2019 Wrap!

• It has been another massive year. Thanks to my team and team mates for all their support. While some our results are individual we get great support from friends and family who give up their time to hand out bottles and drive us after an exhausting day.
• We have a number of standout events and results, here they are in no particular order.
• 2nd Pair 12hrs in the Piney

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• 1st NW Mountainbikers Mt Borah GE

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• 1st NSW Police Games XC

• 3rd (5th overall) NSW Police Games GE

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• 2nd Jacks Ridge XXX

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• 4th Elite TAMMTB Summer Race 6Feb

• 1st Elite TAMMTB Summer Race 14Feb

• 4th Elite TAMMTB Summer Race 27Feb

• 4th Elite TAMMTB Summer Race 16Oct

• 7th Elite TAMMTB Summer Race 23Oct

• 2nd Elite TAMMTB Summer Race 30Oct

• 2nd Elite TAMMTB Summer Race 6Nov

• 7th Elite TAMMTB Summer Race 13Nov

• 4th Elite TAMMTB Summer Race 20Nov

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• 2nd Masters 2 National Cup XCO NEMTB

• 2nd Masters 2 National Cup XCC NEMTB

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• 1st RT Grand Prix Championship Awaba

• 5th RT Grand Prix Ourimbah

• 8th RT Grand Prix Glenrock

• 17th RT Grand Prix Series (28th GC Rnd 3 & 5 only) 

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• 2nd Elite NIXCS UNE

• 3rd Elite NIXCS Tamworth

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• 2nd RT SuperFlow Champs Jollynose

• 3rd RT SuperFlow Enduro Ourimbah

• 5th RT SuperFlow Enduro Taree

• 7th RT SuperFlow Enduro Awaba

• 7th RT SuperFlow Series
• JetBlack MTB Racing are support by the following;
  
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12hrs in the Piney - 6+6 Pairs

Solos, Teams and Support Crew.

 It has been a massive build towards Armidale hosting the WEMBO World 24hr Solo titles in 2020. As part of this build the New England MTB Club have hosted a couple of National Cup races, and a year out from WEMBO they hosted the Asia/Pacific WEMBO/National 24hr Solo Champs and their annual 12hrs in the Piney race, as one event!

With team mate Browny looking for a pairs partner, and our only goal to attend, we were off to the races and had our spot booked in the 6+6 event. Riders from all over NSW/ACT, QLD and some from Victoria (we even spotted a kiwi flag) descended on Armidale for a festive weekend of racing.

A combination of WEMBO, National 24 solo and 12hrs in the Piney.

With everyone settled in their pitting areas and the formalities carried out by NEMTB, Browny was dressed and ready to go (for our little team). We had Kevlar, Catherine and Dalene from the JetBlack Team entered in the 24 solo, Guru and Chops in the pits, and Peter returning to riding in the solo 6+6.  In addition to our pit area we had multiple World Champ Jason English and crew Jenni PLUS Grafton locals Michelle and Grant (in their first 24 solo).

A number of small changes had cleaned up the UNE trail providing a mostly smooth hard-packed trail free of loose obstacles and gravel. They had included a couple of kilometres of grass following the creek-line and a steady-grade grass hill to push the trail out to 10km. With the solos getting a two minute lead on the 6+6 riders, we had about thirty minutes to get dressed and ready for Browny's return.

Working our way through the trails on a warm and windy Saturday afternoon.

Browny and I went lap for lap, heading out onto the trail. While resting and fuelling in the pits we helped out as the solo riders rolled through. Many solo riders were just as quick as many of the teams, well at this early stage. It was a very fluid and dynamic environment within the pit, looking out for our riders, being on hand to help and getting ourselves ready for our next snappy lap.

As the afternoon progressed it was evident Browny and I were being outclassed by the duo of Justin and Simon, but we were also having a little friendly competition with the Inverell pair Jodi and Brad. As the afternoon faded and the 6+6 riders completed their first 6hrs, the solo riders plodded on, probably relishing in the quiet open trails.

When the 6+6 race paused, we continued to help the solo riders.

It was time to refuel, savour Guru's custom pizzas and to maintain vigilance for our solo riders. For the solos it was was "lights-on", warm food and bike swap. It had been a windy afternoon and as dusk settled in the wind died down, the party atmosphere paused and the flood-lights were lit. 

After a short sleep it was an early rise to pull on some fresh gear, including all out winter warmers for the single digit dawn temperatures. I was pretty happy to knock out that first lap and hand over to Browny as the sun started it's steady rise into the clear sky. Unfortunately with the rise of the sun the wind began too, punishing all riders with a headwind over open sections of trail.

Having a blast on Sunday morning.

As many of our previous experiences have shown, much had happened overnight with the solos. The drop in the wind had increased the dust through the pine forest. Quite a few riders had paused for lengthy periods overnight. Notably the Elite female leader had stopped at lap 17, around midnight, opening the door for those chasing ladies. There was a few changes of placings in the Elite male as Mick Sherwood faced off with Kevin Hawes for 2nd place. Mick eventually stopped racing at 29 laps, over 18hrs of racing due to issues with the raised dust. There were so many different stories.

The trail conditions hadn't changed much overnight, maybe a little more dusty. Browny and I completed our laps with a double by me. We'd put in a solid effort staying competitive with those around us. We held onto a 2nd place in the Pairs, a couple of laps on 3rd.

A solid 12hrs of racing with Browny.

Our team mates went well too, Kevlar rode into 5th with 24 laps. Catherine held 1st with 29 laps and Dalene placed 1st with 12 laps. Peter completed 8 laps in the solo 6+6. Watch out 2020 WEMBO...

Full results here.

JetBlack MTB Racing are support by the following;

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Team mate handover.

Rocky Trail GP Glenrock - Round 3

Ever since Glenrock was introduced as a round of the GP Series it has been a standout event and better still it has been a solid three months plus since we broke our clavicle. It was time to ride.

Our aim for Glenrock was to take it easy, slowly testing the body, seeing what might hurt. After a nice warm-up ride up the hill from Merewether we had time to catch up with some of our 40 odd JetBlack MTB Racing team-mates, our extended MTB family and sign-in at race registration.

We gathered at the back of the start bunch determined not to fuss with any first lap madness. The usual fun of the conga-line was had as we caterpillared our way around the chosen route.

Half way round the lap we bombed down a firetrail and instantly found ourselves at the bottom of the valley. From experience there is only one way we take back to the top, Snakes and Ladders, a singletrack grind back up most of the ascent.

It didn’t take long for us to get distracted though. A guy on a massive +20kg big-travel bike tried to zip past me with his dropper post down but he topped out at 25kph…. Oh, damn, an e-bike. Haha, this one isn’t getting away.

I stuck with the e-bike for a lap, wasn’t too hard on the single track and firetrails initially. The trail was busy with riders, which also was to my advantage. As soon as it opened up on a climb though, the 250W of seemingly endless power got away from me. 

What was nice this round was to ride with so many different people. Not racing meant we were riding at a pace to on-trail socialize and enjoy the scenery a little more. 

After a couple of hours on-bike the legs were starting to say this was their longest ride in months and at 3hrs we hit the limit.  Our legs cracked and all power was gone, a quick mental calculation and there was still three laps still to go, if that.

We ended up doing just on the 4hrs of riding for our first big race back. The shoulder feels pretty good, no issues there and it was nice to put our legs through some serious testing. Our legs are toasted.

An 8^thplace in our Category is just a start. Looking forward to some SuperFlow and more GPs soon.

JetBlack MTB Racing are support by the following;

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Mitas X-Road CX Tyres

We have been rolling around on Mitas mountain bike tyres over the last couple of years. Their Scylla XC tyre has been the choice of many XC racers, we found the fast square blocks providing predicable performance and a low rolling resistance. The Scylla fitted neatly our need for a marathon/XC tyre. When we wanted something with a little more grip for our front tyre with Gravity Enduro in mind, we stepped up to the Mitas’s Kratos. The Kratos is a surprisingly fast rolling tyre but with wide aggressive knobs for plenty of grip, the Kratos have track us through the wildest trails thrown at us.

Mitas Kratos

This brings us to our latest review and not necessarily a change of pace either, the Mitas X-Road. You might think it blasphemy mentioning anything road related, but the X-Road is part of Mitas’s CX range. It comes with similar features of their top mountain bike treads; Tubeless Supra 127tpi casing and CRX race compound rubber.

Our first introduction to Tubeless CX tyres

We have been using CX tyres for a number of years both for CX racing and our on-road riding. CX tyres give us a super light but grippy tyre, one that spins up quickly on just about all surfaces. Given a few extra pumps of air, the CX tyres improved our average speed through lowered our rolling resistance and their light-weight was noticed on the climbs, particularly over our previous choices of commuting/training tyre (PRs in Strava, woohoo!).

Endless dirt roads over summer

With a current trend to include more dirt-based adventure rides, and a physical move to a more a hostile riding environment we were more than excited to wrap the Mitas X-Road around our wheels. Planned rides included plenty of dirt roads and fire-trails, some trail exploring of our new location, bunch rides with the roadies and maybe even a race.

Close-up of the almost familiar tread patten

The X-Road tyre tread reminds us of a fairly traditional XC mountain bike tyre pattern. The center blocks are small and closely spaced, providing a fast tread for road and dirt conditions. As your roll over to the edge the tread opens up and gets slightly more bold, this gives grip for cornering and loose situations no matter dry or wet. The tyres are suitably light too; we weighed them in at 350g, for their 33C casing. With a standard splash of sealant the tyres quickly inflated and held firm. The wheels were then placed on our test rig, a steel framed hard-tail mountain bike.

70kms offroad for Buffalo Gelato 

Out on the road the X-Road sat pretty comfortably between a smooth tread and a light XC tyre, giving off just a slight hum as the closely spaced tread rolled across the bitumen. While the tyres are stamped for pressures up to 85psi, we only nudged them to 60psi due to the mountain bike rims they were shoeing. We found that 60psi gave us the suppleness needed for the rough country roads we were testing on, but still kept us fast enough for a bunch.

The dirt roads and fire-trails is where the X-Road excels, the tread pattern offered plenty of grip and rolled effortlessly over the mixture of terrain. For these multi-hour adventures we dropped the pressure down a tad and found the tyres responded well, we were thinking less about being careful where we were riding and were able to enjoy the ride more. We then set about with some all-out exploration, finding running trails and sheep tracks, with plenty of rocks and cacti. It was a blast to bomb downhill on a narrow trail into the unknown, finding the our limits amongst the loose shale. Exploring our new backyard, lookouts, tracks and scenery. To be fair we did hike-a-bike back out of a few sections, but that was more about the gearing choice than anything else.

Local XC race on the X-Roads, guess who won Elites?

It has been summer and CX racing isn’t in full swing, so instead we took our X-Road tyres to a XC race. The local clubby event was only 45 minutes long and the trails included some rough rock-garden features. Even still, the club called it their “Fast and Furious” loop, smooth is fast yeah? Tyres were set at 40 and 45psi , front and rear respectively. These were tough testing conditions, a dry and dusty trail that mixed hard-pack, sandy dust, loose-over-hard and rocks. When pushed the tyres provided predictable drift especially as it moved to sandy conditions. They were also durable enough to allow for multiple close calls between the rocks and rims, with some “yes-I-did-feel-that” moments. We did have to slow down a little to pick our way more neatly through the rock-garden, but with such light tyres we accelerated out of corners faster and held a higher speed on the straights. In our experience the X-Road would be highly suitable for any Australian CX course.

Toowoomba MTB Club trails

Finally we toured some of the Northern NSW and South East QLD mountain bike trails. Sometimes doing a roadie bunch ride, then rolling straight into some mountain biking after. We did find the limits of the X-Road amongst the rocks and Black Diamond trails, however, aggressive XC trails aren’t what the X-Road are built for. The X-Road are neatly placed as a CX tyre, and rightly so. We did love the super-light tubeless features, we fear not catheads and cactus of our new hostile riding environment. And there’s still a bucket load of tread remaining, attesting to their quality and durability after 4 months of solid summer riding. We are looking forward to more adventures in the coming months on our X-Roads.

Nambucca Valley CC The Tulk #2

Nambucca Valley Cycling Club have been running a number of twilight races over summer and we were able to get along to one over the weekend. Held on private "MTB lifestyle" property near Kempsey the trail is continually being developed and the 8km of marked trail we rode was fairly flat, fast and flowing. 

While it was fast and flat, there were a number of man-made features, themed sections, natural obstacles and corners to keep the mind busy. Aptly named by some as "The Jellyfish" after it's gently meandering shape as viewed from space, the mostly 1m wide trail cut through bush and farm-scape.

All up the weather was hot, but some wind kept the temperature reasonable and the dust fairly low. We had received a good amount of rain the night before which helped settle the dry conditions. It was still dry and hard packed in most sections, the others just being dry/loose.

Our host, head trail master, landowner and all-round-nice-guy lead us out on the first lap, it was fast for a social race. We hadn't gotten out for a sighting lap, so the perfect person to show us round was the exact person on the front of our little group.

The first short open fire-trail section on the second lap we switched to race tactics to see who I was riding with. We slid to the front and put some higher effort in, pushing to the edge of grip through corners and getting up speed early on the way out.

At first the gap opened little by little, with all the corners it was hard to tell how far big gap was. But after a while and a couple of laps later it seemed we had control of the proceedings. As it went from dusk to night we tried not to drop the pace, keeping the pressure on ourselves to maintain our heart rate and general speed.

In the end we lapped just about everyone and it felt like we had kept a constant pace throughout the three plus hours. It was a small but dedicated crew in attendance, nothing quite like the normal events we go to. A massive shoutout to NVCC for putting it all together and giving me a chance to have fun at a unique location.

NVCC Results are here: https://www.webscorer.com/racedetails?raceid=92811&did=99836&cid=528640

Our first outing in the new JetBlack MTB Racing kit with The Odd Spoke, Natural Balance and Rocky Trail Entertainment as partners.

We rode our Pivot 429 Alloy with custom wheels by Ascent Cycling Enterprises and X-Fusion fork from DIYMTB.

Happy Trails at Ourimbah

We were super keen to return to Ourimbah in 2016 for another round of Rocky Trail's Shimano Grand Prix. The 2015 event had seen our good effort rewarded with a No.1 on the podium and I was frothing to do it again.

Being part of the JetBlack MTB Racing team is incredibly motivating and from the start whistle I could see team mates up ahead, team mates I wanted to follow into the single-track. I slipped onto the back wheel of Grant Shaw for the starting portion of trail, Grant was riding in a fast team of three for the 7hr and was a good wheel to follow.

It was incredibly cold, southerly winds had brought snow chilled air to many parts of NSW and Ourimbah it was no exception. Had our Gound Effect jacket on as not to freeze.

Keeping warm. Photo: Outer Image

Grant had worked hard on the initial section of the lap and he eased up over a climb. We took this moment to pass Grant, setting about to catch the next group in front. In this next section of single track we came across an unusual event, all-round shredder Kramer having an issue on a short down-hill section.

It was during the first couple of laps we were surprised to catch a couple of seasoned endurance riders, which gave the inkling someone was riding to hard. But it was so fun to ride at this pace we just pushed on, crossing our fingers it was sustainable for the 4hrs.

On the rivet. Outer Image

Ourimbah is a trail-riders dream, sweeping and short punchy climbs followed by fun rough descents, many of which seem un-proportionally long. It is rocky in sections, loamy in others, Ourimbah is a bonanza of mountain biking goodness.

When team mate Tom Morwood came whooping up behind us, our spirits lifted, just as there was a feeling of some fatigue. A few friendly words really helps out when all focus is on tearing up the trail. The same went for team mate Simon Ballard some time later, except this time all our biscuits were spent and we were about to start digging. It is so hard to see your team ride away at the pace you want to be going.

Working hard to maintain position. Photo: Outer Image

Another successful event run by Rocky Trail, no gripes here, everyone was super polite and there was plenty of rush and two-wheeled drift for an endurance event. We finished 4th, our best GP result this year. Thanks to JetBlack MTB Racing team for the friendly atmosphere, on-trail support and transition expertise. We have awesome sponsors, check them out! The team was well represented across all categories and delivered some top results on the day. You'll see us at the final Grand Prix if not before!

Keepit Real 100 2014

As we headed out of Sydney it looked like we might miss the regular afternoon storm. Dinner was at Singleton and there was a fair way to go to reach Tamworth. The clouds were brewing, forming the inevitable rain-cloud shape with just patches of clear sky. Unfortunately the roads weren't heading in the direction of the clear sky and on the radio the Hunter Valley were being warned of hail and high winds.

There was rain, hail and high winds, so much so we pulled the car over pointing it into the oncoming weather, fearing the bikes may be wrenched from the roof otherwise. The rain persisted all the way to Tamworth featuring some spectacular lightening along the way. Thankfully our lakeside cabin was dry, while we enjoyed camping on the foreshore last year the additional crew joining us this year needed a few more amenities.

Slightly damp conditions around Lake Keepit,
tell-tale signs of the possible trail state.

We were at Lake Keepit, just west of Tamworth, for the second edition of the Keepit Real 100 by Switchback Events. A challenge by distance event along the shoreline and forested sections adjacent to the lake ridden mostly on the fire-trails and single-tracks in the area. We were signed up for the 50km again this year and pretty happy with the addition of more single-track for 2014 rendition.

Race day dawns, still humid and overcast but no longer raining. Time for breakfast and some pre-race prep before heading down to the registration area to pick up our race number, timing chip and goodies.

As we count down to the race we spot some of the top competitors this event has drawn, Jamie Vogele and Peter Selkrig fresh from last weeks National Solo 24hr Champs, and Torq/Merida team mates Em Parks, Holly Harris and Billy Sewell. But more impressive was the rest of the riders, it seems that there was twice as many people up for the challenge this year.

There was a new starting loop before we traversed along some 4wd trail and were spat out not far from the dam wall. It was a fast start with last years winner Sam Spokes putting plenty of pressure on the remaining field.

From the dam we headed into the steep hilly country where the Switchback Events crew and hardy volunteers had crafted the additional single-track sections. This single-track was intermixed with more open fire-trails, usually just in time for a steep climb!

Jamie Vogele and Billy Sewell lead out the 50km event.

The fire-trails were clay based and when not flicking globules of orange at you they were attaching themselves to our tyres. Thankfully we took the On-One which is built for these conditions, its wide stays and thin tubing now allowed for our super fat clay-laden tyres to pass easily and not collect as much muck.

At the 10km mark a deraileur misalignment saw us stop to fix the mechanical, our only one for the event. Handfuls of riders passed us and our work was cut out to work our way back up the ladder. The single-track helped, we were able to rocket along the sweeping narrow trails and over the technical sections with relative ease. On one of the more gradual climbs we caught team mate Sara Mills and further on it was known roadie and recent MTB convert Ray Griffin.

Riding with Holly Harris at the start of the back 20km.

The trail turned back towards the dam wall and we burst out of the forest, we were now riding with last years winner Sam Spokes, a mate of his and Holly Harris. Sam had turned off the afterburners due to some pedal cleat issues, turns out mud and road-shoes just don't mix. While Sam wasn't racing to win he still pulled some solid efforts as we transitioned from the first 30km to the flatter, more open remaining 20km.

It was time turn up the hurt just a little more and we broke away from the group before the course turned onto the hard packed fire-trail section. Then it was into a TT position to maintain the gap back to the group, just insight ahead was a CX bike (Lewis Garland). I really wanted to catch the CX bike but every time I came close the course would flatten out and he would gain time. We were now returning along the shoreline and it was exceptionally boggy, almost like riding on wet sponges.

Turning from the shoreline up towards the finishing arch, locking out our X-Fusion fork and determined to leave it all out on course, sprinting all the way. We didn't catch Lewis on his CX but made up a place overall passing young Michael Harris, finishing 13th overall and 7th in Senior Male Category. Full results are available here.

What a blast the Keepit Real 100 was! A heap more singletrack, nice overcast conditions and the most leg-sapping mud we have seen in a long time. Thanks to Switchback Events for putting on another challenging event in a great location, you should look out for more events from this dynamic team. It was great to catchup over the weekend with my JetBlack MTB Racing team mates, thanks to the team and our sponsors for their continued support. 

Back Yamma Bigfoot

Back Yamma Bigfoot had always been one of those events we had heard about but just hadn't gotten around to checking out. So when Rod from RocketOn2Wheels, the event organisers of the Ginja Ninja 250, reminded me early in the year the BYBF was on, I snuck it onto the calendar, locking in our trip to central NSW.

Parkes township. Photo: CrummyMTB

And so it was we headed away from the coastal rainstorms and precipitation in Sydney for the sparseness of the countryside, clearing skies and wide-open roads. Parkes is the closest township to the Back Yamma State Forest and is home to two main themes, Elvis and the radio telescope now commonly called "The Dish". Just once a year midst the travelling trucks, caravans and locals, mountain bikers converge on the picturesque town for the BYBF.

A short dusty trail brought us to the event centre, plenty of parking and plenty of people had taken the opportunity to camp on-location. Kids were on bikes, Rotary were warming up the BBQ and there was a leasurely vibe before the start of our BYBF challenge.

The exciting thing about getting to an event, new to us, are the unknowns, but I couldn't help myself and visited Ed McDonald's blog to see what the past events have been like and what I might be expecting. I wasn't expecting "the rules", but then you get a little wackiness from Ed's glorious reads.

RocketOn2Wheels promised the fastest marathon in Australia, along with vivid images Ed painted and words from those who pre-rode sections of the course, it was suppose fairly flat, fast and mostly single-track.

The Back Yamma Big Foot was this plus more. A hard, fast start and long fire-trail opening section sorted the field out. The trail was dry but somehow we found the mud and it was sprayed, moto-style, all over us.

We lead Steve through the 50km transition. Photo: CrummyMTB

The dry creek lines we had to negiotate were a surprise and the single-track was better than expected. Fast, flowing and they seemed endless. We would eventually bust off the back of what seemed like the second pack a good twenty minutes or so into the race and then joined by two riders who we would spend the rest of the race with (Steve and Brian).

Out in front James Downing was making his own race and you can read about it on his blog. We were some way back rapidly finding ourselves on no-mans-land, some where between fast and steady. Just us and the trail.

James pinning it. Photo: CrummyMTB

Pivot's 429 was the ride of choice for us at Back Yamma, making the trail a magic carpet ride even through the rough and raw new sections of single-track. It was great to see such diversity of riders all enjoying the trail, managing to catch and encourage some 50km riders on our second loop. While we were out on trail the 27km event was started and completed, with plenty of juniors giving it a good go. A couple juniors commented how it was a "sweet run" and to "bring on Back Yamma 2015", competition looks fierce.

Magic ride. Photo: CrummyMTB

The Back Yamma Bigfoot is a great ride, we couldn't believe there was so much singletrack in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. If your looking for your first 50km ride, if you want a personal best or first time 100km, the Back Yamma fits the bill. Get off the coast and enjoy country NSW's fine trails.

Keep an eye out for RocketOn2Wheels' next event the Ginja Ninja 250 and catch you on the trails soon.

Result Summary of our 2014 Back Yamma Bigfoot.

Brian from Sydney XC Racing - 7th Open - 4:23:49

Steve from WSMTB - 2nd SS - 4:24:31
Crummy from JetBlack Racing - 8th Open - 4:25:51
Ian Anderson - Who we thought was way ahead - 9th Open - 4:26:32

Keepit Real 100

The New England region has been bursting with MTB enthusiasm of late and the inaugural Keepit Real 100 mountain bike race would cap off a great 2013 for many of the cyclists in the region. Centaur Events had teamed up with the landowners surrounding Lake Keepit to bring to the area a unique MTB challenge, with one of the aspects a ride across the Keepit Dam Wall.

Arriving at the Keepit State Park we were greeted with the same warm weather they had been getting all week. We found our camp spot, with a front row view overlooking the lake, then headed to Registration to pick up our number plates and goodybag. The friendly Centaur Events crew had us sorted in no time. Next on the cards, dinner, hydrate and a sleep ready for tomorrow.
 On the morning of the event it was still incredibly warm and with a cloudless sky the sun had an instant bite when it rose. 

Local mountain bike guru David Harris was not only behind the mic but behind the tools for Bicycle Central on Marsh and was super busy in the last hours before race start. Gathering beneath the massive start/finish arch were many master of enduro mountain biking this year, 2^nd place at WEMBO Andrew Lloyd, Croc Trophy rider Pete Selkrig, Shimano MTB Grand Prix Series winner Catherine Wood, just to name a few.

It was a fast start for the 50km and 30km race with a 4km grassy double track loop to spread the field before heading towards the Keepit Dam wall and unknown adventures. At the 3km mark the lead bunch split, we were under pressure from the local road racing talent and I slipped back, staying with a small bunch of local shop and road riders.

Photo: Centaur Events

The Keepit Real course was a mixture of short on-road sections, a whole heap of fire trail, and a mass of open grass sections with just a few narrow single-track/cow-trail thrown into the mix. I stuck with the bunch till we hit the first fire trail and single-track sections, the group started to splinter. When I got to the furthest northwestern section (~15km in) along the shores of the lake I was riding solo, the others had slipped back due to the technical sections or mechanicals. Hundreds of meters in front I could see another competitor, it could have been Selkrig, but the grassy course was hard going and the competitor like a mirage on the horizon.

Have to admit the initial 30km was challenging, not only with the grassy sections but many of the climbs were super pinchy and when I ran out of gears I was hoping everyone else was too. Counter that with the fast loose descents and blind sharp corners you had to be on edge for the next obstacle.

 The 30km mark saw another turn-around point for the 50km entrants, and by all accounts the guys in front of me were all strung out. A few quick glances back would confirm I no longer had a bunch chasing me but just a few persistent riders a couple of hundred meters back. I had burned through my first bottle of fluid; riding past our campsite I was able to offloaded the empty bottle and stash the full one on the bike.

Photo: Centaur Events

The remaining 20km was different to what we had already covered in that there weren’t any climbs or descents. Initially it was a traverse along the lake foreshore before turning right and a series of dirt roads that circumnavigated the State Park, some short single-track and crossing a dry dam. From here we headed to the furthest point on this side of the lake it was at this point I looked back and saw a fellow rider just behind me. I waited just a bit so I didn’t have to ride the remaining 10km solo.

With just a couple of hundred meters to the finish I lead-out and kept applying pressure till my companion backed off and over the finish line we went, crossing the line in fourth and placing third for the Senior Male category. The shade and grass below the Bicycle Central on Marsh tents were a welcome relief after a tough 50km.

Photo: Centaur Events

Thanks to Centaur Events for putting on a great challenging event in a unique location, we look forward to more events from this team.