Welcome to the 4th Mt Buffalo Challenge.Matt Clark has won the Men's Competition 3 years in a row and will be hard to dislodge from the top spot again this year.On the Women's side of the competition we've had a different winner each year. Verita Stewart is the current Queen of the Mountain and will be looking to go faster again this year.
But it's also a Challenge to ride your own best time or race your friends.It's great to see riders of all abilities submitting a time.  

                                                                           Details of the Competition.
The Mt Buffalo Challenge is a competition to ride up the main Mt Buffalo climb as quickly as possible.There are 2 perpetual trophies offered for the fastest time for both men and women.
The starting point is at the bottom of the mountain near where the little office/gatehouse used to be. See the stone wall on the LHS (this has a digital screen on it now) The Eurobin Creek Picnic area sign is on the RHS.Just start your time when you pass between the digital screen and the Eurobin Creek Picnic area sign. It will be based on the time it takes to ride from the starting point (see pic below) to the top of the main climb finishing at The Gap.(finish timing your ride when adjacent to "The Gap" sign), see image below.   

           Important Statistics. Distance 18km, Average Gradient 5.4%, Elevation Gain 1004 metres. 

                                               PLEASE READ THIS PART IN RELATION TO STRAVA. 

I have recently, Feb 2015, created a Strava segment that will the the one we use now for timing when it's done through Strava.
It's called Mt Buffalo Challenge Official and I've added it to the page below.
You should be stopped or rolling very slowly at the start so as not to get an unfair advantage by hitting the start line at 40 kmh.
It's been decided to NOT make this a Strava only competition as many people want to join in who don't use Strava.
It's pretty easy to time it manually on most bike computers or an iPhone.

There are many ways to submit a time for the competition and one way is to contact me via email. I'm also on Twitter so feel free to tweet a time in too.The 2013 results sheet can be seen below the current 2014 results for comparison.I will also need the date the ride was completed,your name and racing category or age so that information can be added too. 

                                                                             IMPORTANT NOTE.
I also think it's fair to the leaders of the competition, that anybody submitting a winning time be able to verify their time.Either on Strava,or taking a photo of your bike computer, displaying the recorded time.Or have somebody else that witnessed the ride be able to confirm the time. 

It's with a tinge of disappointment I write this post on the eve of the above titled event.Four days cycling in Victoria's High Country, all in the name of Charity,and sneaking in some fantastic riding and maybe a quiet beer or two at the end of the day
would be just the tonic to kick start 2013's Cycling training.I'd reserved my spot as soon as I was informed of the event but a strained left hamstring has left me unable to ride my bike.  

This will be the first time this ride has been held and from what I understand from the BDA crew this is a "pilot run" with the hope of it being an annual event.And from the enthusiasm I've seen from all involved I'd suggest there will be a queue waiting to register for next year.

The riding in the Victorian High Country will be awesome and you can have a look at the itinerary on BDA's website here Also look at the sponsors of the BDA crew who are involved in helping getting this inaugural ride up and running.  

From what I understand money raised from the event will go to the Amy Gillet Foundation which is inspired by the life of Amy Gillet,the foundation's aim is to eliminate cycling related fatalities. 
 Sam Miranda has shown once again, how keen he is on promoting cycling in the Wangaratta area by giving a large donation towards the event.The ride officially starts from Sam's Winery in The King Valley tomorrow morning. 

So if you see the guys out on the N.E Victorian roads over the next few days,give them a friendly wave and any donations would be more than welcome too.

I received an email this afternoon from Tom Barry regarding the upcoming 2nd launch of the NRS Bicycle Superstore team this weekend in Albury.I've copied the majority of Tom's email into the post below which contains the relevant information.
Sounds like a great opportunity to catch up with these inspiring women some of whom I've had the pleasure to meet.

I don't think I'll be able to do the ride but may try and head up for the presentation of the team at 4pm.The Granya Grind (135km) would be awesome training for the BDA charity ride coming up pretty soon too.

Hi Tony, 

The NRS Bicycle Superstore team is having their (2nd) launch in Albury this weekend at the BSS store in Lavington and I was wondering whether you could let people know around Wang. 

It is comprised of multiple local ladies, including my wife Lisa Barry, Flick Wardlaw and Clare Dallat (Alexandra- but we will claim her!) and a lot of the horsepower on both the technical side (Osteohealth doing the bike fitting, strength and conditioning, injury management and Peter Collier from Riverina Podiatry Group assisting with lower limb biomechanics and Solestar orthotics) and the management/logistical side comes from the North East.  It is a great endorsement of the skills and talents of this region and one of their reasons for existence is to help promote women's cycling in the region. 

They will be riding the 'Granya Grind' on Saturday morning http://www.bellbridgerotary.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=39 (a 135km charity ride through the stunning Granya/Tallangata region) before the presentation at 4pm in Lavington. 

There will be some interviews with the girls, a bit of a chat from the people behind the team and just explaining their goals etc. The women are quite amazing with their time management and dedication and if they can expose a few more women to the sport it would be a great thing. 

Anyway- thought you may be interested and if you could pass on to anyone who you feel may be keen for a ride with the BSS NRS Women's team or to meet them and listen to their stories feel free to do so. 

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bicycle-Superstore-Womens-Road-Team/422702464423539?ref=ts&fref=ts

http://www.facebook.com/BicycleSuperstoreFlemington?ref=ts&fref=ts

I guess I shall catch up with you at the next major bike race!! 

Regards, 
Tom Barry

I've been resisting writing anything about the Lance Armstrong saga,but on my recent training rides I can't get the story out of my head.So as an attempt to exorcise the demon from my head, I'm going to have my 2 bobs worth.

Many years ago I was heading to Tasmania for a couple of weeks, I'd be staying on my sister's fairly isolated farm in the Liffey Valley.I found myself in a book store in Melbourne looking for something to take with me to read.Picking up "It's Not About the Bike" I can remember thinking,"I've heard of this bloke,survived a pretty nasty dose of cancer and has won the Tour de France".At the time I had no interest in cycling as a sport, had only ever heard of the Tour de France,The Giro and our own Herald Sun Tour. 
 
The book was an excellent read and I couldn't put it down,staying up till all hours and had it finished in a couple of days,bugger,what am I going to read for the rest of my stay.

So when the TDF rolled around that year it was time to tune in and see how Lance was going,I don't exactly remember the year but he's already won the race a few times.Reading this book got me interested in watching the TDF,before I would have changed channels to avoid it. L.A. owned the TDF,or thats the way it seemed to me.He had this awesome team who completely dominated proceedings.I cheered for Lance to win and thats what he did.I watched the TDF every year after that and was really disappointed when he retired.

Fast forward on a few years, after becoming frustrated with golf one of my friends suggested cycling. My first outing was quite memorable,it was hot and I was in Melbourne and we'd gone to the Kew Boulevard early in the morning.My bike was an old Malvern Star purchased brand new in the mid 80's.I was hopeless,getting passed on the hills by everyone.I smashed myself but went nowhere fast and had to lie down for about 2 hours afterward as I wasn't feeling very well.

That first experience seemed to spur me on and I've been riding now for about 4 years.The last 2 pinning a race number on quite regularly with the Wangaratta Cycling Club and the Hume Veterans CC.The more I started to mix with other cyclists,some who've been involved in the sport for many many years,I started to hear the doping stories about LA.What I also noticed was some people particularly seemed to really dislike Armstrong, whilst others worshipped him.I was probably in the camp of worshipper until about 12 months ago.Slowly more and more doping allegations against LA were surfacing and I couldn't help but think,maybe there is more to this than meets the eye.

Further on down the track and I'm not going into the whole series of events,most people know this stuff anyway.The USADA reasoned decision pretty much was the final nail in the coffin of the LA fairy tail.
Now we've had the Oprah interview and heard it from the man himself that he cheated in every one of his TDF victories,using performance enhancing drugs,transfusions etc.
The fact that he used banned drugs and transfusions is somehow not that big of a deal as it seems most TDF contenders were also  doing the same thing.Of course I believe it's wrong and I'm very disappointed that I believed in something that turned out to be bull shit.And I probably feel quite foolish as in the past I'd backed Lance 100%.

The worse part is the way he treated the people who were bold enough to speak out.Even suing newspapers and ruining peoples lives when all along they were telling the truth.It's hard to reconcile this in my mind as here is a man who survived cancer (my sister in Tasmania is a Doctor and when I read to her how bad he had cancer,her comments were "it's a miracle he survived") and set up the Livestrong foundation helping raise awareness of cancer on a global scale.So it seems he has empathy for his fellow human beings so how could he be such an arsehole?

I'm not sure if I'd be riding my bike it it wasn't for Lance,nobody can answer that,not even me.My curiosity in the sport was certainly piqued by the reading of "It's not about the Bike".Maybe if golf hadn't been so frustrating I'd still be out there smashing that little white ball up the fairway (or in my case usually in the rough).My friends may have had more to do with actually getting me involved in riding and racing.I've done several things I swore black and blue I'd never do.Wearing Lycra,buying the latest carbon bling and last but not least shaving my legs,(when I read that I still wonder how it's come to this) :)

By nature I'm a pretty forgiving person and I also am a believer in what is good about the human spirit.Everyone on earth deserves the opportunity to redeem themselves from past wrongdoings.For me I still think of Armstrong  as an amazing cyclist and I'm not sure about his 7 TDF victories,mainly because they didn't or couldn't award then to anybody else as most of the contenders appeared to have been doping also.

History will tell us how he'll be remembered.He made some big claims that the rest of his life will be spent trying to repair the damage he has done to the sport and the many people that got in his way.There is no doubt he is a powerful character and should he choose to embrace his own sentiments then hopefully we'll see some good come out of this tale of deception.

For me now when I roll out in the morning on a 3 hour solo ride in quiet Australian countryside I'm hoping there are better things occupying my thoughts than this sorry tale.I love to ride and would be lost without it now.I love the sport and want to believe in the current crop of amazing athletes.Past dopers should be encouraged to speak out not kicked out of the sport.Let them help by giving them the chance to own their past and not be fearful about losing what they love.

If your looking for something to do on a Monday evening, Alpine Cycling Club  may have your answer. Starting a couple of weeks ago and running through until the Tour of Bright in the first week of December.They're running a TT using the exact same course that is used for the Time Trial in Stage 2 of the Tour of Bright.The first rider starts at 6pm so get there in plenty of time to warm up and let them work out the starting order.

A few of us went up from the Wangaratta Cycling Club on Monday for a hit out and I must admit I'd forgotten how tough the course is.The first hill after about 1.5 km is just long enough to really hurt as your already going close to maximum pace.I'd forgotten my cycling glasses and kept getting little insects in my eyes which wasn't ideal but a good lesson learnt.The results each week are posted on Alpine's Website here

Of course for those into Strava there is a segment for the Bright TT course, which is pretty close to the actual Race Day course.I've included the Strava Segment below.To get on the first page you have to be pretty quick,I'm currently in 42nd place from 183 riders.

Matt Clark has once again taken out this years Mt Buffalo Challenge in a record time of 48 mins 4 secs.He has had a wonderful year claiming some very big races and we're all watching Matt's Cycling Career with interest. I think the only way anyone else has a chance to win will be if Matt gets a Pro contract and doesn't have time to get near Mt Buffalo.

On the women's side of the leader board we have a new winner in Clare Dallat. Clare's time of 1 min 10 seconds is the fastest yet by any female in the competition.I'm also reliably informed that in another attempt, she would have gone under the hour mark, but had to get off her bike and walk around a fallen tree over the road.

I'm also excited to announce there is a Perpetual Trophy for the Women being constructed at the moment and I'll be able to present it to Clare soon.


We will start the 2014 edition of the competition after winter.Thanks to everyone who participated.Scroll down to see the winner's times and the full leader board. 

                                                                   Details of the Competition.
The starting point is at the bottom of the mountain near where the little office/gatehouse used to be. See the stone wall on the LHS for another landmark with the Eurobin Creek Picnic area sign on the RHS.Just start your time when your passing through  this point and you'll be close enough. It will be based on the time it takes to ride from the starting point (see pic below) to the top of the main climb finishing at The Gap.(finish timing your ride when adjacent to "The Gap" sign), see image below.   

Important Statistics. Distance 18.5km, Average Gradient 5.4%, Elevation Gain 1004 metres. 

                                              PLEASE READ THIS PART IN RELATION TO STRAVA. 

It's probably better to be stopped or rolling very slowly at the start so as not to get an unfair advantage by hitting the start line at 40 kmh.The Mt Buffalo segment on Strava is around 10 seconds shorter than the manual timed segment I've created for this competition, so you can use Strava to get your time.I will then add 10 seconds to all Strava times.It's been decided to not make this a Strava only competition as many people want to join in who don't use it.It's pretty easy to time it manually on most bike computers or an iPhone.

There are many ways to submit a time for the competition and one way is to contact me via email. I'm also on Twitter so feel free to tweet a time in too.The 2012 results sheet can be seen below the current 2013 results for comparison.I will also need the date the ride was completed,your name and racing category or age so that information can be added too. 
Feel free to leave some comments below too spice up the competition. 

                                                                   IMPORTANT NOTE.
I also think it's fair to the leaders of the competition, that anybody submitting a winning time be able to verify their time either on strava,taking a photo of your bike computer displaying the recorded time or have somebody else that witnessed the ride. 

It seems most people I talk to,myself included, are interested in the condition of the "Strade Nero"(the dirt road climb) that will be used in the upcoming Sam Miranda Road Race.I wrote a blog about the race last week and decided that today I would go and investigate this infamous piece of road for myself.
After watching my recording of Stage 6 of the Tour de France the frost had started to melt, although I couldn't get any water out of the taps in my house due to the pipes being frozen,I headed off on my journey.The plan was,drive to Mohyu, jump on the bike and ride up Boggy Creek Road,which the Sam Miranda Handicap Race would come down the day after the road race.
That meant I could kill two birds with the one stone as I'm keen to race the handicap on the Sunday myself and this way I could see a section of the course I didn't know.It was a gentle uphill gradient most of the way to Myrrhee so coming back down will be pretty quick in a bunch.Nice quiet country road,I think I saw 2 vehicles in around 16km,perfect. 

I would then be able to turn into the Benalla-Whitfield Road at Myrrhee.Within approximately 1km I would be on the dirt section.The gradient at the beginning of the climb is very gentle (big ring country) with the steepest gradients being in the middle of the climb(between 5-10% on my Garmin) and then levelling off a little for the last km or so. The following photographs are taken in series moving up the climb from the beginning to where the dirt finishes at the Junction of the Mansfield-Whitfield Road.I've endeavoured to photograph the road surface in a few locations and in various conditions.I will say there was no trouble riding hard up the climb and most of the time you could choose a fairly smooth path amongst the few potholes and stones.There were some corrugations and rougher sections but it's mostly a hard packed pretty good surface.The conditions were sunny and the road surface dry,I imagine it could get slippery if it happens to rain.The reward after the climb is a fantastic flowing descent down into Whitflied on an excellent road.
And,yes,there is even a Strava segment for the "Dirt Berg" which I've included at the bottom of the post.

Don't forget you can keep up to date with the latest news about the race from the official Sam Miranda Road Race Blog