Buckets

What do you get when you combine a single speed friendly trail and eight hours? A whole bucket of fun. It was round two of the Single Track Mind Series this month hosted by SCUM at their Coondoo location. Coondoo is one of my favourite trails, however I pre-rode the course on Saturday to sort out a few smooth lines through rocky sections that are normally ridden the opposing way. For this event Coondoo offered a variety of trail, from twisting sandy single-track to open hard packed fire-trail. With the special category this round being single-speed, it wasn't just the trail that was sociable, good natured and somewhat enjoyable, it was is if every rider had that identifying nature about them. It all began with the quirky start, from what I heard about the last round a few riders missed the rider briefing and therefore the start of that round. The oddity this time was some riders were still facing the wrong way down the road and weren't quite self-seeded when the starter shouted "GO", but like most things it all works itself out and we had eight hours to do so.
My race went really well apart from the rare hic-up, there was the slippery sandy corner incident where I pushed the front end to hard, washed out and found myself flying over a log and landing softly in the bracken ferns. Also the rear derailleur jumped out and grabbed a fair size stick off the trail, luckily I heard the commotion and stopped before it became a twisted mess. After a slight manual realignment we were happily on our way.
It was an interesting race with so many fast solo riders, Wollongong’s Jamie Bailey and I rode together and passed Mr McAvoy on the first lap. Mr McAvoy must have been cruising for the first few hours because I didn’t see him again till mid race when he must have knuckled down. Jamie rode solidly away from me and was looking strong from that first lap, he may have had some issues late in the race and slumped half a dozen places towards the end. I passed Shane Taylor from Canberra on the first lap at about the 8km mark, he had punctured and dropped five minutes. Two laps later Shane caught up and went on to ride with Jamie and a few others sitting around fifth for a couple of hours. Results include 10th for Shane (40mins down from the category leader), 12th for me (9mins back from Shane) and 14th for Jamie.
I had a great time racing at Coondoo, it was fast, fun and friendly. I will be back to race with SCUM at their XC and endurance events, especially keep an eye out for their 6hr and Coolendell weekend. Having a support crew makes a difference for these type of long rides and mine was again dutiful. Bottles and food were always ready as I transitioned, all I had to do was ride, eat and drink, thank you.
My support included real food from Carman's, focused healthy energy from FRS, X-Fusion Velvet fork and Enduro Bearings through DIY MTB, Mongoose Canaan from Bikes at the Basin.

Appin-ing Things

Saturday was the day of fun this week. It included a very cold start to the day, missing the usual Tri bunch ride but finding the Penrith road bike group heading through Richmond. This bunch on a Saturday keep it at a steady 32kph till the roller hill onto the Penrith flats. This is where it all heated up with the lead-out at some where over 45kph and at the limit of my MTB on slicks. I was able to keep with the middle part of the group mashing anywhere between 32 to 40kph for the remaining 5km into Penrith. It was a solo trip back home and the speedo read 56km for the mornings ride.

The start of the 3hr Twilight Race at Appin

Saturday arvo saw us head to south west Sydney for a Twilight race hosted by Wollongong MTB Club. The track for the race was at Appin and it has been a couple of years since my last devastating race there. The low-light reel from my last race went something like, 8hrs in the saddle, single-track studded with rough rocky sections, loose rocky climbs followed by physically demanding technical bits. Absolute punishment and it was one race I remember saying “lets not come back here”. So there I was, back for a 3hr twilight race hoping things have changed a bit. But no, the track remains very similar, apart from the addition more single-track added instead of an old fire-trail section. The track, a 10km loop, is demanding and after a couple of laps I turned off the pro-pedal on the rear shock. I probably didn’t make it easy on myself by taking just the lighting system that I used in the 2005 Mont, 5w Halogen, helmet mounted.
All up the evening race went well with possibly 30 participants. Giant factory rider Josh Carlson was pushing the boundaries out the front while the remainder of us fought it out for the minor placing. Head to Appin to polish up those lacking rock garden/roll-over/step-up skills or for a couple of social laps with mates.

Tread has all but come clear off the Karmas, no issues, but time for a tyre change.

Found this spot riding home on Friday arvo, thanks dirt jumpers!

Keep an eye on DIYMTB.com.au for details on the Shark Attack 6hr ............

Classic!

The face of the Classic.

St Albans was blanketed in fog early Sunday morning. The usually quiet hamlet was already abuzz with mountain bikes, gliding in and out of view through the mist. It was that time of year when the township plays host to "The Classic", choose your option of either 50km or the 100km.

The only guy I know with a Foe, nice one Richard!

Participants were all busy getting themselves ready. I caught up with big Troy Glennan and little Gordo of Rockstar Racing before they began their warm-up. They were quietly confident about breaking the 4hr mark for themselves this year in the 100km. The whole Team had turned up for the event and included Mr Elliot and recent addition Mr Lewis. Last years winner of the 100km Mr English had entered the event and sources revealed he pulled out from the race the day before. This left the door open for last years runner up Mr Flemming to possibly take the title.

Mr Elliot and Mr Flemming in pre-race banter.

In the elite woman Katrin Van der Spiegel was back again to show her dominance at endurance events. Joining Katrin were numerous top riders including Zoe King and Kath Bicknell.

That climb at 10km.

The track was in good condition, light rain recently had dampened any dust and had left a tacky layer over many sections of the course. Graders had been through parts of the trail including the first main climb at 10km. The climb continued to be achievable for some riders and was slightly damp with loose sections over the compact base, with many of the shady sections of the track continued the slightly damp theme. Back on top and in the direct sun the track dried out quickly and most of the downhill parts of the course remained loose and occasionally rocky.

The big news was Pete Hatton continued his dominance over Gordo to take the title with Mr Flemming rounding up the podium 3:57:46, 3:57:47, 4:00:30 respectively. Zoe King comfortably took the female title while down the road a bit Kath Bicknell played a roll in helping an injured rider.

Dion Blair 4:35 and prediction is a top spot at the next Chocolatefoot Series.

Away from the pointy end of the field riders were making their own personal achievements. Mick Smith, long time volunteer, first time 100ker, went on in a competitive field to hammer out a 5:40. His next challenge is the Rockytrail/WSMTB 12hr. The 200km mark is in his sights.

Mick Smith, race face.

I got the pleasure of riding with the final 50km entrant to finish, Anthony Collins. When we came across Tony he was more than 15km from the end and when asked how he was doing, the comment was short and expletive. We again caught up with Anthony just kilometers from the finish, 100km riders whizzed past us and we walked up one of the final hills. He explained this wasn’t his first attempt at the 50km, he tried last year and only made it half way up the first major hill at 10km before deciding that it was all to much and turning back the way he had come. The driving force at this point was that beer that he was going to be handed, just minutes down the road. At the top of the rise he straddled his sturdy steed and peddled the remaining couple of k. Anthony went on to finish his first 50km in 5:09.

The edge tread continues to rip itself from the casing, no issues yet............

The Journey II

On Saturday we went from Sparrow over to Stromlo, the weather was perfect and the overnight rain had dampened the dust. The Park was busy with bikes ranging from top XC and enduro gun like Mr McAvoy to kids on 20” wheels with their parents. It was my first opportunity to ride some of the trails at a casual pace, rather than in race mode and I had a heap of fun doing it. Connecting Skyline to the Luge for the run down the hill left me wanting to ride to the top and do it all again. Stromlo will be host to the World Solo 24hr Championships later in the year.
From Stromlo we headed over to Majura Pines for a quick lap and fill the remainder of the afternoon. Majura recently played host to the National 24 Solo Championships and remains in fine form. Going against the grain we rode the trail as I did last year at Nat 24 Solo, this year they ran the track in the opposite direction and linked together some sweet trail. The conditions on the day reminded me of last year as it was a little damp and in some spots slippery. After a short loop of Majura we called it a day, three tracks, all different and a ton of fun.
Monday we woke to a crisp morning, possibly the coldest this year. Overnight temperatures had dropped to the single digits and I expected to see just a hint of frost. With the guys fatigued from riding over the last few days and the exceptionally cool start to the morning we headed out to the Hume and Goulburn to start our ride back to Sydney. We could not have got a better day for the return ride, clear sky, cool air, a slight breeze on our tail and we were humming along the tar. It seemed like it was all downhill as we were often just cruising at 40km/h! With a few stops for flats, two of which were mine, a few stops for food and to swap off the road we covered the 130km or so between Goulburn and Campbelltown in quite a tidy time. The main thing of concern was the increase in traffic as we headed into the afternoon and got closer to Sydney. We arrived at the Campbelltown exit with no incidents and were glad to pack up and get off the road.
"You want to ride to where?" This will be the first question I will be asked when I plan the next trip. Sydney to Canberra is a fair ride and although we did not complete the entire distance a valiant effort was made by the whole team in achieving what we did. The next question is where next?
Thanks to the guys who joined me for the ride. My work colleagues for the efforts they made towards making it happen, also, Josh from Active8 for the loan of his Tri bars. Thanks to my personal sponsors Carman’s, Wealth Creation Accountants, Bikes at the Basin, DIY MTB, FRS and the mcrummy.blogspot.com Crew for their ongoing support.

The Journey

"You want to ride to where?" This was the first questions I was asked when scouting for accompanying riders. The basic idea was to ride from N/W Sydney to Canberra, a possible 600km return trip. With Canberra firmly in the sights and almost a full day to play with once we were there, the trails were calling.
We kicked off from Campbelltown due to factors outside my control and it wasn't long before the guys were steadily covering the k's. I opted to ride last so my fellow riders could take advantage of the fine weather before the predicted change in the afternoon. A slow leak in a rear tyre of one of the bikes saw me become the tech support as well. After an initial pressurisation we eventually had to change the tube, the only flat on our trip down. The riders alternated a couple of times before it was my turn to hit the tar.

It was called Hill Top and went forever.

Once out on the road the weather started to change, with a sprinkle of rain. It wasn't long before it really turn and we were wet through, climbing out around one of the hills we decided if it was still raining on the other side of the hill we would call it a day. There just wasn't any point in getting wet and endangering ourselves along the Hume. We crested the hill to find the rain had cease, but it wasn't over yet. A quick stop and a riding partner swap, I pulled on an extra layer as the temperature had dropped and took in some food.

We are still having fun, thumbs-up!

We headed back out onto the road, the wind in our face, water whipping up our wheels from puddles. The wind kept on getting stronger as we climbed towards Goulburn. Thankfully I had borrowed a set of Tri bars and I was using them often to keep out of the wind. After another rider swap we struggled on, the wind was now blowing so hard that at one point we had to change up gears to ride down a hill, our speed dropping that much. The wind was demoralising and wasn't letting up, somewhere just short of Goulburn the towel was thrown in, it just wasn't fun anymore.

Doing it tough, all uphill and into a headwind.

After some formal duties on Sunday there was time to hit the trails of Canberra. First we headed out to Sparrow Hill where we hooked up with mountain biker, renown trail builder and all-round good guy Paul Cole. There is no better person to show you around many of the trails in Canberra than Paul, he led us on a 20km loop which included many trails used at the recent Mont 24. I was also interested to see the extent of which a new road was going to affect the Sparrow Hill trails. Sparrow wont be cut in half but more of a 90:10 situation, hopefully the underpass goes in and they get the upgraded parking area. Paul has already spent some time walking many sections of the forest in preperation for additional trails, sweet.

Paul making his way through the Pines at Sparrow.