Plenty Gorge MTB
powered by TidyHQMARCH 2014
MARCH 2014
PGMTB News – March 2014
Winning!
Congratulations to Cayne Trotman on winning the ‘King Bright light from Fyxo, for being the 500th person to like our Facebook page! Cayne will be well-prepared for the Tuesday night rides as the sun starts setting earlier each night. Thanks to Fyxo for supplying the major prize.
Check them out: http://www.fyxo.co/
Events
The inaugural Club BBQ & social ride went ahead, despite pretty appalling weather on the day. About 20 people came along and enjoyed a quite muddy ride, followed by some sausages and a little home-brew, kindly supplied free on the day by one of the attendees.
Jerseys
The Trailblazer edition Club jerseys have now been ordered, and that limited colour scheme will not be available again. 20 Members ordered 28 jerseys in total – these should be shipping by the end of March. We are really looking forward to seeing them out on the trails! More cycling kit will be made available through the Club, with the next order likely to be set up in time for Spring this year – unless demand requires us to do it sooner!
Advocacy
There has been a substantial change of staff at Parks Victoria. The former Ranger-in-Charge, Barry Coombes, has returned to his previous role as Cultural Adviser for the region. His replacement at Plenty Gorge is Ion Maher (Team Leader), who last worked at Kinglake and oversaw the opening of the Bowden Spur downhill facility. Together with the new Area Chief Ranger, Faye Wills who oversees both Plenty Gorge and Candlebark/Westerfolds Parks in Templestowe, Ion is hoping to fast-track the assessment of the trail network we use, and the admin committee will be meeting with both of them in the next couple of weeks, to further this aim.
The admin committee has decided to ask Club Members whether the original Facebook group (which currently has 714 members) should continue to be run by, or officially affiliated with the Club. The group is becoming difficult to manage – just the requests to join the group, from up to 3 or 4 people each day, require substantial time to look at the individual profiles, determine whether it’s a real person or a spam-bot, identify if they have mountain-biking as an interest, and then approve or deny their requests. There is also the somewhat thorny issue of who posts what in the group, and whether this could be seen by anyone (it’s a public group) as PGMTB’s officially endorsed view. This is a difficult topic and not something that any one of us should attempt to answer completely – there are many views on the subject and we, as a Club, need to weigh up the pros and cons, and make this decision after considering all the issues. It is important to note that the Facebook page was created as an official channel for Club communications, but it is not so accessible as the group. Regardless, the page now has 526 likes, so in the few months that it’s been on line, it has attracted almost as much attention as the group did over its first two years. Club Members have been emailed a poll, asking for your opinions about this. Please provide your response ASAP, as this will help guide our final decision.
Riding
Tuesday night rides are continuing in their current form until further notice. Sunday rides are also starting from 15th of March, 2015. They will be held on the 3rd Sunday of each month.All details are posted and updated on the PGMTB website.
Stickers!
All Club Members will be mailed two stickers in the next couple of weeks. The Club Secretary (Guy Stephens) will be in touch with you if we don’t already have your postal address as part of your membership application or MTBA records. Keep your eyes out for these, which are free for Club Members.
Additional stickers will be made available as a Club fund-raiser. $10 will buy 2 stickers including postage. Proceeds will go towards advocacy and administration costs, Club events, etc.
How you can help
As posted in the most recent Minutes on the PGMTB website, we are seeking Club Members to take on administrative roles as subcommittee members. Please take the time to look through the Minutes and let us know if you’d like to get on board to help us deliver what we know riders want from The Park.
Sincerely,
On behalf of the admin committee,
Emerson Thistlethwaite
Key terms explained:
PGMTB – Plenty Gorge Mountain Bike Club
PV – Parks Victoria
DELWP - Victoria’s State Government Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning. Formerly known as DSE and DEPI.
IMBA – International Mountain Bicycling Association
MTBA – Mountain Bike Australia
‘The Park’ – Plenty Gorge Park
PGMTB website – www.plentygorgemtb.org.au
PGMTB Facebook page – www.facebook.com/PGMTB
PGMTB Facebook group – www.facebook.com/groups/plentygorgemtb/
