Rocky Trail GP Series Final

The country seems to be gripped by finals fever, football here, football there, thank goodness Rocky Trail could focus us on our favourite sport and the Series Final of the Shimano Gran Prix. But what a controversial week it had been leading up to the Finals weekend, with mountainbikers literally being thrown out of the Appin trails, the location that had been locked-in for the Series Final. In premiership style Rocky Trail swiftly negotiated a new location at the famed Ourimbah trails, it must have been a special moment for a lot of solo riders when they were informed they wouldn’t have to face the tough and treacherous trails of Appin.

It dawned to a cracking day out the back of the Central Coast, with a light shower overnight, the trails were in superb conditions, coming up dry and mostly hard-packed. Having recently moved to the area Rocky Trail had scoped out some of their new favourite routes around Ourimbah for us to have fun on during the Grand Prix. There was the fun Jurassic Park and suitably named Rollercoaster, Graveyard through the flatlands and the Meadow Trails climbing back towards the transition area.

In the GP4 Central Coast local James Lamb, who had seen his King of Kincumba title slip from his fingers last weekend, was keen to produce a good result. James was pushed all the way by Jorge Baron who placed third in the Male Solo Elite Category. Out in front though was Jarrod Hughes, the 2012 Tour de Timor KOM jersey winner gained a commanding lead from the first lap and steadily gained time through the first three hours, finishing with close to a ten minute lead on James.

Rocky Trail Grand Prix Series Final GP4 Top 6

The dominance continued for Wendy Walker in the Female Solo Elite Category for the GP4. Wendy has been duelling with Vanessa Boatwright throughout the series and the GP at Ourimbah was no different. Vanessa didn’t have the pace of Wendy and the podium was rounded out by Eliza Eldridge Bassett.

The fast and furious Mark Tupalski seemed to have the Solo Elite Category for this GP7 wrapped up within the first few stomps on his peddles. While Mark was out in front it was down to Andrew Lloyd to chasing him around the trail. Andrew has been on the podium every round of the GP Series and once again he put in a solid performance staying well clear two laps up with Mark over third place getter Callum McNamara.

Unfortunately there was no competition in the Female Solo Elite GP7 Category but this didn’t stop Sarah Neumann from completing the allocated the seven hours and then some, with fairly consistent lap times. Sarah was joined on the podium by Jo Fox, Jo had worked out an enviable balance of Rocky Trail Entertainment atmosphere and the sweet Ourimbah trails.

Super excited before the start after my warm-up lap of the trail.

My race went well with a good start, this time I didn’t hang at the back of the pack on the start line. It wasn’t long before there was plenty of open trail to razz, making the most of the endless descents and flatter sections. There were just so many cool little bits, the fire-trail double, the sideways launch on the massive dipper, the vert drop-in, and that’s just all in the first few kilometres.

It was great to get a solid ride in and catching up with friends along the way, sorry Mark I just can’t keep up with your serious pace. One of the best things about mountainbiking is visiting new locations. I can’t believe it was my first time to these Ourimbah trails, I’ll be back for more!

The flowing trails played a great host to the Series Final of the Shimano Grand Prix. For every small climb you were rewarded with what seemed like an unbelievable amount of descent that everybody I came across was enjoying. It’s that enjoyment and possibly the supply of cold beverages, that makes this Series Final one of the best yet.

King of Kincumba!

The second year of the King of Kincumba and things were hotting up. Not only would we raise funds for the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service and Pedal 4 Pierce but there were some fast names in mountianbiking vying to take the crown as the King. Last years King and central coast local James Lamb wasn't going to make it easy pushing both his bike and his body to the limit.

While some of the riders were dusting off their bikes and pumping up the tyres, Andy Blair, Australian Marathon Champion, was just popping in for a visit before heading overseas for the Marathon Worlds. Andy was joined at the front of the pack by elite riders Jenny Fay and Garry Millburn, all prepped for the punishment Kincumba Mountain could deliver.

While I don't want to give to much away, the fun of it all, but I had a great morning duelling with Peter Selkrig. Peter is in the last phase of training for a 24 solo effort and has been making some solid efforts within the endurance scene this year. Good luck Peter.

It was great to see the local hotel, radio and television stations supporting the event along with the local bike shops, council and mountainbike club. Thanks to all those who contributed towards the event. I look forward to testing myself against Kincumba next year.

All the Action from Welby

Well you wouldn't believe it but here is the action from CrummyMTB at Welby.

More Photos from STM Welby

Photos from STM Welby

SRAM's XX1 sighted

Got a good look at SRAM's latest offering, a one by eleven system. The most obvious thing when looking at the system is the whopping big cluster of eleven gears at the back. Less obvious is the newly designed rear derailier and no derailier at the front, or a chain retention device. The lonely front chain ring looks like the big brother of a granny gear with its large pronounced teeth.

Yeti's SB-66 Carbon looks very sweet with flowing lines, large tubes and plenty of stone-chip and chain slap protection. It was adorned with the latest from SRAM including, Revolution forks, a Reverb dropper seatpost and Rise 60 wheelset.

Service your Pedals

I wrote in social media at the end of August how I had just bay-serviced a set of four year old XTR pedals. It had been a simple job, the XTR pedals are designed to be pulled apart and serviced with your standard tools. With the tools and lube ready it didn't take longer than twenty minutes. Sweet!

The challenge then was to bring a Deore level set of pedals, a similar vintage to the XTR but with many thousands of hours training and commuting on them, back to life. From what I had read, all bar a few of the SPDs in the range can be serviced the same way I did the XTRs. Here we go.

Most modern SPDs have an Allen Key socket in the spindle, but you can use a pedal spanner or correctly fitting tool to remove the pedal from the crack-arm.

For those with carbon cranks (mostly) you may have a narrow washer between the spindle and crank, check for that when you remove your pedals. The spindles are threaded right on one side and left on the other, this is helpful later too when refitting the serviced pedals.

To remove the spindle from the pedal body, on the XTR use the appropriate fitting spanner, on the pedals shown there is a tool from Shimano to fit the short spline. There should be an arrow to show the tightening direction, to loosen the spline turn in the opposite direction.

Clean the pedal body internals and old grease off the spindle with a clean rag. You may have noticed play in your pedals, with the pedals apart you will notice this play in the open bearing set which enclosed between the nuts on the end of the spindle and metal outer casing covering the bearings.

To remove the play, back the small nut (the lock nut) at the end of the spindle off 1/4 a turn. Then tighten the larger nut up till the bearing outer casing starts to bind. Back the larger nut off slightly so the bearing casing runs smooth and tighten the smaller nut up to the larger, ensure the lock nut is tight.

Half fill the pedal body with quality bearing grease and press the spindle back into the body. In doing so you will be pressing the new grease through the bearing set and forcing the old grease out. Ensure you start the thread and tighten in the appropriate direction. 

As you tighten the old grease and the new grease will pop and squeeze out the tread and axel of the spindle. Clean the grease from the pedal and ensure the spindle in firmly fitted to the body.

Lightly grease the thread of the pedal and refit it to the crank-arm, including washer if previously fitted.

Once you have done both pedals, your ready to ride with your newly serviced pedals.

WSMTB XC

 Riding out to the latest round of the WSMTB XC Series, just a short 20km warm-up, I'm passed by a series of 4x4s and cars loaded with mountainbikes. I adjust my musette, stuffed with goodies to get me through the next 4hrs of riding, the cool morning air is fresh, this has got to be the best way to kick off a day. Two inch wide rubber hums along on the bitumen nicely and it is the quiet moments between passing vehicles where it is almost peaceful. A puppy stretches, a tiding of magpie fight over the first burst of bugs and catch a flicker of fluorescent off the dew.

Rego is effortless with a flash of my MTBA card, the transaction of a small race fee and a friendly smile when picking up a race number. It seems like quite a while since I have raced at Yellomundee and I was keen to check out the major works that has been carried out since May. The trails had degraded to such a point during the first half of a year that many sections had to be fenced off and since May members of WSMTB and NPWS have gradually carrying out major repairs to many of the sections. A quick lap of the south trails used for the days XC race and I came across some of the major works and plenty of repaired sections.

The race plan was to cruise through the five laps with my main aim to focus on brushing up on my mountainbike specific skills and techniques. I don't have a road bike, but it seems like I spend a bucket load of time smashing along the black stuff and not enough time on dirt. The A Grade guys leapt away, all pushing to be the first down the singletrack. It was the gradual climb back towards the main gate that did the major damage, splitting the group. From that point on the lead group gradually pulled away and I would only see glimpses across the moto-track or through the carpark. The first lap I just wanted to settle in and keep any B Graders at bay, and over the next few laps I was surprised to catch and eventually pass a couple of the rides unable to maintain the frantic pace of the front group. Then over the final laps limit my losses to B Graders and have some fun. 

The WSMTB XC race was a great way to spend the morning, the dry conditions mean the trail is very fast, hardpacked in many places but loose and sandy in others. In the near future WSMTB hope to spend more time repairing the trails at Yellomundee partnering with NPWS under a "Sustainable MTBing Trail" strategy. Look forward to hearing more about that.

On the racing front WSMTB will be hosting the NSWMTB XC Series at Yellomundee in October closely followed by their own XC Club Champs. Expect the highly anticipated WSMTB 4hr Summer Series to kick off in November!

Struck Down?

It is contagious, it is out there.

The cool crisp Canberra air served up the perfect breeding grounds. 

At ground level the previous afternoons blizzard-like experience had only just managed to settle the dust, but the temperature remained below zero well into the mid-morning.

As the day warmed up ever so slightly many riders exchanged social fast for fast fast to blast down some of their favourite trails on Stromlo.

And after the first "race" run it seems everyone on the bus returning us to the top of the hill had caught it.

It came involuntary, and with a rasping dry sound.

It is the Rollercoaster cough.