Sunday Night News

VDHS a huge success!

VDHS BB MMBCCa.jpg

Our downhill race on the weekend up on the hill was a fantastic weekend… a record 298 entries!
A huge hearty congratulations to Ben Annear for doing so much work to make it a such a success!
Thanks also to the VDHS committee for allowing us to host the event.
And an absolutely HUGE thank you to all our members who volunteered their time, be it course setting, car parking, course marshalling… whatever.
Thank you to: Elise Empey, Matt Empey, Dan Friday, Dave Empey, Peter Ellett, Steve Duke, Judi Duke, Tim Hall, Bruce Halket, Kate Stonnill, Tim Ross and Jason Parker.
Another even bigger thank you to the following who volunteered for BOTH days of the event: Adam Baker, Allan Gerrans and Richard Plumb.
Finally, a massive thank you to the following who volunteered even though they’re not even members!
Andy (coty) Setchell, Craig Kappes, Peter Coffey, Nikki Coffey, Caleb Stoneman, Reece Stephenson, Gemma Ferguson, Nick Ferguson, Vickie Vanderhoeven, Jackson Vanderhoeven and Ariel Stava.
If you don’t already have one, there’s an MMBCC t-shirt coming your way!
Results
Shannon Rademaker finished 4th in Vets, Dan Friday 3rd in Short Travel class, Elise Empey finished in 4th (just .03 secs off third) and an awesome 9th (top ten!) to Maddie Smith in Women.

2019 Mansfield Subaru Tour

We’re thrilled to announce that Dion Theodossi and his team at Martins Garage are the new Naming Rights Sponsor of our tour - the Mansfield Subaru Tour!
Plus we can also confirm that All Terrain Cycles are back on-board to sponsor the Sprint prizes.
But wait… there’s more! Torq nutrition are sponsoring too!
And we’ll be able to announce at least one more sponsor shortly.
We’re really excited that it’s going to be a great event. So, please contact Wil to let him know which job you’d like to volunteer for.

Oscar’s Time

An Individual Time Trial (ITT) is usually known as the ‘race of truth’ - there’s no where to hide in a bunch and no wheel to follow. Just each rider, alone, against the clock. 
It’s usually accompanied by aerodynamic enhancements such as time trial handlebar extensions, skin suits and aero helmets. 
However, the ITT held by the Mansfield Mt Buller Cycling Club on Thursday 17 January was the Rob Curtis Memorial Hillclimb - held on a course which kept speeds so slow that being ‘aero’ was virtually irrelevant. While it was only a relatively short 10km, it was all uphill.
Yep, all of it! (Just like Rob would have wanted.)
There is a suspicion that the Uphill time trial was the brainchild of Thursday Night Race Director Di Condie; who planned a 10km dose of pain because she knew she’d be away on holidays, watching the Tour Down Under in Adelaide. Thanks Di!

On a very warm evening 12 year old Oscar Hall, visiting from Benalla, started things off. With so many away on holiday, or out fighting fires, or worried about the heat, he was followed by only another 11 riders at 30 second intervals.
Even though Damian Grundy was the first across the line, followed by Oscar’s Dad Simon, it was Oscar who took the win with a time of 34.59, corrected to 19.59 on handicap. 
John Lazarov continued his transformation into a climber to take second in 20.28 with Judi Duke third in 20.44, ahead of the two Hall brothers, Simon and Tim.
Bruce Halket rode fastest time in 25.22.
During presentations back at the Delatite Hotel, Club President Damian Grundy announced that all entry monies would be donated to the Red Cross in Rob Curtis’ name.
Next week is everyone’s favourite, a 32km Handicap from the Botanic Park, up to Sawpit Gully Road and around the Barwite Loop to Graves Road. Entries via SMS the usual way by 8pm Wednesday.
Many thanks to all our officials and volunteers. Here are the results and thanks to Tony Copland for the pics.

CA membership renewals

It’s that time of year for Cycling Australia (road) memberships… again!
If you haven’t already, please make sure you renew before you enter your next race. Here’s the link you need to renew your membership so you can race in 2019.
However, not unusually, there seems to be some kind of admin glitch at CA. A few members have renewed but their name doesn’t yet appear on the CA membership list that we download. So please bring your renewal receipt with you to the next race to prove that you have a valid 2019 race licence.
Remember, no membership - no race!

Upcoming Events

Road racing continues this Thursday with a 32km Handicap from the Botanic Park, up to Sawpit Gully Road and then around to Graves Road (course 6). Please check the duty roster.
Dirt Crits is still a few weeks away, starting again on Tuesday 5 February. Here’s the calendar.

Finally…

An interesting article on road cycling in the ‘mainstream’ media. Victoria needs to lift its game.