Rocky Trail's Shimano Grand Prix at Stromlo

There are a only a few times a year we visit Canberra and when we turn off the Tuggeranong Parkway, seeing Stromlo clearly for the first time I still get a little buzz. The car park is full, colourful tents speckle the hillside but this time we aren't here for one of Stromlo's famous 24s. This was the final instalment of the Shimano Grand Prix, the last round of Rocky Trail Entertainment's endurance series.

It was a festive-like atmosphere in the transition area at the bottom of the downhill track. You look back up the mountain and the blue Shimano arch contrasts against the green scrub. There was another packed field with over 300 individual and team riders. At the start, the front three rows under the arch were full of riders that could win a XC or enduro race, powerhouses of our Australian scene. Martin's rolling start did little to quell the first section of single track bottle-neck but we were off and racing.

First lap conga.

Like most of NSW, the ACT has had next to no rain in the previous month and the conditions were super dry on the trail. Many sections are concrete hard and the heavily exposed rocks make for a bumpy ride through the technical sections. On the first lap I was more worried about my previous days session and how my legs felt than the conga line up the hill. I could feel lag in my legs from the HR Vo2 session the Fenz had called for but it wasn't to worry as on the next couple of laps I had warmed up and found my groove.

Flowing lines in the shadow of the Shimano arch.

Was a big fan of the choice of trails, there was significant work to be done getting to the top for the wickedly awesome Skyline-Luge combination. It looked as though I was lapping in around 30 minutes and under a clear sky the Stromlo hillside had warmed up quite a bit, quite easily emptying a full large bottle of fluid in two laps. By mid race I could still see my competitors ahead of me thanks to the looping trail. Turn it up on hour three was the plan.

Open, hard-packed, dry, fast.

I didn't get that far, my next visit to Luge I took the A-line gap and landed hard on the rear wheel, cracking the rim. Admittedly it has been a while since I've had to put a tube in and all this time I've been carrying the gear, never having to use it in an event. I was finally the one beside the trail, with everyone asking me if I was ok. Cheers for that friends. A tube, a CO2 canister and I limp back through transition my fast last-hour blown out of the water.

Thanks to the MIA Dirtriders for the laughs and keeping my bottles in the shade. The Slide 29er fork, from DIY MTB, continues to work very well and will be due for a scheduled service before WEMBO. Surprisingly since it wasn't just the rim bead surface that had damaged, the carbon rim remained straight. The question still remains if I could have ridden on the rim for another hour and not damaged more parts in the process. And on a final note it must have been quite warm during the event because I consumed three cartons of flavoured milk between when I finished and dinner.

Photos from the event on the CrummyMTB FB page here.
4hr Podium photos on the CrummyMTB FB page here.