NSW Police & Emergency Services Games - Gravity Enduro

After an exciting day 1, we headed out to Green Valleys MTB Park again for a day of gravity with the NSW Police & Emergency Services Games. Scheduled was a morning of sighting runs followed by a single race run of each of the courses.

Today's gravity crowd was bigger than yesterdays XC, and so were their bikes. We had a shuttle bus and trailer, so no need for riding to the top.

At the top we were probably three times higher than yesterday's XC course elevation. We were able to sight the trails with some steady roll downs, everyone rolling on just one trail at a time due to a mid-track crossover. Squid City wound its way in an almost gentle manner down the hill. Sections of Squid were machine built, a metre and a half wide and very rolling.

Our other gravity trail to ride was Dirty South, a mixed terrain course that slammed its way down the hill. Dirty had been used in the Block Party a week earlier and was super dusty and blown-out. Between our two sighting laps on this trail it only got dustier and slipperier in sections.

But first and after the mandatory briefing was the Straight race run. This was more a BMX or dirt jump course and the lads with the best times were able to manual and pop their way along. The manuals and subsequent speed helped with the rhythm and gap jump 2/3rds of the way along.

We then piled onto the bus for a timed run down Squid. There weren't to many issues on Squid and it was very much a brake a least as possible for a smooth run down.

While the remainder of the last Squid descenders were on track we all piled back into the bus for the ride to the top. We had pulled on our new 661 full-face helmet from JetBlack for both Squid and now for Dirty South. When we attacked the Dirty South trail it was a matter of holding on as long as possible. We didn't have a good run and found ourselves over-cooking sections and not holding the right lines but we did get down in one piece, probably not as fast as we could have though.

It was again a reminder to ride the appropriate tyre for the style of riding, our slim XC tread didn't hold up as well as the Mitas Kratos has in the past. Of course we were on our XC bike, just with the seat slammed and pro-pedal off. 

We had a great day out with the guys representing the mix of services at the Games. We managed a 3rd for our age-group across the three trails. Thanks to the Games and the small team of event organisers for hosting. It was great to ride Green Valley too. We'll be sharing the images from this event on our Instagram and Facebook page when they become available.

**Edit** On receiving the results for the GE we can also claim on overall 5th place as well.

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NSW Police & Emergency Services Games - XC

When one of my riding colleagues mentioned they wanted to compete at the Games, I was keen to join. These Games had been on and off the radar a few times due to clashes with other events but we had never managed to participate. This years event included a Cross Country (XC) race and a day of Gravity Enduro, first up was the XC.

This was our first time at Green Valleys MTB park and this was another attraction to this particular event. GV had a good name amongst the gravity crowd for its range of trails, features and shuttle back to the top. 

But first the XC event, and there were no shuttles, just pure climbing followed by a descent. We were joined by about 20 others for a one hour plus a lap format of race.

We jumped up onto the front row of the small crowd to get our best start into the singletrack. The race organisers had included a short grassy loop to filter the riders before we headed up the hill.

Our colleague got the jump on the start and we pulled into second wheel to push along the grassy section. It was pretty immediate to notice that our bunch of riders weren’t all pinners as we lead a strung out line onto the course.

We held second wheel for the majority of the climb. It was a fairly graded effort, a number of spots which pinched up and had you grabbing a couple of extra gears. The climb wound its way up a +50m vert hill and the graded efforts were connected by a series of switchbacks.

Nearing the top and before the descent we rode around to the front before the bike started to point down. The descent was fairly natural to start with, a series of dusty and blown-out corners from the The Block Party a week prior. We then skipped onto a more open section, jump a series of doubles and roll down to transition.

We almost took the extra grassy loop for a second time but got called back and they pointed us up the hill again. While climbing the switchbacks we could see my colleague had dropped back a little way and just behind him were a number of other riders.

Over the course of the next laps, only about 8-9minutes a lap, we caught a number of riders and passing through transition there was some joviality about slowing down for those behind us. 

Some of the on-course obstacles included a Butcher bird who took to buzzing the left side of your helmet if you rode alone. The bird was consistent and tapped your helmet over a number of trail sections.

Rolling through transition just before the hour mark we only had one rider left to lap, our colleague that lead us out at the start. He was a quarter of the way up the climb already so we spun up the hill after him. As we crested the hill there must have only been 10 or 20 seconds between us, we pushed the bike down the hill for a last time.

This hard push resulted in us overcooking a corner and coming down in the dust before we had left the forested descent. Back on the bike we rolled through the remaining course to finish our first Games event.

Thanks to the Games and the small team of event organisers for hosting. It was great to ride Green Valley too. We'll be sharing the images from this event on our Instagram and Facebook page when they become available.

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