• Calling for Volunteers
  • Race Reports – Mountain Creek Road Race
  • Next Race – Lookout Hill Time Trial 29 August 2026
  • Upcoming races requiring volunteers – race calendar can be found here

Calling for Volunteers

Firstly, thank you for supporting our 2026 winter road racing season. Our club relies on riders helping riders, and we need a few volunteers to help keep the races running safely and smoothly throughout the rest of the season.

For the remainder of the winter season, we are looking for:

  • Race Directors
  • Finish Line Marshals
  • Traffic Controllers (ETC-certified)
  • Van Drivers

Without volunteers filling these roles, we risk not being able to run races, so we’re asking everyone to consider giving back to the club for a day. The more people who share the load, the easier it is for everyone to enjoy a full race season.

If you can help this next race or volunteer for any race during the season, please reply to the committee mailbox (copied) or go to the volunteer calendar at: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pkECTVAgOENts06YdwLNOaAI44JwQend/edit?pli=1&gid=1832900212#gid=1832900212

Thanks for helping keep our winter racing community strong and hope to see you out there soon.

Race Reports – Mountain Creek Road Race

This week we have Race Reports from each of our Race Winners. Enjoy!

A Grade was on from the gun. No one was there to muck around and with a strong field, everyone was keeping an eye on who was going to do what.

The first attempt to get away came from Tristan and Turbo, but at the top of the hill Moshy attacked and things really lit up. We hit around 70 km/h, which I think ended up being the top speed for the race.

Once it all came back together and we turned around, Andrew realised he’d suffered a flat. He’d been looking really strong, so it was unfortunate to lose him that early. Somehow, after fixing the wheel and getting going again, he still managed to pull some time back on the entire group over the course of the race.

We then hit the first return climb and the pace never really let up from there. Tristan went again, but this time no one responded and he spent the next lap and a half off the front. At times the gap started getting pretty uncomfortable, and it took some big efforts from Marc to bring him back within reach.

Everyone was doing their share of the work, but on the last climb coming back the the finish line Turbo kicked it up another gear and Jas just couldn’t hold on.

By the start of the final lap, the boys had done enough to finally weld Tristan back into the bunch.

The last lap made for some great racing. Every hill was ridden hard, nobody was hiding, and everyone seemed to be trying to put just that little bit more fatigue into everyone else’s legs.

With around 1 km to go, Tristan launched another huge attack. For a moment it looked like it might actually stick, but Marc put his head down on the flat and produced a massive effort to reel him back in.

Then the games started.

Everyone was looking around, waiting for someone to make the first move, but we were still just a little too far from the finish to really launch.

After already doing a huge amount of work throughout the race, Marc again came through and lifted the pace. As that effort started to fade, Moshy hit the afterburners. I tried to jump onto his wheel, hoping I could follow him all the way to the line.

It was just a fraction too early.

As Moshy’s huge effort began to fade, I’d managed to get enough shelter in the draft to save a little bit for the finish. I came around him in the final metres and managed to take the win on the line.

A huge effort from all the lads made for a seriously hard but super fun day on the bike. Everyone contributed, everyone was willing to have a go, and it was a great reminder of just how much fun road racing can be when everyone comes to race.

Massive thanks as always to the organisers and volunteers who give up their time to make days like this possible. We wouldn’t get to race without you. 

Tobias McLenaghan

B Grade
Race Report filed from the pillion seat of the lead moto by your correspondent — devoted QUON tragic, occasional cycling journalist, full-time menace with a camera.

Lap One — The Phoney War
Conditions on Mountain Creek Road were about as good as B Grade ever gets — sunny skies, with
just enough headwind on the way out to remind everyone this wasn’t going to be entirely a freebie.
Lap one is billed as a familiarisation lap, and it largely lived up to that description — right up until
Christophe Barberet rolled to the front and delivered an effort that had the peloton gasping and
reaching for their phones like paparazzi outside the team bus at the Tour. A few brave (or optimistic)
souls tested the water off the front through the lap. None of it stuck. By the turn, the bunch was
back together, present and correct.
Lap Two — Jumps, Chains and Early Fireworks
Lap two brought the first real crackle of racing. Mark Jansen and Geoff Hinchcliffe were both doing
what they do best — attacking anything resembling a gradient. Craig Lindenmayer, meanwhile, was
quietly running his own private time trial: a jump before every rise, perfectly timed to land him back
on the group at the crest, every single time. It’s the sort of unglamorous, unheralded riding that
never makes the highlight reel but wins bike races. Less fortunate was Andrew Murrell, whose chain
chose lap two to part ways with the drivetrain, costing him a hard chase back to the wheels and, one
imagines, a few words not fit for a club newsletter.
Lap Three — Jansen Alone, Then Bad Luck Strikes
Lap three opened with Mark Jansen off the front solo and riding with real conviction — the kind of
move that has commissaires reaching for the time-gap clipboard. Back in the bunch, there was a
great deal of shouting about how to roll a proper turn; there was rather less actual turn-rolling. By
the final turnaround it looked ominous — Jansen appeared too strong to bring back, and the chase
had quietly shifted from racing to hoping his legs would simply run out of road.
Then, just past the turnaround, the bunch swept round the bend to find Mark on the ground, bike in
the grass, seat wrenched clean off the post. Bad luck of the purest kind — the sort that only seems
to find you when you’re riding the strongest — but he was up, and by all appearances okay, which
was the only thing that mattered. It also achieved something no attack all day had managed: it
brought the race back together as one.
The Final Climb — A Song Choice and a Gap That Never Came Back
With the group reunited, Christophe Barberet and Nathan Spillane traded notes on Mark’s
misfortune while, up the road, Geoff Hinchcliffe was — in the words of everyone who has ever raced
against him — simply doing Geoff things, attacking on the approach to the final climb. The group split on the gradient. Geoff held a lonely lead for a while before the elastic snapped, with Nathan
Spillane, Christophe Barberet, Rowan McMurray and Ben Shillong closing hard behind him.
At the crest, Spillane had opened a gap of around ten metres on the chasers. From the back of the
lead moto, you could all but hear the internal jukebox switch on — The Clash, “Should I Stay or
Should I Go.” The “go” won out, comfortably. Behind, the chase disintegrated into scenes
reminiscent of the final stage of the Tour de France Femmes — Demi Vollering-style, the gap went
out and simply never came back.
Spillane crossed the line with enough daylight to zip up the QUON jersey, dismount, and hoist the
TREK overhead — the kind of finish-line photo every rider secretly rehearses on their own. Second
across the line was, in fact, Ben Shillong — but having joined the race late and missed lap one, he
was relegated to last on the results sheet, promoting Geoff Hinchcliffe to second and Rowan
McMurray to third.
Results
1 Nathan Spillane
2 Geoff Hinchcliffe
3 Rowan McMurray
Ben Shillong finished second on the road but was relegated to last for missing lap one.
By the Numbers
From Spillane’s file — power meter and heart-rate data recorded over the race lap:
Metric Value
Race distance 62.4 km, 970 m climbing
Time 1:46:13 moving / 1:50:03 elapsed
Average power 245 W
Average heart rate 166 bpm (max 187 bpm)
Climb 1 of 3 268 W, 165 bpm
Climb 2 of 3 293 W, 172 bpm
Climb 3 of 3 300 W, 176 bpm
Three trips up the same climb, each one harder than the last — power and heart rate both climbing
lap on lap, which is as good a picture of a hard bike race as any file will give you.

A day with something for everyone: comedy in lap one, grit in lap two, heartbreak and heroics in lap
three, and a finish-line photo that will be replacing at least one Zwift loading screen by the weekend.

Chapeau to all who rolled the dice on Mountain Creek Road — and to Mark Jansen especially, for showing
exactly how hard you have to ride for bad luck to feel unfair.
— Filed by your correspondent, still not entirely sure whether it’s better to watch from the moto or
suffer in the bunch. Vive le QUON.

Nathan Spillane

D Grade – The stunning weather and parkour bought out one of the largest D grade packs for quite some time – a total of 10 riders, including the Club’s handicapper (so maybe not the best race to show off your strength).

D grade only had to complete 2 laps of the course so the pace was on pretty much from the start.  Shortly after the cattle grid a trio of riders consisting of Michael Reppion, Peta Brill and Owain Tilley forged a break and held it to the turnaround.  Working well together for the return leg they slowly increased their lead but towards the completion of the first lap it showed signs of breaking up. However shortly after the turn it regrouped and stayed together until just before the descent to the turnaround point – the relentless pressure of Peta and Owain finally snapped the elastic for Michael and he was gapped just as the descent started.  Pete and Owain worked well together and managed to hold their lead and even mop up some stragglers from C grade on the return (and final) leg.  

Meanwhile Michael Reppion, desperate to hold onto third, was giving everything to stave off the rest of the D grade pack, which was also beginning to splinter under the concerted efforts of Alison Hale and Steven Simms.

Meanwhile back at the pointy end of the race, Peta  and Owain were engaged in a two up battle for the glory of the win. Neither rider gave, or expected, any quarter – on the penultimate hill Owain drew away from Peta and maintained his slender lead to the finish line ahead of a fast finishing Peta. Michael held on for a well deserved third, followed by Alison Hale and Steven Simms. 

While D grade had splintered, the grade was united in their relief of not having to complete a third lap.  But overall a great day of racing.

Owain Tilley

E Grade Last Saturday’s Mountain Creek Road race was a friendly, and highly enjoyable example of
our unique, co-opertition.
The sun was coming out and perfect temperatures greeted us, as Ian Morton and I rolled to
the back of D grade. We were the sole E graders and glad to be invited into a relatively calm
start with a good size bunch of 10 riders in D grade.
Our missing E grade comrades would have enjoyed this lovely course, including its
challenging hills. It was my first race back here since March 2019, and the views east toward
Canberra were still sensational, if you took the time to take it all in.
E grade would probably be decided by which of us could hang on to D grade the longest.
I almost buggered it up straight away after dropping my chain on one of the early hills. But I
caught back up, thanks to being able to pedal my chain back on. At that stage, D grade still
had a full complement, with Ian and me holding on well.
We stayed with D grade until the steepest pinch on the first lap out to Mullion. That climb
split D grade into two groups, then eventually three groups and some loners on the next
climb. That became a common theme across all grades, as the pace and repeated climbs
took their toll with the afternoon passing quickly.
With my heart rate at 175 bpm, I managed to stay with the second D grade group on the
road, including Ali, Kevin and Rob. I was surprised and delighted to hold on for three
quarters of the race, even doing a couple of very small turns. Eventually, we caught Steve
Simms (D) and Marek Bilski (C), who had been out in no man’s land for at least half the race.
Once I was dropped on the second climb back out of Mullion, I could bring my heart rate
down and enjoy the spectacle around me. The lead car came quickly and carefully past,
closely followed by the pointy end of A grade chasing down Tristan Dimmock who had
somehow broken away from their elite bunch of four or five.
It looked like the posse caught Tristan towards the top of the 2nd last small rise.
I was thankful for such an enjoyable race. The course designers had clearly put a lot of
thought into how the race would probably play out across all grades. Well done.

David Gunther

Photos thanks to Ian Hutchings

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18rFTJ2Dvi

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CUYdzJxEH

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Next Race – Lookout Hill Time Trial 29 August 2026

This will be our Age Standard Time Trial. More details to come next week.


Upcoming races needing volunteers

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. https://rms.crmcc.org.au/calendar

CRMCC Committee

President – David Parker

Vice President – Dave Buckley

Secretary – Michael Fawke

Treasurer – Mark Vardy

Handicapper – Rob Langridge

E-mail committee@crmcc.org.au