Hi Everyone,

There's lots of cycling associated information coming through as well as the wrap from our weekly Mountain and Road events.
The executive have a meeting coming up next week and if you have any thoughts on the club, please shoot me an email or give me a call.
The Road committee will be drawing up the Autumn calendar soon so if anyone has any specific racing/social ideas, let us know as well.
The next couple of weeks should be busy and fun with Mountain bike action on Buller over the long weekend followed by The Scody High Country Cycle Challenge and the Criterium/Road race the following weekend.

Mitch has done it again.

In Newcastle last week Mitch won the XC time trial and was winning the XCO but half way through the race he lost his brakes and ended up FIFTH - his first lap was as fast as the U23 riders. He will head to New Zealand in April with the first ever MTB U17 Australian Team to do two road tours and additional training.

Road Racing.

Have a look at the results page for last weeks results. Whitfield Road this week with a handicap on the shortened course. Steve Silver, Stewart Goodings and Rob Greenway are on duty with Tom Thoburne and MargaretAnne Hood the big bosses. Ring Di by 8.00pm Wednesday please.

There is a ride up Buller next Wednesday for the Jodi Lee Foundation - have a look at the end of this newsletter for more details .

Mountain Biking.

Have a look at the Mountain Bike results page for the latest news from last nights racing.

Other stuff.

MMBCC CRIT AND UP BULLER.
John Lithgow is well on the way to rounding up his volunteers for the MMBCC Criterium and Buller Race in a couple of weeks. Have a look at the poster on the web site - CLICK HERE - and call John on 0407 301 232.

FILM NIGHT.

Max Fricke is having a fundraising night NEXT MONDAY 12 MARCH 7.00pm - Safe House - tickets at the door

RAIL TRAIL (from Bruce H).
Here's an opportunity to improve our almost complete Rail Trail.
If you're on Facebook, vote for the Mansfield project in the Environment section. It's a clunky page to vote on but if you're used to Facebook it won't be too much of a problem. (I'm fairly new to Facebook, so I've still got a headache!)
Kerstie Lee is from the local Landcare group and she's applied for funding for revegetation along the Rail Trail.
Please have a read, use the link at the bottom and vote. (Or as they say in Canberra "Vote early - vote often!")
Cheers,
Bruce.

Good morning!
I am the Landcare Facilitator from the Mansfield district (Up2Us Landcare Alliance). I applied for the Bank of Melbourne grant a few weeks ago and on Friday last week I heard that I was one in 10 who were shortlisted in the environment category in Victoria which was very exciting. However, this is the first step and now I need to generate community support so that people can vote for this project on facebook - the project with the greatest support is the one who will ultimately receive the prize. (I never thought I would have to be a politician as a Landcare facilitator - all things to all people is our motto I guess). Here is a little blurb about the project.

Linking the community through growing and planting

The Up2Us Landcare Network has been shortlisted for a Bank of Melbourne Grant of $10,000, which will be voted on Facebook by popular choice.

“Linking our community through growing and planting” is hoped to be a collaborative project by linking in the Mansfield Shire Council, local schools, other members of our community and corporate partners. It would have been more apt if I had called it "Propagating a community", with the money going towards the purchase of trees and equipment.

The focus of the project will be working alongside the Agribusiness students at Mansfield Secondary College and the Mansfield Shire Council to maintain and improve the amenity of the Goulburn River High Country Rail Trail. Included in this is an opportunity for local students to learn skills in propagating seeds growing plants, and planning for planting.

It is aimed that this will provide an easily accessible space for all schools to be involved in National Tree Day later on in the year.

With the correct vegetation, this site could provide a biolink running from Mansfield to Seymour and give the necessary habitat to save the endangered legless lizard.

Please support us in this venture and vote 1 for “Linking our community through growing and planting” on the bank of Melbourne websitewww.bankofmelbourne.com.au/thelocalproject

Thankyou so much for your support in this and pass it to as many people as you possibly can.

If you need any further information on this please feel free to contact me on the details below.

Cheers
Kerstie

--
Up2Us Landcare Alliance
Kerstie Lee
Email: info@up2us.org.au
Website: www.up2us.org.au
Ph: 0400 613 344
Shop 3, 12-22 Highett Street, Mansfield
PO Box 1, Mansfield VIC 3724

JODI LEE FOUNDATION RIDE THROUGH MANSFIELD

I am from the Jodi Lee Foundation and we have a team of riders coming
through your area on Tuesday and Wednesday 13 and 14 March. It would be
fantastic if we could get as many people and riders as possible to show
support to these guys. Listed below is some further information on the ride
if you are able to post on your website or send around an email.
Please feel free to contact me on 0401133643 should you require further
information.

Kind regards

Nicole Anderson
Jodi Lee Foundation
**
*10 March - 16 March - Ride for the Little Black Dress*
*From Canberra to Melbourne *

The Jodi Lee Foundation was founded in 2010 in honour of Jodi Lee, to save
lives through increasing awareness and encouraging early detection of bowel
cancer.

In January 2011, 14 cyclists pedalled form Melbourne to Adelaide to promote
the Jodi Lee Foundation. The team raised in excess of $135,000. The impact
of the ride was not simply the funds raised, but the influence the message
of early screening had on people.

Following the success in 2011, the event is back for 2012. This year a team
of 22 cyclists and 4 support crew are planning to ride from Canberra to
Melbourne. The team will cover over 1,000 kms of challenging terrain across
New South Wales & Victoria. We have made this year's ride a little more
interesting by tackling not only The Snowies, but we will also take the
team up onto Mt Buller. We aim to raise $200,000.

Come and join the guys as they tackle Mt Buller on Wednesday 14 March.
See rideforthelittleblackdress.com
<http://www.rideforthelittleblackdress.com/>for daily updates on the ride.

That's all for now,

John.