WSMTB XC Series Round 1 2018

The first round of the Series took us to the familiar setting of Yarramundi, nestled at the base of the Blue Mountains in NSW. Sound recognisable? Well it was almost what I was reading word for word just the other day before our own Round 1 of the WSMTB XC Series. It continued, “the venue, which is now a familiar stop for the New South Welshmen amongst us, hosting its second national round in as many years”. Wait, hold on a minute, Yarramundi is a national series trail in past history?

We were flipping through a 2006 mountain bike magazine last week before our first round and stumbled across Aiden Lefmann’s (of RLC Sport and Cyclinic) words. A classic tale of persistence and adversity, quite easily re-invented for our most recent event. Take out the solid shredder names from yester-year, inset our newest bunch of shredders and you have yourself a race wrap-up.

After racing at WSMTB’s Yarramundi XC trails for over 8 years now, “it was no surprise to find myself lining up for yet another traditional Yarramundi race, this time”, (Lefmann added, with the added prestige of a national round) as round one of the 2018 Series. “A strong showing of competitors from all over…” Sydney ”… lined up for the series opener. With numbers up in all categories, it shows that there is still plenty of depth in the Olympic format style of XC racing”.

“The Yarramundi course treats you to some super fast, but dray and sandy racing, with very few opportunities to get the climbing legs out to play. The course follows several kilometres of fast but also twisty single-track with the odd section of fire road for the passing manoeuvres to take place”.

Lefmann goes on to call out the good depth of talent on the day, Flemming (formerly Clarence St Cyclery), Taberlay (formerly Avanti) and Cooper (formerly Scott/Ritchey), just to name a few. Like wise we could do the same, Gordon, Green, Brame and Dinham. Names, all becoming synonymous with some fast riding at National level.

We get underway, A Grade, and it wasn’t long before our regular front-runners start putting the hurt on anyone near the pointy end. We had managed to pull in behind BigDog and were attempting to hold the furious pace the guys were producing. Through the trees behind us were our team mates, Browny and Troy, it was going to be important to maintain this XC pace, not letting the endurance team specialists get one up on us.

WSMTB regulars Ludenia, Steve and Ian eventually catch me and there is no contest. Who does catch and we tussle for a couple of laps is Jamie Anderson. Eventually Jamie seems to succumb to his own pressure of pace, we gain a placing, dropping Jamie somewhere amongst the trees and holding it to the finish line.

It was a massive first round for all grades and we had seventeen riders registered for A Grade. WSMTB had altered the trail for the round, making it shorter and perhaps a little more fun. Our team mates Browny and Troy held steady to place further down the order.

We can only envisage the duelling pair of Dinham and Brame at the front of the race were having some form of showdown. In Lefmann’s write-up of 2006 it was Cooper V’s Flemming coming out of the single track for the 150m sprint to the line. Lefmann, digging deep in the last few kilometres had held on with Cooper making the attack to reel back Flemming. In a flurry of pedal strokes and a spray of stones, in that last 100m, Lefmann came from behind taking the win. In 2018 Brame takes it at our local clubby level from Dinham.

JetBlack MTB Racing continues to be partnered with The Odd Spoke, Natural Balance, Rocky Trail Entertainment and AMB. Which allows us to ride how we like! You'll see us at another event shortly!
Full results from WSMTB here.

Dylan Cooper's 2006 Writeup.

WSMTB XC 2017

It was April and finally the WSMTB XC season has kicked off. Ok, there was a rained out start last month, to the effect that the trails have been suffering since. But Round 2 got off to a glorious start, mist in the hollows, but on the side of the Blue Mountains at the home of XC in Sydney it was all sunshine.

The dust started flying with the U10s and U13s, the U10s included juniors from age 3 on balance bikes, on their own trail. U13s completed a shortened loop of the main trail, with all the timing and lap counts the more senior riders are use to.

Over eighty riders had signed up for the round, and this time there was a re-visited twist. It has been a long time coming, but Lumley's is back. Some major time and effort by the small WSMTB XC trail crew has restored this classic climb. Had to cast our mind back, way back, to the last time this route was raced on.

Young gun Owen Gordon. Photo - WSMTB

In A Grade there were some of the usual suspects, the regulars, then there were the young guys nipping at the heels. The likes of Owen Gordon, who last year blitzed WSMTB B Grade, has made the move to A this year. Fergus Mackie - JetBlack MTB Racing, also joined in the A Grade fray.

Wheels kicked and cleats snapped from the call "GO", managing to reach the bottom of the first singletrack in the first half of the group. It then turned uphill and we went quickly from first half to virtually last.

From there focus shifted to staying in touch with the tail-enders and in-front of B Grade. A few B Graders slipped by as we battled it out for the remainder of the laps and it came down to a sprint finish with my fellow competitor.

James rolls one of the rock sections in C Grade. Photo - WSMTB 

The great thing about WSMTB is the inclusive atmosphere and of course the local RFS manning the BBQ, there is always plenty for that post ride recovery meal. It was a another nice morning out, fun on bikes for everyone. Awesome work by WSMTB!

Thanks to our supporters and partners JetBlack MTB Racing with The Odd Spoke, Natural Balance and Rocky Trail Entertainment. See you at another event soon.

WSMTB Summer Series Twilight 4hr Round

We weren't able to make the first round of the series due to another riding engagement but with the calendar clear and the end of our summer holiday period almost over, the twilight round of WSMTB's Summer Series was good to go.

The holiday period had meant we were able to prepare nicely (a visit to Orange for XCO Nats included), with a quick check on Strava for the route and a multitude of visits to familiarise ourselves with the trails.

Of course the summer weather was punching pretty high with plenty on heat during the buildup and on race day, when we arrived at Yellomundee mid afternoon there was little getting away from the scorching conditions.

A few riders mentioned prior to starting that it could be a race of attrition, particularly if the sweltering heat stuck around into the evening, bottles of fluid were neatly packed away in eskies of ice, or in some cases portable fridges.

Riders at the starting line. Photo: CrummyMTB

As the riders launched from the start line dedicated support crews huddled beneath 3x3 shades with cool towels and water sprayers, after a short while all eyes and ears were peeled for the first riders to pass close to transition, signalling the start of the crew duties.

We weren't surprised to see BigDog pass by first, but what did surprises us was the gap to the following riders. A quick fix of some bunting and everyone was back on track, four hours is plenty for the leading teams and solos to battle out the difference.

It was that first hour of racing that hit everyone pretty hard, some riders stopped after those first one or two laps, rightly complaining that it was extremely hot. At this stage it was time for a couple of snappy laps after our team mate had been out on that initial lap.

The course was fast but every breath felt like breathing from a furnace, dry baking the back of your throat. Breath less, ride faster. The usual tough but short Yellomundee climbs were offset with rocky flowing descents.

A quick sub forty minute double and we were back at transition to check on our team mate. The conditions were not favourable and it took our team a while to recover and get back out on the trail. It had only cooled off ever so slightly.

Enough time had passed and it seemed like on our second lap we would be out during the "lights-on" period so we quickly fitted our Ay-Ups, gave the bike a once-over and prepared for our next double lap.

Our team mate had made they way around the track, we placed a cooled towel over their shoulders and leapt on our bike. Down the first descent the bike felt stiff, feeling like it was more than a tyre pressure check. It was quickly obvious that our most junior support crew, still in training, had done their own bike check, locking out the fork.

This second double was quicker than the first and it was pretty good to be out during the twilight. The trail was dry and fast, WSMTB had picked a fairly open climbing course, opting the narrow climb of Steve's Descent instead of the parallel firetrail.

Now was crunch time for our team, head out for another lap with the possibility of it turning dark while our team mate was still out there. This would be their first night ride, some encouragement and support from another rider, and they both headed out lights blazing.

Before long our team mate was back, a quick look at the time and we could head out for one more lap. Lights back on our bike and it was out for a casual night lap to wrap-up the 4hr up for our team.

Thanks to WSMTB for putting on a great 4hr event, it was great to see a wide range of teams and solos out on the trail. We had a helpful crew in transition, supporting multiple solos and keeping an eye on us too, cheers.

We'll see you at the next event!

NSW Junior Series - Round 1

Sixty riders entered the NSW Junior Series on the weekend, this first round was hosted by Western Sydney Mountain Bike Club at their home trail Yellomundee. While the conditions were dry there was some nervous anticipation as dark clouds hovered overhead.

Local riders were joined by mountain bikers from across Sydney and further afield. It was great to have representatives from the Central Coast and Singleton to the Southern Highlands and Wollongong, Manly to Lithgow.

After the race both parents and junior riders said they would check out the other Junior Series rounds, for some this had been their first mountain bike event. Other riders couldn't commit time to travel to the furthest afield rounds due to their senior year of study and HSC.

A number of riders did a double race as there was under 10's before the NSW Junior Series and senior racing afterwards. Massive kudos to those under 10's for following it up with the Junior Series and the dedicated few who took on the senior event.

Great work by WSMTB, their committee and volunteers. The Yarramundee RFS put on a BBQ fundraiser and all the riders who came along made it a successful morning. 

WSMTB Twilight 4hr

Some pretty warm days lead up to WSMTB's twilight round of their 4hr Summer Series. Rolling up to the foot of the Blue Mountains on the afternoon of the race and the temperature was still in the mid thirties, it was going to be a classic hot and dry Yellomundee race.

Just over 100 riders made up the teams and solos, mostly of WSMTB regulars. Club President BigDog led the starting riders to the fire-trail start chute and got the 4hr underway, then jumped on his bike to get his own race underway.

A good couple of weeks on the bike over the festive season seemed to have done wonders and our race was going well. Climbs weren't taxing and it was easy to get some flow in the fast dry conditions.

Photo: Riding Focus

Only issue was our bottle holder was working loose, we should have work out earlier why our bike was making such a racket. This slowed us down when we to remove the holder and make room for the bottle in our jersey pocket. Back on track and slowly the days temperature was dropping and lights were about to be turned on.

Up till when we stopped to remove the super loose bottle holder we had been keeping up with a couple of pairs teams, it was good pacing and company. On what might have been our last lap we trundled around and stopped to chat just before the 4hr hour in transition. We passed the results on our way to pack up and was shocked to find our name near the top of the list.

Whoops! Probably better head out for that final lap.

Thanks to the WSMTB Club for putting on a great event with a casual vibe and fast competition. 

A big shout out to JetBlack MTB Racing team and our 2015 sponsors, we managed a 1st and 3rd in the Solo Male category.

The results are available here.

L to R: CrummyMTB 3rd, Andrew Finlayson 1st, Tim Bartholomew 3nd.

WSMTB Club Championships

80 riders rolled up for WSMTB's Club Championships. The morning warmed up quickly and once "go" had be shouted the racing was red hot.
In A Grade the clubs Jr National Representatives were making it hard for their more senior competitors. I did't feel fast on the first lap as the remainder A Graders seemed to ride away. An additional climb in the course for the Champs made it extra tough, especially considering the days temperature. While I went on to ride within my comfort zone for the remainder of the race I made the most of the fast B Graders holding their wheels after they passed for the next section of trail. Placed 8th in A Grade for the Champs. 

Photo: Alan Dinham/Aus Ride Photo 

There was a good turn out from my team mates from JetBlack MTB Racing, Sara Mills went on to place second in the A Grade women after a fast start. Elton Judd, Team Manager, rode in B Grade, dropping his chain and quite possibly a place as a result, 8th. Ben Go rode mid pack in C Grade inching out Ian Butler, 6th and 7th respectively.
A big turn out for the team in the U13s too, with the Judds entering their first WSMTB race, both not to far off the race pace finishing in 8th. The Browns were under the watchful eye of mum while dad was in Canberra riding the ‪#‎Mont24‬, Candace 3rd and Charlotte 7th.

With the BBQ, cooked by the dedicated local RFS, and a cold drink included in the race entry fee everyone was a winner today.

Official results here.

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

She Rides Revisited

In May we had a quick look at the first couple of weeks of Western Sydney/Blue Mountains She Rides - MTB program. The program was offering woman a supportive environment to build on-bike confidence, learn skills and ride with other like-minded ladies.

The She Rides program was formally started with words from the local MP and WSMTB committee representative. From there the weekly sessions covered bike maintenance, basic on-bike skills and opportunities to put it all into practice.


Weeks on we revisited the She Rides - MTB group to see how it all was going.

The following video is  from Week 10 with social trail riding, exploring Yellomundee and the challenges it holds.

More smiles and social trail riding from Week 11. Confidence? Fun? Evident.








The Week 12 sign-on sheet, flourished with enthusiastic signatures, grand tour style.

The days social ride and final session would be to complete the Oaks Single-track, riding up the fire-trail then enjoying the smooth gravity fed roll back down.

There was laughter, encouraging words and praise as everyone spun their way along the graded climb. This was followed by screams and cries of delight as the trail narrowed and pointed back down towards the causeway.

At the completion of the trail there were twelve excited woman, all on adrenalin highs, keen to give the trail another go.

From the participants response She Rides has delivered on the social ride environment, all learnt new skills and now enjoy every ride. So many great achievements.

You can find a few She Rides - MTB Western Sydney/Blue Mountains testimonials here.

Well done to all those involved, participants, coaches and assistants. Also WSMTB and the businesses who supported this great mountain biking initiative.

Locations are being finalised for the Spring/Summer series of She Rides. Registrations are sure to open soon, more information on Cycling Australia's SheRidesAu page.

WSMTB XC Rd 1

Words by: Bel Althaus

WSMTB started the 2014 cross country race year off with Round 1 of their XC series held at Yellomundee on the 16th March.  A sudden and decent downpour on the Saturday afternoon before the race did little to dampen the spirits, but it was enough to smooth out the dust for the fast paced race around the 7km track. 

All smiles before race start. Photo: CrummyMTB

The track layout was slightly different to that of the Weld-tite 4hr Summer Series, with the inclusion of a short rocky climb before descending onto the goat track.  This removed the long fire road climb, meaning it was straight from the goat track and Max’s Bridge onto the moto-trail bends. Three women contended the 4 lap A Grade women's race, Larri Wallbridge, Sarah Mills and I.

We started off directly after the B grade men and it was tight racing for the first lap.  Larri held the lead, with Sarah following and me on the back.  Considering this was my first ever XC race, not to mention A Grade, nor ever having raced against these women, I sat on the tail. I watched their strengths, their weaknesses and surveyed my opportunities. Towards the end of the first lap, I scored the opportunity to pass Sarah and move into second place. It was still tight racing with Larri and I slowly opened the gap to around a minute from Sarah.

First lap. Photo: CrummyMTB

Coming into the second lap I again followed closely refraining from making a wrong move or going too early. As we approached the main fire road climb, I knew this was my chance to make a move and ascended into first place.  With descending not being my strong point I put the pedal down to try and open up a lead before coming back into the technical section. The move worked in my favour and the now the race was really on!  That was until... I came into the sweeping moto-trail, failed miserably in trying to put my water bottle back into its cage, become unstuck and side planted into the ground. Thank god there was lots of grass and no trees! Ever watchful of my two competitors I kept an eye out to ensure I was maintaining the lead I had built. I charged on keeping a consistent pace and using my advantages where I could.

Open trails and leading. Photo: CrummyMTB

By the end of the third lap I was confident that I had this one in the bag, after my previous misadventure I tried to keep calm and focus, riding as smooth as possible to the end. I came across the line in first place, with Larri two minutes behind and Sarah finishing a few minutes after her. It was a great fast paced race with some positive and friendly competitors, and an inspiring youngster who will go far. Thanks Larri and Sarah for a good spirited race. 

Lastly to keep in tradition with mountain biking we didn't get away without the rain coming down, by luck it was timed to perfection, the end of presentations.  With that I was up and out for another day!  Round 2 of the XC Series will be held on the 13th April, and although I won't be available for that one, its set to be another morning of glorious racing.  Good luck to the girls in the next race!

WSMTB 4hr

After the Ay-Up Dusk till Dawn I was keen to follow up with a shorter event and continue to include some night riding. WSMTB’s final round of their Summer Series would fit well to the brief, 4hrs of twilight racing at Yellomundee.

A fast start saw me slip through the pack and Big Dog, as a spectator, had me under pressure to clear the climb out of Max’s Bridge. Don’t be the first to falter! A lap later I found my comfortable pace, easing back on the jets and keeping team mate Phil Welsh company.

Josh leads me on the initial sections of the first lap. Photo: Cuttsnake

Phil’s race report describes our race neatly.

"The... green and black jersey, belonged to Michael Crummy, and catching and passing my rival from last week, was to prove a far more difficult proposition. For the next eight laps, we were to exchange the leading position frequently. Crummy is a far superior descender and this would, therefore, require me to expend surplus energy on the flatter sections and the climbs. The friendly battle meant the first three hours were to pass almost unnoticed."

Phil is nowhere to be seen. Photo: Cuttsnake

It was a great evening of racing and the Yellomundee course was bedding-in nicely, after the recent rain had washed sand through many of the corners. Good to see a heap of competitive racing and plenty of prizes by the sponsors for those that excelled in their catagories. Thanks the RFS for the post race nutrition and WSMTB for putting on another smooth event.

WSMTB 4hr Summer Series Video

In dry, dusty and hot conditions. A simple description of the WSMTB 4hr Summer Series, Round 2 by Bikeminded. 4hrs of XC style racing on the Yellomundee trails.

WSMTB XC Video September Club Round

With fires through the area only a couple of weeks ago WSMTB was keen to hit the trails again.

WSMTB XC Round 5

Warming up. Photo - CrummyMTB

July finally brings some dry weather and it is back to racing at Yellomundee for Western Sydney Mountain Bike Club, hosting Round 5 of their annual XC Series. Dedicated members from the club have been bringing life back to the hard worn, eroding trails and it shows, plenty of positive comments from those who previewed the trail prior to racing. Before the big kids racing got underway it was time for the little ones to shine with wheels of all sizes and plenty of skids.

With a small field in the big kids A Grade, there was no holding Brian “Bigdog” Price back. It may have been no stretch for Bigdog, but a little way back we were making things interesting. Sliding into the single-track in second position set me up nicely onto the first firetail climb, I was able to hold Bigdog’s wheel for the descent and gained a good couple of seconds on the riders behind.

Get-up-there climb. Photo - Jasen Raymond

Loosing positions on the climb, it was the single-track and descents where I was able to get back in touch with our little pack. Touching wheels, hoots and whoops, tackling the tight and twisty sections. From here I backed off the pace a little, after all we hadn’t done half a lap yet and had to complete five.

Falling off the back the next challenge was to keep clear of the B Graders, usually released between 30 seconds to a minute after A Grade. Some of them have been sand-bagging in B Grade for a while now, you know who you are. So I was able to hold them off for a couple of laps, which is a good start.

The mid race calamity happened when I was making the most behind a swift legged B Grader. A mistake was made and there became an instant pile of carbon, steel and rubber. The other rider found himself at the bottom of the pile, thankfully no harm done.

This is what it is all about, the berms and descents. Photo - Aubry Hill 

Shaking off the incident, the highlight of lap four was the rest of pointy end of B Grade caught up. We had a laugh afterwards but there was a sprint for the line, of which I didn’t contest, after all I still had another lap to go. Nothing wrong with being competitive in B Grade.

Lap five and I finally made some time back to my A Grade rivals, well one at least.  On the technical climb out of Max’s Bridge we both fumbled (4 out of 5 isn’t bad) and from here on I was now in the running for a top three. I didn’t put to much pressure on making a gap between us over the remainder of the trail but by the time we arrived at the switchbacks before the finish, I could see I had a sufficient gap.

A view over the rear tyre as I rail the bike through a berm. Photo - CrummyMTB

Thanks to the WSMTB Club volunteers both on race day and trail maintenance days for their efforts, I believe everybody had a blast. My A Grade ribbon went to a prime position in the pool room.

Thanks also to DIY MTB for their guidance, the X-Fusion Slide 9er fork is working great with the adjustments made. My custom wide rim wheels bring real spark to the acceleration and handling of the bike, thanks Mick.