There’s a lot to catch up on this week…
Dirt Crits Week 1 - 2023/2024 Season
By Damian Grundy
A fantastic turnout of mountain bikers eager for some more racing greeted the start of another season of Dirt Crit racing at Riflebutts Reserve on Tuesday 10 October.
The course was a little damp in places after the recent heavy rainfall but after all, this is mountain biking, what would this be if there was no dirt!
The race for the week was a consistency test. Each competitor needed to complete two timed laps of the same course, the objective being to produce two laps with the closest possible time difference.
The course distance was roughly 3km and lap times varied from Charlie Dobson’s fastest at 11min27sec out to 18min of some of the younger and less experienced competitors (there is a suspicion that they may have strayed and ridden a little further than the marked 3km).
And so to the results: After all the laps were completed and a special mention to Archie Smith for his enthusiasm in completing 1 more lap than was absolutely necessary, Sam Kinnersley came out victorious with two laps of virtually identical elapsed time at 12min18sec on his first lap and then a very consistent 12min17sec on his second lap.
Archie Smith, after his additional lap wasn’t far behind with only two seconds difference at 11min36sec and 11min34sec.
Here are the results for the overall times and places.
A special mention to Archie Smith for the fastest overall two laps!
Dirt Crits Week 2 - 2023/2024 Season
By Dave Empey
Near perfect conditions presented themselves for the first gravity enduro of the season, although the lower trails in the park are still awash from recent heavy rain.
Two tracks were raced Tuesday night with Archie Smith putting down the fastest time on trail 1 and newcomer Allan Mahoney putting a cracker down on trail 2.
There has been a great deal of improvement in many of the younger riders with several moving up the standings last night; Leo Femor, in particular, has shown great improvement.
It was great to see both Cameron Dobson and Damian Grundy back racing, although Cameron was shown a clean pair of heals by his son Charlie.
The top five were, Archie Smith P1, Allan Mahoney P2, Zac Empey P3, Ryder Chadd P4 and rounding out the top five Charlie Dobson.
Perfect night for a bike race
By Matt Hoskin
The forces of nature gave us a spectacular evening with warm, sunny conditions and not a breath of wind. That and the promise of the usual blend of social camaraderie and highly competitive racing attracted riders from as far and wide as Melbourne and Seymour.
A broad spread of start times later proved to have been a genius set of calculations by the handicapper, where at the finish line the whole field could have been covered with a small blanket (or maybe a danger flag ? – but more on that later).
Back to the start, riders remained separated in their respective groups on the outbound leg of Howes Creek Road, with the widely varying speeds gradually bringing the racers closer together, and the turnaround point providing a great look at how far each group was ahead or behind the others.
The group of Matthew Hoskin and Ryder Chadd maintained a steady but moderate pace on the outbound leg, carefully balancing the unlikely prospect of holding off chasing groups, with keeping enough in the tank to hold on to the chasers if the more likely catch was made from behind. The quiet road in perfect conditions was idyllic if you ignored the burning lungs and protesting leg muscles. The road was not completely devoid of cars however, with Matthew at one point sighting a car just off the back of the group and preparing for them to overtake for over a minute before being told by his riding companion that “it’s Bruce” (Halket, the Commissaire) whilst courteously refraining from finishing the line with “you idiot”.
The turnaround instructions and rules around the previously mentioned flag, proved too difficult to comprehend when oxygen starved and on the limit of exertion, at least for one rider who ended up being relieved of any need to put in the big efforts on the return leg after being disqualified for failure to obey the flag marshal.
For Ryder and Matthew, the catch from the next group on the road of Darren Bakker, Steve Duke and Ant Bateup, came a couple of km after the turnaround. Both held on, but the ~4km/h increase in pace proved difficult for Matthew, who after the first roll onto the front of the newly combine group, nearly blew straight out the back at the next little rise. No such struggle for Ryder however, who held a disciplined position on the back of the group all the way back to town, with Steve, Darren and Ant putting in some very strong work, rotating well at the front of the group.
A few testing bursts from Ant on the short hills in the last few km, failed to dislodge the wheel suckers from their group. With a couple of km to go, a rapidly approaching solo rider was sighted by the group about 50m off the back but clearly coming with intent. When that rider (Andy Garrett) hit the group with about a km to go, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a motorbike rider running late for the Philip Island GP. It was at the same time that the remaining front markers were being caught, so things were a touch chaotic for a few hundred metres. The work put in by Darren, Ant and Steve proved a bridge too far, with only Ryder able to hold Andy’s wheel as he flew by. Matthew jumped late to try and get on the wheel, and spent all remaining biscuits in his jar on bridging across to the wheel of Ryder who was now in the slipstream of the absolutely motoring Andy. There was no cat and mouse antics, with Andy never letting up for second and attempting, very nearly successfully, to simply ride everyone off his wheel. The fresh legs of Ryder and the slightly downhill finish were enough for him to put on a perfectly timed burst to come around Andy at the finish line and take the win, with Andy coming in second with a searing fastest time made all the more impressive by the solo chase.
A great race in perfect conditions which prevailed into the evening, with the al fresco dining at the Mansfield Hotel providing the usual recovery, with some needing the rest and preparation for a longish drive home.
Here are the results and many thanks to Tony Copland for the pics, below.
Next week we’re racing clockwise around the Barwite Loop, starting at the Botanic Park, turning around at Long Lane and finishing on Graves Road. Entries via Entry Boss by 8pm Wednesday.
Cycling Strategy Survey
The Strathbogie Shire is updating its cycling and walking strategy and would love to hear from you about what you like about riding and what they could improve.
Here is the link to the survey.
VDHS round 1 - Barjarg
Round 1 of the Victorian Downhill Series was hosted by the Albury Wodonga MTB Club at Barjarg this weekend. Here are the MMBCC member results:
Under 15 Men
5th Rueben Bateup
Masters Men
4th Ant Bateup
Under 17 Men
23rd Spencer Carman, 34th Finn Baker
Under 19 Men
23rd Archie Smith, 31st Zac Empey
Elite Women
1st Elise Empey, 3rd Bella Green
Elite Men
11th Matthew Empey, 12th Nathan Dabbs
Here are the full results.
Finally…
GVRT Ultramarathon fundraiser for MS Plus
A very special event is taking place along the Great Victorian Rail Trail next Saturday 28 October. In a massive feat of endurance, Linden Tolhurst will be running the 120km from Tallarook to Mansfield in one day to raise money for MS Plus – a support network for people with Multiple Sclerosis in Australia.
For Linden, the run is personal – his partner Prue, was diagnosed with MS in 2018. This year, his partner has had some quite significant treatment for MS and for Linden, part of that was wondering, “what can I do?” This will be his first time taking on a 100km plus distance and Prue is his biggest supporter.
Linden will be heading off in the dark at 4:00am from Tallarook Pool – he aims to cover 30 km every 4-hours. He envisages the run will take 17-hours, completing the final stretch into Mansfield as the sun begins to set on the High Country. With an eight-person support crew to help him reach his goal, Linden has broken the run into achievable milestones with rendezvous points setup at strategic locations along the trail.
If you’d like to support Linden’s run and donate to MS Plus, click on this link.
His target is to raise $3,500 but as of last week, he has exceeded his fundraising goal but of course, anything over and above will go to support a great cause.