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It was another great week of MMBCC racing, starting Tuesday night at Rifle Butts MTB Park…
Women Dominate
By Damian Grundy
Lots and lots and lots of competitors. And an evening dominated by our female competitors.
Congratulations to Miranda Farrall on her first win at her second race! Winners are grinners!
In second place Arial Stava and third was Serena (soon to be) Vivash. Dan Friday snuck into 4th… great to see you back Dan.
5th was Bruce Halket. Bruce was also the fastest on the night knocking off the race at a very respectable 19.6km/h average speed. Congratulations Bruce, without question one of the club’s most dedicated and deserving competitors.
Thanks to our timekeepers on the night Jason Parker and Nicole Hoebergen. Here are the results.
The next XC race night will be the week after Melbourne Cup Day Tuesday November 12th.
And I’ve had an idea! It is a bit of a process preparing for the XC race nights. A course has to be decided upon and then it needs to be mapped on STRAVA to get the distance in order to sort out the handicaps.
So… for the rest of the season, on the Sunday morning before the XC races I will be at Rifle Butts at 9:00am to do this reconnaissance. Please feel free to join me for the ride; have some input into the race lap for the coming race and even the race format. Also learn the lap for the race (a very useful advantage).
Feel free to ask me for some coaching tips. Even if I don’t know, I will always have an opinion 😊. But seriously I am a qualified coach.
I look forward to seeing you there.
The comeback kids
By Bruce Halket
It was a week of comebacks for the Mansfield Mt Buller Cycling Club’s third road race of the season on a clockwise course around the Barwite Loop on Thursday 24 October. But with a stiff southerly blowing, it was also likely to be a night for the back markers.
First away was the Limit group of Craig Wilson, Dave Jagger and the first of our Comeback Kids, Di Condie, off 11 minutes.
A minute later, next to start was Steve Curnow and Adam Baker; another minute later came Janine Appleton, Tim Ross, Jason Parker and winner of the last three races (including the last one of last season, Ian Conrick; at 7.00 was Jarrod Appleton, Adrian Dowd and the second Comeback Kid, David MacDonald of Tolmie. David, from Tolmie, joined the ATC Gravel Expo ride last Sunday and decided on a comeback to road racing 8 years after his last.
Darren Baker and Ryder Chadd were the 4 minute group; then came the 2.30 group of Fletcher Christensen, Bruce Halket, Carl Simmons and James Steward, brother of Seoul Olympian Scott and the third rider on the comeback trail, racing on the road for the first time in 10 years! It’s never too late.
Block saw Ruby Dobson and Talia Appleton start together off 45 seconds, just in front of the lone Scratch rider, recently returned from racing in Belgium, Jake Lay.
The outward leg saw most groups break up. One that stayed together was the 2.30 group of Christensen, Halket, Simmons and Steward who rode strongly with the wind and had caught Bakker and Chadd just after the Long Lane turnaround; Bakker rolled through for a few turns but his ticket expired not long after turning left onto the Barwite Road; Chadd had only booked a passenger’s ticket, so he hung on.
The other group riding well was the 9 minute group of Appleton, Ross, Parker and Conrick. But they were also the only group to be stopped by the traffic marshal at the turnaround, losing them about 30 seconds.
All the while, Jake Lay was stalking. He picked up Talia Appleton and set about hunting down the field.
After the decisive turn onto Old Tolmie Road, the headwind played havoc with riders spread all the way up the Coombesberg. Ross and Parker first dropped Conrick (there was to be no three-in-a-row for him!) then Appleton, picked up all the out markers and looked to have a good lead going over the top.
The 2.30 group picked up Jarrod Appleton over the hill and with Chadd in tow, could see the Lead Car and catch a faint glimpse of the two riders in MMBCC kit up ahead. But it looked like they had enough lead.
At the ford over Ford’s Creek, the Lay train, with Talia Appleton on board, caught them all and the pace lifted again! Suddenly, Ross and Parker were within catching distance.
With just 300 metres to go they were caught as Lay whistled past.
Simmons sprinted for second ahead of Chadd, Halket, Jarrod Appleton, Christensen, Talia Appleton, Steward, Ross and Parker.
Surely, without the traffic stop, Ross and Parker had it won. They was robbed!
Lay was also fastest in a corrected time of 31.56.
Here are the full results.
Many thanks all our wonderful volunteers and marshals, with a particular thanks this week to John Eisner, who made a temporary comeback to Handicapping with great success. And to Tony Copland for his images.
Next week will see more comebacks at the Individual Time Trial on Chapel Hill Road, with the return of club Handicapper, Dave Moore, after a fortnight cycling the Munda Biddi trail in WA.
There was also talk of legendary Australian cyclist Sir Hubert Opperman making a comeback from the dead. But in an administrative mix up, Dr Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, was named instead. It should be a real blast!
TREK Youth MTB program for 12-17 year olds launches in Australia
The National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) is a US-based youth development organisation dedicated to building strong mind, character and communities through mountain biking.
NICA is for everyone aged 12-17 who wants to give it a go. There's a place for everyone.
Trek is a Lead Partner of NICA, and is supporting their Australian pilot program of "Try-It-Out" and Race events across this summer.
Try-It-Out events start 30 November, and are free to participate. Registration opens start of November.
Visit the NICA Australia website for more information and to sign-up to stay informed.
Finally…
The Specialized gravel demo bikes are still available for the coming week at All Terrain Cycles. Call in and take one for a ride…