 58cm available. (Although Bruce already has his name on the 58 for this Monday night’s ride.) We also have the Specialized Crux Expert (lightweight carbon CX bike) in 54cm and 56cm, plus the Specialized Turbo Creo 2 Expert (e-bike) in 54cm, 56cm and 58cm.
Just bring your shoes and pedals.
And finally…
Did you know the club has a WhatsApp feed? It’s a quick and easy way to communicate to other members about all sorts of things, like bikes, rides, riding bikes, races, sunglasses, weather, nuclear non-proliferation treaties and the viability of foam rubber fence posts.
It’s also a valuable source of information on other club members. For instance, did you know that Ian Conrick is only the second MMBCC roadie to win three races in a row? The other MMBCC ‘threepeater’ is local electrician and lapsed cyclist Craig Veneman; but Craig’s were all in one season, which makes them more important. There’s also the fact that Craig barracks for St Kilda whereas Ian follows Geelong, so there you go.
Send Bruce an SMS on 0419 533 120 to get invoived. Especially if you have an idea on how to make these bleedin’ fence posts stay up!