Divine du Vin
Monday, 23 August 2010
For those of you who stayed away from the Tour du Vin last weekend to avoid the mud - you missed two divine days of MTBO!! Beautiful balmy winter days with glorious sunshine and dry hard-packed trails. Of course, there were a few mud-holes where the 4WD's had wallowed - I passed one in the mud well past the axles during my ride at Killingworth - but there were almost always dry lines past the mud for us mountainbikers.
And sweet singletrack. Especially at Killingworth - the flowing winding singletrack was absolutely sensational ... even if I did cross one of those pallet bridges 5 times (yes, 5 times) on course 2. Perhaps I was enjoying the singletrack too much, and made route choices just so I could ride the singletrack!
Denis Lyons set another one of his sublime courses at Wallaroo - subtle, deceptive, lulling you with its apparent simplicity - but then suddenly biting hard when you least expect it with a nasty twist to the route choices.
Simon Nott, on the other hand, created havoc with his dastardly courses 1 and 2 at Killingworth - back and forth from one end of the map to the other, up and down the escarpment ... twice! All that climbing added nearly an hour to predicted winning times for courses 1 and 2; and saw some tired (but happy) riders at the finish.
Results, splits and RouteGadget links here.
My thanks go to everybody who helped out over the weekend, and before hand, including:
SS6 Wallaroo
Coursesetter / Starts: Denis Lyons
SI: Geoff Todkill
Control collection: Denis Lyons, Mary Fien, Damien Welbourne, Peter Jones, Tim Hackney
SS7 Killingworth:
Coursesetter / Starts: Simon Nott
SI: Geoff Todkill
Control collection: Denis Lyons, Mary Fien, Rob Prentice, Damien Welbourne, Tim Hackney, Simon Nott (all on bikes)
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2010 NSW MTBO Champs - entries now open
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
Online entries are now open for the 2010 NSW MTBO Championships at Jumping Rock on Sunday 19 September. This event will also be SS9, the last round of the 2010 Cranks Bikes NSW MTBO SuperSeries - and your last chance to score points in that hard-fought competition.
The weekend will also see us running SS8 at Wingello Quarries - which will double as the NSW MTBO Sprint. This is not a championship event, but there are definitely bragging rights to be won!!
Overnight accommodation will be available at the event centre for Sunday - Kirrikee Outdoor Education Centre at Penrose, courtesy of St Andrews Cathedral School.
You can whet your appetite for the brand new terrain of Jumping Rock here - be ready for open paddocks, singletrack, fencelines (uncrossable) and gates (to be shut after you) - and for the longer courses, a visit to the familiar east side of Penrose SF. There'll be some special rules for the day relating to the particular terrain (and local inhabitants!).
So don't delay; don't wait until entries are closing (Monday 13 September) - ENTER ONLINE NOW!!
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New directions at Jumping Rock
Sunday, 1 August 2010
The 2010 NSW MTBO Championships will be run on a new map called Jumping Rock. This map comprises two private properties, plus the eastern and northern portion of Penrose State Forest.
An added bonus is that one of the properties, "Kirrikee", is the Outdoor Education Facility for St Andrews Cathedral School - and so the event centre will be located here, with camping and some bunkhouse accommodation, along with toilets and limited shower facilities available to us.
You can expect some significant new challenges on this map - including:
- great panoramic views of the district
- large areas of rough open land that will be rideable
- fences that will be designated as uncrossable
- gates that will need to be opened and shut behind you
- rough vehicular tracks
- singletrack
- cattle and other animal tracks along fencelines and through areas of bush
- creek crossings
- and of course the forest roads and firetrails of Penrose State Forest
View over dams on "Jumping Rock" toward "Kirrikee"
View into gully at "Jumping Rock", with fringing areas of bush
View along cattle track toward rough vehicular track on "Jumping Rock"
Fence (uncrossable) and gate (open and close) on "Jumping Rock"
Cattle track through native bush (mapped as singletrack) on "Jumping Rock"
Moveable obstacles which will not be mapped - but must be avoided!
More moveable obstacles which will not be mapped - and which will no doubt avoid you!
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Clear and sunny at Currambene
Monday, 19 July 2010
A sensational clear and sunny winter’s day greeted the riders who made the trip down the South Coast to Nowra, for race 5 in the 2010 Cranks Bikes MTBO Super Series. A smaller field than normal (just under 50 riders) were treated to some fast and varied riding.
The ‘terrific trio’ (of Hilary Dyer, Amanda Barr, and Liz Seatter) followed up the challenge laid down at Belanglo in June to “bring a friend”. In fact they did quite a bit more, bringing down a total group of 12 fellow Manly riders for the weekend! Most being first timers to MTBO, but with some adventure race experience and keen to learn more. They appeared to be having a lot of fun out on the tracks, even Hilary, who in only her second MTBO race took on the long Course 1.
Despite the generally dry conditions, the recent rain had left some serious puddles with ultra sticky mud. John Skilton was one of a few riders who experienced an ‘early bath’ in an innocuous looking ‘puddle’ on the track west of marker #42, which swallowed his bike and flung him into the murky depths!
Regrettably, due to this event being a late addition to the original 2010 calendar, we were unable to get access to local MTB Club ‘single tracks’ (we hope to resolve this for next year!). However, Jim Anderson did a great job in designing free flowing courses which took in some of the excellent access and varied alternative tracks in the area.
Although a relatively flat area and the courses looking deceptively simple on paper, out on the forest floor some found the going not so easy! Our illustrious leader (El Pres) was one, who having made a wrong turn then spent a good part of the afternoon bush bashing a route between markers 37 & 36 on Course 2, when there was a perfectly good track nearby to use! Fortunately for him, he confessed to this sinful activity, and was recorded as DNF.
Thank you to all who attended and lent a hand in the set up and clear up. A note of appreciation to Andrew Slattery for his assistance in preparing the maps and last minute alterations.
The only complaint on the day came from Simon Nott, who said that the big sunbaking Black Snake which leapt out of the bush at him was not marked on the map!
Andy Halliday
Results - Splits - RouteGadget
Coursesetting: Jim Anderson, Andy Halliday
SI: Nick Dellagiacoma
Registration: Parissa Poulis, Nick Dellagiacoma
Control collection: Jim Anderson, Andy Halliday and others
Results and RouteGadget: Michael Roylance
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World MTBO Champs concludes
Saturday, 17 July 2010
The stars of the Australian team at the World MTBO Championships today were certainly the Junior Men. This was the first junior team that Australia has sent to an international MTBO competition and these boys used the experience that they gained through a week of racing to bring our team into a magnificent podium place finishing 5th in the relay competition. Chris Firman led the team off and returned in 5th place just a few seconds ahead of Finland 2. He was backed up next by Marc Gluskie then Luke Poland who both held on to that position (despite some order changes in the teams before and after them). All 3 boys showed their sprinting prowess, each finishing just seconds ahead of their rival teams. The race was won by the Czech Republic in a time of 2:56:32, this team leading the race from start to finish. They were followed by Russia and Finland. Demonstrating the depth of this event, both the Russian and Finnish teams winning medals were their number 2 teams. WELL DONE BOYS!
Unfortunately our number 1 men's team were disqualified after a great start by Steven Cuswoth. Steven had finished the first leg in 9th place but our second rider Alex Randall appears to have been disqualified. Our number 2 team of Grant Lebbink, Mary Fien and Mel Simpson finished in 28th place (17th nation).
I'm sure that the team will report on the inside story on their Blog. I recommend taking a look at the official MTBO WOC site - it is a useful resource with maps from all the events as well as results, splits, videos and photos. Full Relay results, splits, maps and photos
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