Rocky Trail GP Ourimbah - Round 5

All photos by OuterImage Collective

It was a short series again for us this year. Last years series saw us only get to two rounds and again this year, for different reasons, we unfortunately only got to two rounds of the series. 

In the last ten years of RTE GP Series our consistency has shone through with sufficient results, and only a small amount of individual wins, to place on the podium for the series.

Check out our 2009 GP races here. 2010 GP races, 2011 GP races, 2012 GP races, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and our previous 2019 round here.

The RTE show was in their home town at Ourimbah, the massive Shimano arch and the Red Bull tent were up and providing the hub for this final round of the Grand Prix series.

JetBlack Mountainbike Racing Team were out in force for this round too, and for good reason. A year of excellent individual and team results throughout the rounds was going to cumulate today, hopefully.

It was a packed start and we had underestimated how many riders were in attendance. We wound up with a fairly lazy start lap but well warmed up.

The course was a pretty standard Ourimbah XC offering. A couple of new sections to link it all together and some newly updated features to keep the trail a little more sustainable. Conditions were very dry and sandy, roots and rocks were harshly exposed in some sections more than the last time we race here.

After a couple of laps we caught up with some of the leading 7hr solos Garry James, then further on Mark Astley. Mark and the next 7hr solo rider ahead of us, Mick Sherwood, are focusing on the upcoming 24hr endurance events and were smashing along at their "all-day" pace.

Unfortunately our next lap saw us get a smashing of our own when we joined another rider in at moment of "what just happened?". Seems we both collected a stump with our foot which sent us into the bush, off the trail and off the bike. Thanks to the lady with the Tathra MTB Rider jersey for looking after us both, hopefully the other rider got his glasses back and you enjoyed the rest of your ride.

Brushing the dirt off our jersey, checking our head, neck and collarbone. Not injured we took a couple of breaths before heading off down the trail and back on our bike. There seemed like a huge gap time to pull back, lap after lap we attempted the smoothest run and it seemed like we were not getting back amongst the riders prior to the incident.

Thankfully we had a number of team mates in support, much like the JetBlack MTB Racing junior team chasing us and the pairs and teams of three. This kept us motivated and pumped for the next lap.

Climbing out of the gully for the last time we were very happy to have left everything out on the trail.   There were so many fun sections and we had managed to dial in some fast lines across the trail. Checking on the results we managed a respectable 5th place amongst one of the most competitive categories. We are excited to return to Ourimbah next week for SuperFlow!

JetBlack MTB Racing are support by the following;

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SuperFlow at Jollynose - Championships

With the success of our return to SuperFlow last month and our body holding up to the riggers of riding we were looking forward to returning to Jollynose for another SuperFlow session with Rocky Trail Entertainment. This return to Jollynose, after last years fortunate adventure, was only our second time to the area and there was much talk of the trail changes and updates.

SuperFlow is like Downhill racing but pitched on more Cross-Country trails than crazy Downhill trails. That isn't to say there is nothing a little insane, there are often a number of technical features, possibly and A and B lines for you to choose from. And when your whipped into a peddling frenzy from the Enduro crowd cheers, fat-tyres and fluro, you can feel like a Downhill adrenaline junkie.

We had a number of JetBlack MTB Racing team mate in attendance, some regulars and some new to SuperFlow this season. It was great to get out and ride with our team mates now that we don't see them as regularly. What is also pretty special about SuperFlow is the new friends you create along the way, either through a bit of a heckle or some competitive spiritedness, or just a regular chin wag.

Unbeknownst to us we even had some Tamworth locals in the mix. A "Hi Crummy" was all that was needed to affirm that behind the full-face helmet, was someone I did know mid way through the day. 

The trails started at the same places as last year and were generally the same through the top halves. Lower down one trail had been shortened to remove some pedalling, another had been updated with a series of obstacles including a serious flow section of gaps. The third and final trail was a fairly straight forward XC thrash.

We did a series of warm-up mini runs on our first trail till timing started. It was good to test out the hardtail since it has been over 4 months since we had ridden it. We had our Mitas XC tyres on and needed to have that reminder of how far to push both them and the bike. It was also a test for our shoulder as we are still coming back from the clavicle break in March.

We completed three timed runs of our first trail improving the first run by 17 seconds and the second run by another half a second, for a sub three minute run for Fox. We then went and visited Stans, said to be the most challenging trail for the day, and they weren't wrong! Our first run was very much a sighting run and an eye opener, especially as we got down to the gap flow section. Yeah, we were out of our depth. It was almost a four minute run, some twenty seconds off our closest competitor. 

We had joined one of our team mates for the next run, Lazer, and we gave them a ten second head start. We caught them at the pinch of the short pedal climb and tried to scoot away but was caught back up by the line for a 3:50.5. Our team mate had to complete another trail so we parted ways and returned to the dreaded Stans.

After psyching ourselves up and a few deep breathes we took Stans on again, trying to find the most out of the trail to keep it smooth and flowing. Unfortunately we still rolled a few of the largest gaps and couldn't connect all the sections together but managed to drop a massive twenty seconds through finding our smoothness on trail, a time much closer to our competitor at 3:34.4.

Another run was needed on the fast Laser course, just to see if we could better our time. We attempted to chase down an e-bike but didn't improve our time with a 00.1 of a second slower. Close enough to our 3:50.5 previous run.

It was pretty close with only four or so seconds between our closest competitor and after some pretty fast runs we were about cooked. We called it a day, joining our team mates and other competitors for post ride beverages and food.

We ended up coming second in the category after our closest competitor went and dropped nine seconds on his first run of the day. All and all a great day out with Rocky Trail Entertainment and the Jollynose Crew!

JetBlack MTB Racing are support by the following;

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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;

#ridejetblack #jetblackproducts #theoddspoke #rockytrailentertainment #hubbardproof #prismbike #M2Oindustries #blacktownfamilydental #ambmagazine #mitastyres

@jetblackmtbrace @ridejetblack @jetblackcycling @theoddspoke @rockytrailentertainment @prism.bike @M2OIndustries @australianmountainbike @mitas_tyres

Ourimbah - SuperFlow

It was only last week we were racing at Ourimbah in the GP4, AND this week we are back again, this time for SuperFlow! SuperFlow is the new generation of Rocky Trail's Rollercoaster Series, of which we participated in originally (1st - 2012, 5th - 2013, 23rd - 2014). It is the XC take on Gravity Enduro, with probably the most popular Enduro series, the Enduro World Series (EWS) grabbing most of the attention.

So we are back at Ourimbah and there is a buzz. It is different from last week’s Grand Prix, a more casual, more fluro, baggy and longer travel buzz. This is the second round of the RTE SuperFlow Series we have been able to get to, we missed the Thredbo round a couple of months ago. Not surprisingly the SuperFlow Series has some serious followers, just about all male categories were buoyant with enthusiasts and punters alike.

We joined JetBlack MTB Racing team mates Eric, Troy, Matt and newcomer Brad at the event rego and hub area for our racing plates. There we also met with the Rocky Trail Entertainment crew, Martin and Juliana for the pre-race brief. We had a couple of hours to check out the two race trails before the 11am race kick-off.

It was a cool start for the practice session, we transitioned along the XC trails to warm up the legs. From the bottom of the valley it was couple of hundred vertical meter, fire-trail climb, to the start of the timed sections. This round I teamed up with newcomer Brad and we sessioned the shorter, steeper “Fox” trail first. 

The short, steep trail was a portion of the Ourimbah Downhill track. It was pretty intense and we stopped a number of times to sus out lines. We also had a chat with a couple of Ourimbah regulars, gleaming some invaluable insights for our race runs. Then it was back on the climb to the top to roll the “Fox” trail again, just to make sure we had absorbed as much trail information as possible in a couple of sighting laps.

We managed to squeeze a roll through of the “Stans” trail before 11am. A couple of sections we hadn’t seen before, but much of it was used last week during the Grand Prix event. All good, lets go racing!

First trail to we chose to race on was the longer "Stans" section. Having just rolled this trail and it being significant longer, our fairly fresh legs would stomp the XC styling of this section. I headed out first with Brad chasing, but through the dusty first descent section with adrenaline pumping I pushed to hard, driving into a tree on a tight left-hand corner. Shaken and with signs of some blood after taking much of the hit to the tree via my arm I went to jump on the bike, but the bars were twisted. I quickly re-aligned the bars as I saw Brad crested the hill and begin descending to my position. I had just about lost thirty seconds due to this off, I remounted and whipped the bike with a frenzy of pedal strokes to get me back down the trail.

At the bottom of the "Stans" trail I quickly self diagnosed some pretty good inflammation to my elbow, no joint pain or deep cuts. All good to continue racing, we headed back to the top for a couple more runs of the shorter DH trail, and get timed on the "Fox" section. 

For the first run at “Fox” Brad went first, I quickly counted twenty seconds and chased after him. My idea was to close the gap as much as possible on the mostly flat transition to the singletrack, then hold onto that smaller time gap as I wrestled the hardtail through the rough course.  It seemed to have worked; Brad was just heading down the singletrack as I was coming up to it. In regards to the “Fox” course it was a definite balance of control, because gaining speed no problem, it all pointed downhill. I was glad I replaced the brake pads a few days earlier, keeping the bike on the trail and pointed in the right direction was executed with volumes of braking.

After transiting back to the top to have another go at “Fox”, Brad checks out the online results, I had set initial time of just over three minutes. That result was not to shabby, with Brad sets a time seven just seconds slower. A quick hydrate, a chat with other riders and we were in the mix for another razz down the track. There was a shuffle of riders as we improved the line-up and self-seeding situation, this time Brad was to chase and potentially improve his time. I let the rider in front go just long enough that I knew I would catch them just before the singletrack to ensure free trail for the tech section. It works, I pass the DH rider just seconds before the trail narrowed and I get a clear shot at sprinting down the trail. At the bottom I wait longer than I should have to, but eventually Brad rolls in, seems he had an off mid-course. I set a time almost two seconds faster, pushing me in the sub three minute bracket.

With my young team mate having a crash it was time to make our way back to the event hub for a break, sustenance and refocus. Of course, we still had to do another lap of the longer “Stans” course to post an official time. A transition back to the top again and a good half day of riding is finally catching up with us.

We roll up to the start of the longer trail, this time I didn't need my own crash again but it was important to set a solid time. I rolled away first, diving through the tough loose first section and onto the little climb, boom, there is the first rider I catch, in fact there were three riders all up. I was feeling pretty on fire, pushing the bike as much as I felt reasonable. I launched over the finishing matt and skidded through the mid of the watching bunch on the firetrail. It was good to finish the trail with no major errors and a big smile on my face.

There was time, and energy for one more lap and see as though Brad had made a mess of his last "Fox", I encourage him to finish the day with a smooth run down. We rode to the top again and hit the trails for the last time that day.

All-n-all it was a fun day out. My three times on "Fox" had only a two second deviation, pretty consistent (placing in the top 100/300 riders). And my two runs on the longer "Stans" had a thirty second deviation, which was about what it felt when I crashed on the first of the two runs. The faster of the runs put me in the top 15 riders for the day. This result put me on the top step of the podium for the hardtail class!

Next stop is near Port Macquarie on the Mid North Coast for the Jolly Nose, Round 4 of the SuperFlow 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 SuperFlow round here. Series results so far, here (yes, we are leading the Hardtail Category).

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.

Rydal Interclub 3hr

It was going to be a busy weekend, with a couple of events pack in. But a couple of days of wet weather put a dampener on the CX, of all things, it was cancelled. Thankfully just over the other side of the hill, the Interclub 3hr location of Rydal didn't have the same conditions.

Rydal is just a few minutes from Lithgow and home to a whole bunch of hand-carved trail. The Rydal showground plays the perfect part of transition area, and the CTMBC the host club of this round.

Arriving with our JetBlack MTB Racing team mates, we signed on then ducked out for a reccy lap. For this fun event it was decided a pairs team would be a great change and we met with our team mate for the day in the transition area, Brad.

Brad is making waves at WSMTB XC rounds this year by winning D Grade consecutively. He has some mad on-bike skills and has recently transitioned from the club Junior racing categories. He lead out our team, and the whole race on lap 1 for the sprint to the first corner.

At transition one we were sitting as the second male pair team, rolling through as the 23rd rider. It was my turn to head out on the fun windy trail. Away from the flat show-ground area, the trails lead riders on an exciting journey of almost effortless fun. Transitioning back to Brad we had  made up a number of places and were now sitting within the top 10.

Brad puts in another impressive lap to keep us within touch of our competitors. Then it is another handover, and I race out, pre jumping the first log and runching through the following corner, all off the brakes. Hand-over, hydrate, food, rinse and repeat!

With five minutes left before the gate to the trail would close, Brad flew into view and I was tagged for our last lap. This last lap was a blinder too, with less riders out on trail and the changing trail conditions into a tacky, hero dirt ribbon of bliss.

Thanks to CTMBC for hosting the event, my JetBlack MTB Racing team mates for the travel arrangements and transition setup. Thanks to Brad for pairing up with us, turns out we won the Male Pairs Category!

See you at the next event...

Wylde STM/Evocities Round

After WSMTB held the first ever mountain bike event at Wylde there was much anticipation of the second event. This second event would be the STM Round by Chocolate Foot, which also made part of the Evocities Series, drawing riders from as far as Port Mcquarie, Dubbo and Canberra.

Wylde last year at a trail ride day. Photo: CrummyMTB

We were surprised to see a whole bunch of fast names in the 4hr categories considering there was the lure of cash up for grabs in the 7hr. This included Giant rider Jon Odams, who lead the first lap and put pressure on the fast riders to keep up.

Start to the event with Jon Odams leading it out. Photo: CrummyMTB

A little further back we were ticking along and keeping en eye on our competitors through the winding trail. You could see the 30 second and minute gap riders ahead and behind, it was nice to slowly reel those who had a faster first lap over the remaining three and a half hours of racing.

Back a little further we kick off our race.

Were pretty happy to see we had reach a top 5 position within the category on viewing the results. Especially considering the strength of competition on the day, and the fact the weather didn't make as big impression as the WSMTB 4hr round.

Thanks to the JetBlack MTB Racing team and all our sponsors for their ongoing support. For this outing at Wylde we rode our Pivot 429 in a 1x10 setup with X-Fusion forks by DIY MTB. 

Catch you all next race! 

Team mate Phil Welch's blog.

Results from the event.

Video courtesy of Chocolate Foot.

Quick View - Bryton Rider 40

Bryton's Rider 40 has landed on our bike and we are excited. Excited for the simple things, as we are yet to put any of the features to the test. Simply it is light, 50g, and suitably small. We also like the 30hr battery life (enough for a solo 24hr) and it seems to be able to record not just our GPS data but a whole lot more. Can't wait to throw our bikes down the trail with this neat looking unit onboard for a full review in the future.

Features: Supports training peaks and power meters, has multiple training modes to create your own training plans, supports a speed and cadence dual sensor for indoor training, comes with a pre-loaded test work-out, waterproof and shockproof design for tough conditions, logs up to 600km.

Tamworth MTB Park

Bryton Rider 30 Disassembly

After some recent wet weather and one of the rubber buttons on the Rider 30 wearing through, my Bryton started producing a strange sound and was working intermitantly. Additionally some of the glue had given way with the top cover able to be partially lifted. Given that the product is now out of warrenty and a quick search of the net didn't produce any disassembly instructions, it was time to see inside the Rider 30.

Because the cover had already given a little I used a wide flat bladed tool (butter knife) to prise the cover section. It looks as if the cover was attached using an adhesive along the ridge of the lower body section. This exposed the screen and a little rubber wedge (not shown in picture).

Flipping the screen out of the lower body section exposes the circuit board, three screws hold the circuit  board to the lower body, two on the lower and one on the right 3/4 of the way up (screws not shown). A small jewellers/electricians phillips screwdriver can remove the screws.

Finally flipping the circuit board, use care here as circuit boards shouldn't be directly handled, exposes the empty lower body section. On the backside of the circuit board you can see the battery and connector for your USB cable.

From here I removed all the moisture, removed small amounts of corrosion and gave the circuit board a clean with an evaporative product to leave no residue. I repaired the button using a malleable adhesive and plugged in the USB cable to see if the Bryton would work. Looks like the clean had done the trick. Take care in removing the USB cable at this point as the circuit board is not supported by the lower body section.
Putting the Rider 30 back together is just a reverse of the disassembly instructions, with the addition of applying some adhesive to the lower body section ridge before fitting the cover. Looks like this has worked in this case, good luck.