Ourimbah - Grand Prix 4hr Solo

There is no doubting that we love the Ourimbah MTB trails. A quick look back over the last few seasons of Grand Prix’s have seen some favourable results, 3rd 2017, 4th 2016 and 1st 2015. It is the amazing technical sections with their brutal rocks, and the twisted ribbon curves of trails that draw you to ride faster. This is one trail that can hold you in the edge of bar-gripping fear and outright hero-dirt exhilaration!

With a massive break between rounds, I couldn’t wait for the Ourimbah GP weekend to come around. There had been a number of other events on the calendar, a couple of club XC events and a weekend away at Rydal. But when it comes to full froth there is nothing quite like finding your flow at Ourimbah.

We are lucky to have a team of dedicated riders within JetBlack MTB Racing and some of the team had rolled into the forest on Friday, setting up the monster JetBlack pit area. We hummed along the freeway in the early hours of Saturday morning to join the team riders and our support crews for nervous pre-race catch-ups and laughs.

After the rider’s brief we headed down the fire road for the short haul back into singletrack for the race course. As the race got off there was a mid firetrail incident on the hill and due to my poor positioning, I was caught amongst the mid pack riders rolling around on the first lap. 

Looking to pull back some time and bless my bike with endless momentum, I knocked a couple of minutes off lap 2, 3 and 4. It was pure pleasure, allowing our 29” wheels to float clear of obstacles, hearing the swoosh of rubber bitting into dirt as railed heavily into the turns. With this effort I had made it back up to JetBlack MTB Racing team mates, team of 3 7hr of Browny, Elton and Nathan.

It was good knowing I was back into the mix with the teams, but as Nathan passed me on a climb I went to follow and found nothing to back me up. My legs had seen their fun and were now zoning out. Shortly after I made some technical errors and I knew I was in trouble, both my mind and my legs were a fuzz.

The only way out of this hole was to dig it myself and I eased off the gas, hoping I could roll it in on sheer guts. Thankfully I wasn’t the only one having a rollercoaster of a time, while chatting to others out on the course, there were some in deeper holes than I. Then there were high rollers, like Jason English, pulling himself back from a flat on an early lap, chatty as always, and Jon Odams, lapping me during my state of self-imposed recovery, happily holding a wheel then zipping effortlessly away down the trail at the next opportunity. 

Ourimbah’s sweeping trails, with short punchy climbs and fun rough descents still remain a favourite of ours. Rocky, loamy and with un-proportionally long descents, it is mountain biking goodness that we’ll always return to. For this event we managed to hold onto 5th place and snuck a top 20 fastest lap of the day! Whoop!

Next stop Coondoo on the South Coast for Round 3 of the GP Series. Thanks to the JetBlack MTB Racing Team and our sponsors for another fun day out!

JetBlack MTB Racing continues to be partnered with The Odd Spoke, Natural Balance, Rocky Trail Entertainment and AMB. Full results from this round here.