We’re back! First Dirt Crits of 2025

By Damian Grundy

It had been a hot day on Tuesday 21 January and there was some discussion about racing but it didn’t seem horrendously hot, so the event proceeded.

11 hardy mountain bikers were in attendance.

The race format was team race - teams of three with Nicole Hoebergen being the lead out rider for two teams.(Don’t ask how that works but it did!)

The teams were:

Adam Baker, Cam Dobson and Damian Grundy;
Nicole Hoebergen, Rueben Bateup and Tim Ross;
David Bock, Ben Ross and Ant Bateup; and
Nicole Hoebergen, Archie Smith and Ryder Chadd

The course was a relatively short combination of trails starting out on Bogans, straight to the south end on the bottom of the XC loop, back across to the road and then to Rubbish Run and back to the finish via the zig-zags in the finish area.

And the format? Teams had to ride together, one rider in each team to complete two laps, another to complete four and the 3rd rider to do six laps. As the first rider, ideally the slower of the three, completed their two laps the remaining two riders could accelerate; and again after the 2nd rider completed their four laps the (ideally) fastest rider raced to finish their final two laps. First rider across the line winning the race for the team.

It was a mass start and I won’t lie, there was a lot of argy-bargie, Adam Baker went to an early lead but seemed to have some trouble with the concept of directional arrows. Nicole Hoebergen took full advantage and lead her two teams in to the lead at the end of the first two laps. Adam had somewhat recovered and came in 3rd and Bocky was 4th.

Racing remained tight but the leading group had whittled down to Ryder and Archie, Rueben and Tim, duking it out with Cam and Damian.

At the end of four laps however Cam and Damian had moved to a clear lead, Archie and Ryder in 2nd, then Rueben and Tim in 3rd.

Disaster struck at the end of the 5th lap with Ryder succumbing to overheating and wisely deciding to stop.

At the finish it was Damian taking the win for his team with Rueben rolling in for 2nd and Ant finishing it off for 3rd.

1st: Adam Baker, Cam Dobson and Damian Grundy.

2nd: Nicole Hoebergen, Rueben Bateup and Tim Ross.

3rd: David Bock, Ben Ross and Ant Bateup.

Baker stays away

By Beau Geste

19 Riders entered for Thursday night handicap racing on Thursday 23 January, with a strong south westerly wind.

Micala Jacobs was first away, honing her time trialling skills, followed by the intrepid trio of John Eisner, David Bock and Adam Baker. Next to leave were the first of the fab fours: Craig Wilson, Tim Hall (The first of 3 Halls) Ian Conrick and David MacDonald. This group proved to be a strong combination, working well together throughout the course.

The next group included the first of the young guns, Rueben Bateup and Oliver Hall who were ably supported by Mick Pierce -Oliver on a “New to him” bike.

Block was occupied by another Hall, Simon, another young gun, Ryder Chadd, Darren Bakker and Ant Bateup rounding out the family affair.

Scratch group was another fab four of Bruce Halket, on a brand new and very pretty bike, Euroa’s Andy Garrett, Steve Brown and, in a return to racing, Chris Miller.

Wilson, Conrick, MacDonald and the first of the Halls rode strongly managing to stay away from the strong groups behind.

Towards the finish at Possums Hill, Hall and Wilson parted company with Conrick and MacDonald and sprinted strongly for the win at the finish at the show grounds… or did they?

Adam Baker, having ridden a blinder in a solo effort had finished several minutes earlier. By the time Wilson and Hall crossed in second and third place respectively, Adam was relaxed, rehydrated and thinking about dinner at the Mansfield Hotel.

The Handicapper will take note of Adam’s effort for future races, I’m sure.

A strong ride by young gun Ryder Chadd produced a fourth place with David MacDonald coming in fifth.

Thanks to the volunteers and commissaires, next weeks race will be from the Lords Ground out to Howes Creek Road.

Many thanks again to Tony Copland for his images (above) and here are the results.

Road bike for sale

Just listed, Katie Moore’s beautifully looked-after Liv Langma is for sale.

Club kit

Keep your eye out soon for news of the Ventou Webshop opening for those interested in club kit. All pieces will be available for sale, including road and mtb kit.

We need a minimum of 10 pieces for the order to go into production.

Keep an eye out for next week’s newsletter and the MMBCC WhatsApp feed for links to the Ventou Webshop when it opens (you’ll need a code to get access!)

Speaking of WhatsApp…

It’s the best way to keep up to date with what’s happening in the club.

For instance, recent revelations on the feed shed new light on club president, Dave Empey.

His surname is a typo - it should really be EMPTY. The ’T’ was accidentally changed to an ‘E’ due to an administrative error by AusCycling when they looked into Dave’s eyes and saw the contents of his soul.