“I thought of that while riding my bicycle.”
Albert Einstein (on the Theory of Relativity)
Club kit
We’ve had some enquiries regarding club kit.
If enough members are interested, we can get Ventou to open the online portal for you to order.
And don’t forget, Ventou have added a long-sleeve mountain bike jersey to the offerings.
Email Bruce if you’re interested.
Dirt Critters
By Tim Ross
Last week, Dirt Critters rode the single track along Rifle Butts Road, to the lookout and back. Despite pretty warm conditions all the kids seemed to have plenty of energy.
Next Tuesday, we’ll be doing an Enduro course at Rifle Butts Reserve.
Coming up next Friday is the Vic Inter-Schools MTB Race at Falls Creek with a big contingent of Mansfield kids attending, many of them current or former Dirt Critters. Best wishes to them all.
Sealed Irish Handicap 20 Feb
By Damian Grundy
Another great week of fun dirt racing!
A warm welcome to another first timer Lachlan Storer.
For a twist everyone started together for this race with handicap time corrections being applied to the completed times at the end of the race. The course was longer at 2.37km per lap than the previous XC night and lap numbers were similar so a longer race was the challenge for the riders. Three lappers were to race 7.1km and the fast people at six laps had 11.85km ahead.
Luckily it wasn’t too hot, though definitely on the warm side.
A field of 14 riders greeted the starters yell of “GO!”
Ruby Dobson was in attendance and so there was a very fast bunny to chase. Ruby led up the first climb and despite a small mechanical issue towards the end of the first lap, and a wrong turn at the start of the second, was untroubled to finish as the fastest on-course completing six laps in 43min 18sec at an average speed of 19.7km/h.
The first rider to complete their allotted number of laps was Ariel Stava completing her 3 laps in 31min 32sec.
And so the riders continued to finish and the “sealed Envelope Of Handicap Time Corrections” was opened and times duly corrected.
Once all the riders had completed their allotted laps and calculations were completed, the night’s winner with a strong ride was Steve Curnow with a corrected time of 41min 17sec. This was a promising sign as Steve is travelling to Forrest this weekend to compete at the Otway Odyssey. GOOD LUCK Steve!!
In the minor placings we had Ariel Stava in her second race this season finishing 2nd. Cam Dobson in 3rd, Luke Vivash in 4th and Adam Baker 5th.
Full results have been posted here.
Congratulations to all competitors and we hope to see you all in two weeks for the Long, Long Lap of Riflebutts Dirt Crits extravaganza. The usual prize money has generously been quadrupled for this race so don’t miss out!
Baker Takes The Cake
By Ian ‘Stream of Consciousness’ Conrick.
Any cyclist considering a casual ride would wander outside to feel the wind, look to the sky and say, “It’s on tonight!”
Yes! Thursday night Mansfield Mt Buller Cycling Club racing out on the Mansfield-Whitfield Road with the turn around point at Long Lane finishing on Graves Road; a distance of 22km with 13 riders on the start list for the handicap race.
It means that you can be graded with fellow contestants; that could be a school teacher, a security officer, a sign writer or a poor, old, Aussie battler who’s had Vegemite soup for lunch. But we all have the same goal - to grab the moment; to say to ourselves “I’ve had a 30 minute nana nap this afternoon” or “I’ve had a handful of nuts and a mini chocolate bar” and call on your group and say “Let’s have a crack at winning this race!”
They might reply “Mate, I’m cooked, done. You go.”
Or you’re thinking about going around to your mother-in-law’s for a warm cup of tea.
By now those other blokes have got the jump on you and then you’re further delayed as a you’re stopped to give way to a vehicle.
That’s fine; as the wind has swung around onto my back and I’m flying to the finish line. My legs are burning and the lungs screaming for a rest but what a great nights’ racing!
Congratulations to the winner, Adam Baker, followed by Ian Conrick and Adrian Dowd. Fastest time went to Bruce Halket, which must have been a clerical error.
With fellow riders and their families we enjoyed a meal at the Mansfield Hotel, thanking the Brown family for their ongoing support of the MMBCC.
To the volunteers, as always, many thanks for your help. Also to Tony Copland, our photographer, the person behind the snaps and shots. Here are the results.
As always we welcome visitors, families and the like to have a ride or race with the club look at www.mmbcc.org.au for further details.
Next weeks race is a new event; the circuit is the Owens Creek Road / Merinda Way Loop, two and a half anti-clockwise laps starting at the cemetery, probably for a good reason.
Otway Odyssey Results
Congratulations to Ruby Dobson who was 6th in the highly competitive 100km Elite Women yesterday.
And… to Steve Curnow and Lise Andreasen who both WON their category in the 30km race today. Again!
Mt Baw Baw VDHS Results
U15 Men - Rueben Bateup, 5th (5 seconds faster than Dad); Keegan Carman, 20th (out of 32).
U17 Men - Spencer Carman, 25th (of 30).
Masters Men - Ant Bateup, 6th (of 19).
Elite Men - Matt Empey, 2nd (by just 0.21 of a second!)
Well done guys!
Finally…
Kudos to the RMB for clearing an absolutely massive tree from the Australian Alpine Epic. It was so big it was hard to clamber over - so getting this big boy out of the way will make a big difference. Many thanks to Dave McCoombe and the crew.