- From the Desk of the President
- Crit Reminder – Membership and Regrading
- Next Race – Stromlo Crits
- NARRABUNDAH TRACK RACING
- Upcoming races requiring volunteers – race calendar can be found here
From the Desk of the President
Happy New Racing Year to all members, or to the 105 members who have renewed their 2026 membership at the time of writing this message.
At the end of 2025 I informed the committee that after 4 years on the committee, with the last 2 years serving in dual capacity as both President and the Membership Officer, it is time for me to step down, hand over my roles, reclaim some balance in my life, and pursue other interests outside of cycling. It has been a great privilege to be part of the inner machinery that drives the club and to help shape the club into the ’12-speed’ era.
During 2025 we had 255 members, 216 racing memberships (24 female, 192 male) and 10 officials. 21 members joined up in October to take advantage of the reduced price for the first half of the criterium season. Over the past couple of years, we have steered the club through significant change, solidifying our dependence on electronic self-race-registration, enabling track and criterium passes, and developing a mandatory volunteer system that rewards volunteerism. We have faced and overcome some significant challenges in resurrecting our road race program in NSW. It will come to no surprise to any of you, that road racing is no longer in vogue, and has been on the decline since before 2020. Our closed circuit criterium racing at SFP and kermesse racing at SDTC remain our most popular formats. Our club needs to adapt to the changing environment and to the members’ appetite and needs.
I am hoping that when the new committee forms at the February AGM, that it will craft a bold and practical vision for the future. Past committees have elicited responses to membership surveys. We entertained many novel ideas, but not all of them were practical. Not unlike domestic politics, it has been very difficult to design and implement change over a short annual ‘election-cycle’, while keeping the engine room running to deliver weekly races, with a small volunteer workforce.
I look forward to seeing you all at SFP, and/or at the AGM, whichever comes first.
Conan
CRMCC President
Crit Reminder – Membership and Regrading
If you are planning on racing Crits in 2026, please note the following updates on membership and grading:
Membership renewal
This is a reminder that you will need to renew your club membership before you will be able to race.
To renew membership online, please go to https://capitalregionmasterscyclingclub.org.au/membership/ and follow the instructions under: “Steps for renewing your annual membership”.
Once you have renewed, a member of the committee must manually update the RMS to make you active, so please note the following time cut-offs to allow this to happen:
- If you are a Crit Season Pass holder, please ensure that you renew your membership before 12:40 tomorrow. You will not immediately be shown as an entrant, but this will be updated by us before the race.
- If you enter races individually, please ensure that you renew your membership before 10am tomorrow. This is to allow us to update you in the system and get back to you in time to be able to enter before the normal 12:40 cut-off.
Criterium Regrading
As previously communicated in the Bleat (https://capitalregionmasterscyclingclub.org.au/2025/12/crmcc-weekly-bleat-08-december-2025/), we have completed a regrading exercise that is intended to improve the spread of racers across the grades.
Before racing, please check to see if your grade has changed and if so ensure that you attend the correct race.
New grades can be found at: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Phf94jPvGo7OA_4nG71MfhY8oj5ePTz4/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=102624606282391619796&rtpof=true&sd=true
Note: We will not be able to make any changes to individual grades on the day. Going forward, grades can be discussed with Rob our handicapper at: handicapper@crmcc.org.au
Next Race – Crits at Stromlo Forest Park – Tuesday 06 January 2026
Please note, 5:40PM also holds the Women’s specific criterium grade (20mins) to foster participation and confidence in riding on the Stromlo Forest Park criterium track. Perfect for women and non-binary riders who are looking for an introductory ride or those that prefer cycling in a smaller group.
Race registration cut-off is 12:40pm. Cost is $10.
You need to register by looking up the calendar entry in the RMS https://rms.crmcc.org.au/calendar
You must wear your CRMCC assigned race number to race.
Late registrations will be assessed by committee@crmcc.org.au and if allowed, a late fee of $10 will be applied.
If you are unregistered and show up to the crit track, you must convince a committee member (not the Race Director) of your club member financial status for insurance purposes, before being allowed to participate.
All riders are required to sign on before their race start.
We will be running an entry chute, where riders are called 1 by 1 onto the circuit in numerical order of sign-on.
Please remember to check the RMS Calendar for race times each week now that we are back to rotating all 3 time slots.
NARRABUNDAH TRACK RACING – THURSDAY 8 JANUARY, 5.30 PM
The Program for Thursday is as follows:
5.30pm – 6.00pm: Warm-up and free practice.
6.00pm – 6.20pm: 8-lap graded scratch race.
6.20pm – 6.50pm: 1-lap SS time trial.
6.50pm – 7.10pm: 2-lap handicap.
7.10pm – 7.30pm: Italian pursuit.
Spare Track Bikes
We have several spare track bikes if you wish to try track racing. Note that you will need to bring your
own pedals. You may need to pump up tyres (we will have a pump available) and adjust saddle / bar
position. You will need to check over the bike for safety purposes. Although we will assist as far as
practical, equipment safety and providing tools for fitting / adjustments is your responsibility.
Attendance
Please register your attendance at https://rms.crmcc.org.au/calendar?5021932
Each race will cost $10, or purchase the season track pass at $80.
Upcoming races needing volunteers
We have multiple vacancies for race directors for SFP crits.
Please self-register as a volunteer, where you can put your name down against those roles marked ‘Vacant’ in this Google spreadsheet. We will follow-up and confirm your volunteering with an email from committee@crmcc.org.au
Thank you to those members who have offered their services to fill roles so our races can run.
