WSMTB XC Round 5

Warming up. Photo - CrummyMTB

July finally brings some dry weather and it is back to racing at Yellomundee for Western Sydney Mountain Bike Club, hosting Round 5 of their annual XC Series. Dedicated members from the club have been bringing life back to the hard worn, eroding trails and it shows, plenty of positive comments from those who previewed the trail prior to racing. Before the big kids racing got underway it was time for the little ones to shine with wheels of all sizes and plenty of skids.

With a small field in the big kids A Grade, there was no holding Brian “Bigdog” Price back. It may have been no stretch for Bigdog, but a little way back we were making things interesting. Sliding into the single-track in second position set me up nicely onto the first firetail climb, I was able to hold Bigdog’s wheel for the descent and gained a good couple of seconds on the riders behind.

Get-up-there climb. Photo - Jasen Raymond

Loosing positions on the climb, it was the single-track and descents where I was able to get back in touch with our little pack. Touching wheels, hoots and whoops, tackling the tight and twisty sections. From here I backed off the pace a little, after all we hadn’t done half a lap yet and had to complete five.

Falling off the back the next challenge was to keep clear of the B Graders, usually released between 30 seconds to a minute after A Grade. Some of them have been sand-bagging in B Grade for a while now, you know who you are. So I was able to hold them off for a couple of laps, which is a good start.

The mid race calamity happened when I was making the most behind a swift legged B Grader. A mistake was made and there became an instant pile of carbon, steel and rubber. The other rider found himself at the bottom of the pile, thankfully no harm done.

This is what it is all about, the berms and descents. Photo - Aubry Hill 

Shaking off the incident, the highlight of lap four was the rest of pointy end of B Grade caught up. We had a laugh afterwards but there was a sprint for the line, of which I didn’t contest, after all I still had another lap to go. Nothing wrong with being competitive in B Grade.

Lap five and I finally made some time back to my A Grade rivals, well one at least.  On the technical climb out of Max’s Bridge we both fumbled (4 out of 5 isn’t bad) and from here on I was now in the running for a top three. I didn’t put to much pressure on making a gap between us over the remainder of the trail but by the time we arrived at the switchbacks before the finish, I could see I had a sufficient gap.

A view over the rear tyre as I rail the bike through a berm. Photo - CrummyMTB

Thanks to the WSMTB Club volunteers both on race day and trail maintenance days for their efforts, I believe everybody had a blast. My A Grade ribbon went to a prime position in the pool room.

Thanks also to DIY MTB for their guidance, the X-Fusion Slide 9er fork is working great with the adjustments made. My custom wide rim wheels bring real spark to the acceleration and handling of the bike, thanks Mick.