The Grampians Veteran Cycling Club is based in the Central Western part of Victoria, Australia, around the famous Grampians Ranges. Riders come from various local towns, including Horsham, Stawell, and Ararat, as well as numerous smaller towns in the area.

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	Local legend and club co-founder Leon Gibson leads a bunch onto the Sandbar Road during the 2005 Grampians Open.

The club was formed in 1996 to cater for the needs of older riders, who up until then had to travel long distances to find specific veteran events, or ride against much younger riders.

Being a relatively small country club, with up to 50 members, the Sunday morning gatherings have a very friendly, relaxed atmosphere. However, once the racing starts, the heat is soon turned up a notch or two.

Both handicap and scratch races are held all year round, with a short break over Christmas and the first few weeks in January.

The Grampians Open

The club holds one Open event each year in late August, with a 44km scratch race on the Saturday and a 61km handicap on the Sunday.

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	Grampians rider Drew Heard takes out the 2006 Grampians Open. Drew is the first local rider to win the event.

The handicap race starts at Halls Gap, then proceeds to Pomonal, skirts both Lake Fyans and Lake Lonsdale before returning to finish on Fyans Creek Road, several kilometres from Halls Gap. Beautiful scenery if you have time to look at it while racing!!

Club Membership

The club is affiliated with the Victorian Veteran Cycling Council (V.V.C.C), and all riders must hold a current V.V.C.C licence to ride. One free try out ride is allowed to new riders. The licence is $110, consisting of $55.00 insurance, $35 V.V.C.C membership, $10.00 A.V.C.C affiliation and $10 goes to our local club. The licence covers riders while racing and training and is valid Australia wide for Veteran Cycling events.

Membership is paid to the local club, which forwards the details on to the V.V.C.C

To qualify as a veteran, female riders must be 30 years or older, and male riders 35 years and older. Open races staged by the V.V.C.C. are usually handicap races, with all age groups competing, but some races such as the Victorian Championships have 5 year age group categories, ie 30-34, 35-49, 50-54 etc. However, our local club events don't have sufficient riders for age group categories so are just a straight handicap event.