Happy New Year to you all and all the best for 2026.
New mtb course at ‘South’ Blue Range
By Damian Grundy
A quick update on progress for our hosting of the Alpine Junior MTB Series XC race.
The race date is Saturday 7 February.
The venue is at The Vanderhaydens Property “Blue Range” 206 Rifle Butts Road. This is the same venue as the VDHS race early last year.
We have established an XC course in the pines at the top of the hill. It’s a fun little track, typical pine forest trails, so quite different to the trails in the MTB Park! But we need to bed the course in and possibly tweak it a little as we get closer to the race.
To this end, during January, we will be doing some regular riding up at the venue.
Starting this Tuesday and twice weekly, Tuesdays at 5pm and Sunday mornings at 9.30am, come on up and help us out… get some fitness happening. Depending on numbers and interest we may run some impromptu races as well.
Given the venue’s location (it is a bit of a climb to get up there) we will offer a shuttle service with pick up at the Rifle Butts mountain bike park 30min before each ride. If you are looking for a lift up please shoot me a message (Damian 0411 045 771) to give me a heads up. It’d be great to see people up there!
If you’re between 4 and 15 years old, there will be a race for you on Saturday 7 February. So come on up and do some reconnaissance.
There are quite a few opportunities for involvement for all club members and it’ll be great to see you there; if not for all of the rides at least a couple of times 😊.
In Summary:
Tuesday 6 January – 5pm
Sunday 11 January – 9.30am
Tuesday 13 January – 5pm
Sunday 18 January – 9.30am
Tuesday 20 January – 5pm
Sunday 25 January – 9.30am
Tuesday 27 January – 5pm
Sunday 1 February – 9.30am
Tuesday 3 February – 5pm: the first Dirt Crits XC race for 2026
What’s Talia up to?
By Jarrod Appleton
Talia has been training really hard for the Australian Road Nationals. Lots of time on the bike combined with heat training. Heat training entails either 45 minutes on the stationary bike in the laundry with a heater raising the temperature to 40+ degrees or 45 minutes in a sauna at 70 degrees. She departs this Wednesday for Perth and will be racing the criterium at 5:30pm Friday and the road race on Sunday at 1:30pm. Both races are live on SBS. It will be her first outing in the Liv Alula Jayco kit.
After Nationals Talia returns to Mansfield from Perth for more training. Unfortunately due to the new UCI rules she will not race the Tour Down Under or Cadels Race this year. Under the new 2026 rules, riders registered to Continental level teams can no longer do World Tour level races. The Liv Alula Development Team that Talia is racing with this year is a Continental team. It's a real shame for the Australian racing scene. The top Australian domestic teams can no longer be invited to the TDU or Cadels.
However Talia is racing one more time in Australia at the Surf Coast Classic https://www.cadelevansgreatoceanroadrace.com.au/womens-surf-coast-classic/overview/ at the end of January, before flying to Europe on the 2nd of February. She has rented an apartment in Girona sharing it with two young female Canadian riders.
Talia has her race calendar until the end of June and she's very happy with it. The team has prioritised stage races with climbing in southern Europe rather than flat races in the north. And excitingly her first two races in February she has been invited to join the World Tour Team for https://setmanaciclista.com/ and https://clasicadealmeria.net/2018/ . Setmana Ciclista Valenciana is a four stage race in Spain categorised as 2.Pro so both WWT and Conti riders can compete. It attracts the big hitters who are not interested in the World Tour races in the middle east in February. Last year Demi Vollering won beating Kasia Niewiadoma and Elisa Longoborgini. So hopefully Talia gets to race these legends again (she raced them in the Tour de Suisse in 2024). These races can be viewed with a Staylive subscription https://app.staylive.io/cycling/en/.
Upcoming Events
Thu 15 Jan - MMBCC Handicap Howes Creek Road (O’Hanlon’s finish) - the first race for 2026 finishes on everyone’s favourite hill (insert your favourite eye roll emoji here). Enter here by 8pm Wed 14 Jan.
Marshals are: Steve Brown, Steve Curnow and Simon Hall. Commissaires: Janine Appleton and Tim Ross.
Wed 7 Jan–Sun 11 Jan - Road National Champs, Perth, WA.
Fri 16 Jan–Sun 25 Jan - Tour Down Under, Adelaide, SA.
Wed 28 Jan–Sun 1 Feb - Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, Geelong, Vic.
Tue 3 Feb - First MMBCC Dirt Crits XC of 2026, South Blue Range, Mansfield.
Sat 7 Feb - Alpine Junior MTB Series by All Terrain Cycles, round 5, South Blue Range, Mansfield.
Tue 10 Feb - First MMBCC Gravity Dirt Crits of 2026, venue to be confirmed.
Sat 14 Mar - VDHS, round 6 - South Blue Range. MMBCC hosting the final round of the Victorian Downhill Series.
Thu 18 Mar–Sun 22 Mar - GWM MTB National Championships, Mt Buller.