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.

WSMTB XC Club Round 7

Steeper than it looks. Photo: Flynn

It has been a while since we last raced with WSMTB but it is always great to roll into Yellomundee and see close to 100 people rolling around on their bikes.

In A Grade Luke Brame was back from the UCI World Championships, along side Ben Metcalfe and Ben Green this trio were going to be hard to keep with throughout the fast five laps.

It must have been close to a record field of women across the five senior grades, with the Chocolate Foot pair, Melissa Nuttall and Fi Dick taking line honours for A and B Grade respectively.



Spectators were in awe of the single speed riders, who made everything look so easy. The on-lookers found their preferred spots where they could see the grind climbs or technical descents, encouraging riders as they passed by.

Full results of all Grades here.

The WSMTB Club Championships is the next XC event on the calendar. 26th October at Yellomundee. Keep an eye out for the club's 4hr Summer Series in the coming months too.

Ascent from Max's Bridge. Photo: Simpson

Tractor Tyre. Photo: Pickles

Chocolate Foot Singletrack Mind Series – Rnd 4 Coondoo Nowra

Words by Belinda Althaus.


Flowing, fast, super fun, and amazing weather. This was round 4 of the Chocolate Foot STM Series at Coondoo in a nutshell.  The weather put on a show after what had been a pretty miserable week and even had the organisers on their toes right till the last minute. However the correct decision was made to keep the race going ahead and I’m glad they did!

BMC Setup.

I was keen for this race, it was my local track and that meant one thing….I knew it!!  This eased the anxiety and allowed for a relatively cruisy morning for the travelling and setup.   After helping the BerryMountain Cycles crew a little to set up their shop tent, it was time to prep the bike, sort my food and get in a warm up – Done!  Before long we were all riding up Coondoo road in anticipation for the start.  With minutes to spare, we were off and racing. 

The race as usual had a mass start followed by single-track which created the well-known bottleneck and slowed to snail’s pace, but I had managed to stay near the front bunch and this provided a good position going into the laps.  I knew I had at least three other competitors, but in reality I only really new who one of these were.  The girls I was up against had been challenging each other over the whole series and therefore I was the dark horse.

Race Reporter, Bel Athaus.

The first lap went well…until the mud. We had been warned about this, and true to their word we just had to suck it up and grind it out.  I still to this day vouch that this was the hardest part physically of the entire lap...No not really it, it just slowed me down  Coming round to the end of the first lap and I found Eva Boland approaching my tail.  She had been scanning for competitors coming up the snake track.  I made the mistake of identifying myself as her fellow competitor in the 4hr open female category, and this was my first mistake. She followed me to the climb and at this point opened up a gap which was going to make me work hard. I held back fearing we were only on the first lap and had quite a few to go and came up towards the “Bridge” at transition. Pedal hard, power up and don’t think too hard about it. Down the other side and I was relieved to have successfully gotten over it.  Lap 2 saw me approach Eva again in the mud section.  I stayed with her, but again she hit it on the climbs, and slowly creeped away.  I knew at this time that the only thing holding me back was some fitness, and therefore settled into a comfortable but consistent pace.  My goal now was to ensure no other competitors in my category passed me.  The laps went well, I was racing pretty well and about mid-way learned I was in second place. I was determined to stay at this position and pushed on to the end.  The final hour saw me squeeze in the last two laps and bring my total to 7.  I was relieved to finish, and congratulated Eva on her ride well done.  Melissa Nuttal came home in third place. 

Photo: Dave Bateman

Another great and successful day out on the bike.  The girls were fair, raced hard and proved to be worthy competitors.  The team at Chocolate Foot did an amazing job with organising and I’m glad they held the race even against the weather gods.  The amazing trail blazers from South Coast United Mountain bikers had the track mickey-mouse and have worked tirelessly over recent months to build new tracks and refresh the older ones, and this day was a showcase of some awesome trails.  I’m glad to have the privilege to ride them whenever! Thanks also to the continued support from BerryMountain Cycles for keeping me geared up, my bike tuned and just for the encouragement.  You guys rock! 

The final round of the CF series sees it heading to Orange in October. I’ve locked this one in because they too have some amazing trails, and I can’t wait to get back there…Till next time.