by Vaughan Hunt | Jul 21, 2016 | Board Chair's Blog
The Speights Ale House on Grey street is a change of venue for next Friday’s Bike Manawatu Happy Hour 29July from 5.30 to 7pm.
So take this opportunity to catchup with fellow members and share a social hour together for some fun.
When: 29th July
Where: Speights Ale House
Time: 5.30-7pm
Red Letter Box King or Queen.
We have members puzzled but interested to know if there is anyone in the club who can nominate someone more passionate on being our number one red-letterbox King or Queen than masters rider Murray Boase is. Murray has perfected the art of surprise when bunch riding with fellow members.
Surely their are others who love the red letterbox challenge we haven’t heard about yet. Provided the challenge to attack for the red letterbox is done with good cycling etiquette and safety in mind people are generally ok with it. So well done so far Murray and good luck.
BM Board Heading in the Right Direction.
I want to acknowledge a group of great club members who form our voluntary Bike Manawatu Board.We are lucky to have such good people who each have a different strength to balance out our board decisions. Brendon Hapeta, Austin Smith, Mike Groube, Rebecca Allan, Chris Sampson, Peter McCarthy and we’ll supported by club secretary Christine Christie.
The board meet once per month and regularly communicate together as a team so we are able to make those important decisions for the betterment of the club. We wont get everything right but feel the club is moving in the right direction with the big picture in mind. Club unity across all members is an important mantra for us all to embrace on and off the bike. So continue with talking to all members young or old and encourage cycle etiquette, volunteering or supporting your club.
Enjoy your week.
by Vaughan Hunt | Jul 14, 2016 | Event Reports
Firstly I’d like to thank Bike Manawatu for their contribution which helped me to travel to Australia to compete at the International Track Series in Melbourne as a member of the U19 Track Development Squad. This event involved 4 days of Track Racing at the Darebin Velodrome with a number of countries making last ditch effort for Olympic Selection.
This was an awesome experience with Australia fielding a strong U19 Team also, with their Junior Worlds Team in attendance. The New Zealand squad performed strongly in both the men’s and women’s fields. This week of training and racing clearly set me up well for my road racing the following weekend!
A big thanks must go to Cycling New Zealand for providing this opportunity and in particular to Jon Andrews for the organisation.
Once the racing in Melbourne was over I flew to Canberra arriving 4 days out from competition. After spending a couple of days in Canberra riding around the courses and adjusting to the negative temperatures, John Rippon (the NZ U19 men’s road coach) and 4 other kiwi boys arrived. Much welcomed company after a few days by myself.
I placed a bit of pressure on myself to perform going into all of the races as it was an important stepping stone before I headed to Canada a week after arriving back in NZ. The build-up was going really well so I thought I would have a chance to place quite high. The Aussies are quite well known for aggressive racing and quite big bunches with lots of talented riders so I knew if I wanted to go well I really had to be at my best.
The first event up was the individual time trial on Friday. The course was quite a hilly one which meant it would be impossible to find a rhythm. The conditions were almost perfect. Wasn’t too cold with not a breath of wind. I had high expectations going into this event but was disappointed to only get 16th.
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