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.

SCUM XC Round 3 Race Report by Bel Althaus.

Race reporter, Bel Althaus (BMC). 

On Sunday the 22 June, SCUM held its 3rd round of XC racing at the flowing Coondoo track. I was keen to race on this track as I had missed on the first round, and therefore had only managed to race the Butterfly trails. I woke up a little indecisive and in two minds about whether I wanted to race due to a disappointing pull out from the GP series Round 3 which was held at Ourimbah the day before.
I had travelled a few hours to the event late Friday afternoon, set up camp and then hit the sack for the night hoping to get a decent rest for what was to be my first 7hr solo experience (and first ever ride at Ourimbah…lesson 1 learnt). I woke the Saturday and decided to head out for a steady practice lap which quickly turned into a long “am I actually going to finish this lap before race starts” adventure. Within the first 1-2km’s the track was testing me mentally, and I was off the bike walking. Not a good start to say the least. I kept going and found myself baulking at much of the trail, stuff that in hindsight I may have usually ridden, and all the while in the back of my mind I was thinking, 7hours of this!! (Let alone 4hrs if I had decided to change category). I made my mind up pretty early on that today wasn’t my day, and decided to pull the pin…after a lot more walking and finally making it to the end of the track. I returned to the event centre, packed up my gear and instead became a photographer for a few hours, taking shots of all the other riders and of fellow friend Michael Crummy who was having a comeback from a few months of little riding competing in the 4hr category. As disappointing as it was to pull out, I was glad to have had the opportunity to check out what is the most technical track I’ve seen, but one that could be extremely fun and rewarding if the heart and mind is in the right place! Maybe I’ll get back there and next time I’ll smash it
A long drive back Saturday afternoon allowed me to think a little and I was keen to get back on the bike, probably in pure revenge for giving up…I had the option to either race a local road race or the local MTB race. Sunday came, a little more thinking and decided it was time to give the MTB a crack again. So a steady ride out to the track, a quick practice and it wasn’t long before the race was starting. The trail crew had done some amazing work cleaning and rebuilding the track after damage from local motorcyclists. This round was also a youth orientated event, which meant the ankle biters had come out in force all to have a go, and it was great to see the many smiling faces waiting in anticipation. The track was shortened for them to a 1.1km circuit.  
We headed to the start area which was about 200metres down the fire road, making it for a uphill start - that always works well. I wasn’t sure if I had any fellow competitors as some of the ladies were hanging back. We kicked off the race along with the elite men (5laps) and expert men (4laps). The race started and I looked back to find I had one competitor that I could see, Liz Smith. She had lagged behind a little, which meant I was able to enter the single track in a good position. She was closing in on me very quickly though, so decisions were made quickly about how to ride the race. She stayed in my sights for ¾ of the first lap and on the long climb out of “rock and roll” I managed to open up a small gap. Heading into the 2nd, I put the pedal down to increase this lead using the small climbs to my advantage and riding my fastest lap for the day. I knew I was in a good position towards the end of this lap and found my rhythm over the final two laps. Little did I know until the end that I actually had a third competitor, Danielle Pollock who had an unfortunate start which meant her first lap was nearly double time. She quickly picked up the pace however for the final 3 laps and her lap times would have had me fighting if she had started with us. I knew what sort of rider she was from a previous race, the Ginja Ninja 250 where she pipped me at the podium by 2 minutes. Today however I managed to hold onto the lead and rode a good race. A nice comeback from a disappointing day earlier. 
Some great trails meant some fast racing for many of the riders. Local rider Jake Whitton took out the Elite men category ahead of Douglas Pollock, with other local rider Mark Astley coming in third. Their times were extremely close, so a race well run. Nicole Fellows again took out first place for the Expert female which means a few wins now for Nicole. In the expert men, David Bell had a clear win from fellow competitors managing to come in ahead of Matt Smith and Dion Carter with a 5.5min lead. Unfortunately there were a few DNF from local riders Liam Dooley and Kane Barrett due to mechanicals. As usual the expert category was a tight field with minimal time between riders. For full results of all the categories, head to www.scum.asn.au where you will also find details about upcoming races and events.
78 riders including the young guns came and shredded the trails, and it was great to see such a diverse mix out on the local trails. Round 4 will be held again at Butterfly on the 20th July, but this is also the Chocolate Foot at Mogo 4 and 7hr race. I will be heading to Mogo for this one, hoping to regain my passion of endurance racing Stay tuned!