Many thanks to all 2012 entrants who took the time to send their feedback.

Congratulations to Wendy Minato and Rob Bentley! Both have won a free entry into the 2013 SCODY High Country Cycle Challenge. Bruce will be in touch with you soon.

Congratulations also to Janice Moore who's won the recent SHCCC Facebook promotion. Janice has won a great prize pack - some Aussie Butt Cream, a Ground Effect voucher and a pair of Rudy Project sunglasses.
If you're on Facebook, keep an eye on the SHCCC Facebook page as more prizes will be given away in the next few months.

2013 dates confirmed
We are pleased to announce that the 2013 SHCCC will be held on the weekend of 16 & 17 March 2013.
This website will be updated with details of the SHCCC '13 in a few months. In the meantime, ride safely

Many thanks to all those who took part in the 2012 SCODY High Country Cycle Challenge. It was a great weekend with sensational weather and perfect riding conditions. From an event organiser's view, everything seemed to go really well.

Here's a rundown on some of the details, a few photos from the weekend, and the chance to win a free entry into the 2013 SHCCC.

Congratulations to our mountain royalty!
The 2012 Garmin Queen of the Mountain was won by Eliza Kwan, who rode up Mt Buller in 1:00:52.9. Ray Jarratt is the Garmin King of the Mountain for a second time (he also won in 2007) in a time of 53:54.3.

For their great climbing, Eliza and Ray both won a limited edition 'polka-dot' SCODY jersey, a holiday at the Mt Buller Chalet Hotel and a Garmin Edge 800 GPS unit.

A bit of a glitch meant the first 30 riders to be timed weren't given a time in the original set of Online Results on Saturday night. This has now been corrected! View your time at www.onlineresults.com.au - if you still have your transponder, please post it back to Bikevents Australia, 16 Reynolds Street, Mansfield, Vic. 3722 - or you'll receive a bill from Castech Sports Technology to replace it!

Event images
Flashpoint Photography have their images available at www.flashpointphotography.com.au - they've also got shots taken during the races too. Fun Photos have shots from Saturday on Mt Buller available here - www.funphotos.com.au

Sunday's pizzas a huge hit!
After a bit of a hiccup last year, the pizzas were on time this year and a huge hit for those that went over to Whitfield for the 125km Torq Bushranger Ride. Home made, thin-crust pizzas, a coffee machine, home-made cakes, slices and biscuits plus friendly, smiling faces made for an exceptional food stop at Whitfield Primary School.

Many thanks to the parents and staff of the school for making it one of the highlights of the weekend. We can't recommend it more highly for 2013!

Money raised for our Charity Partners
Many thanks to all of you that donated money to our charity partners.

Donations with entries raised $1,392 for the Harry & Clare Friday Foundation. The Foundation will match this dollar for dollar meaning the Mansfield District Hospital will receive $2,784.

Entry donations raised $2,855 for the Kids' Cancer Project and an astounding $12,682.35 was raised in sponsorship for riders through everydayhero.com.au!

Plus other donations from Bikevents and the Moto Marshals mean a total of over $19,000 has been raised through the 2012 SHCCC! Well done to us!

Moto Marshals
Speaking of the Moto Marshals… weren't they great! It's the first year the SHCCC has had so many motorbikes along for the ride and we'll definitely invite them back for 2013.

Feedback survey
If you were a SHCCC entrant, you should have received an email from Bruce with a link to the feedback survey. This online survey will only take a few minutes. Respond by Friday 30 March and you could be one of two respondents to WIN a free entry into the 2013 High Country Cycle Challenge.

Crash victim on the mend
A lot of you have contacted Bruce requesting an update on the health of the rider who crashed coming down from Mt Buller on Saturday. We're pleased to report his injuries aren't as bad as first suspected. He has a few broken bones and a whopping headache but it could have been a lot worse. Get well soon Manny!

Support those that support the SHCCC
There's a lot that goes into organising an event like the SHCCC. Without a loyal band of sponsors and supporters, the SHCCC couldn't be held.

Many thanks to: SCODY, Mansfield Shire, Bike Buller, Cyclecover Insurance, Torq Nutrition Products, All Terrain Cycles, Specialized, Garmin, SRAM, Aussie Butt Cream, Ground Effect, Mt Buller Chalet Hotel, Continental, Rudy Project, Alzburg Resort, Rodwells, High Country Reservations and Martins Garage.

2013 SHCCC
Dates for the 2013 SHCCC are not yet confirmed but we're working towards the weekend after the Victorian Labour Day long weekend, that'll be 16 & 17 March 2013. As soon as the dates are confirmed, we'll let you know.

Many thanks to everybody who came Mansfield and Mt Buller for the SCODY High Country Cycle Challenge and the Tour de Flavour on the weekend. After a 'stupid-wet' Friday the weekend weather was absolutely perfect and the feedback from happy riders has been really satisfying to hear.

Bruce will put together a detailed wrap-up in the next few days but until then, here is a PDF of the results of the Garmin King and Queen of the Mountain to download or you can link here to Online Results. Congratulations again to Eliza Kwan and Ray Jarrat.

And here are the links for the photographers who were out and about over both days - visit www.funphotos.com.au and www.flashpointphotography.com.au to check them out.

Look out for one of these 'comfortable' little sachets in your goodie bag.

It contains a single 'serve' of Aussie Butt Cream to make your ride on the SHCCC weekend much more comfortable.

Visit www.aussiebuttcream.com for more information.

Entries are still open for the SCODY High Country Cycle Challenge for 2012. And as we only have a few days till the SHCCC (and the Tour de Flavour) kicks off, we've had to close our online entry system so we can organise registration.

However, entries are still open! Use this link to go to our entries page and download our PDF entry form. Fill in the form and bring it with you to event registration at Mansfield. You can pay by cash, by money order, by cheque (as long as you have your driver's license handy) or by credit card.

One of the many goodies you'll find in your SHCCC 'show' bag is a TORQ Token. Look for this card in your bag and present it to one of the team at the TORQ display to redeem your free nutritional product.

TORQ will be set up at SHCCC Registration on Friday night and pre-ride on Saturday and Sunday mornings for last minute top-ups of gels and energy bars.

Everyone who purchases at Registration will also go into a prize draw to win an extra $150 dollars worth of TORQ Performance Nutrition product.

Visit www.torqaustralia.com.au for more info on TORQ.

Ride Info is now available for download. It contains nearly all the information you'll need to make the most of the SHCCC weekend (if it's not in Ride Info, it'll already be here on the website). It includes start times, start locations, maps and profiles of all the rides, locations of water stations, car parking in Mansfield … heaps of stuff!

Please download a copy here and bring it with you to Mansfield.

Pre-order now and you can pick up from the Cycling Profiles tent from Friday afternoon and through the weekend.

You can place your order from the relevant profile page at www.cyclingprofiles.com.au
Bike Buller Challenge
Scody High Country Cycle Challenge
CycleCover Challenge
Specialised Classic
TORQ Bushranger Ride
All Terrain Cycles Classic

On Thursday 1 March, Bruce had the arduous task of picking a winner of the Specialized SL3 Roubaix Expert from All Terrain Cycles worth $4,000!

And the winner is… Find out who won (and post a comment)

Bruce has had lots of enquiries lately about the Tour de Flavour in general and the Mansfield & District Community Bank Criterium in particular - mainly on the best place to watch the race. Here's the answer…

Call one of these hotels and book yourself a table on the balcony! You'll get a great view of the race with a beer or wine in hand.

Mansfield Hotel, phone 5775 2101. $50 per person includes your first drink (other drinks at bar prices) and finger food. For more details visit www.mansfieldhotel.com.au.

Hotel Delatite, phone 5775 2004. There's no cost for a place on the balcony but you must phone and book as places are strictly limited! Visit www.hoteldelatite.com.au for info.

All the 'early' entries are now in… all the jerseys have been ordered and will be waiting for collection in Mansfield on SHCCC weekend.

Entries are still open for all the Ride Options of the SHCCC weekend.

We've been lucky enough over the years of the SHCCC to be able to give away some great prizes. And the lead-up to the 2012 event has been no exception. Bruce has recently received some feedback from some very happy SHCCC entrants and we thought we'd share some 'reviews' with you.

Read the reviews (and post a comment and you could WIN a tube or two of Aussie Butt Cream)

Congratulations to the five SHCCC entrants who've each won a Garmin Edge 500 GPS unit.

Read more (and post a comment and you could WIN a tube or two of Aussie Butt Cream)

All the knicks are gone. Sorry...

If you still want to get yourself a souvenir jersey, you'd better be quick. There are only 200 left!
Get yourself to the Entries page, enter the SHCCC and start training.

Congratulations to Vicki Rowe of Balwyn in Victoria and
Robert Murray of Limeburner's Creek in New South Wales
(it's near Port Macquarie - we'd never heard of it either!)
who are the lucky winners of the November SHCCC prize.

They'll each receive a pair of Continental GP4000s tyres, four tubes and a Continental cap - $250 worth of Conti goodies!

The prize packs will be sent out shortly so you can be riding your new tyres for the Christmas holidays. Congratulations to both Vicki and Robert and thanks for entering the SCODY High Country Cycle Challenge.

There are only two days to go to be eligible to win the
November Continental prize worth $250 - two GP4000s tyres, four tubes and a cap. Two of these prize packs will be given away at the end of the month.

In the meantime, Bruce has foolishly published his Garmin data from his ride up Mt Buller yesterday.

Read more (and post a comment and you could WIN a tube or two of Aussie Butt Cream)

You'll soon see the Oncology Children’s Foundation undergo a transformation... a change of branding from the Oncology Children’s Foundation to The Kids’ Cancer Project marks the next important chapter for the charity.

What does this mean for the research we support, for our supporters both old and new? Our goal to cure childhood cancer remains the same and we face this challenge with more determination than ever. On our new exterior will highlight our passion, drive and professionalism and open new doors to ensure that The Kids’ Cancer Project achieves our single goal - to cure kids’ cancer.

One well-organised SHCCC entrant has already raised almost $1000 for the Kids' Cancer Project!

Click here to start your own fundraising page and click here to find out more about the Kids' Cancer Project.

The first 200 to order bib knicks with their entry have been successful; so all bib knicks are now gone.
If you're quick you can still order a pair of knicks…

There are still a few pairs of knicks available for free with entries into the 2012 SCODY High Country Cycle Challenge.

Keep in mind that there's an easy way to work out whether the size and style of knicks you want are still available: if you can select them - they're still available.

With a large quantity order like this, SCODY has to start production months ahead. So Bruce had to finalise quantities a few weeks ago. As the quantity of each style and size is filled, that size will be removed from the selection list, shown in the pic on the right. If a certain size is no longer listed, all the knicks (or bib knicks) of that size are taken. (You might notice that the XXXL bib knicks are no longer listed... they're all gone.)

So… you'd better be quick!

The 7 Peaks has started again! The Alpine Ascent
Challenge is all about visiting Victoria's High Country…
and there's a holiday to the 2012 Tour de France to be won. Make sure you pick up a copy of the 7 Peaks passport and
get it stamped on Mt Buller during the SHCCC! Order your passport here and start riding.

Last week Bruce made the painful mistake of joining a
group of mates to do '7 Peaks in 7 Days' - the whole lot in
just one week! As he'd been to Fitz's Challenge in Canberra
the previous weekend, he missed the first two days. However,
he did manage to drag himself up 5 peaks in 5 days.

Read more about it here - it even includes the data from his Garmin so you can see how badly he did! Mind you, he still climbed over 10,000m in the 5 days!

The photo on the right shows the 7P7D crew on Mt Buller,
the third of the seven climbs, on Melbourne Cup Day. From
the left is Bruce (wearing the new SHCCC 2012 kit), Gerard, Rod, Tim and Amanda. Rod and Tim were the only ones to
ride all 7 peaks; Rod the only one to ride the whole 1000km!

Congratulations to Ruth May of Lang Lang in Victoria; she was a winner on Cup Day! Ruth entered the SHCCC in late October and has won a customised 8-week training program by one of TORQ's qualified coaches.

Congratulations Ruth! Your performance enhancing prize from TORQ is worth over $500! TORQ will be in touch soon to get you started with your individual training plan!

November's prize is a super prize pack from Continental. Two lucky winners will each receive a pair of GP4000s, four tubes and a Continental cap. Each prize is worth $250!

Enter the SHCCC before the end of November
and you'll go into the draw to win this brilliant
Continental prize pack!

September's 'monthly prize' is a real beauty - $400 of 'stuff from Ground Effect - no nonsense cycle clothing for leading the bunch, hammering the singletrack, terrorising the city, or just hangin'. Conceived by cycle nuts, refined by the style police and constructed in New Zealand from hi-performance fabrics. Check out their full range at www.groundeffect.co.nz

The winner is … drum roll please … is …

Read more (and post a comment and you could WIN a tube or two of Aussie Butt Cream)

As entries only opened a few days ago, Bikevents has decided to extend the deadline on the prize draw of $400 of 'stuff' from Ground Effect.

Ground Effect make great gear in Christchurch, New Zealand (yes, they're still operating, despite the earthquake!) and will get your purchase across the Tasman by Airmail for only $5. Check them out at www.groundeffect.co.nz

(Keep in mind that to win the October prize of an 8-week training program from TORQ, you'll need to enter before the end of October - that deadline won't be moving!)

Bikevents Australia are pleased to announce that entries to the SCODY High Country Cycle Challenge
are now open.

We've made a few changes for 2012, many based on feedback from entrants, so please take a moment to take them all in.

Kit change - knicks AND bib knicks
The SHCCC still offers a free jersey to entrants, but for 2012 the First 400 entrants will receive free jersey AND knicks OR bib knicks! Yes … you read that right. A complete kit for the First 400 who enter the Cycle Challenge!
SCODY will have 200 pairs of knicks and 200 pairs of BIB KNICKS available for the first 400 who enter the SCODY High Country Cycle Challenge. But you'll need to be quick as numbers will be very strictly limited.

Read more (and post a comment and you could WIN a tube or two of Aussie Butt Cream)

Here are a few upcoming events to help get you ready for the SHCCC. The highlights are the other two rides in the OCF Triple Challenge Cycling Series. Tell 'em Bruce sent you.

Fitz's Challenge - Sunday 30 October, 2011.
Fitz's Challenge is Canberra’s biggest and best known long-distance one-day participation event offering you the choice of four fantastic challenges: It is not for the faint-hearted and includes some of the toughest climbs in the Canberra region. Test your skills, fitness and endurance by taking on the Brindabella Ranges in one of 4 challenges. 2011 will be its 24th year. This challenge is still unique in its combination of terrain, distance and weather!

Visit http://www.200tomorrows.com.au/BookingRetrieve.aspx?ID=41693 for more details.

Read about more great events (and post a comment and you could WIN a tube or two of Aussie Butt Cream)