Leading up to the Willo Enduro we were pretty excited. Over our summer we had managed a trip down to the Southern Highlands and ridden much of the trail with our crew. It had been in near perfect nick, fast, hard-packed and near dry.
With all this in mind we had prepared a dutiful bike. Ok, truthfully there was little preparation, it was the same bike we commuted, chased roadies and trained on. Steel frame, 1x10 and some nice trimmings, a real road-hog.
That said it would have been easy to change out some tyres as the forecast worsened, rain in Sydney and on the coast. But in the spirit of adversity, skilfulness and adventure we stuck to our original bike and plan.
So it was we left rainy Sydney and headed south where the rain eased to patch showers. A left turn to Wingello and follow a small group of cars along the pine-tree lined forestry dirt road to the hub of the action, teaming with hundreds of keen riders.
Turning up for the Willo Enduro is a real who's-who of mountain biking, and the event was included as Round 1 of the National XCM Series. A quick glance at the sign-on board, Cooper, Henderson, McConnell, Blair and Kwan, just to name a few.
But for most it was a chance to catch up with friends, ride some sweet trails in a friendly atmosphere, sharing in the camaraderie that mountain biking brings.
Our race happened in multiple of stages, first there was the start, fast flat fire-trail, making our way close to the front of the pack before we entered the singletrack.
Then it was in this initial single track all our hard work on the start was undone, dropping our chain in a moment when we forgot to be hardtail-smooth.
The trail was slippery, especially now that the 75 and 50km riders were already out in front of us. Now that I dropped my chain, there were those 25km riders that passed me all conga-lined in front too.
On every fire-trail or open trail section we made it passed a few more riders, finding speed in space. We had to make every attempt to keep our bike on the trail, the lack of substantial knobs on our chosen tyres making grip in every corner very difficult.
After the initial stage the trail was littered with tail-end 50 and 75km riders who would graciously give a little room at opportune times. The trail conditions weren't improving but there was a good mixture of trail as we transited through the Wingello forest.
Thankfully the RFS was on hand to point us in the right direction at major intersections, in fact all the volunteers were helpful, from rego to presentations. The RFS helped us transition during the race from the traditional end of the Wingello trails back towards the aptly named the Wall, the KOM for the 75km riders.
The Wall was followed by another tough ascent, but with the faint sound of tunes pumping from transition all energy was mustered to punch up the pinch and find ourselves on the return trail, making our way through the shelters and onto the final straight.
We were pretty happy to collect a podium spot for our efforts, thank to our supporters and partners JetBlack MTB Racing with The Odd Spoke, Natural Balance and Rocky Trail Entertainment. Our Ascent Cycling Enterprises custom built wheels handled a couple of close calls and helped us remain fast throughout.
You can read "the facts" by Ed McDonald
here.
