Free Shuttle Day and BBQ at Mt Buller - Saturday 14 November
Next Saturday! 9 am start at Lower Tyrol Carpark (old Blue Dirt Pick up location) with two shuttle buses running till 1pm; then we’ll finish with a BBQ. All riders will need to participate in a pre-ride briefing as the signage won't be in place yet.
Keep in mind, we will only be shuttling the new, trail-bike specific trails - NOT the downhill trails. Feedback so far is that the new trails are awesome!
Speaking of new trails, here’s some info on the official opening of the new trails last week.
Club kit open again
The Ventou club kit portal is now open until the close of business on Monday 16 November (which means we should get delivery by Xmas.) All the usual suspects are available plus aero socks in either black or white. And we’ve included the Pro Bibs image to remind John Eisner that we’re still waiting for a wardrobe upgrade.
Please keep in mind we need a minimum of 10 pieces of clothing for the order to go into production; and for the socks, that means 10 pairs.
Here’s the link to see what’s available; you’ll need to contact Bruce for the code. (Rest assured John will have the link and code emailed directly to him!)
Rifle Butts Road gets a touch up
Sunday morning saw the single track along the road reserve on Rifle Butts Road get the MMBCC working bee treatment.
Many thanks to Damian, Steve, Tim, Alex and Adrian for sorting out Mansfield’s original mountain bike trail.
A New Course - a Scratch Masterclass!
By Ben Grundy
Riders were treated to a new course this week, taking in Stoneleigh Road, Merinda Way, Monkey Gully Road, Rifle Butts Road and Drakes Hill Road before making the turnaround and heading back to the finish at Rifle Butts MTB Park.
The new route certainly delivered plenty of action, with some great racing and a thrilling finish.
The ride of the day belonged to Jason Jackson, riding off Scratch.
Jason wasted no time making his intentions clear, dropping everyone in Scratch before catching and dropping the Block group on Drakes Hill Road. With only Steve Duke managing to stay with him, Jason continued his effort until finally dropping Steve at the turnaround.
From there, Jason was on a mission, riding solo through the rest of the field on his way back to the finish.
Ben Grundy also had a strong ride, managing to drop his group on Drakes Hill Road and riding solo towards the finish. Tim Ross wasn't giving up, though, and nearly caught Ben on the climb back from Jamieson Road after the turnaround, heading towards the top of Drakes Hill Road.
At the finish, Jason and Ben went head-to-head in a close sprint, with Jason getting the better of Ben to claim the win.
Tim secured third place, crossing the line around 100 metres behind the leading pair, while Heath Hammond was hot on his heels and pushing all the way to the finish.
Honourable mention to Heath Hammond, who kept the pressure on Tim right to the line.
Here are the results and thanks to Tony Copland for the images.
A great ride from Jason off Scratch, a strong solo effort from Ben and a determined chase from Tim. Add in a new course and a close sprint finish, and it was a fantastic day's racing.
The course wasn't actually the one originally planned, due to road works, but nevertheless it was well received by the riders. A happy accident and a great day's racing.
Next week it’s one of the club’s marquee races, the Alain Guerin Memorial Handicap, which is also the longest Thursday night race at 32km.
Accurate weather on the website
After the demise of mansfieldweather.com.au a few years ago, we finally have access to accurate weather for Mansfield.
With thanks to Jane’s Weather, the details on the Shire’s website is now available in a smaller widget on the base of the MMBCC Home page.
Instead of the old SunSmart widget (which didn’t include Mansfield, only Seymour) this is what we’ll use to decide whether Summer weekend bunch rides start at 7 or 8; and to help to decide whether it’s too hot to race in the late afternoon.