Caribou, founded in 1980, will embark on the most ambitious program of its colorful history over the next 12 months, organising 11 events Australia-wide.

Caribou's 2010 cycling season will begin with the sixth Lakes Oil Tour of Gippsland from July 28 - August 1, the first round of the prestigious and enormously popular Scody Cup Series.

The tour will start in Wonthaggi  in the Bass Coast Shire and will be a spectacular addition to the town's 100th anniversary celebrations.

Proposed courses for all the Scody Cup tours are posted on their specialist pages on this web site. The GMHBA Tour of Geelong will start in North Shore, the Tour of the Murray River in quaint Echuca and the Caterpillar Underground Mining Tour of Tasmania in the beautifully-scenic harbor village of Strahan.

The Scody Cup will feature 24 days of racing across three states. All courses are magnificently challenging and will provide numerous opportunities to riders of all abilities to test themselves and perhaps follow the international trail of recent series winners like Leigh Howard, Wesley Sulzberger, Jonathon Cantwell and 2009 Australian road champion Peter McDonald.

Caribou's managing director John Craven said it was an honor to have so many wonderfully-supportive and enthusiastic sponsors backing the Scody Cup series and was especially-grateful to Bass Coast Council for enabling the Tour of Gippsland to start in Wonthaggi, and to Strahan Village and West Coast Council for securing the first two days of the Tour of Tasmania for the rugged West Coast.

"This is the 15th year of the Scody Cup and the courses are magnificent, " he said. "They display all the visual splendor of the regions they encompass."

Craven said the cup series was backed by 25 municipalities in Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania - a remarkable achievement.

All municipalities have Visitor Information Centres which can book accomodation for tour riders, teams, supporters etc. Their contact details are listed on the specialist tour pages here.