December 2014 Event updates

To be honest, doing the monthly event updates can be a bit of a chore ... just going through site after site and checking for any updates or additions to events ... but then you find that exciting little titbit of information that makes it all worth it ... like a new event ...

New things I noticed this month included that Endorfun are starting to let us know what they'll have on offer next year - bad news being that there will be no Summer Survival, but Trail Runs will continue, and it looks like the Winter Challenge could be coming forward a month to July 2015 (OK, so I do get excited by small things).  

I also noticed that the Purre Tasmania Challenge seems to have morphed into the Cycle Isle Gran Fondo (don't quote me on that) to be held on 28 November 2015, and most excitedly (I like to keep the best to last) there looks to be a new date for the Launceston Eye Institute Cataract Gorge Challenge away from the crowded November space to March 22, 2015 - is anyone else thinking this could be our new Summer Survival challenge?  It's got me excited enough to put it in my diary.

Other news I've previously reported on, but worth another mention is that the Hellfire Cup dates for 2015 have already been announced (19-22 November 2015), The Mtn trails Hill Billy Race 6-24 Hour race seems to be filling up quite nicely, and of course there's also the Cranky Penguin (1 Feb) and the official opening of the Derby Trails (7-8 Feb in lieu of the Blue Dragon this year).

There's been lots of other exciting news this month, including the first attempt at Crowd Funding a new piece of trail in Tasmania (Pilchers Hill MTB Descent) which reached its target of $1,000 in less than 24 hours, and is currently sitting at just over $1,500.  If you haven't got onto it yet, chip in some money, or better yet .. chip in some money and tell your loved one that this year there n+1 is a bit of extra trail.  (I bought Kim $100 worth of trails ... she'll be so excited).  If you missed it there's also been thr launch of a muppet "Share the Road" campaign (which I confess I'm still digesting), and probably skipping under many cyclists radar, the Arm End golf course proposal took another step forward this week, and it looks like it will include quite a signficant amount of "family" bike trails (there will be a follow up article on this one from me).

As far as events go, all three of the clubs have various twilight and weekend races running over summer (check out the events calendar for details) and I've also added the Audax rides to the Tassie trail calendar this month as there's some great events coming up for those who like serious miles (a 1000km, 3 day ride around Tasmanian anyone? maybe the Ash Dash? or a 200km Dark Mofo ride on the Winter Solstice?).  All these and more in the events calendar.

Finally, a few more things before I sign off and go pull the bike out of the garage for a ride, this monthly update is getting a bit big, so I'm going to trial sending it out as a newsletter from January 2015 (subject to get enough subscribers to make it worthwhile) so if you're interested, head on over to the tassietrails.org homepage and sign up for the newsletter to let me know you're interested.  Next, a big shout out and thank you to the Hobart Dirt Devils MTB Club who came to my rescue and saved the tassietrails.org.au domain for me (really appreciate that guys!)

That's it, OK that's nearly it, I can't resist sharing this wonderful video again to get you inspired to head up to the Cranky Penguin in February.

Merry Xmas all, and enjoy those trails over the break ... I know I will.