MMBCC News - Sun 6 Oct - Thank you & reminders...

Thanks!

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who turned out on Saturday morning for the working bee at Riflebutts. Everyone did a fantastic job and it now looks amazing around the start finish area!

Reminder 1: Dirt Crits

Daylight Saving has started so the first XC Dirt Crits will be this Tuesday 8 October. 6pm start.

And a reminder that an Auscycling membership is required for ALL participants; either a Four Week Free Trial if you’ve not previously been a member, or a Race Off-road or Race All Discipline membership. If you’re an existing member, please make sure your membership is current and active.

For more details on an AusCycling membership go to the MMBCC Join Now page or you go directly to the AusCycling Membership page.

Reminder 2: Dirt Critters

First official night is Tuesday week (second week of term) but we’ll be there this Tuesday 8 October for anyone who wants to come up and say hi.

And a reminder that an Auscycling membership is required for ALL participants; either a Four Week Free Trial if you’ve not previously been a member, or a Race Off-road or Race All Discipline membership.

For more details on an AusCycling membership go to the MMBCC Join Now page or you go directly to the AusCycling Membership page.

Reminder 3: Road Racing

Road racing starts this coming Thursday 10 October; rego from 5.30, racing starts at 6pm.

Entries will open on Entry Boss at 9am tomorrow morning.

And a reminder that an Auscycling membership is required for ALL participants; either a Four Week Free Trial if you’ve not previously been a member, or a Race All Discipline membership.

For more details on an AusCycling membership go to the MMBCC Join Now page or you go directly to the AusCycling Membership page.

Reminder 4: the AGM

The MMBCC AGM will be held at the Mansfield Hotel at 7pm on Wednesday 16 October.

Please RSVP to Cam Dobson on 0407 971 237 if you’d like to start with dinner from 6pm.

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.

Upcoming Events

ATC Gravel Expo - Sat 19 & Sun 20 Oct

Gravelista - Sun 27 Oct

Vic MTB Championship Series - Nov to Feb

MMBCC News - Wed 2 Oct

The MMBCC Summer of Cycling for 2024/2025 is about to start…

Dirt Crits starts next week!

By Damian Grundy

Yep it's that time again.

Daylight Savings kicks in on Sunday and the first Dirt Crits will be Tuesday 8 October.

The Trail Fairies have been hard at work repairing and renovating some of the trails; so far that’s included much of the XC Loop, Critters and some of Joyride. More will be done in coming weeks!

This Saturday morning I'd love to see as many of you Dirt Crit types as possible at 9am at Rifle Butts MTB Park to do a clean up of the race site. Grass cutting, raking trails, a general tidy up of fallen branches, etc. It might stretch to two hours of your time.

Please wear suitable work clothes:

• Bring a hat;

• Bring gloves; and

• Bring a rake if you have one.

There will be a quantity of smaller, fire-suitable timber that we could remove if you have a trailer and a fire at home needing fuel.

Please SMS Damian on 0411 045 771 if you can be there.

See you ALL there.

Road racing starts next week too.

By Alex Green

We’re all set to start road racing Thursday week, 10 October.

The Commissaires have been busy renewing their qualifications and (almost unbelievably) we already have all our permits!

Here is the duty roster. Please check when you’re rostered on.

Once again, all entries are online through Entry Boss. The duty roster for each race is on the Entry Boss page for that race too. Entries for each Thursday race will open at 9am Monday.

Dirt Critters starts soon too.

By Tim Ross and Luke Vivash

Dirt Critters is for primary-school age kids who like to ride and learn new skills in a fun and social environment.

We meet at Rifle Butts Reserve on Tuesday after school – 4pm for Grade 3 and younger, 4:45pm for Grade 4 and older. 

Secondary school kids are encouraged to move up to senior Dirt Crits which starts at 6pm.

First official night is Tuesday 15th (second week of term) but we’ll be there on Tuesday 8th (next Tuesday) for anyone who wants to come up and say hi.

An Auscycling membership is required for all participants.

For more details, please send us an email,

MMBCC News - Sun 15 Sep

AGM

The MMBCC Annual General Meeting will be held at the Mansfield Hotel at 7pm on Wednesday 16 October.

Please RSVP to Cam Dobson on 0407 971 237 if you’d like to start with dinner from 6pm.

Dirt Crits

MTB racing at Riflebutts MTB Park will start for Adults on Tuesday 8 October at 6pm.

Junior Dirt Critters will likely start a week later on Tuesday 15 October. Time to be confirmed.

Summer Road Racing Series

Road racing will start on Thursday 10 October at 6pm with a lap of the Barwite Loop. The duty roster is available here (keep an eye on it, there might be changes before the first race) and the full calendar and Entry Boss links will be up soon.

ATC Gravel Ride will change to Monday

With Dirt Crits about to start on Tuesday nights, the weekly ATC Gravel Rides will move to Monday nights, starting on Monday 7 October.

Congratulations Elise!

In case you’ve been living under a rock, Elise Empey finished 9th in the Elite Women’s Downhill at the MTB World Championships in Andorra a couple of weeks back.

Here’s a roundup of the Worlds from PinkBike and Elise gets a mention. And here’s a brief interview after qualifying in 2nd place for the Loudenvielle World Cup a week later, where she finished 7th.

Lachy’s Lap of Oz

EF ProCycling’s Lachlan Morton is riding around Australia, raising funds for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation along the way. As of Sunday afternoon he’s almost made it to Western Australia, having covered just over 35% of the total distance. You can see his progress here.

ProVelo Super League

The National Road Series is no more. But next year it’ll be replaced by the ProVelo Super League, running from January to March. And SBS have announced that they’ll broadcast all the races!

Presentation Night

Thanks to everyone who came along to the Mansfield Hotel last night to celebrate a great summer of racing! All the details, including points scores, are below.

Thanks also to all the crew at the Mansfield Hotel. And to the MMBCC Exec for organising the night.

Fun Fact: racing starts again in 8 weeks! Time to dust off the bike, or rather… bikes, and get training!

Summer Road Race Series

The Mayor of Jamieson, Darren ‘The Baron’ Bakker, has finally won the road trophy after being a consistent racer since the formation of the club.

L to R: Dave Jagger, 2nd; Darren Bakker, 1st; Bruce Halket, 3rd.

Women’s Road Trophy

Ruby Dobson added to her trophy collection by earning the most points for the Women’s Road trophy.

L to R: Ruby Dobson, 1st; Micala Jacobs, 2nd.

Dirt Crits

Dave Bock’s consistency has triumphed again! Bocky took the win ahead of a couple of Gravity Young Guns, Reuben Bateup and last year’s winner, Archie Smith.

L to R: Dave Bock, 1st; Reuben Bateup, 2nd.

Alain Guerin Memorial Crossover Trophy

For the first time ever we have a tie! Darren Bakker and Dave Bock will share the Crossover Trophy for the next year!

L to R: Darren Bakker and Dave Bock - joint winners!

MMBCC News - Wed 31 Jul

SUMMER PRESENTATION NIGHT

It’s taken a while for us to get organised but Summer Presentations for the 2023/24 race season will be held at the Mansfield Hotel on Thursday 15 August.

Presentations will start at 7pm. But… please come along for dinner, starting at 6.

The club will shout each member a drink.

Plus… we’ll shout all Junior members DINNER and a drink (In case you’re wondering, that will be a NON-alcoholic drink - Ed.)

If you would like to come for dinner, you need to RSVP with Janine via SMS on 0428 150 800.

MMBCC News - Tue 21 May

“A mountain bike is like your buddy.
A road bike is your lover.”
Sean Coffey.

Jake Lay GoFundMe

For those of you that road race on Thursday nights, you’ll have met Jake Lay. He drives over from Euroa each week to give us a flogging. He did really well in our Tour back in March too!

He’s aiming higher now. He’s been offered a ride with a Belgian U23 team and needs a hand to get himself to Europe. Click here for details.

Wahoo Kickr Core for sale

Ryan Schultz has a direct-drive smart trainer for sale. It’s a bargain!

ATC Gravel Ride

Tonight will be the first All Terrain Cycles Gravel Ride.

Meet Bruce and Wayne at ATC shop at 5.30 pm for an hour long ride. Sausage sizzle and recovery refreshments afterwards; probably.

Vic Schools MTB Series

By Tim Ross

Auscycling are running the Victorian Schools MTB series again this year with details just to hand.

The series consists of four events, one per month from June to September, on a Sunday (except that the last event is a Sat/Sun double-header). It is similar to the Alpine Cycling Club races that a number of our kids participated in over the summer, but all cross country rather than a mixture of cross country and downhill. As with the summer series, kids can do the whole series or just pick and choose dates that work for them.

A large number of Mansfield kids from years 2 to 11 participated in the series last year. Our experience was of a well-organised event that was fun for the kids and prioritises participation, although the competition is keen!

Go to www.auscycling.org.au/page/mountain-bike-schools-stateterritory-series for more details, including dates, venues and the series guide.

Contact me if you have any queries. Hopefully we can get a group of Dirt Critters to take part this year.

MMBCC News - Sun 24 Mar

“Ned Flanders: You were bicycling two abreast?
Homer Simpson: I wish. We were bicycling to a lake.”
The Simpsons, “Dangerous Curves”, Season 20, Episode 5.

Dirt Critters coming to an end

By Tim & Luke

For our final Dirt Critters THIS TUESDAY, we will;

• Meet at Rifle Butts Reserve at 4pm (BOTH the younger and older groups);

• Have a quick ride around some of the trails there;

• Ride down to the Botanic Park via Rifle Butts Road, Monkey Gully Road and Highett Street;

• Have a BBQ tea; and

• Finish up at around 5:45pm (parents to collect their kids from the Botanic Park).

We should have a couple of 'Jigsaw Jumps' at Botanic Park for kids who'd like to have a go.

We need plenty of parent riders to ride with the kids so that they get safely down to Botanic Park. Thanks in advance to our wonderful parent helper riders.

We also need a couple of volunteers (perhaps parents who aren't riding) to head down to Botanic Park and cook a BBQ ready for our arrival. We will organise the food, etc. If you are able to help in this way please let us know via email.

Looking forward to wrapping up a great summer of Dirt Critters. See you on Tuesday!

MTB Nationals at Awaba NSW

By Kate Stonnill

By all accounts it was a technical, “janky” course. I was glad they were all in one piece by the end of the weekend, as were their bikes!

• Elise - 2nd in Elite Women.

• Matt - 24th in Elite Men, made up 15 sec from his seeding run. (That’s him in the black kit.)

• Zac - 30th in Junior Men but changed before I could get photo.

Final Dirt Crits

As has often been the case this season, a storm last Tuesday forced another Dirt Crits cancellation.

Hopefully, this coming Tuesday’s last Dirt Crits for the season, a Gravity Enduro, will go ahead without any weather interruptions.

A perfect Autumn evening

By Dave Bock

Perfect Autumn conditions greeted the sixteen cyclists fronting up for the final Thursday evening race for the MMBCC Summer Road Race Series.

For the bunch of four riders setting off first, as the Limit group, Ian Conrick, Dave Jagger, Dave Bock, and John Eisner, the task was straight forward; head out on the Mansfield-Whitfield Road, turn around at the Sawpit Gully Road intersection, then race back and swing left to the finish line in front of the Mansfield Showgrounds. All this while working together to keep their speed high enough to avoid being overtaken by the chasing riders.

The first trio of chasers, with a time gap of four and a half minutes to close down, were Janine Appleton, Steve Curnow and Craig Wilson.

Tim Ross and Adrian Dowd followed four minutes later. Setting off ten minutes after Limit, the quartet of Steve Duke, Mick Pearce, Carl Simmons and Dave Moore had a minute and half on the Block pair of Damian Grundy and Dave Empey. With a minute to close down to catch Block, in a solo effort, and twelve and half to overtake Limit, Andy Garrett, the one Scratch rider, faced a huge task to have a shot at the win.

After the turnaround, seeing the gaps back to chasing groups, Limit began to think they might be in with a shot.

At the 80km sign coming into town, with not a chase in sight, they dared to dream of a win as they turned left into Battery Road.

They ceased to be a team and became competitors! Ian Conrick took the win ahead of Dave Bock, Dave Jagger and John Eisner.

Over two minutes later, the first of the chasers crossed the line with Carl Simmons taking fifth and fastest time of 42.25. Then came Pearce, Moore, Ross, Dowd and Appleton. Block and Scratch finished in the order they started.

A big thanks to all the volunteer Marshals and Commissaires, particularly the non-racers, who give up their time so others can.

Here are the results and many thanks again to Tony Copland for his pics. Another great season of images - thanks very much for all your snaps Tony!

With Easter/Good Friday holiday traffic expected to be an issue next week, that was the final race of the MMBCC Summer Road Race Series.

Thanks to everyone who helped organise the races, to all those that officiated and all those that competed.

Keep your eyes out for news of the summer series presentations soon. That’s when we’ll find out who won the Summer Road Race Series, the Road Race Women’s Trophy, Dirt Crits and the Alain Guerin Memorial Crossover Trophy.

This weekend’s results…

From the 2024 Gravity Enduro Victorian State Championship and round 3 of the Victorian Enduro Tour.

• Rueben Bateup - 3rd (out of 17) in Under 15 Men.

• Ant Bateup - 9th (out of 30) in Veteran Men - 35 seconds slower than Rueben!

• Archie Smith - 14th (out of 38) in Under 21 Men.

• Adam Baker DNSed after discovering his frame was broken!

Well done all.

Roof racks for sale

This week’s road race winner, the bloke who claims he’s half an inch too tall to be a midget wrestler, has some roof racks for sale.

Finally…

Notification has just come through that the Ridley Fenix scheduled to be ridden on the Tour of Flanders Sportive ride next Saturday won’t arrive in time. It’s been swapped out for a Scott Addict with Ultegra Di2. Forecast is for rain - proper Flanders weather! :)

Upcoming Event…

MMBCC News - Sun 17 Mar

CONGRATULATIONS…

to Elise Empey for her silver medal at the Downhill Nationals in NSW yesterday.

And to Talia Appleton for winning A-grade Women at the Mansfield Hotel Tour p/b Orcoda today, winning all three stages!

Final call…

The Ventou portal for club kit is about to close! Email Bruce for the password, then click this link to go to the Ventou website to order your kit.

So far it’s known there have been speed suits, jerseys, bibs and at least one mountain bike jersey ordered.

Pink defeats Gravity Enduro

Dirt Crits Race Report - Tue 12 Mar

By Damian Grundy

The Empeys chose Pink over mountain biking! What is the world coming to?!

In their absence the Baker Boys (Adam and Finn) stepped up to set and mark two courses for the evening. Cam Dobson and Peter Carman stepped in to help with the starts and finish timing and so the Gravity Enduro night proceeded.

And so the crew rode themselves to the top of Stage 1 and competition was underway.

Ant Bateup and Archie Smith tied in Stage 1 with both finishing on 2 minutes 6 seconds. Adam Baker and Ruben Bateup were then in equal second place on this run with a time of 2.14.

In Run 2, a longer and more pedaling course, Ant Bateup put the pedal to the metal and clocked 3.18, 4 seconds clear of Archie Smith with Ruben Bateup a clear 3rd on 3.25.

All up it was a close result at the front of the field.

Overall Ant Bateup finished with a combined time of 5 minutes 24 seconds, 4 seconds clear of Archie Smith in second place with a combined time of 5.28.

Ruben Bateup was third on 5.39; Finn baker 4th on 5.49; Rylan Fox 5th on 6minutes even.

Special mention to the first woman on the night, Arial Stava with a combined time of 9.54.

Here are the results.

Only two more weeks of Dirt Crits left in the season - see you next week for the final XC night!

Riding bikes and bulls

By Ian Conrick

Writing an article for a Thursday night bike race should be pretty straight forward.

Well… let me tell you the footy is on the TV, Carlton has attacked Richmond and is leading by 10 points,

I’m also thinking Dusty Martin has had a bit more ink put on over the off season and then out of nowhere an ad for Yencken’s Hardware pops up on the screen that reminds me I should get a couple of bags of blood and bone for my garden. Anyway, back to the bones of the race…

Don’t be disturbed or bewildered if you read the term “I think” more than once in this report. Also the expression “those blokes” would refer to the other 20 riders that started in the race. Not to forget “that mongrel“ would be a term referring to the handicapper and not a pair of size 10 work boots from Yencken’s Hardware.

By now the race is well and truely under way l think the course is out the Mansfield -Whitfield road to a Long Lane turn around back to Barwite Rd down to the Old Tolmie Rd; another turn around then retracing Barwite Road and back into town, allowing for the additional turn arounds. I think Strava had me on about 25-40 km by now although I recall not recalibrating my computer.

Look, apart from a bit of a head wind coming back into town nothing was going to stop “The Bull Rider” - yes, young Jake Lay used to follow the rodeo circuit; riding bare back on those powerful half-mad outback bulls. But now that I’ve talked him up, I’ve checked the results and realised he came second!

First and fastest was Stuart Darling, a visitor for the night, who started with Jake and, in my defence, in the green kit they wore, looked like Jake’s twin. Stuart averaged 41.8 km/h over the 26km.

Ian Conrick (half an inch too big to be a midget wrestler) held on for 3rd place.

As usual we thank the volunteers, friends and families for helping out in running our events also to the Brown family and staff from the Mansfield Hotel for their ongoing support to the club and cycling community.

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

Next weeks race will be the last of the Summer Road Race Series, starting again at the Botanic Park, out to Sawpit Gully Road and back, finishing again on Mt Battery Road near the Showgrounds.

MMBCC News - Sat 9 Mar

“Few articles ever used by man have created so great a revolution in social conditions as the bicycle”
US Census Bureau Report, 1900.

Club kit still available.

The Ventou portal for club kit is open for one more week! Email Bruce for the password, then click this link to go to the Ventou website to order your kit.

So far it’s known there have been speed suits, jerseys, bibs and at least one mountain bike jersey ordered.

Only one week to go…

Dirt Critters News

The Vivash family had an incredible experience at Thredbo last week, competing in the Australian MTB Interschools, alongside 1200 other competitors (across all divisions).

Both kids competed in all 4 events - Miles was 15th in Norco All Mountain, 20th in Fox Flow Motion Cup and 12th in the Oakley Cannonball Downhill. Impressive results for a Grade 2 student competing against Grade 3 and 4s.

Sienna, also in Division 5, took out podium finishes in all events - 1st in the Fox Flow Motion cup, and in what was her favourite event, 1st in the Cannonball Downhill beating her competitors by a whopping 1min 45 sec.

They both backed it up with 1st place wins at the Alpine Cycling Club Gravity race in Albury on Saturday.

Go Team Vivash!

the Long Lap Extravaganza

By Damian Grundy

First of all a very special thanks to the trail marking crew! The course used at least 95% of the available trails in the park. The long lap was 6.4km in length and the short lap 2.4km. It’s a demanding course with several very technical and physically demanding sections.

On the night the fast guys were tackling two long laps, the intermediate riders were on one long and one short and the least experienced got to tackle just one long lap.

There was a good turn out of 14 competitors - check out the results here. As usual with the Irish handicaps the start was time staggered.

At the end it was Mr-All-Terrain-Cycles Shannon Rademaker trundling into the finish in first place. Rylan Fox finished second 57 seconds later and David Bock was third 38 seconds after Rylan. The average speeds were down for everyone on the night, a testament to the toughness of the course.

Congratulations to all competitors and a special thanks to Adam Baker for taking care of the timing.

Second in the third last

By Janine Appleton

For the third last race of the season and a week before hosting the three stage Mansfield Hotel Tour, the Cycling Club started at the Nutrien, Buller Road and raced the Barwite Loop in an anticlockwise direction. With five riders from Seymour and most of the regulars attending, the precious points in the local championship would be hotly contested.

Dave Bock was first to roll out with a tail wind, followed by Ian Conrick and myself two and a half minutes later. 

Knowing the next group of Tim Hall, Adrain Dowd, Craig Wilson and Adam Baker were only 90 seconds behind, I was determined to get to the top of Coombes Hill at my pace. Ian was quick to regret the massive ride to Whitfield and back earlier in the week when he encouraged me to leave him on Graves Road.

Adrian Dowd was too strong for his group and caught me a few kilometres onto Barwite Road, where the head wind was causing all the riders to go into a higher level of hurt. The three, first-time Mansfield event riders of Ryan Schultz, Ian Baker and Bret Bender were caught by Darren Bakker, Steve Duke, Mick Pearce and Dave Moore and the Mansfield crew took no hangers on. 

It wasn't until 1.5 km to go on Mansfield Whitfield Road, near Dead Horse Lane, that the now combined group of Jake Lay, Talia Appleton, Bruce Halket, Chris Miller, James Hender and Michael Thomson thought they had a chance at a place. It was a tight squeeze around the corner into Mt Battery road, where full gas was applied for the uphill finish.  

Adrian Dowd was able to pull away easily from my poor, sprint-finish legs. The handicapper was applauded tonight as 3rd place, Michael Thompson was only another 8 seconds behind me, with a mixed group of 9 riders finishing in the next 30 seconds, with Jake Lay taking out fastest time. 

Thanks to the Mansfield Hotel for the appetisers for everyone and their weekly special $25 prize - going to Jenni Sparnon this week for making herself available to marshal, at very short notice, despite never participating in races.

Here are the detailed results and many thanks again to Tony Copland for his images.

Just a reminder to all vehicles on the road on this coming weekend - we have a few hundred competitors visiting for the Mansfield Tour, with Stage one on Saturday morning around Stoneleigh road and Merinda Way,

Stage two on Saturday afternoon on Mansfield Whitfield Road, Barwite road and Old Tolmie road; and Stage 3 on Sunday morning on Mt Buller road finishing at the top of Mt Buller. Please be patient with all the cyclists and official cars over the weekend. We would like to continue to receive the wonderful feedback we always get - a safe, well-organised event run by super friendly, community volunteers.

prize revealed

Exciting news! A new prize will be awarded to the winners of each of the Summer-long competitions run by the MMBCC; both the Summer Road Race Series and Dirt Crits.

With many thanks to an anonymous benefactor, the winner of each series will now receive a new Giro time trial helmet, just like that one in the images below.*

Second place gets two helmets!

*Possibly not. This should really have been published on the first of April.

MMBCC News - Sun 3 Mar

“Training is like fighting with a gorilla.
You don’t stop when you’re tired.
You stop when the gorilla is tired.”
Greg Henderson

Club kit is GO!

The Ventou portal for club kit is now open! Email Bruce for the password, then click this link to go to the Ventou website to order your kit.

We’ll use All Terrain Cycles as the address (somewhere central in town where you can collect it). Or you can pay a bit extra and have it sent straight to your address.

A BIG week for Dirt Critters

By Tim Ross

Dirt Critters enjoyed a Gravity Enduro night at Rifle Butts Reserve last Tuesday. Course setter Luke Vivash sent the younger kids down the Critters course, with Dayna clocking the fastest time. He then set the older kids a course from the very top of the hill. Not sure what tracks they used but there were some astonishingly quick descents over the two passes, with Blake just pipping Micah for fastest time with Cooper, Miles and Jarrah hot on his heels.

A large group of kids from Mansfield Steiner School participated in the Falls Creek MTB inter-schools on Friday. This is a well-organised and fun event on a great XC course. Cheered on by enthusiastic parents, all the kids gave 100% and enjoyed their races.

Podiums to Ruby Rademaker, Rueben Bateup, Keeva Morris-Webb and Edwin Morphett.

Coming up is the next race in the Alpine Cycling Club’s Junior MTB series. This time it’s at Albury’s Nail Can Hill track and takes the form of a Gravity Enduro next Saturday 9 March. As we’ve noted before, this series is well-organised and participation focused. And inexpensive, with just $10 entry.

Dirt Crits Gravity… finally!

By Kate Stonnill

Senior Dirt Crits finally had another Gravity Enduro night on the 27th after the last one had to be cancelled due to weather.

Zac Empey designed a new course, with a new starting point. He said the top section was quite technical but otherwise was a very fast track. All riders rode the downhill track twice, and interestingly the older the rider the bigger the improvement on the second run down.

It was great to see the return of some of the younger riders. With 18 riders in total the more technical track definitely seemed to favour the more experienced downhillers. The timed descents were added together for one total time.

Sadly Will Anderson took a wrong turn at the top of the first run and designed his own adventure.

Adam Baker and Luke Vivash came in 6th and 7th respectively. The Podium was then followed with Rueben Bateup in 5th (3:25), Zac Empey 4th (3:24), Archie Smith 3rd (3:17), Shannon Rademaker 2nd (3:16) and the top step being easily won by Ant Bateup in 1st with a time of 3min :11sec.

Ariel Baker again flying the banner for female mountain bikers.

The usual contest between Dave Bock and Steve Curnow continued again this week, with Bocky edging in front for the first time. Steve was possibly still recovering from his win at the Otway Odyssey on the weekend. Well done Steve.

A cool change, new course, some new faces, a couple of returning ones, plus old dogs with no tricks.

By David Bock

A drop in temperature to a pleasant 26*C, in the hour before Thursday’s race, was welcomed by the twenty two competitors gathered beside the cemetery, preparing to race. The 23 km course, consisting of two and a bit laps of the Stoneleigh Road - Merinda Way - Monkey Gully Road circuit, hadn`t been used for the Mansfield Mt Buller Cycling Club`s Thursday evening racing before, so was something of an unknown quantity, particularly for the Handicapper. A slight wind also added to the uncertainty.

Two Dave`s, Dave Jagger, and Dave Bock, were the first to set off, as the Limit group, for the faster riders to try to chase down.

The next pair off consisted of Janine Appleton, racing after a bit of a hiatus, and Ethan Nealon, racing with the Club for the first time.

The following group splintered early, losing first Craig Wilson, then Steve Curnow. After dropping Adam Baker, Adrian Dowd and Ryan Schultz were able to work together for a while, before Ryan proved too strong and pulled away, so they all continued on solo.

Working more effectively as a group were Darren Bakker, Steve Duke, Mick Pearce, Carl Simmons, and Dave Moore, in his first race for a year or so.

The fastest competitors set off as two groups of four, the Block group of Bruce Halket, Dave Empey, Chris McKnight, and Chris Miller, having a two and a half minute head start over the Scratch bunch of Jake Lay, Talia Appleton, Dan Purcell, and Andy Garrett.

On the uphill run to the finish line, still clear of the chase, Dave Jagger opened up a ten second gap on Bocky, to take the win, not far ahead of a bunch sprint of seven, charging for third place. Ethan Nealon claimed that prize, ahead of Darren Bakker, Carl Simmons, Mick Pearce, Steve Duke, Adrian Dowd, and Ryan Schultz.

Just over thirty seconds later, Dave Moore crossed, to round out the top ten, five seconds in front of Dan Purcell, who claimed fastest time, crossing with Jake Lay.

Many thanks to the Commissaire, Allan Gerrans, and all the other officials and to Tony Copland for his images, below.

Here are the results.

Next week it’s the Barwite Loop.

With only three race left, the top ten of the current point score for the Summer Road Race Series sees Darren Bakker leading on 105 points ahead of this week’s winner, Dave Jagger on 81. They’re followed by Ruby Dobson on 78, Bruce Halket - 76, Jake Lay - 67, Andy Garrett - 65, Mick Pearce - 63, Tim Ross - 61, then Steve Curnow and Adrian Dowd on 59.

MMBCC News - Sun 25 Feb

“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.

MMBCC News - Sat 17 Feb

“One of the most important days of my life was when I learned to ride a bicycle.”
Michael Palin

Have you subscribed to MMBCC News yet? Get it straight to your Inbox - enter your email address on the MMBCC Homepage.

Dirt Crits got ripped off

… by the weather again. But this coming Tuesday’s XC round will make up for the disappointment!

Bakker Plumbing Handicap 2024

By Dario Cippolini Gazzeta

Perfect conditions greeted Mansfield Mt Buller Cycling Club riders and volunteers at the start of one of the club’s marquee races of the season in beautiful Jamieson.

There was one late scratching with Campag Wilson suffering a broken spoke. And almost another but out marker David Jagger just made the start in time after fulfilling his fire fighting duties.

Jagger was the first to start by himself and had the job of trying to hold off the next 15 riders. Next off was a solid group of four, Adam Baker, Steve Curnow, Adrian Dowd and home town boy Allan Gerrans.

They were followed by a very capable quartet of Damian Grundy, Steve Duke, Michael Pearce and Darren Bakker.

Next to go was the biggest group of the night and probably the favourites for the win; Smokey Garrett, Ruby Dobson, Chris Miller, Bruce ‘Lead Out’ Halket and club President David Empey for his first race for the season.

They were being chased by the Scratch duo of Jake Lay and Talia Appleton.

The Jamieson course is beautifully scenic but also very fast; so most riders were chewing on the handlebars on the way to the turnaround at Ten Mile and there wasn’t time for sightseeing;

It’s also a unique course due to all the bends in the road, so you can’t really see if you’re gaining on the next group until the turnaround. After the turnaround all the groups were coming together, so they could look at each other’s progress.

The Block group of five were down to three just before the turn with Empey blowing up after some mega pulls on the front and Millar puncturing. Scratch were making progress but had the job ahead of them if they wanted to feature in the finish.

Meanwhile the smooth movers Duke, Pearce, Bakker, and the big engine Grundy, were collecting all the front markers, thinking they were a real chance not to get caught.

It wasn’t to be as they were caught by the rampaging remnants of Block about 1.5km from the finish. It was set to be a cracking finish with 7 riders vying for the win.

With 600m to go Halket and Dobson were keeping the pace high to stop any attacks. Duke started making a move on the outside.

Then with 300m to go Halket attacked, Smokey Garret was straight on to his wheel and blasted past him with Bakker trying to get into the slipstream.

There was no power outage in the sprint as Andy (Watt Bomb) Garrett hit 1100 watts, smoking the field to win by a big margin. Bakker came in 2nd, Ruby 3rd, Halket 4th and Grundy 5th. All the others riders came not long after, a sign of good handicapping. Good Job Dave.

Jake Lay from the Scratch group rode the fastest time of 60:10; only 9 seconds faster than the winner Andy Garrett. “If I’d known it was that close I would have tried!” Andy exclaimed over a recovery ale. Here are the results. Thanks to Tony for the racing shots, Bruce and Cameron for the presentation pics.

Big thank you to all the Marshals, Commissaires and helpers and a special thank you to the Court House Hotel for their efforts after a trying week.

Good luck to MMBCC members competing…

this weekend at the Cannonball at Thredbo.

And next weekend at the Otway Odyssey in Forrest.

MMBCC News - Sun 11 Feb

“Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realise fishing is stupid and boring.”
Desmond Tutu

Dirt Crits Irish Handicap

By Damian Grundy

After the enjoyable first ride night on January 23rd, it was back to the serious business of racing for the first XC race night of Dirt Crits in 2024.

Using a very slightly modified course from the last race of 2023, a determined Baker’s Dozen of riders lined up for the start. The race format was the usual “Irish” Handicap. “How does an Irish Handicap work?” I hear you ask.

Here is an attempted explanation: With riders of all levels of ability and fitness the objective is to have a single race in which all riders have a chance to win. The handicapping takes into consideration each rider’s level of fitness and adjusts their number of laps to best suit their endurance abilities coupled with their predicted race speed based on previous performances. This permits the handicapper to give individual numbers of laps and individual start times with the objective that everyone approaches the finish at roughly the same time. The point is that we all have a chance, and the objective is FUN and FITNESS.

The course for this week was relatively short at 1.45km in length, nothing particularly steep or long in the climbing department and a generally fastish sort of layout.

Darren Bakker was the first out of the start with 6 laps ahead of him. Luke Vivash was the final starter 6 minutes later with 3 laps to complete.

It was great to see Ariel Stava and Shannon Rademaker making their first race for the 2023/2024 season. Welcome back and hope to see you regularly for the rest of the season.

Given that your reporter was in the thick of the action himself it isn’t possible to say much about how the race progressed however at the end It was Adam Baker who prevailed for the win after crossing the line in second place. Archie Smith crossed the line first but had to admit that he possibly misinterpreted the course and went the wrong way and has generously disqualified himself from the results.

On this I will say that I do recommend arriving a little earlier and doing a course reconnaissance for familiarisation and a warmup. The courses are usually well marked out by 5.30pm and usually short enough that a lap for warm up is more than achievable.

Luke Vivash, returning from a broken wrist, finished a creditable 2nd, 40 seconds behind Adam.

Yours truly finished a further 30 seconds back from Luke in 3rd, Dan Hall was 4th and Darren Bakker 5th.

Ariel Stava was first female.

Congratulations to all competitors. And I am eternally grateful to Kate Stonnill and Cam Dobson for managing the timing and the pics. Thanks!

Use this link to go to the full results.

Perfect conditions for a road race

By Jake Lay

Thursday night’s twilight road handicap attracted a field of 16. The race was held on course 9 over 22km and featured the dreaded Coombesberg climb.

Conditions were ideal for racing, with little wind. The only setback was recently completed (30 minutes before race start) roadworks on the Barwite Road. Some of the riders were nervous about getting fresh asphalt on their bikes (Andy). For rider safety, the road works was declared a neutral race zone.

A big MMBCC welcome back to Adam Baker for his first road race in a long, long time!

First off was Dave Jagger followed by four strong groups of three with Andrew Garrett and Bruce Halket off second Scratch with Jake Lay solo a minute behind. A total of 12:30 was all that separated the field.

Tony Copland was nominated Chief Commissaire for the night, as well as conducting his usual MMBCC pro tour photos of the field.

Jake had caught Andy & Bruce before the turnaround and the three worked well until the climb where Jake released the afterburners as the whole race was strung out up the Coombesberg.

After the descent he started reeling in each rider over the last few kilometres, except one. Congratulations Tim Hall on a nice solo victory.

Thank you to all volunteers, lead & follow cars, officials, Dave Moore the Handicapper and The Mansfield Hotel.

Here are Tony’s pics and here’s a link to the results.

Next week it’s back to Jamieson for one of the highlight races of the MMBCC season, the Bakker Plumbing Handicap. It’ll be followed by dinner and presentations at the Courthouse Hotel.

Dirt Critters is back!

By Tim and Luke

Great to have Dirt Critters up and going for the new term, with many of the old faces and some new ones. Nice to do a few laps of Rifle Butts to re-familiarise ourselves with the trails.

Next week (Tuesday 13th Feb) we'll meet at Rifle Butts, and then ride the single track alongside Rifle Butts Road to the lookout and back.  As usual the times are;

4:00pm     Grade 3 and below

4:45pm     Grades 4 - 6 (and we welcome any of last year's Grade 6 ers who aren't quite ready for senior Dirt Crits)

Weather is expected to be fairly hot, so sunscreen is the go, and don't forget to bring your water-bottle.

Dirt Critters is open to all Primary School children, with the aim for kids to enjoy riding and to learn new skills.  Parents are most welcome to come and watch or to help out.

A reminder that all riders must have an AusCycling membership.

Click here to go to the Join Now page and follow the steps to get your AusCycling licence (Race Off-Road is the one you want). An AusCycling membership is valid for 12 months and costs $81 for 7yo and under; $109 for 8 to 12yo. 

For those who haven’t previously had a membership, a free, four-week ‘come and try’ membership is available.  

Those who've had a previous membership please make sure it's current (Auscycling will send an email prompt).

Racing 

A big contingent of Mansfield kids headed to Beechworth on Saturday to contest Round 4 of the Alpine Cycling Club’s Junior MTB Series. The series comprises six rounds at a range of venues in NE Victoria, with a mixture of XCO and Downhill events.

Twelve Mansfield riders ranging from U9 to U13 took part. Podiums for Sienna (U9 girls) and Ben (U13 boys). Most of the group retired to Bilson’s Brewery for lunch afterwards to celebrate.

The series is well organised, and is a fun and low stress chance for kids to get into racing, with a focus on participation. Email if you'd like more details or call Luke on 0455 604 785 for more information.

See you next week!

MMBCC News - Sun 4 Feb

“Bicycling is a big part of the future. It has to be. There’s something wrong with a society that drives a car to workout in a gym.”
Bill Nye

A warm night of Gravity Dirts Crits

One race course, raced twice, fastest combined timed wins.

1 Archie
2 Elijah
3 Charlie
4 Zac
5 Luke

Great riding from all and thank you to our wonderful club volunteers for organising. Here are the detailed results. See you next week for XC race edition.

Many thanks to Shannon Rademaker for the pics.

Who knew John could sprint?!

By David Jagger

Thursday 1 February saw a perfect summer evening for a bike race, 25 degrees, clear skies and a south-westerly wind. The Howes Creek Road course is a good mix of flat sections and rolling hills; a variation that will suit most riders for some part of the course.

Like most of the club’s road races, this was a handicap race. The slower riders were sent off first and the fastest about fifteen minutes later with the aim that they all cross the finish line at about the same time.
Tony Morris, the statesman of the club was the first to set off. The head wind was quite strong at the start, so he wisely waited for the next riders (John Eisner and David Jagger) to catch him and provide support. Dave Bock joined the group and added valuable strength heading into the wind.

Tim Hall and Ian Conrick were the next group but were caught near the Preston Wool Shed by Craig Wilson, Adrian Dowd and Steve Curnow. This group of five steamed their way to the turnaround at Cummins Road and looked invincible.

Steve Duke, Darren Bakker, Damian Grundy and Tim Ross powered out of the start and set a cracking pace. This proved a little too fast for Tim who was dropped by his group a little earlier than he would have liked.

Andrew Garrett, Ruby Dobson and Chris Miller were making the headwind seem like a gentle breeze as they powered along to the turnaround. From there they seemed that they were sprinting on the way back, now with the wind on their backs.

Fresh from the Tour Down Under and the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, Talia Appleton was the last to start a further minute back.

The rolling hills took a toll on a few riders and were dropped from their groups, riding solo back to the finish. In the cruel outcome of many handicap races, Andrew, Ruby and Chris overtook many riders in the last few hundred metres.

Meanwhile, the first group of riders managed to just stay ahead, John winning with a short sprint over David. Chris caught Dave Bock on the last hill to finish third.

Chris had the fastest time of the race, but credit must be given to a lone powerhouse: Talia Appleton. She set a blistering pace right from the start, with 25km appearing like a warmup for this amazing girl. She finished the race only 90 seconds slower than Chris who had the assistance of his group for whole race. And Talia was the only one who had to be stopped by a marshal at an intersection due to an oncoming car!

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

Thanks to all the helpers on the night to make the race possible. Their sacrifice enabled the race to run. The Mansfield Hotel award went to Dave Empey who is always around to support the MMBCC.

Next week we’re racing on the Whitfield Road, going around the ‘Barwite Loop’ and finishing on Graves Road.

MMBCC News - Sat 27 Jan

“Anyone who rides a bike is a friend of mine.”
Gary Fisher

Not much to report this week. Only five turned up to race the first Dirt Crits XC race of 2024, so we went for a very pleasant evening ride instead! And the rain on Thursday forced the cancellation of the first road race of 2024.

Next week will be better! Tuesday will see the first Gravity Dirt Crits of 2024 and Thursday we’ll be back on Howes Creek Road, one of the best courses we race on.

In the meantime…

The 2024 Mansfield Hotel Tour powered by Orcoda is fast approaching - Sat 16 & Sun 17 March. Please make a note in your calendar as we’ll be looking for volunteers very soon.

Speaking of our Tour, Jason Parker found these great little videos from Nero KOM Racing from the 2017 Mansfield Tour. It features some youngsters who’ve turned out to be fairly handy bike riders: three-time Australian Road Race Champion Luke Plapp (now of Jayco AlUla) and Q36.5 pro Jimmy Whelan.

Finally…

Good luck to Talia Appleton in Saturday’s Deakin University Road Race. It’ll be Talia’s longest ever race and will be broadcast on 7Mate and online on 7+.

MMBCC News - Sun 21 Jan

Subscribe to MMBCC News and WIN!… a newsletter in your inbox every now and again.

Dirt Crits is back, baby!

The second half of the Dirt Crits season starts Tuesday 23 January with a cross country (XC) round.

Then it’ll alternate between Gravity and XC every week. All races are now on the MMBCC Events Calendar.

(Dirt Critters is still a few weeks away from a re-start. We have to wait till Luke gets back from playing around in Japanese powder snow. Probably Tuesday 6 February but that’ll be confirming as soon as possible.)

Results from the weekend…

Round 3 of the Victorian DownHIll Series was held at Mt Beauty with some great results by MMBCC members.

Matthew Empey: Elite Men, 15th.
Ant Bateup: Masters Men, 3rd.
Rueben Bateup: U15 Men, 3rd. (14 seconds faster than Dad!)

LIttle video from Nathan Dabbs of Matt Empey in practice

Winning in the wind

By Adrian Dowd

The temperature was perfect and the sun came out from behind the clouds for the first MMBCC road race of 2024 along Whitfield Road.

The swapping of marshals at the last minute was like trying to predict the buffeting of the swirling southerly. And the windy conditions wouldn’t suit so many solo riders which was inevitable with numbers down to only ten.

First off was John Eisner followed shortly after by Tim Hall and Adrian Dowd at four minutes; Damian Grundy and Mick Pearce five minutes after that. Ruby Dobson, Darren Bakker and Bruce Halket were another minute back with Jake Lay and Andrew Garret a further three minutes back; a total of 13 minutes between Limit and Scratch.

Hall was the first to be dropped near Barwite Road and Dowd caught Eisner near the tomato farm.

Further back, Grundy and Pearce worked well together; but Dobson and Halket dropped Bakker early (a victim of too many km in training) but he did manage to get onto the back of Scratch for a bit.

On the way back to town the southerly wind was relentless, making it really hard for those riding alone.

Except Jake Lay.

Dowd held the lead up until Kareen Court when Lay went past solo like a freight train and turned up Mt Battery Road to a well-deserved win; and Fastest Time!

Adrian held onto second, closely followed by Halket and Dobson. Then came Pearce, Grundy, Garrett, Bakker, Hall and Eisner.

Many thanks to our Marshals, Commissaire and Handicapper for a safe and well-organised race.

Here are the results and below are Tony Copland’s pics.

Next week we’re racing on Whitfield Road again but on a new course - turning around at Long Lane, then out and back along Barwite Road.

Hayden Fletcher

Hayden might have been living in Brisbane for the last three years but he’s still racing on a Mansfield Mt Buller CC membership, still winning and now, setting a new track record at Park Orchards.

Have a look at this great little video of his new record on Facebook that his dad Paul sent through.

Gravel bike for sale

Cam Dobson's sister-in-law is selling her 2020 Giant Revolt Advanced carbon gravel bike. Size small, it’s in excellent condition. Recent new continental gravel king 38mm tyres. Pickup Croydon 3136 area.

Click on this link to go to the Gumtree listing.

Upcoming…

Northern Cycling are hosting a 64km Masters Handicap at Seymour on Sunday 28 January. Entires are via Entry Boss, registration opens at 9am, racing starts at 10am.

Seymour Broadford CC host Twilight road races just about every Tuesday evening and Saturday afternoon over summer. Entries are via Team App (the one we used to use too.)

Road Race Reminder 2024

Road racing for this summer starts again this coming Thursday!

Entries are now open and close at 8pm on Wednesday.

The first race of the calendar year starts at the Botanic Park and out along Whitfield Road to Sawpit Gully Road, then back to town, finishing on Mt Battery Road near the Showgrounds.

Please check the duty roster and see you there!

MMBCC News - Mon 8 Jan

Dirt Crits racing will be back again soon. But until then…

Summer Mountain Biking

When: Tuesday evenings, 5.30 - 7ish. Join in at any time.

Where: Riflebutts Mountain Bike Park

What will we be doing? Some riding. Some set training efforts. Some XC focussed skills. Maybe a little trail maintenance.

There will be an experienced MTB Coach onsite. Feel free to ask any questions.

It all starts tomorrow night, Tuesday 9 January.

MMBCC News - Sat 16 Dec

Give yourself a Xmas pressie - subscribe to MMBCC News…

Xmas Irish Handicap

By Damian Grundy

First of all let me wish all Members of MMBCC and their families and friends a very safe and merry Christmas.

Tuesday the 12th of December 2023 had been a hot, hot day and this probably explains the small turnout of 7 riders. From here on I will refer to them as the MAGNIFICENT SEVEN! Let me name them all given that they deserve all the plaudits for their determination to race and there aren’t that many of them.

Damian Grundy (standing in for Darren Bakker), Tom MacMunn, Dan Hall, Steve Curnow, Ant and Rueben Bateup and David Bock.

It had cooled a little by 6pm and so it wasn’t too oppressive for racing.

A very short and simple course of 1.29km had been set and race distances were relatively short.

The Magnificent Seven were sent on their way at the allotted handicap interval times.

By the end of the race Rueben Bateup who found himself thinking that he had come second but was the actual winner in a finish time of 27min and 28sec.

In 2nd was Steve Curnow, 36sec later. Ant Bateup was 3rd, a further 42sec behind 3rd place and then Tom MacMunn in 4th only 6 sec behind Ant. David Bock was 5th and Dan Hall 6th.

Damian Grundy self-disqualified based on being the handicapper but he was very happy for the hit-out.

Congratulations to all! Thanks especially to Kate Stonnill for managing the timing and results.

Mind the gap

By Ecurb Teklah

Last Thursday saw the Mansfield Mt Buller Cycling Club host its Xmas Handicap on Howes Creek Road, finishing on the dreaded O’Hanlon’s Road hill.

Starting the festivities off Limit at 14 minutes were Micala Jacobs and David Bock.

They were followed by Craig Wilson, Steve Curnow and John Findlay off 9 minutes; Adrian Dowd and Tim Ross off 5 minutes; Jarrod Appleton and Michael Pearce off 3 minutes (made all the more difficult by the late scratching of Ryder Chadd) and Block saw Bruce Halket, Steve Duke and current points leader, Darren Bakker off 1.30.

Then came our two local ‘pro’ cyclists, Ruby Dobson of Roxsolt-LIV-SRAM and Talia Appleton of Team Bridgelane, as the Scratch group and firm favourites for the win with the ragtag group of 12 vagabonds and miscreants they were chasing.

Block thought they’d ridden really well, catching a relatively relaxed J Appleton and Pearce at about one-third distance. That made it even more of a shock when Talia and Ruby caught them not long after, well before the end of Howes Creek Road.

As the tempo increased, Duke, Halket and Pearce hopped on the back of Scratch as they went past. But as Duke faltered with the increase in pace, Halket was lucky enough to see the gap open in front of Steve’s front wheel - he and Pearce accelerated across the gap to get onto Talia’s wheel.

Dowd and Ross were the next caught with only Tim able to get onto the train, which meant through the turnaround at the end of McMillan Point Drive it was the two young girls leading the way for the three old blokes.

But another decisive gap soon opened. After a big turn on the front, Dobson drifted too far to the back of the group, with Ross, and saw a gap open to the leading trio of Appleton, Halket and Pearce. And it wouldn’t close again.

Halket managed a few obligatory turns on the front but it was all Talia to O’Hanlon’s Road. Bock and Wilson were caught at the base of the climb and all were left in Talia’s wake as she danced on the pedals up the climb to a convincing, even comfortable win (If you can call riding to the line with a heart rate of 196 beats per minute comfortable!)

“For a brief moment I thought I might be able to catch her. But I blinked and the moment was gone!” Halket said after hanging on for second ahead of Mick Pearce. Then came Steve Curnow, Dave Bock, Ruby Dobson, Craig Wilson, Tim Ross, Jarrod Appleton and Steve Duke in the last points scoring position.

Not surprisingly, Talia was fastest in a corrected time of 38.22 - a minute and a half quicker than anyone else.

At the post-race presentations at the Mansfield Hotel, race preparation was discussed in great detail. Halket and Ross prepared for the race by spending the early part of the week with Tim’s boys (Ben and Alistair) downhill mountain biking at Thredbo. With his tongue planted firmly in his cheek, Halket was quoted as saying it shows that those who only ride downhill have no excuse for not racing on the road. “If a 60 year old who can’t descend can do this, what’s their excuse?!”

Steve Duke admitted that his race preparation had been less than ideal. “I’ve spent the last week training with my elbow” he said after attending his son’s wedding in Albury last weekend.

Talia won this one too though, with her preparation based on a race day lunch time ride up Mt Buller!

Many thanks to all our officials and Commissaires and to all the courteous Mansfield motorists who help make our racing so safe.

Merry Christmas to all - let’s have a safe and happy silly season.

Many thanks also to Tony Copland for his images, below, and here are the results.

The point score at the Xmas break shows Darren Bakker, last week’s winner in Jamieson, leading the way on 69 points. He’s followed by Ruby Dobson on 56, then Tim Ross and Steve Curnow tied for third on 50. Then comes Bruce Halket, 47; Mick Pearce, 42; Ryder Chadd, 41; Dave Jagger, 39; Andy Garrett, 37 and Jake Lay rounds out the top ten on 35 points.

Interim BikeSpot Results released

Mansfield got a mention with two spots marked as dangerous. If you know of dangerous places to ride in and around Mansfield, it’s not too late to mark them on BikeSpot.

Here’s the Interim Results and here’s the link to add a spot - you’ve got until the end of January to add to the list.

Upcoming Events

Thu 21 Dec - Pro Kit Bunch Ride. With road racing finished for the year, let’s go for a Thursday night 6pm bunch ride up the Whitfield Road instead, followed by a possible fermented recovery ale. Wear your best/worst pro roadie kit or your Santa costume.

Sat 23 Dec - Gravel Bunch Ride. Meeting at the Botanic Park at the normal time of 8am, another of Bruce’s gravel loops. Bring your gravel bike and your Xmas spirit.

MMBCC News - Sat 9 Dec

A fair bit to get through this week… don’t forget to subscribe!

Dirt Critters Update

By Tim & Luke

There will be NO DIRT CRITTERS next week as Tim and Luke are both away.

However, we will have our Christmas breakup the following week (Tuesday 19 December); more details nearer the time.

Last week 

On Tuesday both groups did some timed loops at Rifle Butts Reserve. The younger group did two laps of Critters. Angus C, Dayna and Hayden were the three fastest, with Scout, Baz and Angus A not far behind. 

The older group did two laps of Joyride. Blake blitzed the field, with Miles and Mitch making up the podium.  Great to see both groups taking on the longer courses to help build up their endurance. 

Racing 

The next race in the Alpine Cycling Club Junior MTB series is a Cross Country race at Yackandandah this Saturday 9 December. Checkout the details via this link. Best wishes to Blake and Scout who will be flying the flag for Dirt Critters (along with other MMBCC members Ben, Alastair and Cruz).              

Contact dirtcrits@gmail.com or call Luke on 0455 604 785 for more information.  Thanks,  

Dirt Crits Gravity Enduro Report

By Dave Empey

The last Gravity Enduro for 2023 was held in perfect conditions. Riders raced over two tracks that provided a bit of everything. There was a little bit of steep, a bit of pedalling a bit of flat and a lot of corners.

It was Matt Empey who came out on top with a commanding 7 second win. Shannon Rademaker and Charlie Dobson tied for second place closely followed by Rueben Bateup in 4th and Ant Bateup in 5th.

In the family battles it was Rueben Bateup beating Ant for the first time, Charlie Dobson continued his winning ways over Cameron, Peter Carmen bucked the trend and prevailed over Keegan. It was great to see the younger riders starting to pick up the pace and take the racing to the older riders.

Here are the detailed results. Next week is the final race for 2023 and it will be a Cross country pain fest, which I hear Bruce Halket is very much looking forward to. (Except that he won’t be there Dave - Ed.)

A Finish To Remember

By Ryder Chadd

Thursday evening saw the Mansfield Mt Buller Cycling Club road racing at the later time of 6:30 at one of our favourite courses - Jamison. With a grey, overcast sky and the sun trying to come through, riders set off in humid weather.

Setting off first was Micala Jacobs TT’ing most of the 30km. She was followed by Selina Green and Dave Bock after 5 minutes, then John Findlay and Dave Jagger at 6. The two groups worked together for majority of the race.

Bella Green, Steve Curnow and Craig Wilson set off at 8 minutes, working together strongly to keep away from Michael Pearce, Ryder Chadd and Damian Grundy, who set off at 12.30, weaving through the Jamo turns.

Starting off Scratch, with the most work to do, were Darren Bakker, Steve Duke and Bruce Halket, motoring along the road to catch everyone in front.

Towards the end almost all the riders had bunched together, preparing for what would be a close finish. Perfect work from handicapper, Dave Moore.

Bruce led the group towards the finish before Darren set out an early sprint over the rise to the finish. Ryder having to go the long way around Bruce.

No good for Ryder though, Darren Bakker hauling all the way to the finish. Followed by Ryder a length back. Damian crossed the line for third.

Bruce, Michael and Steve Duke followed closely behind for 4th, 5th and 6th.

Craig Wilson, Dave Jagger and Bella Green coming afterward, followed by Dave Bock, Steve Curnow and John Findlay.

Micala crossing the line for 13th and Selina finishing off the group for 14th.

Presentations and dinner were held afterward at the Jamison Brewery.

A big thank you for all the Volunteers and Commissaries for putting the afternoon together.

Here are the results and below are this week’s Copland pics.