Category: News
Mt Taylor 4 Hour Enduro : 22-Nov-2009
The last round of the 2009 Gippsland MTB Championship see riders going to Mt Taylor for the first time for a XC race. Given current weather conditions it will be a hot race in more than one sense with riders cranking out the laps. As always, our races are open to competitors of all levels…
Crashing 101
I read somewhere there are two sorts of mountain bikers ………….one who has had a big accident and one who is about to. Having had my share of unplanned earthward excursions, I thought I could pass on a few tips that may preserve your good looks.
Protection:
Helmets: Often when you hit the deck, a tree or rock can become between your face and the ground …result messed up face, cracked or broken teeth. I had a bash with a full face DH helmet, but I needed a rugby players neck to support it for a few hours so I went looking for an alternative. Met Helmets in Italy make a standard MTB helmet (much like their “Kaos “ model) but with a chin guard called a “Parachute”. Can’t buy them in Australia or the US for a few nonsensical reasons but can get them in the UK or throughout Europe. I ordered one on line, it cost $200 A$ landed and took a week to get here. Not heavy nor causes you to overheat or freeze, I’ve used it on 35 deg days and in the snow – never a problem. Comes in medium or large, I have a large, and its perfect for one with a big head.
Forrest/You Yangs Weekend – How Hot Was It!
11 people turned up for the first ever Gippsland MTB Forrest/You Yangs long weekend on November 6th to 8th. The event was based at the Forrest Caravan Park which proved to be the perfect location with easy access to the trails, great cabins and a pub 20 meters away for post-ride story telling.
Once arriving on Friday and setting up in our cabins, we rode out to the western trails to do some exploring as most people had not been to Forrest before. These trails were a good taster of things to come with well benched in flowing single track for the green loops and more technical blue trails to add more of a challenge. Everyone found these sections fun with no major dramas.
GMTB Presentation Evening
The time has come to crown the first ever GMTB Club Champions, and we have decided to have the GMTB Presentation Evening at Turks Sports Bar Traralgon, providing free pizza and beverages at bar prices. We hope that all of our club members can attend the evening, which is essentially our end of year function prior…
MTBA Coaching Courses + First Aid
Gippsland MTB has secured $5000 of State Government funding to skill up our members in Remote Area First Aid and the new MTBA Mountain Bike Coaching Accreditation levels 0 and 1.
The GMTB committee are after interested club members to undertake these courses so we can provide quality remote area first aid at all of our events and to gain accredited coaches so we can start to pass on our mountain biking skills to other riders and the community. Does this sound like YOU?
Blores Hill 4 Hour Enduro – 25-Oct-2009
The second last round of the Gippsland MTB championship sees riders return to Blores Hill for a 4 hour enduro. This event is open to everyone who wishes to compete at any level. Riders do not need to ride for the full 4 hours and can as much or as little as they feel during…
Colquhuon Multi Stage Race Report – 27-Sep-2009
Fifteen dead-set nut cases actually turned up and then actually raced in weather that had to be seen to be believed.
Race directors Sharon & Stuart decided to alter the course in light of the conditions and utilise some of the less treed areas of the Colquhuon Forest as well as made roads & fire trails instead of singletrack through dense bush.
Using a different race format and scoring system to decide the days winner, competitors were required to do a 18km time trial followed by two short, sharp & nasty criteriums over a 800 metre course.
Mt Hedrick Social Ride – 11 October
Sunday October 11 sees GMTB return to Heyfield, however this ride is catering to the more extreme riders in the club. We will be traversing trails around Mt Hedrick that are on the more extreme side of XC riding. It is mostly loose rock descending into fast singletrack that should test the skills of all riders. However,…
MTB Skills Day: 20-Sep-2009
In an effort to help the number of riders that are new to the sport, we will be running a MTB Skills Day at Blores Hill near Heyfield. These courses will be run by qualified MTB Instructors with limited class sizes, so first in to express interest is guaranteed a place on the course. What: …
Colquhuon Multi-Stage Race: 27-Sep-2009
When: Sunday 27th SeptemberRegistration from 9.00amRacing at 10.00am Where: Colquhuon ForestCorner of Princes Highway & Bruces Rd, Kalimna28km east of Bairnsdale Stage 1: 20km Time Trial Stage 1 Scoring: 1st 20 points 6th 8 points 2nd 15 points 7th 7 points 3rd 12 points 8th 6 points 4th 10 points 9th 5 points 5th 9…
Photo Finish at Blores Hill Checkpoint Race
Julian Thomas broke through to score his first outright victory at Gippsland MTB’s first Checkpoint Race at Blores Hill on Sunday, August 23rd. It was a shared victory with Graeme Trewern reaching the final control at the same moment from the opposite direction.
The day was well attended with 40 riders, including 7 teams, arrived on the shores of Lake Glenmaggie to compete in the first Checkpoint Race undertaken by the club. In this event, competitors were given a map 10 minutes before departure with 9 Checkpoint locations marked throughout the Blores Hill complex. They then all departed at the start control at same time, and were given 2 hours to navigate their way to as many points as possible and then return to the finish control. To identify that Checkpoints had been visited, riders needed to find a specially placed punch at each point and punch their scored card with it in a designated place. If a Checkpoint was missed or stamped in the wrong place then time penalties were added to the overall event time, 10 minutes for a missed point and 5 minutes for an incorrect stamp.
Mt Hedrick/Blores Hill Social Ride – 8/9 August
11 people braved the unknown to venture over Mt Hedrick on Lenny’s Techo Adventure Ride on Saturday August 8th. More then half the group had not seen Mt Hedrick before. For those of you that have not had the pleasure, then imagine long, steep, loose rocky descents interconnected with flowing singletrack. If that sounds like fun then make sure that you come to the next Mt Hedrick ride.
There was a ride variety of bikes on display from freeride bikes, to a poor borrowed hardtail with cable brakes! I think that it almost goes without saying, but long, steep, loose rocky descents is not the place to take a hardtail, especially one with cable brakes. By the end of the ride Leonie had mastered the art of 4 finger braking.