Start of Summer News

A big weekend of cycling, here’s the latest MMBCC News… make sure you subscribe on the website so you don’t miss out.

New road numbers

With so many of the ‘new’ road numbers missing, we’ve ordered ‘newer’ numbers. They’ve arrived; so we’ll use them in next week’s race, at Jamieson. (We’ll lash out and buy new pins as well!)

And we’ll go back to the traditional way of using them: the Handicapper will allocate all racers a number each week, you get to pin it on and use it for the race, then return it to the race trailer after the race.

No more taking numbers home… they go missing that way!

Lightning Beats Dirt Critters

No Dirt Critters Update this week as the weather was doing its weird start-of-summer thing again, forcing cancellation. Hopefully the weather will behave itself for next week.

Dirt Crits Irish Handicap

By Damian Grundy

Let me be brief! Vini Vidi Vici! “I came, I saw, I conquered!”

Or So Julius Caesar is alleged to have said in a letter soon after a conclusive victory over some poor European nation.

One might suspect that if Rylan Fox was a classically educated young man, he might have said something similar after the race at Rifle Butts on Tuesday 28 November. He took full advantage of a generous handicap and absolutely dominated the race, finishing almost 2 minutes clear of Archie Smith.

Tom MacMunn was on a single-speed blinder and rode super fast to finish in 3rd place.There is a rumour that a crowd funding page is being set up to try to generate some funds to help him put some gears on his bike!

Reuben Bateup and Cruz Archibald fought out a close tussle to round out the podium in 4th and 5th places respectively.

And once again Ant Bateup was fastest on the night but only by a whisker over Tom MacMunn, who as previously mentioned, was riding with only the one gear.

Here are the detailed results - gravity race next week.

Rob Curtis Memorial Handicap Road Race

By Ruby Dobson (with a little assistance from Cam Dobson)

This weeks race was the Rob Curtis Memorial. Rob was a legend in the world of winter sports, a very handy bike rider (particularly going up hill) and a long-term (and missed) member of MMBCC. The course departs the Botanic Garden heads out on the Whitfield Road, turning around at Rob’s house with a finish in town in front of the Showgrounds; total length 30.4 km.

Ably handicapped by Dave (Mr. Spreadsheet) Moore the field of 14 was split into 7 groups, with Tony Morris punching the breeze out front, with the muscly entourage of Jake Lay and Andrew Garret departing @ 15:30.

Tony got away with very little fuss and very little briefing, other than to watch out for potholes, gravel and cars (not necessarily in that order). The rest of the crew got away in short (prescribed) order with similar treatment and very little delay from light traffic.

Shane and Ruby (riding off ‘Block) were on the road @ 13:30 with a mission to keep away from Scratch and to round up as much as the field as possible. They managed to catch Darren Bakker, Michael Pierce and Damian Grundy at the turnaround point; Scratch were about a minute behind at this point, which got Shane and Ruby a bit focused.

I know that a focused Ruby is quite a thing (I haven’t met Shane before but he seems to be similar) and they proceeded to pull the finger out and got stuck in. Damian and Micheal lost contact after a surge up one of the rises back towards town while Darren gritted his teeth, pulled on both his fingers and joined in. The run home was completed at an average somewhere north of 39km/h, with the trio of Shane, Ruby and Darren working together until Dead Horse Lane, where Darren died after one last attack from Ruby.

This was ultimately the winning move of the race, with Ruby winning by a half wheel after a vocal negotiation process on Mt Battery Road. Winning (race) time was 46:34 @ 39.2km/h.

Scratch rider Jake Lay demonstrated again just how fast he can be, coming in third (pipping Darren by 2 seconds) with fastest time 44:35 @40.9km/h.

Thanks to all the riders, marshals and Commissaires.

Some of the events described above may have been embellished.Times, speeds quoted are based on what played out on Thursday night, but could be significant under/over estimates depending on your view of the truth and whether you were actually there.

Next week we’re off to Jamieson for a handicap on just about everyone’s favourite course.

Here are the results and many thanks to Tony Copland for a really great set of pics this week.

Some Weekend Results

Tour of Bright

A special congratulations to the MMBCC’s own Talia Appleton for 19th place overall in the highly competitive Women’s A grade.

Jake Lay (who comes over from Seymour Broadford CC and races here most Thursdays) came in a very impressive 8th place in the almost as competitive Men’s B.

Shayne Kirby (another Thursday night regular from Seymour Broadford CC) came in 27th in Master’s C.

And Chris McKnight (who works for Tourism North East, used to work at Mt Buller and races here occasionally) came in 42nd in Master’s C.

Congratulations to all of you. Here are the Tour of Bright results.

VIC MTB Series - taking the chocolates

Ruby Dobson won Elite Women at round 3 of the Vic Champs Series at Buxton on Saturday and doubled up by winning again at Eildon for round 4 on Sunday, taking the chocolates, literally!

Special mentions to Bruce Halket and Tim Ross who raced Masters 7. On Saturday at Buxton, Bruce finished 2nd, Tim 4th; then on Sunday at Eildon they each moved up a place, to both get on the podium and… bring home the chocolates!

Here are the results from Saturday and Sunday.

Late November Update

Two out of three ain’t bad…

Dirt Critters Update

By Tim Ross

Dirt Critters headed towards the mountains for Tuesday night's ride.  We gathered at Carter's Rd and rode the single track up along the river to Mirimbah and back again.  The distance is a touch over 6km return, fairly flat, winding through the forest, includes some boardwalk and has a couple of muddy bits; what's not to love.  The eighteen kids split into three groups for the ride.  Despite the threatening skies, we all stayed mostly dry and thankfully we were spared the thunderstorm and hail that hit Mansfield at about the same time.  Special thanks to the parents who rode with us and provided encouragement and support.

Five Mansfield riders competed in round two of the Alpine Cycling Club Junior MTB series recently.  Blake, Cooper, Sienna, Miles and Scout travelled to Mt Beauty to take on the gravity trails.  All acquitted themselves well and enjoyed the experience, and both Sienna and Miles made the podium.  Next race in this series is a Cross Country race at Yackandandah on Saturday week.

Lightning wins Dirt Crits

Not really. There was no Dirt Crits this last week. Due to safety concerns, the scheduled Gravity Enduro had to be cancelled because of all the lightning. Next week it’s back to Cross Country.

Long time between race reports

By Damian Grundy

Not to complain, but I thought the winner wrote the race reports, that’s why I eased up just enough to come 2nd!

I feel doubly robbed now; I think it might be 2 years since my last road race and I thought that maybe my proper handicap group might have been limit or somewhere thereabouts, but no! I find that I am in the super strong group of Tim Ross, Elise Empey, Jarred Appleton and Michael Pearce with barely a couple of minutes over the crack grouping of Halket, Duke, Bakker and young Ryder Chadd (not forgetting James Black and Graham Cole somewhere in between).  Then Barely a couple of seconds behind them was the young strong, but possibly tired after a successful weekend of Mountain Bike racing at Avoca, legs of Ruby -The Ruthless- Dobson.

What chance I asked myself?!

Before I go further with the description of the race, I will share a couple of notes on my preparation and methodology for the race. Forgive me for digressing if these are not so interesting.

Over my years of involvement in cycle racing I have been very lucky to get some guidance from some very capable athletes. One of these athletes had developed from a gangly kid into something of a race machine. As he advanced in his career, he became more and more reluctant to race smaller races. He told me that in part it was because that for him, every race needed to be conducted at the same level of focus and preparation. There was, in his mind, no place for relaxing his intensity based on the idea that the race was less important, lest some bad habits creep into his methodology that then might undermine his performance when it really counted.

My point here is that I still try to manage myself around the few races that I do in the same way that I would have done “back in the day” when my legs were stronger, and the years weren’t so heavy on me.

So regardless that I hadn’t had the road bike out for perhaps more than 10 times in the past year my underlying thoughts were that I needed to take advantage of every possible “trick” I might have up my sleeve. None of these tricks are illegal and all fall entirely within the idea of fair sports. These are simple methods that help to maximise performance on most any day.

Here are a few of the “tricks” I used:

1.       It was a warmer day for the race so cooling and hydration would be important. Core temperature is critical to performance and so minimizing overall body temperature increase before the race is critical to performance. To maximise this I planned the following:

1.1.    I packed icewater and hydrated with this throughout the pre-race period. This has a valuable impact on keeping my core temperature lower.

1.2.    I planned a shorter warm up, muscle activation without increasing core temperature

1.3.    A toilet break immediately before the race start to eliminate stored heat and lighten up (every little bit helps).

2.       In the afternoon before the race I had only eaten lightly, no junk, bananas, rice cakes with honey, fruit.

3.       I race on some bigger diameter tyres at the moment, 700x28’s. I am running 80psi for races. In some circles there is often the idea that 100psi is a magical race number for tyre pressures, it is a Myth!

4.       My bike hadn’t been used for a few weeks, so I lightly lubricated the chain.

5.       During my warm up I went through all gear combinations and checked the brake performance.

6.       10 minutes prior to the race start at the completion of my light warm up I ate 1 x race gel.

7.       And so, into the race. I really had no idea how my legs would be for the racing. Luckily it was head wind heading out Mt Buller Road. Into a headwind it is much easier to gain protection from the rest of the group, their speed is blunted, and the value of drafting is significantly increased.

7.1.    My first goal was to not get dropped in the first 5 minutes! That was a very real fear for me! I was prepared to sit on if I found that I was immediately struggling. ALWAYS ride at your own pace in these handicaps. Rest if you are tired. Remember that you are of much greater value to the group if you do 1 turn in every 10 than if you are dropped. If you are missing turns communicate loudly and clearly with the other riders to call them into the gap in front of you, as they come towards the back of the group drift back and call them “IN”!

8.       I am always mindful that when I come through for my turn of pace, my job is to protect the riders in the line behind me not the rider who has just finished his or her turn at the front. I hold to the race line until I have finished my turn then flick my elbow and swing off, get to the back as quickly as possible and get back into the paceline to maximise the rest time in the wind protection there.

9.       When I am on the front, I try to keep my head up. I am always mindful that when I am on the front, I am steering the group. I am looking up the road which is always faster. If I can see the group in front, I am visualising the gap between us decreasing.

10.   Depending on your groups strength and size remember that shorter turns at a slightly higher speed are always better. But it is a balancing act.

11.   When I am at the front of the group, I am looking at the road surface, obviously avoiding and pointing out potholes but more importantly I am looking for the vehicle wheel tracks. Our roads are generally NOT European beautiful smooth hot mix. Our country road finishes here around Mansfield are typically Australian and are mostly a heavier aggregate bedded into a wet tar. In their raw state our roads are slow and heavier surfaces to ride on. However over time the wheels of the cars and trucks force this aggregate further into the tar making the vehicle wheel tracks measurably smoother and faster to ride on. I TRY USE THE WHEEL TRACKS. Ideally, I only go onto the slower surfaces outside the wheel tracks when moving to the back of the group. In positioning when I am at the front of the group, I try to stay to the upwind side of the wheel tracks to allow as many of the group behind me the opportunity to also ride on the smoother section of the road.

12.   I will try to ride the minimum distance possible, through corners in the road wherever possible and safe to do so I try to use the insides of the corners. There is more to this and if working in a very experienced group the paceline will always ride the inside line and riders will swap off to the outside, this requires constant change to how the paceline works but on some courses, it will add up to considerable time savings.

13.   I try to remember to hydrate consistently throughout the race, when I had done a turn I would drift back, get into the paceline, and take a sip.

Back to the race report 😊

5 minutes into the race my legs were hurting. But I hadn’t been dropped and I can’t remember too many handicaps where my legs weren’t hurting after 5 minutes so it was all good so far.

I had calculated that if we could get to the turn around with some sort of reasonable gap, it was going to be a tailwind and mostly downhill run home and mostly everyone can go fast on a downhill with a tailwind and so we might be a chance.

Heading out towards Glenroy Rd I could see most everyone ahead of us and they didn’t seem uncatchable. I NEVER really look behind. There’s not much I can do about the faster guys. If they are fast enough, they will catch me, pretty much I am riding as fast as I can.

Our group was well matched, everyone was working well and smoothly.

As we approached the bottom of the small climb to Hearns Lane, we caught the first of the groups ahead Will Wilson and … there were several other groups well in sight.

Cresting the hill and heading down to the turn around the lead car was well in sight and we hadn’t been caught. We took the turn and were heading home. A few more were rounded up by Hearns Lane and the boys on block Bakker and Co were still a good distance back. I didn’t see if Ruby had caught them yet.

We crested the hill and headed down towards Glenroy Road again and there was the limit group only some few hundred metres ahead, Oh Happy Days!

Elise, Michael and Tim Were putting in some strong turns if uneven at times and our speed felt really good but we did appear, dare I say, to have gathered a little driftwood, some riders feeling they were in for an easy ride following the wheels to the finish. Well AHEM to that I was thinking! There are only the 2 little rollers on the straight section between Glenroy Road and Graves Road. It was my feeling that legs should at least be tested and so to the second roller, I was definitely starting to feel the effort, but I did what I could, Tim and Elise rolled over and over the crest I did glance back to see that there was just the 3 of us with a gap to the driftwood.

Well the die was cast, and we didn’t ease off. The gap grew little by little and we turned into Jamieson Road with what I hoped was a race winning gap. A couple of turns and one last strong pull from Tim as the line approached. Elise jumped past and powered to the line for the win. I struggled into the first Race Report writer’s place (2nd) a result that I will now dine out on for the next 2 years until my next outing race 😉. Tim Ross finished 3rd. Michael Pearce came in 30 odd seconds later in 4th with Tony Morris riding very well from limit to claim 5th.

Ruby Dobson claimed fastest time 2 minutes later, a great achievement chasing alone for most of the night.

Congrats to everyone who raced and thanks as always to the volunteers Race Marshalls and Commissaires without whom the races would not be possible.

Here are the results and many thanks to Tony Copland for the pics.

Mt Buller Ride Day update

Let's Ride!!

Is it going to rain? Maybe. Are we riding bikes anyway? You bet your Five Tens we are!

Thanks to everyone who has registered their interest and confirmed attendance for Saturday. With such a strong response, we have even organised a second shuttle bus for the day, to keep the laps rolling quick!

Here is a bit of information for the day, including a slight schedule change.

• 9:50 AM - Village Square Plaza for a welcome from Mt Buller, Contour Works, and Bus Fleet.

• 10:00 AM - Shuttles commence from the main carpark adjacent to the Village Square.

• 1:00 PM - Lunch in Kooroora's balcony area in the Village Square.

*Shuttles will continue until 5:00 PM

We hope to create an informal, but informative event for our Mansfield Mt Buller Cycling Club members. You are all encouraged to grab a shuttle alongside our trail builders to ask questions about our trail management plan. And to share feedback on our network, and ideas or guidance for the future. If anyone is unable to join the morning welcome, lunchtime will provide another opportunity to chat with our representatives from Mt Buller, Contour Works, and Bus Fleet.

We're excited to see you all, and excited to kick off a new summer of riding at Mt Buller!

Bradyn Tremmel
Communications and Events Coordinator (Mt Buller and Mt Stirling)

Sunny Afternoon Update

If you didn’t get this via email, don’t forget to subscribe… add your name and email address to the little box on the right hand side of the Homepage under ‘Subscribe to MMBCC News’.

Lots to catch up on this weekend…

Mt Buller Ride Day update

Alpine Resorts Victoria would like to invite the Mansfield Mt Buller Cycling Club to an exclusive, pre-season ride day at Mt Buller, on Saturday 25 November.

A reminder… MMBCC members only! You need to RSVP using this link if you want to ride at Mt Buller for the day. Due to a system change within ARV, this is a new link.

(If you’ve already RSVP’d with the link from last week, you’re already in. But if you haven’t yet, use this new one! The one in last week’s MMBCC News won’t work anymore.)

Dirt Critters Update

By Tim Ross

We had a great turn-up last Tuesday (14 Nov) and both groups enjoyed riding some of the upper trails at Rifle Butts Reserve. Returning to the carpark via Rubbish Run was perhaps a bit steep for the younger kids but by and large they handled it well (next time we'll take an easier track down!). 

It's amazing how much all the kids are improving in their riding, in particular, on the climbing trails. 

Nice to see Luke (still nursing a broken wrist) running the course with us, though his numerous short-cuts were noticed.

Next Tuesday: advance notice that on Tuesday next week (21 Nov) Dirt Critters will ride alongside the Delatite River from Carter's Road to Mirimbah and back, the last section of the Australian Alpine Epic.

This is a wonderful, flattish ride through the bush on a great piece of single-track. I checked the track out this morning and it's in perfect condition!!

All Dirt Critters (ie: younger group and older group) will ride at the same time (though we'll split up into groups based on speed and experience).  

We'll meet at the Carter's Road picnic area at 4:30pm and I expect we'll be finished before 6:00pm (the Carter's Road picnic area is easy to find on Google Maps; just off the Buller Road past Sawmill Settlement; allow 25 minutes drive from Mansfield). 

Parents are most welcome to bring their bikes and join the ride, or may prefer to walk out and back along the trail.

(It’s been a huge season so far at Dirt Critters, our junior mountain bike program at Rifle Butts MTB Park on Tuesday afternoons. Many thanks to Luke and Tim, from all the club, for all their great work. For more information, contact Dirt Critters via email or call Luke on 0455 604 785.)

Bruce Almighty

By Damian Grundy

What a glorious evening it was at Riflebutts MTB Park for this round of the MMBCC Dirt Crits. A perfect mild evening greeted the riders. The course, though a little grassy (Working Bee is coming up soon) was absolutely perfect after a day of light drizzle.

20 riders took to the start line for this Irish Handicap. There were 4 riders taking on their first XC race for the season and one of those, Ian (Puggo) Douglas, was a first first timer. It is always great to see new faces.

There was an early appeal to the handicapper by Cam Dobson, questioning the veracity of the handicaps. Of course, this was greeted with great sympathy and understanding by myself. I am sure we can all agree that handicappers are well known for their empathy and understanding! After careful consideration of this appeal, no adjustments were made.

The course for the evening was a straightforward 2.35km loop, up XC Loop, cut across to Joyride and follow this across and then down to the finish line.

First out of the gates were Bruce ‘Almighty’ Halket (Damian showing his age here with a painfully old cultural reference, Ed.) and Darren Bakker with a 5-lap challenge ahead. Bruce was keen to take advantage of the generous handicap and took flight.

The rest of the field followed at their allotted times and each with their own challenge of laps varying from 5 for the fastest guys through to 2 laps for our youngest competitors, Keegan Carmen and Leo Fermor who were the last competitors to take to the course.

It can be difficult during these Irish Handicaps to predict who might come out on top, but on the other side of the coin it is often quickly apparent who has been dealt a savage blow by the handicapper’s pen. On this evening David ‘Bocky’ Bock and Spencer Carmen had both clearly been on the receiving end of some harsh handicapping. Chin up boys! There will always be a next time and well done for sticking at it regardless of the outcome.

Heading into the final lap it had become clear that either of Elijah McGuigan or Bruce Halket could win. And so, to the finish and emerging from the course first it was Bruce Halket (5 laps), putting in the Almighty effort and coming out on top.

In 2nd place, 20 seconds later, Elijah McGuigan (4 laps) followed 27 seconds later by Adam Baker (3 laps) in a creditable 3rd place. Rounding out the podium were Will Anderson (3 laps) in 4th and Rueben Bateup (4 laps) in 5th.

Fastest on course for the evening was Ant Bateup at a very respectable 18.54km/h

Well done to all competitors, full results are available here.

Hall’s hills

By Beau Geste

If it wasn’t for the wind it would have “A hot summer night”… well, nearly. Spring and wind go together like “Love and Marriage”, such was the case on Thursday last.

15 riders started on the Howes Creek Road course, commencing with Micala Jacobs and Tony Morris leading the way. They were followed by the intrepid trio of David Jagger, John Eisner and Ian Conrick, who seemed fairly relaxed at the start.

The intrepid trio were followed by the dynamic duo of Tim Hall and Wil Wilson and these left two minutes ahead of Adrian Dowd and Allan Gerrans.

Then came the big groups: Mick Pierce returning after a break from racing, Tim Ross (powerhouse and last week’s winner), and Elise Empey “The Downhill Devil”.

Last to leave was the powerful Scratch group of Bruce Halket, Steve Duke and Darren Bakker; these were going to be very difficult to beat on a windy course. This group was tipped as course favourites on a night such as this.

Wilson and Hall rounded up the Eisner, Jagger, Conrick group at Preston Shearing Shed, perhaps channelling Bob Dylan, Conrick was heard to say ‘two riders are approaching”. Wil and Tim soon put the caught riders to work and the group stayed together trading turns to the turnaround, ably marshalled by Belinda and Tony Cipa.

Halfway home from Cummins Road, Tim and Wil left the workers behind and pursued the Limit riders, Micala and Tony. Tony’s fitness after riding Bankok to Phnom Penh recently served him well, as the dynamic duo proved difficult to catch.

Two hills to go and the catch was made, Tim and Wil stayed at their work until the very last hill. Tim launched a decisive attack at the top of the hill and “long sprinted” to a well-deserved victory.

Wil arrived second and the podium was completed by a loudly puffing Darren Bakker, who was also awarded fastest time (and very nearly the Bakker-Ross trophy.) The remainder of the scratch group followed Bakker in, nearly fulfilling predictions that it would be a “strong rider’s night”.

Presentations and refreshments were, as always, at the Mansfield Hotel where the big news is that Steve Brown is back on the bike, after a lengthy hiatus.

Thanks to our volunteers, commissaires and sponsors. Next week is Buller Road: Big Riders, big gears!

Here are the results and thanks again to Tony Copland for the pics.

STOP PRESS

Ruby Dobson has won round 1 of the Elite Women’s Victorian XC Series at Avoca today!

Congratulations Ruby!

Weekend Update

No Dirt Crits this week due to a horse race. Next week it’s XC again!

Roadies Reminder…

All members are encouraged to check the road race duty roster please.

If you’ve raced on the road at all over the last few years, you’re probably on it. We rely on all our volunteers taking their turn at race duty to make sure our races go ahead safely and efficiently.

Here’s the link to check the whole season on one page.

Invitation to ride at Mt Buller

Alpine Resorts Victoria would like to invite the Mansfield Mt Buller Cycling Club to an exclusive, pre-season ride day at Mt Buller, on Saturday 25 November.

In concert with our hardworking trail crew, Contour Works will be on site throughout November, revitalising crowd favourite trails ABOM and Gang Gangs. As well as broader reshaping and feature works. We'd love the help and support of your club, to test the new features with us, and ride-in the freshly completed works.

Members will be able to spend the day alongside our trail crew. Using the provided shuttles to access the full gravity network from 10am to 5pm. We have also arranged for the Kooroora Pub to provide a catered sausage sizzle lunch in a dedicated event space in the village plaza from 1pm.

Over lunch Contour Works will provide club members with the inside scoop on the works they will be undertaking over summer. David McCoombe (Danger) will also outline our long-term asset management plans for the trail network and how we intend to keep the trails in tip top shape moving forward. Club members are encouraged to ask as many questions as they’d like during this session.

Members are asked to RSVP using this link. This will help us ensure we have enough snags for lunch and can meet any special dietary needs.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email me using this link. I look forward to working more closely with the club in the future and to making sure our broader Mansfield community sees Mt Buller and Mt Stirling as their mountains.

Kind regards,
Amanda Vogt
Head of Visitor Experience | Mt Buller Mt Stirling Resort Management, Alpine Resorts Victoria.

Tim Ross wins Alain’s race

By Allan Gerrans

It was good to see a strong field of 18 riders enter for one of the MMBCC’s longest and most important races. The Alain Guerin Memorial Handicap, held each year in memory of Alain, a respected club member who was tragically killed when hit by a vehicle whilst riding on the Mt Buller Road nine years ago.

The course started at the Botanic Park and out along the Whitfield Road to Sawpit Gully Road then returning to the Barwite Road, over the dreaded Coombesberg and finishing on Graves Road - a total of just over 32km.

The field was split into seven groups with 20 minutes separating first to last starters. Micala Jacobs was first off, followed four minutes later by John Eisner and Dave Jagger who were then followed by Ian Conrick, Steve Curnow and Allan Gerrans another two minutes behind.

Eisner and Jagger were caught by the Conrick group at the Broken River bridge. The new group of five worked well together to catch Jacobs at the turnaround.

It was after the turn that they finally had a good look at the distance to the groups chasing them.

A strong group of four riders, led by Tim Ross, looked likely to catch the leading group of five. But there was still a long gap between the Ross group and the three final three groups of nine riders.

Ross, Tim Hall and Adrian Dowd finally caught the group of five at the Barwite Road intersection. But an acceleration by the two Tims (Ross & Hall) caught the others by surprise and only Curnow and Gerrans were able to go wth them, leaving Jagger, Eisner, Conrick and Dowd behind.

Ross did most of the work along Barwite Road, helped very occasionally by Curnow and Gerrans, and eventually even left Hall behind after the turn onto Old Tolmie Road.

Meanwhile, the three Scratch riders, Jake Lay, Andy Garrett and Ruby Dobson, had worked their way past all the rest of the field, apart from the leading three.

Curnow dropped back on the way up the Coombesberg; Gerrans was dropped near the top. This left Ross to race to the finish alone.

Dobson and Lay deadheated for 4th (with the money for Fastest Time going to Jake because he turned up at the Mansfield Hotel for presentations) followed by Garrett, Ryder Chadd, Bruce Halket, Jagger and Conrick in 10th.

Many thanks to Mel, Janine, Tricia and Bocky for a safe and well-organised race. Thanks too go to John for standing in as Handicapper while Dave recovers - get well soon Dev!

After the race, we rode out to the ‘Ghost Bike’ on Mt Buller Road, marking the location of Alain’s incident, where we were met by Alain’s wife Coral.

Many thanks to Tony Copland for the pics (except the last one of Coral and Tim, thanks to Leonie McLaughlin) and here are the results.

Next week we turn our attention to the rolling hills of Howes Creek Road - entries via Entry Boss and bribes to the Handicapper on the quiet please!

Still Dot-watching Wayne

By Bruce Halket

As mentioned last week, All Terrain Cycles mechanic Wayne Arazny is riding the 2023 Tassie Gift, an 1800km bike-packing race. He’s currently sitting in 20th position, up from 30th (after the broken forks incident) and is almost half way through.

Use this link to check his progress.

Cup Day Gravel

Seven gravel-equipped roadies hit the dirt roads around Mansfield on Tuesday for a pre-cup trundle. We only got momentarily lost once and there was only one little ‘off’. Otherwise, it was bloody great!

We hope to do more rides like this soon - keep an eye out on the club’s WhatsApp group.

Finally…

An oasis of bike-related news in a media desert.

Many long-time readers of MMBCC Latest News will know that Bruce frequently linked to articles on the Cycling Tips website. The demise of Cycling Tips and the poor state of cycling new media generally has made keeping up to date with all things road and cross country mountain biking more difficult than usual of late.

That is until the discarded staff from Cycling Tips started a website called Escape Collective. It covers lots of different aspects of cycling, not just road racing. They’re currently offering membership of $1 for a month, so you can dip your toes in the water.

Use this link, select the Escape Supporter as the membership option, then type in NOVEMBER in the coupon field at the Checkout. You’ll get the first month for $1.

If you decide it’s not for you, cancel after a month and it’ll only cost you a dollar.

Cup Weekend News

Lots to catch up on this weekend…

(Don’t forget to subscribe to the Latest News!)

Halloween Dirt Crits

By Dave Empey

We had a huge turn out on Tuesday night with 23 riders taking part. Two new tracks were raced; one designed by Zac Empey and the other by his Dad. 

The top five placings were tight with Ant Bateup taking the top spot just ahead of Charlie Dobson, closely followed by Rueben Bateup. (You still have a little breathing space Ant but not a lot.)

Unfortunately for Cam Dobson, Charlie put a few seconds into him and there is probably no returning for Cam in the family bragging rights from now on. 

It was great to see so many new faces, but we had no females which is a big turnaround from the past few years. 

Here are the results.

Many thanks to Adam Baker for donating prizes (new 299 Custom socks!) to the five on the podium and for not scaring too many of the small children in his new, blue, face - something to do with Halloween, apparently.

There will be a break next week due to the Melbourne Cup and the following week it’ll be back to cross country with Damian.

Mt Buller have offered a free shuttle day at Buller prior to the tracks opening on the 25th of November. To participate you MUST be a club member! Watch for details on the club facebook page and the next Latest News email.

Racing on your own

By Steve Curnow

Thursday’s cycle race was a handicapped time trial run over 11 km on Chapel Hill Road from the Jamieson Road turn off to Three Chain Road and return.

There were eight participants who braved the onerous ride. Being on your own and not being allowed to ride behind another rider for a break makes for a true test of a rider's endurance.

The wind dropped off just as the race started which made all the difference for the riders. The first part of the ride is flat going to Wairere Road, then gradual uphill until a very pleasant downhill to Three Chain Road. After the easy down there is the sudden uphill section on the return which wakes up the legs again and then it’s homeward bound.

After the numbers were crunched allowing for handicaps it turned out that Craig Wilson came in fourth, third place went to Adrian Dowd, second to Steve Curnow and congratulations to Micala Jacobs for winning first place.

The fastest time went to Ruby Dobson in 16.42 minutes, Darren Bakker next at 17.59 followed closely by Ant Bateup at 18.05 and Tim Ross at 19.06.

A big thank you to the Commissaires and marshals, and also a big thank you to the courteous drivers who shared the road with us on the night.  

Back at the post-race presentations, Tony Copland was awarded this week’s Mansfield Hotel prize for photographic excellence and below is another group of examples. And here are the detailed results.

Next week is one of the club’s highlights of the summer, the Alain Guerin Memorial Handicap. All members are encouraged to remember our friend, who was taken from us back in 2014, by pushing themselves to near exhaustion, then recovering at the Mansfield afterwards as we raise a glass in tribute. Weather permitting, there’ll also be a post-race ride out to ‘Alain’s bike’ for those inclined.

Dot-watching Wayne

By Bruce Halket

All Terrain Cycles mechanic Wayne Arazny is currently in Tasmania to race the 2023 Tassie Gift - a bike-packing endurance event of 1800km.

After a night at Will C-J’s in Hobart, the race started at 6am on Friday and Wayne was in trouble early - a crash on a steep descent caused a crack in his left fork leg.

But he’s not giving up! He’s been back to Hobart and with thanks to Louis at Silks Bicycle Workshop (where he purchased a 2nd-hand pair of forks) and Kate at Giant Hobart (who has allowed him to use their workshop to fit the forks) he’s been given a lift back out onto the course by Will C-J and he’s back into it today!

He’ll start again a long way back but at least he’s on the move. Go Wayno!

Use this link to check his progress.

Finally…

All members are encouraged to check the road duty roster please. If you’ve raced on the road at all over the last few years, you’re probably on it. We rely on all our volunteers taking their turn at race duty to make sure our races go ahead safely and efficiently. Here’s the link to check the whole season on one page.

Weekend News

Dirt Crits No 3

The first handicap XC race of the ‘summer’ at Rifle Butts MTB Park saw Ryder Chadd take the win ahead of Spencer Carman, Dave Bock, Leo Fermor and Cruz Archibald.

Here are the full results. Next week it’s back to Gravity Enduro. And many thanks to Damian and his minions for a great night!

Hot racing on a cool evening

By David Jagger

The cool weather is persisting this spring and is slow to transition to Summer. A stiff south-westerly wind was blowing and initially assisted the riders as they headed North on the Whitfield road from the Botanic Park. The turnaround at Long Lane brought the wind head on and would continue for the rest of the race.

First to head off from the Botanical Park was Micala Jacobs and led the handicap race for the first leg to Long Lane.

The two Daves (Jagger and Bock) were keen to set a good pace and clipped in quickly to chase down Micala and establish a lead.

Tim Hall was in his first race after a winter hiatus and was unsure how he would perform. Steve Curnow accompanied Tim and was looking forward to the ride up the Coombesberg Hill as he is a good climber.

Tim Ross also back to race for the first time this year and headed off with Adrian Dowd.

The Sprint King (Darren Bakker) and Ryder Chadd were the last pair to head off and had the potential to mow the riders down if they got the chance.

The wind is a fickle phenomenon when riding, it can be a great ally or a bit of a devil. Tonight, the wind favoured the early starters, or so they thought. Starting last was a zephyr in the form of Ruby Dobson. She quietly headed down the Whitfield Road catching the riders unaware as she slipped past them. Darren and Ryder thought that they were in for a chance until she caught them at the start of the Coombesberg.

She powered up and over, passing Tim, Steve then Bocky. Jagger had the last corner in his sights with no one between him and the finish when the zephyr casually passed him to take the win.

Bocky rolled in for third, thankful that there was no one near him as he didn’t have the legs for a sprint. Darren led a sprint to the finish with Ryder hot on his heels, but the canny youngster was able to just get a few centimetres ahead.

The Mansfield Hotel prize for the night went to a non-starter for the first time. Selina Green had a crash before leaving the house and had to go to Wangaratta for X-Rays. We hope she is OK and will be back on the bike soon.

Thanks to everyone who helped on the night to put together an enjoyable Thursday night race.

Here are the results and as usual, many thanks to Tony Copland for the following images.

Next week is the Individual Time Trial on Chapel Hill Road, Booroolite.

Sunday MMBCC News

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.

Here are the results.

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.

First race update

Not racing and racing in the rain…

Not racing in the tropical downpour - dirt crits

By Damian Grundy

Summer really is coming - at some stage! But winter called in last week for a few days to say good bye.

Not surprisingly with all the rain, Dirt Crits had to be cancelled last week. Kate and I have discussed next week and decided to put this week's XC on next Tuesday.

Dave is home next Wednesday, so the first Gravity night will be the week after, once he gets back.

Keep up to date

Have you subscribed to the Latest News email? It’s a good way to keep up to date, especially with this changeable weather. Or search for MMBCC if you’re on WhatsApp. It’s an even faster way to get the latest news.

racing in the cold and wet - road racing

By Bruce Halket

A wise, anonymous cyclist once said, “The way to end a drought is to put on a bike race.” So it proved this week.

The dry September abruptly ended on Tuesday forcing the cancellation of the season’s first session of Dirt Crits at Rifle Butts MTB Park; and then on Thursday we thought the rain had eased off in time to race in the dry.

Wrong!

A drizzly evening saw 17 entrants reduced to 14 starters for the 25km along Whitfield Road from the Botanic Park to Sawpit Gully Road and back for the first MMBCC road race of the ‘summer’.

With the Limit group a late Scratching, first up off 14 minutes was Dave Jagger and John Eisner. The two of them were telling anyone within earshot they’d been off the bike for weeks. But everyone knew they’d been regulars in Jock’s shed on the trainer over winter, working hard on their fitness. Nice try boys!

Next, off 11 minutes, was Steve Curnow (recently returned from hiking in the Flinders Ranges) and Ian Conrick (still recovering from Geelong missing the finals.) Their group had been reduced by a late scratching too, making their task much more difficult.

Another scratching saw the next group reduced from five to four. Off 4.30 was Darren Bakker (keen to give his new, ex-GreenEdge Giant its first local hit-out), Ant Bateup (on his recently updated gravel-bike-turned-road-bike), Adrian Dowd (hoping his injured achilles had recovered) and defending series champion turned winter hill runner Mick Pearce.

Next group to go, off 3.00 consisted of multiple-time Australian mtb champ Ruby Dobson and a couple of old blokes, Steve Duke and me.

Finally came the contingent from Seymour Broadford Cycling Club - Shayne Kirby and Andy Garrett off 1.00 and Jake Lay was the sole Scratch rider.

Lay caught Block about 5km into the race and the three SBCC boys powered their way through the field.

Dowd was the first in trouble. Nursing an injury is not the best way to gain fitness and he was dropped from his group early. Next to go was Duke who couldn’t hang on to Dobson up the hills.

As the SBCC train went through the field, a few of us managed to hang on for a bit; Dobson, Bakker and me. Dobson was the first to drop off when an early morning trainer session, school all day, then the gym, finally caught up with her near Long Lane. Bakker’s phoopha valve blew up the hill near Barwite Road.

And after we’d finally caught and passed the Limit group (really good ride by Eisner and Jagger!) I actually started to think I might be a chance. Then the SBCC boys accelerated after Possums and I just simply wasn’t strong enough to keep up with them going downhill!

Lay took the win, in 36 minutes and 20 seconds, ahead of Kirby and Garrett. I managed to hang on for fourth ahead of Bakker; then came Eisner, Jagger, Dobson, Bateup and Pearce made into the final spot of the top ten.

A huge thanks to our team of marshals and Commissaires for braving the cold, wet conditions to allow us to safely race - Mel, Janine, Belinda, Cam, Tim and Alex. Plus thank you to our ‘official’ club photographer, Tony Copland, for braving the cold, wet conditions to produce the following evidence that we’re all hard AF. Or silly. Or both?

And here are the results.

Next week it’s the Barwite Loop. Entries via Entry Boss and check the duty roster!

AGM wrap-up

A very productive night at the Mansfield Hotel meeting room, back on Wednesday 6 September.

Dave, Janine, Cam and Liam have agreed to go again as President, Treasurer, Secretary and Recreational Rep respectively. Steve Brown has joined the Executive as a general member. Bruce decided to pull the pin as Vice President but will keep sharing the website and newsletters with Josh Hopwood. There were a few others changes to some of the other sub-committees too.

Healthy discussions were had on lots of topics - all the details can be found in the Minutes, click here to go to the Documents page.

Racing starts this week!

Yes… you read that right - mountain bike and road racing both start this week!

Subscribe to the Latest News so you don’t miss out…

Dirt Crits

The first night of Dirt Crits will be Tuesday 3 October - tomorrow - weather permitting.

We should have a full calendar once Dave gets back from overseas, so keep an eye out for details in the next week or two. Details of the next two weeks are in the Latest News from last week - click here. We’ll also have news on Dirt Critters soon too.

Road Racing

The first race will be a handicap on course 5 - from the Botanic Park out along Whitfield Road, turning around at Sawpit Gully Road, back towards town and finishing on Whitfield Road. (We’ll go back to finishing up at the Showgrounds once Mt Battery Road works have finished.)

Entries

Like last season, ALL entries will be done through Entry Boss. Each week entries open on Monday morning and close at 8pm on Wednesday. Entries for this coming Thursday are open now.

Calendar

The Summer Road Race Series calendar is on the website now. Yep, the whole lot.

- There’s an Event Calendar entry on the website for each race, with a link on the Home page; and

- There’s an Entry Boss listing for each race under Mansfield Mt Buller CC.

Duty Roster

The roster for Marshals and Commissaires for each and every race is published on the Entry Boss page for that race. Plus there’s a separate page with the whole season’s roster. This week the marshals are Alex, Belinda and Cam, with Tim and Janine the Commissaires.

Please check to see when you are rostered on. For info on what’s required for duty, have a read of the Road Racing Info page.

DIRT CRITS

Dirt Crits 23/24

By Damian Grundy

Summer is coming! Though with the recent weather one could be forgiven for thinking it’s already here. The snow's ALL gone now so let’s get riding!

The format for racing this season will be Cross Country (XC) one week and Gravity the next, swapping week-in - week-out. Tuesday October 3rd is the first week with an XC night and then the first Gravity night will follow on October 10th.

The Mansfield Mt Buller Cycling Club Summer of Dirt Crits racing will once again kick off on Tuesday October 3rd as usual at the now WORLD FAMOUS Riflebutts MTB Park.

The first week will be an XC Race. The format for the first event of this season will be a lap consistency time test. The objective is to ride a minimum of two timed laps of the marked course.

The First winner will be the rider with the best consistency i.e. two laps with the closest elapsed times.

The second winner will be the rider with the lowest combined two lap times.

Rests are permitted between each lap and riders can complete as many laps as they want with a minimum of two required to be in the running.

The primary rules for the night are that the laps should be raced at your usual race pace AND no looking at any timing devices during the efforts!

Racing will start at 6pm sharp!

The course for the evening will be marked out earlier to allow a highly recommended familiarisation and warm up lap for all competitors.

This is about seeing where you are at without having necessarily going directly head-to-head with other riders. This will help establish rider handicaps and racing categories for subsequent races.

Preliminary rides:

Please join us for some pre-season rides at Riflebutts Park for some riding and training. Let’s see how the trails are holding up and have some input on possible XC courses for the season’s races.

While you’re there, ask Damian about training and technical tips to improve your racing.

• Sunday Sept 24th at 9.30am

• Tuesday Sept 26th at 5pm

• Sunday October 1st at 9.30am

See you there!

AGM reminder...

2023 Annual General Meeting

Just a reminder that the MMBCC Annual General Meeting will be held this coming Wednesday, in the function room at the Mansfield Hotel. The meeting will begin at 7pm.

And please don’t forget to RSVP if you’d like to have dinner first from 6pm. You can do this via email to Bruce TODAY or SMS him on 0419 533 120.

Victorian Enduro Championships

Race entries are still available for the Vic Enduro State Champs!


Race Categories:

• 
Juniors U/13 (3 stages), U/15, U/17

• U/19 Male & Female


• Elite Male & Female


• Masters 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65+ Male & Female


• Veterans 30 -34 Male & Female


• Sport Male & Female 


• E-MTB 18+ Male & Female

Click here for more details and to enter.

Upcoming Events

Amy’s Gran Fondo - Sun 10 Sep, Lorne. Always a great weekend!

AusCycling Masters and Juniors National Road Champs - Thu 21-Sun 24 Sep, Shepparton (Dookie).

AusCycling 2023 Vic Enduro Championships - Fri 29 Sep-Sun 1 Oct, Mansfield.

Gravelista - Fri 27-Sun 29 Oct, Beechworth.

Mansfield Hotel Tour powered by Orcoda - Sat 16-Sun 17 March 2024, Mansfield.

MMBCC at the Glasgow Super Worlds and AGM Reminder

Lots of great stuff to read this week! Have you subscribed to the latest MMBCC News? Enter your details on the Homepage…

2023 Annual General Meeting

The MMBCC Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday 6 September, in the function room at the Mansfield Hotel. The meeting will begin at 7pm.

This is your chance to have your say and get involved! All the Executive Committee positions will be declared vacant and nominations are open to members.

Bookings are available for dinner from 6pm but an RSVP is required. You can do this via email to Bruce by Sunday 3 September.

2023 Glasgow World Championships Wrap Up

DOWNHILL - Fort William, Scotland.

By Dave Empey

Two Mansfield riders raced the 2024 Downhill World championships at Fort William this year. The course is the longest and one of the most brutal on the World Cup Circuit and usually has the worst weather. Nathan Dabbs and Elise Empey raced in the green and gold and both performed well in the toughest event on the calendar.

Nathan raced to a very credible 46th in the Junior Men category. Given this was his first international race, it was a very good result. He has stayed on in Europe to continue his racing with another 3 World Cups on the agenda over the next three weeks. These races will be held in Andorra, Loudenville in France, and Les Gets in France.

Elise raced her second World Championships however it was her first in Elite women. She came across the line in a very credible 24th position. This was Elise’s first real test post a serious shoulder injury. It was very pleasing to see her race well. She now will join the rest of her team in Andorra for the remaining five World Cup races.

Elise’s elder brother Matthew, was the performance coach for the Auscycling National Junior Downhill team. He will also join his sister in Andorra to race the final five World Cups with his team.

ROAD - Belgium and Glasgow, Scotland

By Talia Appleton

In the middle of July, I flew to Europe for a three week trip that included three races in Belgium as part of a two week training camp followed by 4 days in Glasgow for the world championships. It was my first trip to Europe, and the first time racing abroad. We were staying around an hour away from Brussels in Oudenaarde, in the heart of the Flanders region where the under 19 Australian team was based. The team consisted of 7 boys and 6 girls, some of whom were going on to Glasgow and others heading to Trinidad and Tobago for the Commonwealth youth games. 

The warm up races in Belgium went well. They were open age kermesse’s on 8-14km circuits with distances between 70 and 95 km and strong fields of up to 115 riders in the peloton. I stayed out of trouble and upright and concentrated on adjusting to the radically different racing format in Europe. Narrow roads, cobble stones, road furniture, curbs and always aggressively fighting for the front.

In the first race I sat tight in the peloton, readjusting to racing before I found more confidence and a more aggressive racing style in the next race. This race suited me the best, as there were a few punchy hills in the lap. I finished in the peloton, and you can watch 6 minutes of highlights using this link to Facebook.

The third race I was really finding my stride, despite there only being 20m of climbing over the 95km race! This was the biggest race in terms of starters - 115 and a few World Tour riders who were all doing their final preparations before Glasgow. You can watch the highlights by clicking this link. At about 20km to go a break of 4 riders went off the front, but the peloton was strung out at the time and I wasn’t aware of it. I didn’t want to wait for the bunch sprint and found myself at the front with 13km to go, and attacked off the front solo. However I was stuck in no man's land between the break and the peloton, eventually finishing 5th, one minute behind the break and 40 seconds in front of the peloton. This was a reassuring result only 6 days out from the road race in Glasgow. 

We flew into Glasgow on the Wednesday before the Saturday race, eventually arriving after a 13 hour travel day due to a missed connection. Just enough time to settle in, get the Aussie kit, and ride the circuit on Friday morning. It was super cool to be staying in the same hotel as the elite road riders and using the Jayco team bus to travel to the race, as well as doing the closed course recon with the elite men. Fortunately, the race started at 10am this year, which meant you didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn. It was a viciously intense race with many hazards like off camber corners, a pavè section, a short cobblestone section, and lots of manholes and drains which became slippery in the rain. I fought hard but the repetitive sprinting out of every corner (52 per ~14km lap!) took its toll and I finished 19th, in the second large bunch behind the solo winner. A result I am satisfied with.

I would like to thank Donna Rae-Szalinski, the team manager from AusCycling for organising the trip and my parents for financing the trip (even though it is the Australian team, the juniors are self funded.) And MMBCC for both the financial support you have given me this year, and all the cheering you did during the race!

BMX - Glasgow, Scotland

By Adam Baker

Attending the Worlds has been a long time coming for a 47 year old who has now qualified four times! (The previous three missed due to travel restrictions or injury.)


Coming into the meet I’d been recovering from a hip dislocation (racing DH in November) and with minimal training coming into the event, I had no expectations of a result or even making it out of the motos phase.


With a tough gate draw for the motos (1, 7, 8 and with the track favouring gate 3 - 5 for best position from the start of each race) racing went well from the start on a technical and long track.


Placing 4th in the first two motos, I needed another 4th place to ensure that I progressed to the 1/4 final phase. Starting from gate 8, I made hard work of it, having to come across from the outside and in a stacked moto (with the eventual winner, 3rd and 4th placed riders in the final) I hit the corner in 5th having to dice for positions with two other riders to eventually take 4th by the slimmest of margins.

The 1/4 final would see the first four make it through to the semis. Once again I was up against the eventual winner of the event, and again drawing gate 8, made it really tough. After a poor start and slipping a pedal in the first straight, I pushed to make up ground on the field but fell short. So I slowed in the third straight to soak up a bit of the atmosphere of the event.

Making it through to the quarter finals was an achievement way above expectations!
 I was also lucky enough to make it up to Fort William to see fellow locals Elise Empey and Nathan Dabbs doing their thing at the Downhill.

Pic 1: Battling for fourth in Moto 3. Pic 2: The start gate of the quarter final. Pic 3: Enjoying the moment on the third straight.

Ruby rides Cross

Congratulations to Ruby Dobson who rode the Australian and Victorian CX Championships last weekend at Ballarat. She won silver in the Australian Under 23 titles on Saturday, then backed it up by winning gold at the Victorian U23 titles on Sunday. Awesome!

Big shout out too to former MMBCC member and all-round good bloke (apart from his choice of football team) Brett Kellett who took out the Australian Masters 6 CX Championship. Good onya Bretto!

Full Saturday results here.

Mansfield Hotel Tour p/b Orcoda

Mansfield Mount Buller Cycling Club and Alpine Cycling Club have formed a strategic alliance to support each other in delivering and  promoting our fantastic races. Below is a poster (and flyer) which Jarrod has had printed which you should all see a bit more of in the coming months.

2023 AGM

2023 Annual General Meeting

The MMBCC Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday 6 September, in the function room at the Mansfield Hotel. The meeting will begin at 7pm.

Are there any changes you want the club to make? Is there something not being done that you think should be done? Is there something we’re doing you think we shouldn’t?

This is your chance to have your say and get involved! All the Executive Committee positions will be declared vacant and nominations are open to members.

We’ll also announce the successful recipients of the Rider Development Grants.

Bookings are available for dinner from 6pm but an RSVP is required. You can do this via email to Bruce by Sunday 3 September.

Upcoming Events

Amy’s Gran Fondo - Sun 10 Sep, Lorne. Always a great weekend!

AusCycling 2023 Vic Enduro Championships - Fri 29 Sep-Sun 1 Oct, Mansfield.

Gravelista - Fri 27-Sun 29 Oct, Beechworth. Part of the UCI Gravel World Series. Was in early Sep last year so hopefully the weather will be better this year.

Mansfield Hotel Tour powered by Orcoda - Sat 16-Sun 17 March 2024, Mansfield.

End of July Worlds Update

Cycling Club over-represented at World Championships

By Janine Appleton - due to be published in this week’s Mansfield Courier

Scotland is all set to witness the exhilarating 2023 Cycling World Championships, commencing this Thursday, 3rd August. The international event promises exhilarating competition with the most elite cyclists in the world from all disciplines converging on Scotland. Mansfield Mt Buller Cycling Club is extremely over-represented for such a small rural club with seven riders selected to represent Australia.

Leading the charge on day one for the Australian contingent is Nathan Dabbs, a Year 12 student at Mansfield Secondary College. Nathan's passion for cycling will be on full display as he takes on the Junior Men's Downhill Qualifying round on the opening day of the competition. Supported by his family, including his mum and grandparents, Nathan will realize his dream of competing against the world's best riders. In the pits, he will have the technical expertise of Matt Empey, officially assisting the Junior Australian Downhill Team as the Junior Downhill Performance Assistant.

Friday, 4th August, will witness the fearless Elise Empey in action, competing in the Elite (Open) Women's Downhill event. Having honed her skills through the European World Cup races since May, Elise's consistent performances have earned her selection in the national team. Elise rode to 6th place at last year's World Championships in the junior division. Despite the competitiveness of the elite category being much greater, Elise embraces the challenge with confidence. Another promising young talent from Mansfield, Bella Green, was selected to race in the same category as Elise, however she cannot participate this time. She is heading to Europe later in the year for several races.

On Saturday the 5th of August, the spotlight will be on Talia Appleton, competing in the junior women's road race. Balancing her year 12 studies at John Monash Science School with approximately 20 hours of training each week is a challenge Talia embraces. She has spent the last fortnight racing in Belgium to familiarise herself with European racing. The roads are narrower, with sections of cobblestone paving, and the peloton is tightly packed and aggressive.

In the BMX Masters category, the lightning-fast Adam Baker is all set to tackle the snake-like track, replete with jumps, bumps, and banked turns. Embracing the thrill of BMX racing and mountain biking alike, Adam's adrenaline-packed rides promise to be a treat for spectators.

Though Ruby Dobson (Junior Women's Mountain Bike Cross Country) and Hayden Fletcher (Elite Men's BMX Racing) couldn't make it to the event, the Mansfield Mt Buller Cycling Club takes immense pride in supporting its junior riders financially through their Junior Rider Development Grants. If anyone is interested in giving mountain biking or road cycling a go, the club has a pool of loan bikes to get you started, so please email the club at mmbcc.info@gmail.com

For those keen to catch the action live, tune into SBS On Demand, where the riveting races will be televised. Don't miss Talia's race at 6.45pm AEST on Saturday, 5th August, followed by the Elite Women's Downhill final at 9.15pm the same day. Let's rally behind our talented cyclists as they strive for glory on the world's grandest cycling stage!

ALL CLUB MEMBERs inVitiation to WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PARTY

SBS On Demand are showing Talia's and Elise's Race next Saturday the 5th. Junior Road Race from 6.45pm and Women's Downhill final from 9.15pm. The Appletons are inviting all of the MMBCC to join them to watch the events.

Where - Matt and Shaz's farm at Merrijig.

When - Saturday 5th August from 5pm (don't miss the sunset)

Food - BYO.  It is a potluck dinner. Make something simple and tasty that will be part of a buffet that everyone can enjoy

Drinks - BYO

RSVP - SMS Jarrod before Thursday on 0448 043 413.

Deadline looms for the RDG

2023-2024 Rider Development Grants

With thanks to the Australian Communities Foundation, the Mansfield Mt Buller Cycling Club is accepting applications for Rider Development Grants for 2023-24. The Grants are designed to encourage and support the development of young riders, to assist with the cost of travel, accommodation, equipment or training.

Click on this link to the Documents page where you can download the Rider Development Grant PDF.

All the details you need to apply are in the PDF.

Applications are due by the close of business on Monday 31 July.

Late May update - Trophies and grants

Summer Presentations were held last Thursday at the Mansfield Hotel and here are the highlights…

DIRT CRITS

In his first season of consistent racing Archie Smith was the most consistent in both Cross Country and Gravity races to take the overall win ahead of Zac Empey and Luke Vivash (who swapped 2nd and 3rd places from last summer.)

Many thanks to Dave, Kate and Mel for all their work organising the series. Plus thanks to Damian for filling in when he could.

L to R: Luke, Archie, Zac and Master of Ceremonies, Dave Empey.

Dirt Crits Final Scores

Summer Road Racing Series

In a very close competition, Mick Pearce took the win ahead of the ever-consistent Janine Appleton and Ryder Chadd.

Many thanks to Dave Moore for a great job doing the handicapping and to the road committee (Janine Appleton, Alex Green, Dave Jagger, Dave Moore and John Eisner) for a terrific race calendar and to all those who raced for a friendly, fun, competitive atmosphere.

L to R: Janine, Mick, Ryder with Club President Dave.

Summer Road Race Series Final Scores

Women’s Road Racing Trophy

Janine Appleton was the highest placed woman over the Summer Road Race Series, ahead of the Micala Jacobs and Bella Green.

L to R: Bella, Janine, Micala and some bloke called Dave.

Summer Road Race Series Womens Trophy Final Scores

Alain Guerin Memorial Crossover Trophy

Ryder’s consistency saw him win the Alain Guerin Memorial Crossover Trophy ahead of (second again) Darren Bakker and Bella Green.

L to R: Bella, Ryder (with the Alain Guerin Memorial Crossover Trophy) and Darren.

Alain Guerin Memorial Trophy Final Scores

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2023-2024 Rider Development Grants

With thanks to the Australian Communities Foundation, the Mansfield Mt Buller Cycling Club is accepting applications for Rider Development Grants for 2023-24. The Grants are designed to encourage and support the development of young riders, to assist with the cost of travel, accommodation, equipment or training.

Click on this link to the Documents page where you can download the Rider Development Grant PDF.

Applications are due by the end of July - all the details are in the PDF.

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Keep up to date…

Don’t forget to subscribe to Latest News on the Home page so you can keep up to date with any changes, especially the Rider Development Grant.

Presentations reminder

Summer Presentations Reminder

MMBCC Summer racing presentations will be held at the Mansfield Hotel on Thursday 25 May - with a slight time change.

If you’d like to come for a bite to eat before presentations, dinner will be served at 6.30pm. RSVP to Janine on 0428 150 800 by 7pm this Tuesday.

If you only want to come for a drink and the presentations, see you at 7.30pm.

Trophies will be awarded for:

• Dirt Crits; 


• Summer Road Race Series; 


• Women’s Road Trophy; and 


• the Alain Guerin Memorial Trophy (Combined Dirt Crits & Road Race.) 


If you scored a few points and think you might be on the podium, your name might be engraved on a trophy, so you’d better come along. Plus there’ll be more giveaways and other stuff!

Join us for a bite to eat, or a drink (or even both) and celebrate a great summer of racing!

2023 Victorian Schools MTB series

By Tim Ross

AusCycling has just released details of the 2023 Victorian Schools MTB series - use this link.

The format is Cross Country - think of an undulating course with plenty of pedalling - rather than all downhill.

This year the series includes FOUR events from June through to September and caters for kids from U9 through to U17, for both boys and girls.

The events are widely spread (so a bit of travel involved) and riders can do individual races as a 'one-off' so there is no need to commit to the whole series.

The series tries hard to encourage those new to racing, with separate 'Race' and 'Novice' categories.

Last year, current and former Dirt Critters Micah & Ryder Chadd and Ben & Alastair Ross participated. My general perception was that the events were well organised and fun.

If you’d like to be involved or have some potential entrants in your family, please feel free to contact me via email to discuss it further.

May Update

The missing final Dirt Critters report

Dirt Critters concluded the summer program with a break-up on Tuesday 28 March. As is now customary, both the older and younger group met at Rifle Butts Reserve for a final lap or two before riding down to the Botanic Park for a feast (hot-dogs and icy poles!) 

Our Dirt Critters (all Primary Schoolers) have had a great summer program despite some inclement weather; mostly riding a Rifle Butts Reserve with the occasional foray along the Rifle Butts Road single track, or along the Delatite River at Carter’s Road. 

Thanks to Luke and Tim for leading the group, to all the parents who’ve helped a little or a lot (special mention to Nicole H and Dion), and most of all to our keen and committed group of Dirt Critters who so obviously enjoy riding and hanging out with their friends. 

Dirt Critters will start up again in Term 4, though we might squeeze in a bonus ride or two over the next couple of months.

Summer Presentations…

will be held at the Mansfield Hotel from 7pm on Thursday 25 May.

Trophies will be awarded for:

• Dirt Crits;

• Summer Road Race Series;

• Women’s Road Trophy; and

• the Alain Guerin Memorial Trophy (Combined Dirt Crits & Road Race.)

If you scored a few points and think you might be on the podium, your name might be engraved on a trophy, so you’d better come along. Plus there’ll be more giveaways and other stuff!

Join us for a bite to eat, or a drink (or even both) and celebrate a great summer of racing!

(So that we have an idea of numbers for the kitchen, please RSVP to Janine on 0428 150 800 by 7pm Tuesday 23 May if you’d like to join us for dinner.)

Upcoming events

Melburn Roobaix - Sunday 25 June. There are definitely a few MMBCCers going; join them for a really fun day on Melbourne’s cobbled backstreets.

Post-April-Fools-Day News

No joking - there’s a lot to catch up on this week. Updated now with Bocky’s road race article…

STOP PRESS!

Congratulations to Talia Appleton who won the Oceania Championships in Brisbane yesterday. She broke away with 20km to go and won by over two minutes! Awesome work Talia - we’re all really proud of you.

A great night at the Mansfield Hotel after the final road race of the season!

Speaking of the pub on Thursday night, did anyone pick up or see a black Mountain Designs puffer vest? Please contact Micala Jacobs if you did.

A big final night of Dirt Crits

by Dave Empey

The final Dirt Crits for summer 2023 was held on Tuesday night amidst thunderstorms and failing light. 

We had 16 riders turn up and again racing was tight at the top of the table with Ant Bateup taking the win by one second ahead of Matt Empey closely followed by Archie Smith. 

There was a little bit of uphill this week and a longer track was utilised. Judging by the times there were some tired legs in the group this week. 

This season has been a little up and down with poor weather characterising most of the season and the deteriorating condition of Rifle Butts MTB Park not helping the player comfort level. But hats off to everyone who has turned up every week and put in. 

Here are the detailed results.

Here’s to another season… well done everyone!

There’ll be an announcement here in the News Pages soon about an upcoming presentation night.

Social road ride on Sunday

This is an unsupported ride on open public roads in Jamieson area to be held on Sunday 2 April 2023, with five stages. You don’t have to complete all five stages, choose your own adventure. Maybe one is enough, or maybe three, or if you’re still on a coffee high, do them all!

• Stage 1 - Mansfield to Jamieson, 36 km


• Stage 2 - Jamieson-Licola Rd to end of bitumen and return, 13km


• Stage 3 - Jamieson-Eildon Rd to Bald Hill Gap and return, 25 km


• Stage 4 - Jamieson to 10 Mile return, 31 km


• Stage 5 - If you’re still keen (and Darren Bakker ha ha), return to Mansfield 36 km

The intention is to meet at Jamieson township between 10-11am for coffee and again after the ride at Jamieson Brewery, Lakeside Hotel for lunch at 1pm.

For more information and to confirm your intention (either riding or helping out) please contact Allan Gerrans on 0427 250 035.

Working Bee soon

There’ll be a working bee soon to help clean out the shipping container and tidy up the soccer field shed.

Keep an eye out on WhatsApp for details.

A Night For “The Bunny” Racing to Save Daylight.

by David Bock

Seventeen riders fronted up to contest the last MMBCC Thursday race before Daylight Savings ended.

First out on the road was Tony Morris, the club`s perennial “bunny”, that everyone else would try to chase down. That chase started two and half mins later with David Jagger, David Bock, and John Eisner, off and going, with the trio of Ian Conrick, Steve Curnow and Craig Wilson, on their way three mins after that; with four mins separating them from the quartet of Darren Bakker, Adrian Dowd, Elise Empey and Tim Ross.

Out on Graves Road, with Tony Morris just visible heading over the next crest, Bocky took a turn leading up the rise from the ford, and was disconcerted to look behind and find John and Dave had dropped off his wheel. Waiting up, he was told to “just go”, so the chase of Morris resumed.

Back near the start, the “block” group of Steve Duke, Mick Pearce, Bruce Halket, Ryder Chadd and Dave Empey were on their way, eleven and a half minutes after Tony; and with an advantage of only 45 seconds ahead of lone Scratch rider, Chris Miller. Dave Empey’s first turn on lead caused fear and consternation, setting a pace the rest of his group found difficult to match. Fortunately for them, Dave’s subsequent turns were less blistering.

Descending the “Coombesberg” at the northern end of Old Tolmie Road, Bock could see Morris appearing ever closer and likely to be overtaken in the next kilometre or so. However, this was an illusion - the overtake occurred ten km later at the bottom of the descent of the Barwite Hill, coming back into town, on the Mansfield-Whitfield Road.

Motivated by not wanting to write this article (an honour bestowed to second-place getters) Morris re-took the lead on the last rise to the finish to take the win from Bock.

The chase group of seven had gotten so close that Bock and Morris should’ve felt them breathing down the back of their necks; Chris leading them across the line to pick up third and fastest time, just ahead of Darren Bakker, Mick Pearce, Dave Empey, Steve Duke, Bruce Halket and Elise Empey. Nineteen seconds later, John Eisner crossed to round out the top ten, just ahead of Steve Curnow. The final six came in individually within the next two minutes, demonstrating the closeness of the handicapping. So thanks Dave Moore, the Handicapper, and to all the Committee members and volunteers who have enabled the season’s racing to happen.

Many thanks to the Mansfield Hotel for their support too - keep any eye and ear out for news on Presentation Night soon.

Here are the results and many thanks again to Tony Copland for his great pics.

Club Member Discount on Crankworx tickets

Crankworx Cairns - where the world's elite and Australia’s best freeride athletes shred the iconic Smithfield tracks in a head to head battle. 

There's plenty to do on both sides of the tape, with elite and CWNEXT racing, Kidsworx for the groms, a pumping mtb expo, food, drinks, and an all-round epic festival.  

It’s 5 days of bumper vibes and the highest level of freestyle mountain biking – what more could you want?  

 There are multi-day and single day passes available – buy yours now and use code ‘CLUBS15’ at checkout to get 15% off your passes! Buy yours here.

Upcoming events

Northern Cycling’s Chooka’s Wheelrace, Broadford, Sunday 16 April.

Shepparton CC’s Euroa Town Crits, Saturday 22 April.

Northern Cycling’s Benghazi Handicap, Lancefield on Anzac Day, Tuesday 25 April.

Tour of Flanders tonight

One of the best pro races of the year is on Sunday night, De Ronde van Vlaanderen, the Tour of Flanders. Here’s a really good explanation and preview of the Men’s race.

It’ll be live on SBS Viceland from 8pm Sunday, from 6pm on SBS On Demand. It’ll be followed by the Women’s.

The forecast is for rain which will make the cobbles and steep bergs all the more challenging and entertaining.