24 May update - Club kit & RDG

Seight club kit - order about to open

Orders for new club kit will be open on the Seight website from Wednesday 1 June. They'll be open for 3 weeks. All you need to do is visit the Seight website, choose your items, pay with your credit card and they'll be delivered 6-8 weeks after orders close.
The link and the password you need is available from Bruce; so contact him by email from May 29 onwards for the details - more on that next week.
Some more info:
- The orange, green and blue will be printed in a fluoro ink, so they should be bright;
- Road/MTB jerseys and vest can be ordered in either club or race cut. They're basically the same size but 'race' will be really fitted;
- Items available include two types of road/MTB jersey, three types of trail jersey (short, 3/4 or long sleeve,) two types of bib knicks, wind vest, arm warmers, time trial suit, long sleeve jersey and even a casquette! (If you don't know what that is, you probably don't want one);
- Kids sizes are available too;
- Detailed explanation on how to order will be available next week with the link and password; and
- For delivery you can choose the standard $5 delivery (which will be to All Terrain Cycles, so you can pick up your gear during business hours) or you can choose to pay $18 extra and have it delivered directly to you.
We hope to have samples to try on next week.

2016/17 Rider Development Grant

The Grant provides financial assistance for talented MMBCC cyclists aged 25 and under. It's designed to encourage and support the development of promising young riders at varying levels in their cycling careers.
Please click here to download a copy of the Guidelines for the 2016/17 MMBCC Rider Development Grant.
Applications to reach us by early July. Details of where to send the application are in the PDF.
Successful applicants will be announced at the AGM at The Produce Store in August.

One last thing...

Have you subscribed to the club emails yet? It'll be easier to get your club kit order details if you do. Just fill in your details on the right hand side of the Home page, just underneath our "The social club with a cycling problem" logo.

MMBCC News

New Club kit from Seight

Seight Custom Clothing have almost finished off their designs (with thanks to Fresh Impact design here in town) of the new MMBCC club kit.
Here are just a few examples of jerseys, knicks, vest… even a cycling cap. More layouts will be done soon as clothing becomes available for sale. Purchases can be made via the Seight website once designs and pricing have been finalised. We'll let you know…

Mansfield Steiner School Ride for Venilale

Join the Mansfield Steiner School on Saturday 14th May, 2016, for a bike ride from Mansfield to Maindample to celebrate the school’s 30th birthday. It'll be followed by a picnic in the park to raise funds for students at Uai Laco School in Timor Leste.
Registration: 10am
Depart Mansfield: 10.30am, depart Maindample (return ride): 2pm
Start and finish: High Country Information Centre, High St, Mansfield
Destination: Maindample Park along the Great Victorian Rail Trail (13kms)
Entry Fee (in cash please): $10 individual entry, $30 family includes BBQ lunch and drink
Entry forms available from the school, Hoffmans Green Grocer or Orange Safari.
For more info phone 03 5779 1445 or email admin@mansfieldsteiner.vic.edu.au

Giro d'Italia starts this Friday

Follow one of the best road tours of the year by joining one of these tipping competitions:
Le Tipping and Velogames

Finally...

here's a great little piece on last month's-Paris Roubaix.

Presentation night

Many thanks to all of you that attended the Delatite Hotel on Sunday evening to celebrate our summer of cycling. Here are a few pics from the evening...

2015/16 Dirt Crits winners, from left to right: 1st Brett Stevens, 2nd Will Grundy, 3rd Matt Empey.

Summer Road Race Series Champions: 3rd Dave Moore, 1st Tom MacMunn, 2nd Josh Hopwood.

Winner of the Alain Guerin Combined Trophy Dave Moore.

Road Race Women's Trophy winners: 2nd Di Condie, 1st Belinda Cipa, 3rd Louise Hopwood.

All the first place getters with President Craig Wilson.

Winners of the new ATC Good Sports Awards: Jason Parker and Kate Stonnill with Shannon Rademaker from All Terrain Cycles.

Craig Wilson presents Di Condie with MMBCC Life Membership.

Saturday update

Presentations reminder...

Just a quick reminder about the club's summer presentations tomorrow at 5pm at the Delatite Hotel. If you've raced at all over summer, please come along and congratulate the trophy winners, say thank you to our volunteers and bear witness a couple of other surprise presentations!
It'll be worth coming along...

World Championship team selection

Congratulations to both Hayden Fletcher and Kian Lerch-MacKinnon on being selected to race in our national colours in their chosen discipline.
Hayden will head to the BMX World Championships in Medellin, Columbia next month.
Kian has been selected to race the MTB Worlds in Nové Město na Moravě in the Czech Republic in late June.
Ride well guys!

Amstel Gold Race tomorrow night

Don't forget to tune in to SBS tomorrow night from 10.30 for the first of the Ardennes Classics and cheer on the MMBCC's Simon Gerrans.
If you're coming to the club presentations and want to kick on afterwards, Alan and Kay Gerrans have invited us to their place to watch the race. If you're keen, let us know via SMS on 0417 596 288, so we have an idea of numbers.

Summer Presentations...

We have a date!

MMBCC Summer Presentations will be held on Sunday 17 April, 5pm, at the Delatite Hotel (one of our club sponsors.) If you've competed in club races this last summer on the road, on the mtb or on the BMX, you'd better come along as your name might appear on a trophy.
And if you've volunteered or helped out at one of our races, you definitely need to come along because we all want to say thank you.
We'll present the main Series Champion trophies, as well as the Alain Guerin Combined, plus lots of other prizes and presentations. And a few surprises too!
So please come along... everyone is welcome!

Want to keep road racing over winter?

Wangaratta Cycling Club are organising monthly races on a Sunday - the first is on Sunday 17 April at 10am. Check out their facebook page for details.
There's also the Hume Vets if you're old enough. (Speaking of which, congrats to Anthony Plummer on winning the Tungamah Aggregate Cup Handicap on Sunday 3 April!)
Lastly, if you're a Strava user, keep an eye out for some new MMBCC Winter Segments. We're going to trial periodic segment competitions - to give you a bit of time to claim the KOM!

Hell of the North

The third of this year's monuments is on this Sunday night... Paris-Roubaix. SBS are broadcasting it from 8.30pm.

Sunday news

End-of-summer barbecue

A discussion has been started on the club's Facebook page about what and where to hold a 'get-together' to award this summer's trophies. (By the way, the final results for both Dirt Crits and Road Racing are VERY close!)
Please join the discussion and give us your ideas. Alternatively, send Wil a text message with your ideas on 0417 596 288.

Final road race of the season

By John Eisner

Last Thursday saw the final race in the Mansfield Mt Buller Cycling Club’s Summer Series for 2015/6.
In perfect Autumn conditions, Di Condie set off first on the 25km Sawpit Gully return race. Four Minutes later Andrew Clark, John Eisner and David Bock followed with Peter Ellett, Mark Calvert-Jones and Will MacDonald pursuing a minute behind that. Belinda Cipa and Will Calvert-Jones were next with Aaron Peterson, Luke Olver and Dave Moore starting on the eight and a half minute mark. Looking sharp, Bruce Halket, Mauro Brega and Dan Purcell took off followed by Tom MacMunn. Kian Lerch-MacKinnon and Foley Lachal had a few technical difficulties on the start line, leaving Josh Hopwood to start next, until they composed themselves and started last with a 14 minute deficit.
Working well and smoothly, Will MacDonald’s group caught the Bock bunch on the return past the tomato farm and together with Di, the larger group didn’t make things easy for the pursuing bunches.
The groups of Halket and Moore combined just prior to the turnaround with Will Calvert-Jones managing to stay in touch. Josh Managed to catch Tom and together they looked like a chance at the turnaround. With the late start, Kian and Foley resigned themselves to the tail end.
In the closing kilometre, the two bunches combined to make for a large, fast and desperate sprint finish.  Dave Moore maintained a solid line knowing the result could alter his season’s overall standing. Bruce pulled off to the left as there was a potential clash of wheels while Will MacDonald made the most of an opening on the right side. In the end Dan “Mark Cavendish” Purcell dug deep and held on to take out a good win with Mauro Brega coming in a well contested second. Mark Calvert-Jones made a run from the back of the pack to place third and Bruce recovered nicely with some tactical lines to place fourth with Dave Moore holding on to fifth.
Further back Josh and Tom just couldn’t bridge the gap but did well to reduce the final gap to twenty seconds. Only slightly further back, Di and Belinda had a light-hearted (but deadly serious) sprint with Belinda getting the edge.
Thanks to our numerous volunteers and to the Delatite Hotel for post race refreshments.
Results can be found here.

Club kit

Two new designs of club kit have been sent to Seight Custom Clothing, both should suit on- and off-road use. Once we get back the final Seight versions of the layouts, we'll have a 'vote' on which one will go into production.
For details on Seight, who produce the prize jerseys for the Mansfield Tour, go to their website.

Defibrillator

With many thanks to Paul Fletcher, who did all the hard work, the club will receive a defibrillator from Sport and Recreation Victoria. (This could prove very handy when some of our older members push themselves a little too hard!)
As part of the grant, we'll receive training on how to use it… for up to 20 members. When we find out when it's being delivered, we'll ask for volunteers who'd like the do the training.

A recent message to the club Facebook page from Matt Aldridge...

G'day
Next year I'm doing a charity bike ride for Soldier On called The Coo Wee Ride. We're venturing up your way. Would you guys like to get involved and ride the Mansfield to Buller and back leg? And if anyone was keen over to Beechworth from Mansfield? Would be great to have you guys involved!

Ronde van Vlaanderen

The Spring Classics continue tonight with the 100th edition of the Tour of Flanders. Brilliant race. SBS will broadcast it tonight from 10.30pm.

Finally…

Some serious reading from the Velominati on making sure you look good on the bike and not taking yourself too seriously, rules and all.

Barbecue update

We didn't get many responses to attend on Sunday, so we've decided to postpone it.

With this being the middle of the school holidays, this Sunday obviously doesn't suit a lot of people. So… we need to find out when it does suit you. And where. We have a few trophies and prizes to hand out so we need to do something...

Give us an idea of what suits - let's use Facebook as a forum to discuss this: https://www.facebook.com/MansfieldMtBullerCyclingClub/

Some ideas include:
- Lunchtime Sunday 10 April at the Botanic Park for a BYO everything barbecue;
- Afternoon tea on Sunday 10 April at the Delatite Hotel (club sponsor);
- Evening snacks/drinks, say 6pm, on Thursday 14 April at the Delatite; or
- A fund-raising movie night at the Mansfield Armchair Cinema.

We don't know, we're just throwing around ideas.

What do you think?

Please let us know.

Barbecue reminder...

Subscribe

Have you subscribed to MMBCC NEWS on the website yet? Go to the Home page at www.mmbcc.org.au and fill in your details on the right hand side... do it now!

Summer break-up

The club will host a barbecue lunch on Sunday 3 April to celebrate another successful summer of mountain biking, road and BMX racing. We'll be presenting the trophies for each discipline (and the combined trophy too!) plus there'll be bike games for kids big and small and the ANZ barbie trailer to cook lunch at the Mansfield Botanic Park.

12 noon, Sunday 3 April, Mansfield Botanic Park.

To help with catering, please let us know if you're coming by sending an SMS with your name and number of attendees to Wil on 0417 596 288.

Midweek update

Season ending barbecue

The club will host a barbecue lunch on Sunday 3 April to celebrate another successful summer of mountain biking, road and BMX racing. We'll be presenting the trophies for each discipline (and the combined trophy too!) plus there'll be bike games for kids big and small and the ANZ barbie trailer to cook lunch at the Mansfield Botanic Park. More details to come soon.
In the meantime, to help with catering, please let us know if you're coming by sending an SMS with your name and number of attendees to Wil on 0417 596 288.

Mansfield Tour

Great racing last weekend during the Mansfield Tour. Feedback from entrants has been terrific and everything ran very smoothly.
Many thanks to all the club members who donated their time and enthusiasm to make the weekend work so well. Great work by all the Commissaires and all the Cycling Victoria staff.
Many thanks to our major sponsors, Mansfield Shire and the Mt Buller and Mt Stirling Alpine Resort Management Board.
Huge thanks too to Dion and the team from Martin's Garage for their support, especially during Stage 2 on Saturday afternoon, the Martin's Garage Road Race to Jamieson and back.
Well done to Josh Hopwood who finished 5th overall in Masters B-grade and to Foley Lachal who found the going tough in B-grade.
Here's a quote from Wil...

"Well Done to Di Condie! Superb event, superb organisation. Also well done to all the team of volunteers over the weekend. 'Together we are strong!' "
President Craig 'Wil' Wilson

… and here are a few images from Ernesto Arriagada's portfolio of images from the Tour.

If you weren't involved this year, please keep the weekend after the Victorian Labour Day long weekend free... Cycling Victoria are expecting the Series to get even bigger and better in 2017 so we might need a bit more of a hand. Besides, there are a few more club members making noises about racing, so we'll need someone to cover for them... and we'd love to have you involved!

Dirt Crits finishes another dusty season

Monday March 21st saw the last race night for this season of mountain bike racing at Rifle Butts Reserve. The juniors all arrived in fancy dress. We had the usual mix of tutu’s and onesies, this year even the Easter Bunny came and rode. The juniors have had a mixed series of events from one, two or more timed lap races. We were also lucky to get the juniors out to ride in the Delatite Dash courtesy of All Terrain Cycles. All riders revelled in the chance to ride something a bit more challenging and proved they could all get to Mirimbah incident free. A number of juniors stayed on and raced it again with the seniors.
We were also able to have a night of skills coaching taken by Coach Damian Grundy, David Empey, Clarissa and Kate. The riders really gained some important lessons on how to ride corners and berms, how to tackle the dust and how to ride over rocks and bridges. Next season we hope to introduce a lot more of these sessions as they proved invaluable.
The final night the juniors were placed in pairs for a final pair’s race. The triumphant pair was Ruby and Taycia. It proved Taycia’s best ride for the season. In close second was Zac and Blair followed by Max and Archie.
In the overall standings (based on wins, PB’s and attendance) Elise and Dan have battled for top place with Elise nudging Dan out of top spot. Elise has raced every week giving 100%, she has also raced the Gravity Enduro seniors’ races this season.
We have hit record numbers this season with 31 riders registered with the majority now attending regularly on a Monday night. It has been great to see a of number new riders, boys and girls, to the off-road circuit and although there has been a bit of ”bark off” at some races all juniors have shown great enthusiasm and resilience in the hot and dusty conditions. We even had a fire to contend with and the riders remained un-phased. Great season guys and thank you to all the parents as well.

Kate Stonnill (Empey)

Final senior Dirt Crits results from Monday night here.
Second last road race tomorrow night, starting at the Botanic Park and finishing on Graves Road. Come along for a look... don't forget to enter by 8pm tonight if you want to race!

Good results at MTBA Nationals at Bright

Well done to all the MMBCC members who competed at Bright last weekend. While we didn't come away with any gold there was a silver from Kian and some other almost as impressive results from Matt, Dave, Shannon and others. More details to come.

Friday update

Hell on Howes Creek

By Dan 'Cav' Purcell

Once again a stern-ish breeze greeted 29 riders for the MMBCC Handicap race on Thursday 17 March. The 25km course started opposite the Lords Reserve on Malcolm street and headed west onto Howes Creek road. From there, riders turned left and battled a westerly side wind all the way to the end of the Howes Creek bitumen, where they turned around at Cummins Rd and made their way home to the finish line just a few hundred metres back past the Malcolm street turn off.
With the Mansfield Tour scheduled for the following weekend, Josh Hopwood was a notable absentee from the starters list, leaving Damon de Angelis, Tom MacMunn, Matthew McLennan and Jason Looby to do all the chasing from scratch.
The first group to undertake proceedings was Louise Hopwood, Di Condie and Andrew Clark.
Hopwood, Condie and Clark worked well together and led the race until they were greeted by a rather steep hill and the charging Bob Thomas, Belinda Cipa and Luke Olver - about 15kms into the race. Hopwood's legs "went numb" and she faded, which is fair enough following her recent 120km walk to raise money for youth mental health. Well done Lou! Clark dug deep to sweat out the last few Singhas from his recent Thailand holiday, but couldn't maintain the pace of Thomas and Olver.
Meanwhile a big group of riders had formed a few kilometres before the turn around. Soon after making the turn, the big group of Jarrod Appleton, Dave Moore, Dan Purcell, Ian Conrick, Jean-Daniel Geurin, Matt Young, Peter Walker and possibly one or two others caught a glimpse of the fast chasing pack in Bruce Halket, Mauro Brega, Laurent Guerin and Darren Bakker. Appleton was the acting general in the large group and instructed the riders to push harder and keep the chasers at bay, to which the group responded.
This large group continued to work together until the short and steep climbs thinned the pack out around the Lake Lodge. By this time the large group had absorbed up most riders who had started in the first few groups - barring Olver who was having a stella ride in his first race and Thomas who was well clear and riding solo in first position. Appleton, Moore and Purcell accelerated away from the large group and picked up Olver just 2kms from the finish, but were still chasing Thomas.
A last ditch effort up the final pinch saw Appleby, Moore and Purcell pick up the rear wheel of Thomas. With a couple hundred metres to play, Purcell sprinted with Appleton in close pursuit. Purcell managed to hit the line first to take home the chockies, followed by Appleton with a great ride in 2nd, Thomas took out third with a strong and largely solo ride and Moore hit the line in 4th showing he still had plenty in the legs following his recent triathlon. Olver had an impressive ride in his first race (and on a brand new steed) to round out the top 5. As usual, a big kudos to all the volunteers who helped out on the night!
Damon de Anglis was the fastest rider on the evening with a very handy 38min.16secs.
Results and points score available under the Results menu shortly.
Next week's race is Whitfield Rd to the Long lane turn around, Barwite Rd, Old Tolmie and Finishing on Graves Rd (22km).
A final special mention and tip of the hat to Darren Bakker who completed the 3 Peaks Challenge last weekend. 245km with 4,000m of climbing is one hell of a ride!

Mansfield Tour this weekend

First up, many thanks to all the club members who have volunteered to help out with this year's Tour. This is the largest single 'earner' for the club and the main way we can fund our Rider Development Grant which helps promote our members to aim for bigger and better things.
Good luck to Foley Lachal and Josh Hopwood who are the only two members silly enough, sorry, brave enough to enter.
And a huge thanks to Di Condie for putting it all together! Hopefully the weather comes good and Di can have a relaxing weekend watching the racing... now that all her hard work is (hopefully) done!

Mountain Bike Nationals at Bright

Good luck to all the MMBCC members over at Bright for the Australian Championships.

La Primavera

First of the Spring Classics this Saturday night, Milan - San Remo; almost 300km from northern Italy to the coast. SBS will broadcast it live from 12.30am Sunday morning.

Friday update - Hayden wins!

Hayden Fletcher wins!

Yesterday's second place during round 7 of the national series saw Hayden Fletcher earn enough points to clinch the win in the National Series. Here is the final points tally.
Congratulations Hayden… brilliant stuff!

Dirt Crits Enduro results

Dave Moore broke through for his first win of the season. Results here.

Hot and tough - Handicap Race - Thursday 3 March

Last Thursday saw twenty two starters front up for a hot and tough 22km handicap race on the Barwite loop. Tony Morris was first off and was followed closely by Lucy Clapham and Cherie Worthington. The efficient quartet of Craig Wilson, David Jagger, David Bock and John Eisner were next followed by Tim Hall, Tony Copland, Will MacDonald and Ian “Birthday boy” Conrick. Christine Hopkins, having warmed up with a 35km run the previous day, was jumped at the start by the in-form Damian Grundy and Jarrod Appleton but enjoyed a strong solo ride of her own. Dan Purcell, David Heatley and Dave Moore were next followed by the depleted, once were scratch group of Darren Bakker and Rob Skinner. With a scratching Tom MacMunn found himself alone off block with Foley Lachal ably promoted to keep tabs on Josh Hopwood in scratch.
In an early effort, MacMunn caught Bakker and Skinner taking till the turnaround to recover from the exertion. At this stage all the groups had settled and were working hard in the heat with Lachal and Hopwood looking particularly menacing. Clapham and Worthington separated to enjoy their own pace with Cherie briefly hopping onto the Wilson bunch which Morris had also joined. Jagger, Bock and Morris made a small breakaway up the Coombsberg until a frenzy of the scratch end riders swarmed over the summit. Tim Hall and Damian Grundy were riding well with plenty of others looking frazzled around them. The end saw a strong and tactical sprint finish with Tom coming off third wheel to narrowly edge out Josh. Jarrod, Foley and Damian made up the top five with a swag of D’s (Dave Moore, Dave Jagger, Dave Heatley, Darren Bakker and Dave Bock) making up the top ten.
Results can be found here.
Congratulations to Josh for a great 5th overall in Masters B-Grade at the Tour of East Gippsland on the weekend – a great effort. Thanks too to our volunteers for the night and to the Delatite Hotel for some much needed rehydration afterwards.
MMBCC is still looking for a few volunteers to help out at the Mansfield Tour on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 March. Please contact Di Condie - diannecondie@bigpond.com - if you've got a few spare hours on that weekend, if you're keen on seeing some of the country's best roadies and you'd like a free MMBCC t-shirt.

Hot!

It's going to be hot over the weekend, so as per our 'heat' rule, if it's forecast to be 35°C or more road bunch rides start at 7am. See you early!

Wednesday Update

Watch Hayden Fletcher racing!

For tomorrow (Thursday) night, use this link to watch Hayden racing for the Junior Elite Australian Championship.
Then from Friday onwards, use this link to watch round 7 of the national series.

Advanced Notice - 2016 National Masters Road Championships

Planning for the 2016 National Masters Road Championships is well underway. They will be hosted by Cycling NSW with the Griffith Cycle Club as the co-host and events running from October 1st -3rd.
The Riverina township of Griffith is a large agricultural centre and has a host of accommodation options as well as a vibrant café and restaurant culture. It’s a key wine producing area, so there is no shortage of post-race recovery options for riders and partners.
Griffith CC has hosted the previous two NSW Masters Road Championships and presents three very well received courses for Road, Crit and Time Trial. The organising team at the club does a fantastic job and are tremendous hosts, they are well advanced in planning for this year’s event.
The scheduled dates coincide with a long weekend in NSW, so we would strongly urge those intending on competing to start locking away accommodation early.  We also understand there are other non-cycling events on in Griffith over this time.   
This link to the Griffith CC web site will provide riders with all event details including hotel contact details.
Griffith CC and Cycling NSW are looking forward to hosting you at the Championships is October.

Finally...

Some important information about the length of shorts and the height of socks.

Friday News

Hayden Fletcher Sportsman of the Year!

Hayley Wilson, Junior Sportswoman of the Year and Hayden Fletcher, Sportsman of the Year.

A huge congratulations to the MMBCC's Hayden Fletcher on being presented with the George Walker Memorial Sportsman of the Year Award for 2015 by the Mansfield Courier/Rotary Club of Mansfield. It's a great result and recognises all the hard work and effort put in by Hayden over the last few years.
He's just spent the last northern summer racing for his U.S. Ssquared team in the 'States, he's currently leading the Australian National Series and he'll soon be jetting off to Santiago Del Estero, Argentina for the next round of the BMX Supercross World Cup later in March!
Congratulations again Hayden!

Martins Garage sponsoring the tour.

Many thanks to Dion and the team at Martins Garage for getting on-board with the Mansfield Tour. Stage 2 of the tour, the road race to Jamieson and back, will now be known as the Martin's Garage Road Race.

Handicap Race, Howes Creek Road, Thursday 25 Feb.

Kody, Wil and Colby... three of the MMBCC's least mature members!

A blustery evening (a beautiful 'sight' for the backmarkers) greeted 28 entrants into the MMBCC's Handicap Race on Thursday 25 February on Howes Creek Road.
There was 12 minutes difference between the Limit Group of Di Condie and Tony Morris (at first) and the last to start, Kian Lerch-MacKinnon, the lone Scratch rider.
However, 5kms into the race, Condie and Morris were joined by our two latest junior recruits, 12 year old Kody Appleton and 13 year old Colby Croxford-Demasi, who at such a young age are only permitted to race up to 20km.
Further back, Damian Grundy started alone as the six and a half minutes group. After only about 6km he'd caught the group ahead of him, the 7.30 group of Belinda Cipa, Ian Conrick, John Eisner and Will MacDonald. Grundy joined in with the others but eventually his pressure told and only MacDonald was able to stay with Grundy after the turnaround.
Not long afterwards, they were caught by the 4.30 group of Rob Skinner, Dave Heatley, Aaron Peterson and Dan Purcell. Skinner accelerated near the Country Resort driveway and only Grundy could go with him.
Despite a group a fast finishing desperadoes behind them, they were strong enough to stay away and fight out the finish, Skinner getting the better of Grundy. Skinner's time was exactly 49 minutes (corrected to 41.30 on handicap). Bruce Halket pipped Janine Appleton on the line for third (almost receiving a Bakker-Ross trophy in the process), then came Mauro Brega, Purcell, Peter Ellett, Peterson, Club Grand Poobah Craig Wilson and Darren Bakker rounded out the top ten.
Fastest time went to Lerch-MacKinnon in 38.06!
Special mention to Darren Bakker who had a tooth extracted on Wednesday. Whether it was the course of antibiotics he's on, or the after-effects of the anaesthetic, the general consensus from his group was that he rode so well that he should have a tooth out every week! The only draw back we can see is that by the end of the season he might be eating his fillet steak through a straw. (A small price to pay…)
Many thanks to our officials including Jodie, Mel, Ross, Tony and Tim.
Presentations were held at The Delatite Hotel where our two new riders were awarded an MMBCC t-shirt each as an Encouragement Award. Results here. (If you'd like a t-shirt too, volunteer to help out on The Mansfield Tour on 19-20 March and you'll get one! Contact Di Condie using this link or 0438 513 355.)
Next week sees the MMBCC return to Whitfield Road for a 22km Handicap finishing on Graves Road. Entries by 8pm Wednesday via SMS on 0428 503 437.

The Women's Ride

A reminder about The Women's Ride on Sunday 6 March at 9am. There will be a road ride leaving from the Botanic Park, or a mountain bike ride at Riflebutts Reserve; with both rides concluding with morning tea or coffee at The Delatite - with the MMBCC picking up the tab. Everyone is welcome! We'd love to see more women riding and hope this little inducement encourages a few more girls to give it a go. Register on the Cycling Victoria Women's Ride website - it's free and we'd love to see you.

Brief midweek update

CHAPEL HILL ROAD TO BE SEALED.

The Mansfield Courier has posted this on its facebook page today (Wednesday)

"ROADS WILL BE SEALED: Buttercup and Chapel Hill Roads at Merrijig , along with a connection on the Jamieson and Woods Point Road, will be sealed under a new 2.4 million dollar project."

Hopefully this gives us a safe new road loop to ride on and a new course for road racing in 2017!

SENIOR Dirt Crits - Long Course - MONDAY 22 FEB, 2016.

Damian organised the long course event for Dirt Crits on Monday evening.
Dave M and Damian G were to race over 3 laps, Brett S, Will MacD, Andrew M, Dave B, Jem D and Ethan L over 2 laps and Oli MacD, Trevor A and Will G over 1 lap.
Damian started off first with Dave M following 90 seconds behind. Brett, Will MacD and Andrew’s handicap was 8min 30sec followed by Dave B on 9mins. Ethan and Jem started off a further 2min 30sec later. Oli and Trevor left on 25mins followed by Will G on 27mins.
First to cross the finish line was Brett in a time of 44.28, followed by Trevor 15sec later. Will G completed the course in 46.05 with a fast finishing Ethan in 46.08. Dave B crossed the line in 46.35 and Andrew M familiarised himself with the long course with a time of 47.48. In 7th place was Jem in 48.08 followed by Oli in 49.03. Will MacD was 9th in 49.39 and in 10th place was the first of the 3 lappers, Damian in 50.11. Dave M completed the 3 laps in 52.23.
Will G now sits 10 points ahead of Brett S on 312 points. Followed by Matthew E on 241 points with Dave B in 4th on 239 points. Mike D and Will MacD are equal on 234 points with Ethan L on 224 points. David J is in 8th place on 205 points, Jem D 187 points and Daniel F rounds out the top 10 on 185 points.
Next Monday night is the Gravity Enduro event at Riflebutts MTB Park.

Bakker Plumbing Handicap - Thursday 18 Feb, 2016.

Approximately 25 riders lined up for the Bakker Plumbing Handicap, held this year on the Jamieson/Kevington course.  A beautiful late summer evening with fast racing culminating with the limit groups managing to stay away from the hard charging scratch and block groups.
The course follows the river from Jamieson to Kevington and returns to the finish at the Jamieson River, much of the field mesmerised by the beauty of the surroundings, failed to reel in the front markers with only Allan Gerrans (Local lad makes good) getting into the mix to spoil the show.
Fifth on the night was Craig “Wil” Wilson , 4th in a close sprint with Wilson was Di Condie in a return to racing, 3rd place went to Tony Morris “a snip away from the win”, second to Allan Gerrans and a well-deserved win to Andrew Clarke.
The club enjoyed a fantastic meal at Mingo's at the Junction following the race. Thanks to all the volunteers on the night, Trish and Darren Bakker for their ongoing support of the club, and Mingo and staff for a great night out.
Next week will be the Lords ground/Howes Creek Rd race and don’t forget Sunday March the 6th Women’s Ride, with a mountain bike and road riding option and the club will buy participating women a coffee or tea at the Delatite Hotel after the ride.
Results can be found here.

Finally...

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Press Release: Only 4 weeks till the Mansfield Tour

The 2016 Mansfield Tour is quickly approaching!  March 19 and 20 have been set aside for the second VRS event on the Victorian Racing Calendar. Cyclists have already been taking in the epic climb to Mt Buller in preparation for this year’s event.

As per last year’s format the event is set over 2 days with 3 challenging stages, taking in the stunning terrain that theHigh Country has to offer.

Saturday Morning will see the Time Trial take place on the same route as last year with cyclists tackling a challenging TT course with what locals call “The Coomesberg”, a short sharp 800m ascent in the middle section of the course.

Saturday Afternoon will once again see the race depart Mansfield to Jamieson and return, with A Grade venturing a little further to Kevington. Hopefully, we will see the 2 KOM’s at Martin’s Gap robustly challenged this year.

The climb to Mt Buller will await cyclists as they depart The Alzburg Resort in Mansfield on Sunday morning. A 48km stage with the ultimate climb of 16kms possibly determining the winner of not only the stage but the Tour!

Mansfield Shire Council CEO, Alex Green, a keen cyclist himself is looking forward to the event.

“Thanks go to Mansfield Mt Buller Cycling Club for developing, nurturing and delivering this event which is slowly building towards becoming one of the state’s more significant cycling events.

The Mansfield Tour is a wonderful opportunity for us to showcase our destination, its friendly people and all the wonderful experiences and opportunities it offers, including of course our stunning and yet challenging cycling routes.

We hope you enjoy The Mansfield Tour this year and good luck to all the competitors – enjoy the racing!”

There are also a wide range of other activities if your partner/family want a weekend away too: Mansfield Farmers Market, Easter Egg painting, Merrijig Family Fun day or perhaps you might fancy a Bee Keeping course? Also a host of cafés, retail therapy, mountain bike trails and more!

Click here for the Mansfield Tour page for more details.

Midweek update

Dirt Crits Senior Race Report - Delatite Dash - Monday 15 Feb

A total of 33 Junior and Senior riders raced the Delatite Dash on Monday night.
The Juniors completed one lap from Carters road to Mirimbah and then had a leisurely ride back to Carters Rd, whereas the Senior riders completed two laps of the Carters road to Mirimbah course. Thanks to Ben at Bike Buller for allowing us to ride down the course back to the start line, a much safer option than riding down the road.
The aim of the race was to have the smallest margin between the first and second laps. Damian Grundy 8:39, Dan Friday 8:40 and Dave Moore 8:40 were the front runners on the first lap. On the second lap Dan Friday 8:39, Dave Moore 8:45 and Damian Grundy 8:54. Trevor Arnold was 34 seconds faster on his second lap and Andrew Meirs was 56 seconds faster!
More importantly, Dan Friday had the smallest margin (1 second) to secure 1st place, followed by Dave Moore and Dave Bock (3 seconds) equal 2nd place, Brett Stevens (8 seconds) 3rd, Jem Davies (9 seconds) 4th, Mike Davies (10 seconds) 5th, Damian Grundy and Anthony Plummer (15 seconds) 6th, Trevor Arnold (34 seconds) 7th and Andrew Meirs (56 seconds) 8th. Adam Baker completed one lap with a time of 11:13 as did Will Grundy 12:08.
In terms of series points, after this race, Will Grundy leads on 277 points, 2nd is Brett Stevens on 252 points, followed by Matthew Empey on 241 points. After missing a few races during the season, Mike Davies will need to get a few good results to catch his nemesis, Brett. Mr Consistency, Dave Bock, will need to do something spectacular if he is going to get his name on the trophy again - good luck!

Win Tour Down Under stuff

McGregor Tan Research is currently conducting market research for the Tour Down Under to assess the level of interest of cycle members in attending this annual event.
Our research shows that a significant proportion of non South Australian visitors who come to Adelaide for the Tour Down Under are cycle club members.
To better understand how the Tour Down Under may be promoted to appeal to cycle members we would like to invite your cycle members to participate in a short online survey to find out what motivates or inhibits members from attending the Tour Down Under.
We hope that you are able to email this survey link to all your members so that they can give us their opinions.
McGregor Tan Research is a member of the Australian Market and Social Research Organisation (AMSRO) and complies fully with the Privacy Act.
All participants who complete the survey will go into a draw to win an Official Tour Down Under Merchandise pack.
To participate in the survey please click on this link.

Updated MTBA membership info

With many thanks to Jason… he has put together a summary of MTBA membership information for Dirt Crits. Click here to go to the Join Now page and scroll down to MMBCC Membership and Dirt Crits Fees 2016.

One last thing...

Don't forget the Bakker Plumbing Handicap Thursday night on the new course at Jamieson. Entries to John via SMS on 0428 503 437 by 8pm tonight please.
If you'd like to join us all for the $18 pasta night at Mingo's, let Darren know on 0417 580 751.

Sunday update

A Reminder about Junior Dirt Crits on Monday

Just a quick reminder that Dirt Crits this week will be the Delatite Dash from Carters Road to Mirimbah.
The All terrain Cycles bus and trailer will be leaving Riflebutts Reserve at 4pm for the Juniors.
David and I will both be going but I will definitely need RSVPs from everyone so I can plan numbers for the trailer and so we don't miss anyone; please email me here today (Sunday.)
Cheers,
Kate.

Graded Scratch Race - Thursday 11 February

By Tony Hausknecht

There were 24 riders who rolled to the line for the Graded Scratch Race to cover the 22km on Whitfield, Old Tolmie and Graves Road course.
Before the race it was thought that riders may hold back in this event to not draw the attention of the handicapper in preparation for next week’s much converted Bakker Plumbing Handicap to be raced for the first time at Jamieson. The results and effort displayed in the heat showed this was not the case.
In C Grade “the Handicapper” (a.k.a. John Eisner) unleashed a Ewen-esque type sprint to take the win over Tim Hall, with Peter Ellett coming in for third place. Tim’s early morning training is paying dividends, although the conditions resulted in him also receiving the Bakker-Ross Award for the second week running. It is unusual to have this award handed out two weeks in a row, though in this writer’s opinion it should be a regular occurrence if the participants are pushing the bounds of their endurance.
The B Grade race saw the largest bunch of combatants. Dan Purcell grabbed line honours with Damian Grundy and Aaron Peterson grabbing a place on the podium.
The A Grade race saw an early breakaway by Bruce Halket, emulating this year’s Australian Road Champion Bobridge. Several initial attempts by Dave Moore and Josh Hopwood to bridge the gap proved fruitless. He was finally caught with only a few kilometres to go with Hopwood just pipping Halket on the line with Tom Macmunn coming in third place.
Honourable mention goes to Dave Moore who was finally seen sporting racing lycra at the presentations in a public establishment!
Thanks to the officials and volunteers for the smooth operation of the race.
This week Jamieson residents can enjoy the race and cheer on the riders at the start and finish lines. Entry for this weeks race by 8pm on the Wednesday SMS 0428 503 437. Registration from 6pm at Mingos.

Thursday's three winners: Hopwood, Eisner and Purcell.

Cycling Victoria Women's Ride

Sunday 6 March will see two Women's Rides taking place - one off-road (meeting at Riflebutts Reserve) and one on-road (meeting at the Botanic Park.) Both will start at 9am and both will finish at The Produce Store where the club will shout all ladies involved a free coffee!
Yes, just come for a ride and we'll buy you a coffee. Or a tea if you prefer...
Details can be found here; just search for the Mansfield events...

New event calendar

A few of these 'cycling event' listings have been started over the last few years but this one looks fairly good. They even list MMBCC races. Give it a try here to see which rides and events you'd like to try in future.

GOAT 2

Have you heard of the acronym GOAT? It means Greatest Of All Time. Well... the guy in this clip is twice as good as that!

Midweek update - Dirt Crits and Old Tolmie Road

Next Monday for Juniors Dirt Crits

Kate Stonnill

Welcome back for term one and welcome to all our new families.
Sorry I didn't have this information last Monday but All terrain Cycles have generously offered their bus and bike trailer to take riders to Carters Road next Monday Feb 15… so all juniors can ride the bottom section of the Epic trail.
My aim is to have all riders at Rifle Butts straight from school on Monday for a 4pm departure (or as soon to that as possible). This will put us on track by 4.30-4.45pm. It will take riders between 12 and 40 minutes to race up to Mirimbah park. At this point we will re-group and ride back down to Carters Rd. We have permission from Bike Buller to ride the track in reverse.
Aiming to be back in town at Riflebutts by 6.30pm.
I will have refreshments for the trip out but feel free to pack some extra afternoon tea. Please remember drink bottles !! and the usual $2 ride fee.
David and I will both be going but I will definitely need RSVPs from everyone so I can plan numbers for the trailer and so we don't miss anyone.
So far I have two other parents coming as well. Its a beautiful ride for those that haven't been out there, as the track winds along the river to Mirimbah.
I look forward to your feedback.
If you still have not organised your MTBA membership please go to the MTBA website. Riders under 12yrs (Dirt Masters) can get 12months for $50. If you haven't registered before click here for a FREE 2 MONTH MEMBERSHIP... so you have no excuses. It gives you insurance and me piece of mind.
Cheers,
Kate.

Racing up the Old Tolmie Road

By Craig 'Wil' Wilson

14 riders took to the road last Sunday for the first ever MMBCC race up Old Tolmie Road and return on Whitfield Road. Old Tolmie is a beast of a climb and much of the riding could hardly be called racing, more like “slow progression up a steep hill” followed by a “very fast progression down a steep hill”.
Limit riders Wil Wilson and John Eisner set off with a half hour start on the scratch group; next to leave were the duo of David Jagger and Will MacDonald; third group of Alex Green, Danielle Garden Steven Flew and Will Calvert-Jones looked dangerous from the off but not as dangerous as Bruce Halket, Mauro Brega, Darren Bakker and Dave Moore who rode off the 5 minute mark. The last group to begin was Josh Hopwood and Tom McMunn who had their work cut out to chase down the riders with easier handicaps.
As expected, the hill took its toll; Eisner and Wilson stayed together to the top of Old Tolmie, although it is suspected that Eisner did a fair deal of waiting as Wilson produced speeds of 5km/h and lower. The Halket, Brega, Bakker and Moore group broke up in the climb and never really got back together.  The Green, Garden, Flew and Calvert-Jones group broke up with Will Calvert-Jones and Echuca rider, Danielle Garden leaving the other pair and riding away. This, it seems, was the winning move!
Once over the hill it was a fast descent down Whitfield Road to the Broken River and then a drag race for home.  Wilson dropped (like a brick) down the descent leaving his partner further up the hill; at one point Wilson recorded a top speed of 73.1 km/h.  Garden and Calvert-Jones rounded up Wilson before Carlisle Hill and disappeared into the distance. And this was how the race concluded with Danielle Garden 1st over the line, closely followed by her working partner Will Calvert-Jones, in his second race back at the club. Wilson held on for third place with John Eisner 4th and Alex Green rounding out the placings in 5th.  Fastest time was Josh Hopwood with a time of 1 hour 16 minutes and 11 seconds. Josh was happy to be racing on his favourite climb.
Thanks to our volunteers and helpers. See you at the race on Thursday night, again on the Whitfield Road.

Junior Dirt Crits report - Monday 8 February

Kate Stonnill

Junior Dirt Crits hit record numbers on Monday night with 23 riders ready to race.
The handicap was based on their 2 lap and one lap race times from the previous week.
The girls proved they can lead the pack with Elise Empey and newcomers Bella Green and Matisse Gardiner racing a strong four laps followed by Zac Empey also on finishing the four laps.The rest of the riders finished with 3,2 or one lap.
Next week the riders can hitch a ride to Carters road, courtesy of ATC to race the bottom section of the Epic trail.
We will leave Riflebutts Reserve MTB Park at 4pm.
Senior Dirt Crits results for Feb 1 are here and Feb 8 are here as well as a few photos from Feb 8 here.

Lake Mountain Super G

The Murrindindi Cycle club is promoting the Lake Mountain Super G for 2016 after deciding to drop our traditional race, the Lake Mountain Granite Grind. With declining participation numbers we launched an online questionnaire as to why the event was losing popularity. The unequivocal feedback was it was too hard for the majority of people out there. The club's charter is to promote riding in the Murrindindi Shire, and with a new section of trail just finished at Lake Mountain we decided to run a different type of event, thus this year’s Lake Mountain Super G.
Still a cross country event, Lake Mountain Super G is point to point, has a ton of great descending but also a couple of climbs, fitness is required to do well, but so too bike handling skills. This event will show off the new trail at Lake Mountain, still unnamed at this stage, it is the first 12kms of a trail that will ultimately finish in Marysville, a total of 25 ks of mostly rolling downhill from the summit of Lake Mountain, it will be more than “epic”.
For details on the event please visit the Murrindindi Cycle Club website or the Lake Mountain Super G Facebook page.

Weekend news update

Stop press!

News has just come through that Hayden Fletcher has won round 5 of the National Series in Shepparton this afternoon!

My friend the wind.

On a windy Thursday 4 February evening, Mansfield Mt Buller Cycling Club's handicap road race started at the Botanic Park, headed out along the Whitfield Road to Sawpit Gully Road and back, turned left onto the Barwite Road, right onto Old Tolmie Road, over the 'Coombesberg' and finished on Graves Road, just short of the Buller Road - our longest Thursday race at 32km.
22 riders in all started, after a couple of late withdrawals. With the gusty south-westerly breeze it was likely to be a night for the back markers, even though there was a generous 18 minutes between the Limit 'group' ofTony Morris and the Scratch 'group' of Josh Hopwood.
The group which made the most impact was Block, made up of Tom Macmunn, Mauro Brega, Bruce Halket and Darren Bakker and they took advantage of the windy conditions. By the turn at Sawpit Gully they still had most of the 75 second advantage they'd started with over Hopwood. After the turn and and riding into the headwind, they put even more time into him. In fact, Hopwood's handicap proved that no-one has been so disadvantaged by 'My friend the wind' since Demis Roussos did his worst work back in the 70's!
Block proceeded to ride through the rest of the field by the top of the Coombesberg; the only other two to stay with them were Dave Moore from the 2.30 group and Tim Hall from the 10 minute group.
Tom Macmunn sprinted early into the wind and held off Moore for a strong win. Halket took third ahead of Brega, Bakker and Hall.
Rounding out the top ten a few seconds later were Rob Skinner, Steve Flew and Ian Conrick with Tony Morris tenth in an impressive performance off Limit.
The win by Macmunn sees him leapfrog Hopwood on the points table, 66 to 64 with Dave Moore's second place moving him up to third on 61 points.
Many thanks to all our officials and volunteers; Cherie, Margaretanne, Deb, Di, Jenni, Tony, Dave, Tony and John.  
Next Thursday's race will be a Graded Scratch Race, held on Course 9, similar to last week but turning at Long Lane and only 22km long. Entries via SMS to 0428 503 437 by 8pm Wednesday please.
Results are here and some pics from Commissaire/Handicapper/Photographer John Eisner are here.

Sunday morning will see the longest MMBCC race of the summer, 42km around the Old Tolmie Road Loop. Starting at 8am, it's sure to provide interesting spectating. Come along and see us all wearing the pain face!

Dirt Maidens at Mt Buller

Get ready ladies - we've got a brand new mountain biking event just for you!
Mt Buller will welcome the Dirt Maidens Challenge for the first time on Saturday, 20 February.
The Dirt Maidens Challenge is a fun, all-women's cross-country and gravity mountain biking event, with a fluoro fancy dress theme just to add a bit of fun and flair to the mix.
All levels of mountain biker are catered for, with three levels of difficulty to choose from - beginner, intermediate and advanced.
Plus, with separate cross-country and gravity events you'll have the opportunity to enter into one or both disciplines over the weekend.
Ladies who choose to ride cross-country can take on a 7km short course, a 12.5km standard course or a gruelling 20km long course across a collection of trail favourites.
And those ladies who are keen to tackle the gravity trails will undertake a 2km course through multiple bermed corners, rock gardens and sneaky switchbacks down Mt Buller's flow down trail, Copperhead.
Enter online here.

The GravityOz Women's MTB Skills Clinic is on the same weekend. This weekend is the perfect way to get into mountain biking, instructed by the best female coaches in Australia. To book, head to the Gravity Oz website.

Big bunches on Saturday morning

The last two Saturday mornings have seen close to 40 riders roll out from the Botanic Park for the MMBCC bunch ride. There's definitely safety in numbers. The coffee shops probably don't mind either!

Mechanical doping

Cheating with an electric motor hidden within a bike has been in the news over the last week with a Belgian Under 23 Woman getting nabbed at the CycloCross World Championships in Belgium.
Now that it's been proven that riders really are cheating this way, it's a timely reminder that this isn't the first time there have been rumours of this kind of cheating.
Here's Ryder Hesjedal at the Vuelta in 2014 with his bike behaving a little strangely after he crashes.
And this video shows Fabian Cancellara simply riding away from Tom Boonen at the Tour of Flanders in 2010. And this one includes the same footage but goes into a bit more detail of what 'they' suspect may have happened.
It's all a bit 'conspiracy theory' but interesting nonetheless.

Letter to the club from Mt Buller RMB CEO John Huber

News from last Monday's Dirt Crits as soon as there is some!

First Aid wanted!

Kian on the mend at Epping Hospital...

Kian posted this pic yesterday from his hospital bed at Epping Hospital, after he'd had reconstructive surgery... all due to head butting a tree fern when riding at Buxton.

Now that we've got your attention; and we're on the subject of medical treatment... the club is putting out a call for six members who'd like to get first aid qualified FOR FREE!

The club will pay for you to do a first aid course. You'll need to download a workbook and do an online assessment, then there'll be either a full day or two evenings later on in February or early March for the practical part.

The only requirement is that you make yourself available for the Mansfield Tour on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 March.

So if you're keen, email Di Condie by clicking on this link. But be one of the first six or you'll miss out!