sjh - mountain biking linux geek spice

[mtb/events] Another Angry Doctor Done

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:49:00

Last year I headed down to Mogo on the south coast to race in the Netti 100 KM Enduro known as the Angry Doctor. Tom and Alina of AROC Sport run this event and do a damn fine job of it. I headed back to ride again this year, with even less riding in my legs than last year I was in cruise mode to a much greater extent than last year.

Thanks to Dave and Helen for letting us stay with them down there again this year. Thanks to Tom and Alina for putting on another fantastic 100 KM race. This year the first 50 KM was a lot more interesting and I thought somewhat more fun than last year. However due to access issues, land clearing and some other issues the second 50 KM had less single track and some other changes, though it was still good it was not quite as much fun as last year.

A bonus from the weekend was I again had Matilda my Pink Mirage Double Kayak with me and we headed out for a little paddle in the inlet just north of Mossy Pt on Saturday afternoon and we found a dolphin playing around in the water between Mossy Pt and Tomakin. Lots of fun, chasing the dolphin, watching it swim under Matilda, and moving all around us for a while.

The Angry Doctor itself was good fun, I knew I would be on cruise mode as I had not ridden my bike much since March (Broken collar bone and sick through a lot of winter), I think the last time I did more than 70 KM in one go, even on a road bike was back in February or March. So I headed out for the first 50 KM taking it easy, not pushing the pace. Stopped to help one person with a mechanical, stopped for food and drink for a bit at the Aid station, chatted away with people near me on the course had fun in general. By the time I got to the end of the first 50 back in Mogo I realised I was actually going faster than expected as I arrived spot on 3 hours back into Mogo.

So I hung around the half way point chatting away for a while and hanging out, then with cruise mode engaged even more I headed out to do the last 50. I stopped a few times to eat and watch people ride past, I kept on being far more cheerful and laid back than people around me probably wanted to hear and stopped for a while at the aid station too. Eventually I rolled back into Mogo in around 6h 56m with no soreness anywhere and having had a really enjoyable and fun cruise around a really fun and interesting course in a lovely part of the country.

[mtb/events] Lifestart Kayak for kids on Sydney Harbour

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:25:00

My first paddles on Sydney Harbour went well on the weekend. Great weather, a cruisy paddle on Saturday and a fun race on Sunday. I put all the photos and a few words online from the event.

Lifestart Kayak For Kids 2008.

[mtb/events] Polaris Challenge 2007

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:21:00

Well I mentioned late reports recently, I guess this time I have given up any pretence of ever writing a report for this event. However I did take photos and put comments with them shortly after the event. So I have finally decided to upload the photos from my 2007 Polaris Challenge. I wrote a report with photos for my previous three Polaris events I competed in with Marea (2004 Murramurang/Clyde, 2005 Comboyne, 2006 Delegate).

For some reason I just never felt like writing this one up, maybe it was our lacklustre performance (coming in late on both days), maybe it was my mood toward the event at the time. Then when I still had not written a report by the time I found out the event was never going to happen again, I was not in the mood to write it up. Anyway the photos are interesting (or scarring depending upon how you look at a Rocky Horror themed Polaris and lots of men in stockings).

[mtb/events] My 2007 Triple Triathlon report

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:49:00

Wow, last year I did not publish my triple tri report until Feb sometime, this year it did not happen until March. I had better be careful with this lagging report habit, November is not that far away.

Anyway Bruce, Larissa and I competed in mixed threes last year and continued the stream of not coming first, who cares though because it is an excellent event. We had a heap of fun and were surprised at finishing well considering I did some running and Bruce some riding to see if we could go slower.

The report is in the normal sort of place, 2007 Sri Chinmoy Triple Triathlon, To The Teeth.

[mtb/events] 2008 Sri Chinmoy Jindabyne Multisport Classic

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:59:00

With a really nasty cold, a bruised hip and not much swim time in the last 6 years I went and tried to finish the Jindabyne Multi Sport race solo on Sunday. The previous two years I had competed in a team doing all the mtb legs. As I have been saying to just about everyone, if on a given day you are so sick you would stay home from work, don't go out and race swimming, kayaking, running and mountain biking for 11 hours non stop, it really is a silly way to try to rid yourself of a cold. Even if it is a really beautiful course and a spectacular event, don't try this at home kids.

Anyway if you want to read about it I put my 2008 Jindabyne Sri Chinmoy Multisport Classic report online in the normal sort of place.

[mtb/events] Hawkesbury Classic 2007, Danielle and Steve paddling Matilda

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 21:13:00

As mentioned in the recent post about choosing the name Matilda for my Mirage Double Sea Kayak, Danielle and I paddled in the Hawkesbury classic on the weekend. As I often do I combined a bunch of photos taken with a word or two and put it all online. So anyone who wants to can see how our race went.

Here is our 2007 Hawkesbury Classic Race Report. Enjoy.

[mtb/events] No more Polaris Challenge

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 14:52:00

In the latest news from Wild Horizons that arrived in the email today Huw announced that they will no longer be running Australian Polaris events after the Urban Polaris in Canberra in December.

The Australian Polaris Challenge was the first mass participation endurance mountain biking event in Australia, pre dating the Canberra based Australian 24 Hour Mountain Bike Race by two years. By first I am not ignoring events such as the Simpson Desert cycle classic, simply saying mass participation in that the logistics of competing in earlier events such as the Simpson were often as daunting, as the riding component of the event.

I can understand why the Paddle Polaris did not make sense to run, it never had a huge number of entrants and yet would still have had a lot of logistic issues behind putting it on. The Urban Polaris though fun is not an overly challenging event and is only on one day. Also now it has been held in the same city for so long it is no longer as interesting as it may have been the first time or two in one location.

The original event was still the best. The Polaris Challenge, 2 days out there with a friend navigating around the place on your mountain bike. Carrying all your camping gear for an overnight camp somewhere on a 25km by 25km map of some new and interesting location in the Australian bush. The event is modelled on the UK Polaris Challenge (now there are a few other events in other countries also), this started back in 1991 and has run over in the UK since. Huw, being from the UK had competed in the event there and when he arrived in Australia found the lack of a Polaris style event something that needed fixing, thus he started running one here.

There is no other event on the Australia mtb calendar quite like it, cyclegaines (rogaines on bikes) only tend to be one day events, Adventure races have other disciplines than just mountain biking. Mountain bike races do not have much in the way of mental challenges, without the route planning and navigation while out there you can simply head out and push your body with out any thoughts of where you are or how to get around entering your head. The added challenge of packing gear and being able to handle the extra weight and the consequent slow down in your route choices just adds to the fun and challenge.

I had heard for a few years now Huw had been attempting to interest some event organiser in purchasing the rights of all the Polaris events, it appears no one has bitten. I am unsure of what branding issues there are between the UK Polaris and any of the others (they all use the same logo), however I do hope there is another event that comes along in the coming years (and soon) to fill the hole left by this. The effort involved in running an event like this is considerable though as you have to spend a great deal of time in the area the event will run in, get the community on side, get permissions from all land owners involved. Create the maps and arrange all the other logistics. The fact that there has been a drop in numbers attending the event in the past few years probably did not help. It may not need to be branded "Polaris" but the format of camping, teams, navigation, all in one discipline, new and interesting location each year are necessary I think.

Anyway thanks to Huw and the rest of Wild Horizons for all your efforts over the years, I know I had fun (2003 Burraga, 2004 Murramarang, 2005 Comboyne, 2006 Delegate, 2007 Black Springs (have not yet written my report or uploaded the photos)). The fun of the event will be missed.

[mtb/events] Fun courses

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 10:51:00

The Scott Australian 24 Hour Mountain Bike Race (this is the race run by CORC that used to be The Mont Australian 24 Hour Mountain Bike Race) is on soon, the 13th and 14th of October. We moved the race back to the Mt Stromlo area for the first time since 2002, this is because we have the amazing new Stromlo Forest Park recreational facility with a huge amount of single track built for riding and racing.

It probably comes as little surprise to hear that I have raced and ridden a lot of different tracks all over the place, and I have to say the course we have put together for this up coming race is one of the most fun and interesting to ride I have seen in a long time. Back in April 2005 I had a bit of a comment on mountain bike race course design, though the Kowen course did improve, last year it was a really interesting course for a lot of people. I still do not think it lived up to enough of the need for an incredible mountain bike course that a race like our large 24 hour needs.

I am happy to say this has completely changed with the move back to Stromlo. We have two loops in the course this year which you or you team alternate laps around. One loop (the red loop) has some climbing and is not technically very challenging at low speeds. The other loop (blue loop) has less climbing, however it has more rock sections and twisty technical bits though out the single track of that loop.

Friday morning I rode the red loop and I must say it still has me grinning a lot 3 days later. Sure there is some bumpy flatter track early in the lap (bumpy because it is only a month or two old and not ridden in solidly yet) and then we have a climb up the trunk trail to the summit of Mt Stromlo. However all that can be forgiven, it is a fairly easy climb after all, and at this point we get the pay back for all that climbing effort. Descending non stop to transition for between 5 and 20 minutes (depends how fast you can ride down) on some of the most amazing sections of single track I have seen in a long time. Wheeeeeeeeee.

Yesterday afternoon I headed out with some friends and we rode a lap of the blue loop, I can definitely see that it is a bit harder technically, however I loved it, the extra challenge by some of the twisty or rocky sections. The grin worthy section on the back side of the mountain below Slick Rock, the flowing and swoopy tracks coming back toward the event centre. Sure it is not 10 minutes of non stop descending but it definitely gets a grin. I almost wish I was racing in the event rather than helping to run it. At least I can go ride these trails any time. Bring it on. :)

[mtb/events] Out of Range at the 2007 Geoquest Adventure Race

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 14:51:00

As mentioned a few times the report from Geoquest 2007 has been a while in coming, pretty much all involved in the team have now seen it and have no problems with it. In it are 99 photos, 5 videos and a fair chunk of text. We had fun and I am hoping to be back next year for more of it. Thanks to Bruce, Danealle, Craig and Brendan for racing and big thanks to Jane, Zoe and Jaymz for supporting. Also Gran and Jude were fun to have around the race.

Anyway for anyone who wants to have a look here is our report from the team Out of Range at the 2007 Geoquest Adventure Race. Enjoy.

[mtb/events] Far too verbose

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 21:58:00

As I mentioned at the end of June, my Geoquest report was on the way. I finally finished writing it tonight and after a quick spell check sent it along to the team and support crew to have a look at and approve or modify. I am currently almost hoping they tell me it needs to be cut down.

Last year my Geoquest report was around 4,000 words. This year I somehow kept writing until I had almost 10,000 words. What the heck did I blather on about for so long? The other day someone rather amusingly suggested they never bothered reading reports a common friend wrote as they went into too much detail. I had better reread my report and check I have not suffered from the same problem. Anyway once the team and support crew have glanced over the report and assuming I am satisfied I am not boring everyone to tears (I am sure you will all just look at the photos and video and ignore the words anyway...) I can finally upload it soon.

[mtb/events] Geoquest was fun, my report is on its way.

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 17:30:00

So I had a good time up at Geoquest, thanks to Craig, Danealle, Bruce and Brendan for racing and to James, Zoe and Jane for supporting. Also to Aunt Jude and Grandma for moral support, additional help, all the food, etc.

My report is on its way, I know no one wants to hear excuses so I wont provide any... I thought I had only written a few words but wc claims I have 5500 or so in there already and I am only half finished.

[17:15:59] 126 oneiros sjh /tmp/digicam/geoquest07>wc index.html 
 1139  5501 41252 index.html

I have 99 photos and 5 videos with the report this year too. Anyway when I finish writing the text, hopefully this weekend sometime, I will let my team and support crew have a geeze and then if they like it share it with everyone.

[mtb/events] We have a team, a support crew, some boats, some bikes, cool lets go hurt ourselves.

Wed, 16 May 2007 16:36:00

Last year I competed in the Geoquest Half adventure race with Lina, Michelle and Ian. This year I wanted to go back and compete in the full length race. The half is a 24 hour race (effectively), the full has a 48 hour time limit to complete the course. (well the half also has a 48 hour time limit, however it is approximately half the distance).

This race is a fairly large commitment of time, training and money to compete in, simply getting through 48 hours without sleep while navigating and racing in different disciplines is not trivial. Unfortunately none of my team mates from last year were able to compete this year (Knee Injury for one, another in South Africa, and the last not wanting to try the full length race this year).

Fortunately I have been able to convince 3 other friends to come along and race. Bruce, who I compete in Triple Tri with and other events over the past few years. Craig who has been doing some rides with Bilbys recently and has done a 24 hour mtb solo and is a damn tough bugger. Danealle who raced the full Geo last year with the Pink Ladies and thus has experience and proven toughness. Rock on, one hell keen team out there to have fun on the full course.

For support crew I have Jane (sister) returning, Zoe a Bilbys friend who wants to find out what Geo is about with the aim of possibly competing next year, Tom (Zoe's partner, who is likely to be roped in as support next year), James a mountain biking friend with bike mechanic experience to wrench and stuff and Louise (Jane's flatmate) who sounded enchanted with the support thing after Jane described it last year (I hope Louise fails to realise last year Jane had a remarkably easy support job due to the course structure, but hey if you wont tell her I wont...)

Next we had to get a pair of double sea kayaks, preferably fibreglass (lighter and generally thinner and faster) and ensure we had the rest of the gear needed (lights and batteries sufficient to last two nights in a row when we may be separated from our support crew for a long time), and generally commit to doing the race.

I have a new toy I bought which will take care of one of the above requirements, I will probably mention it next week when I get it, other than that we have been out doing some training and sussing out some of the gear and talking in the team about what conditions have been like previously and will be like this year.

Our main goal is to have fun and complete the course, we think we stand a good chance of meeting both goals. Bruce is overseas for work this week, however last night Craig, Danealle and I went out for a hill hike on Mt Ainslie which was fun, this was after a paddle yesterday morning with Danealle. This morning Craig and I both rode with the Bilbys road bunch and then headed to the lake for another paddle. I guess if nothing else this gives me something to get off my lazy arse an do some exercise for <g>.

The team motto for the event is "Because its there and fun will be had" and the bio I put in with the race entry was

4 Canberrans who constantly find there is more fun to be had outdoors than in our loungerooms.
We know each other from the Canberra AR community and the Bilbys Tri club, though none of us are triathletes.
Steve and Danealle have raced at Geo before and both have an affectation for the colour pink, Craig and Bruce will probably attempt to counter the pink gear (boat, mountain bike, some clothing, etc) of half the team.
Bruce and Steve have been doing events in teams together for a number of years, including some AR. Danealle has done a lot of AR, Craig is a tough nut and likes to try new stuff.
Our aim is to have fun and complete the course.

[mtb/events] Jindabyne Multisport Classic 2007

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 12:10:00

Bruce, Shanyn, Randall and I competed again in the Sri Chinmoy Jindabyne Multisport Classic this year. Just as we did last year we had a fantastic time out there. Gorgeous surrounds, some fun legs, great feeling among the teams racing, etc.

I took some photos and wrote a few words at the top for anyone to see our day out 32 Flavours at the 2007 Jindabyne Multisport Classic

[mtb/events] AROC Sprint in Canberra

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 21:45:00

I took my camera with my while doing an AROC Adventure Race on Saturday. This was just a short one, what used to be called a Sprint adventure race. I still like to call them Sprints, it is all a matter of perspective after all. When people frown at you and say "but a sprint is a fast anaerobic effort, maybe 30 seconds max" you can just say you are simply looking at it from a point of view of duration and comparing it with the 48 hour or 5 to 10 day races.

Anyway Bruce and Ron raced with me, I made some Nav errors and we lost a bit of time, but who cares we had a great time and I learnt a few lessons to make note of for next time. Bring on the 12 hour at the end of March.

Oh and the photos from the race are all on my AROC Adventure Race - Canberra, 2007-02-24 photos page.

[mtb/events] The Polaris Challenge encouraging mental scars

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 23:00:00

Oooh the location for the 2007 Polaris Challenge was announced today, In Black Springs just near Oberon, however this is not the interesting part. Marea and I have had no idea what to do costume wise this year. One other thing that was announced with the final details today is the theme.

The Rocky Horror Picture show is the theme of the Polaris Challenge this year. I see soooo much potential to inflict even more mental scarring on people than I have in past years. Ahh this theme could be oh so wrong.

[mtb/events] Triple Triathlon 2006, 32 Flavours report finally online.

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 16:15:00

After waiting for a few months for the final shirt to arrive I finally decided it was not likely to happen in a reasonable time frame so I wrote my 2006 Triple Triathlon report. Shanyn, Randall and Bruce have all read it and liked it well enough so I spread the word last night.

So if anyone wants to know, this is the 2006 Triple Triathlon for the 32 Flavours team. Fun was had, thanks again to Shanyn and Bruce for racing with me.

[mtb/events] Working Week Series 2007 - Lithgow - Round 1

Mon, 05 Feb 2007 16:45:00

Well I have to say I enjoy racing in Stu's Working Week series races, 8 hours is a god length of time to race. Either solo if you want to do a bit of endurance, or my preference in Pairs for a good hit out. Sarah and I decided to head on up and compete in round 1 of the 2007 Working Week Series at Lithgow.

We camped at the course and met up with a few other friends, some form Canberra, some from Sydney when we got there on Saturday arvo. Then come Sunday we rode around for 8 hours and drove home. Much fun was had. I wrote a few words to put with a few photos an have them up on a Working Week Series - Lithgow Round 1 page.

[mtb/events] 2007 Audax Alpine Classic - Bright, Victoria, Australia

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 15:58:00

As I did last year, I went down to Bright this weekend just gone to participate in the Audax Alpine Classic for 2007. Gorgeous scenery, fun riding, big climbs, big descents and to top it off this year we even had perfect conditions. Sunny, not too hot, not too cold. Heck we could call it the Mama Bear's Porridge edition of the Alpine Classic.

Anyway I took a bunch of photos and made comments on them, they are online in the normal location where I would put 2007 Audax Alpine Classic photos.

[mtb/events] Good consistency where Gravity happens.

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 14:58:00

In this case I am referring to the Gravity 12 hour mountain bike race held at Rosewhite in Victoria every November rather than the Scientific property of matter. This year I teamed up with Gail and Alex, we had a great time at the race. The course was dry, I did not overheat, all worked out well.

I have photos and a few words up on my 2006 Gravity 12 Hour Mountain Bike Race page. As for consistency, I was happy with my performance, being able to do 6 laps with the following lap times: 37:54, 37:33, 37:20, 37:13, 37:36 and 41:48 around the 12.3 KM slightly hilly lap.

[mtb/events] The Scott Australian 24 Hour race is done and dusted

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 20:42:00

What used to be the Mont 24 Hour Race was this year known as the Scott Australian 24 Hour Mountain Bike Race, though I have competed in this event previously, last year, and now this year also I was CORC's Site Manager for the event. (largely because as the CORC vice president I feel somewhat guilty if I do not help out a lot with the club's premier event).

Anyway as I mention in the title the event is done and dusted. The term dusted applies rather literally this year as it was the dustiest 24 hour race we have had yet, there were many people wearing dust masks, all people, tents, bikes, everything else out there was coated liberally with dust even at the beginning, by the end of the race there was a lot more dust everywhere. We had the biggest 24 hour mountain bike race in the world again, with 3031 riders entered, around 180 solo entrants, by the end of the race over 11,000 laps had been ridden which is about 241,000 KM (6 times around the circumference of the earth).

Russ had the preliminary results up yesterday afternoon before he and I had even finished packing up the stuff we had to get packed last night. A big thanks to all the volunteers out there who helped us run the race, and to all the riders I hope you all had a fantastic time and are already thinking up plans to come back. Next year we return to Stromlo on a brand new course almost in the centre of town.

[mtb/events] RRR Classic 2006

Mon, 21 Aug 2006 18:48:00

I took a few photos at the RRR Classic mountain bike race yesterday and have now put my photos from the event online.

Definitely a fun course, the thick bull dust down the bump track was very different to most riding I do anywhere. Apparently that will clear up during the next heavy rain, though with the grader having gone down the track most of the interesting rock gardens and their ilk are gone for a few years.

[mtb/events] Herberton 8 Hour mtb race

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 23:07:00

Or how I adjusted to the Cairns temperatures slowly, by doing a mountain bike race in the tablelands with rain and almost Canberran temperatures.

Sam and Ben are not going to be competing in the Gravity 12 hour race this year with me as they are living up in Cairns for a year. Thus I was keen to do a race with them at some point. When I saw this appear on the Cairns MTB club calendar it was appealing, then I saw the RRR Classic on the following weekend. That pretty much sealed this holiday for me, so we did the 8 hour race last weekend. As I saw in the few words I write about it, fun, pretty cruisy, could use more interesting singletrack but on the whole worth doing if you are up here.

Anyway if you want to see the details (photos, some words) have a look where I put them.

[mtb/events] Out of Range at the Geoquest half adventure race

Fri, 16 Jun 2006 21:32:00

Last weekend Michelle, Lina, Ian and I headed up to the Macleay valley with 200 or more other people for the Geoquest adventure race, we competed in the half as team "Out of Range". It took us 31.5 hours to finish the race, and now we want to go back next year for the full. Anyway I wrote a Geoquest race report with photos.

[mtb/events] 2006 ACT 6 Hour Cyclegaine

Mon, 01 May 2006 12:38:00

At least I did not hit a kangaroo driving to the event this year, anyway the ACT Rogaining Association 2006 6 Hour Cyclegaine was on yesterday down near Bombala in Bondi State Forest, Adrian has the results up already too. It rained all day so we did get a little bit damp, I was originally entered to compete in this with a friend who late last week found out she would have to work on Sunday morning and thus was unable to compete. Fortunately she found a replacement, though this put us in the Mens Open category rather than mixed I still got to compete in the event which was good.

The course was a lot of fun, though I was often wondering at how much wear my poor mountain bike was getting with all the clay and sand and grit and mud on it. We came 4th over all in the cycle event, first place in mens open (yes the first three teams were mixed category). I must congratulate my last minute team mate Brian, he had not ridden a bike much in the last 8 months (since leaving Canada) and had only purchased himself a new mountain bike a week ago. Brian kept up alright and we were able to ride at a comfortable pace all day. I must say I was surprised when I found out our placing, I really did not expect to do well over all. Of course the scary thing to note is we did around 45 KM of riding (3h30m riding time) and if you compare scores with the running event there were two teams with more points than us, geez those guys were running fast they also covered around 45KM or possibly more in the 6 hours.

[mtb/events] 2006 AROC 24 Hour Urban Adventure Race

Wed, 29 Mar 2006 13:56:00

As I have mentioned a time or two I was competing in the AROC 24 Hour Urban Adventure Race on the weekend just past. I have now uploaded my race report and photos.

James, Marea and I had a great time, Tom and Al put on a really cool event, Dave and Julie did bloody well (no big surprise) in different teams (Dave in second place Mixed, Julie in First place Female). Fun was had.

[mtb/events] Jindabyne Multisport Classic

Tue, 21 Mar 2006 17:41:00

As promised I have uploaded a report from the Sri Chinmoy Jindabyne Multisport Classic, mostly photos. The race was a lot of fun and I once again was happy to be on a team with such great people. Thanks to Bruce, Shanyn and Randall for a fun race.

[mtb/events] Polaris for Dummies 2006

Tue, 14 Mar 2006 13:52:00

Marea and I once again teamed up for Polaris over the weekend just past. We had a good time, and proving that practice helps after three Polaris' as a team we won the mixed division this year and came 8th over all out of the 200 or so teams.

Anyway I put photos and a report of the 2006 Polaris event online.

[mtb/events] N-ZO N-Duro 24 Hour mtb race, Rotorua

Sun, 05 Feb 2006 19:20:00

As mentioned a few times I was competing in the N-ZO sponsored N-Duro 24 hour Mountain Bike race this weekend in Rotorua, New Zealand. With a team of 5 of us it was going to be a fun and not particularly hard (when compared to solo or pairs) effort. The team consisted of 4 Australians, Michael Carden, Jim Trail, Heidi Flaxman (who lives in NZ now), myself and one New Zealand native, Lisa Morgan, entered in the mixed category we would not be directly competing against the most competitive category of 5 person males. Our team name was Australian Mountain Bike, the magazine Jim writes for in Australia.

Heidi, Lisa, Mike and I had driven up from Wellington on Friday evening, Jim had flown in from Australia on Friday and we all hooked up at the race site setting up the camp on Saturday morning. Rather bizarrely for us (Jim, Mike and I) more used to the Mont and other large races in Australia the camping was almost empty 3 hours before the race and we had prime choice of spot. After putting up a few tents and prepping stuff Jim, Mike and I wandered into the Fat Dog cafe in town for breakfast (2 hours before the race start).

I personally was amazed at the small turn out for the race, I competed solo in the Moonride 12 hour last May here in Rotorua, with a 24 hour race tacked on to the same course at the same time there were around 2000 people there that weekend, admittedly most of them were competing in the 12 hour rather than the 24 hour race. Thus the race format and forest itself can attract higher numbers. Thus to rock up to the N-Duro and find only 300 or so competitors when I would expect around 1000 was a shock. Gary Sullivan from N-ZO suspects the event may be just a bit early in the year, too soon after Christmas, people return from holiday and do not have enough time to fit it into the calendar and organise teams and travel for the race.

Heidi and Lisa competed in a team last year at this event and when we rode some of the extra trails in the area that were not in the Moonride course back in May, trails such as "A-Trail" and "Be Rude Not To", Heidi said they were part of the lap in the N-Duro 24 Hour course. This made my mind up then and there, any 24 hour race that included such incredibly good single track has to be on my calendar to compete in. I suppose I should not be surprised the Moonride did not include some of the better tracks in the park. Speaking with Gary about this last year and again this week, he sets the course for the Moonride, however the event organiser does not let him include more technical or challenging parts in the Moonride, thinking he caters better to beginners and average punters by keeping the course simpler. Fortunately for all of us there are events such as the N-Duro that can include some of the most amazing single track anywhere in the lap.

Anyway the race started at midday, and unlike most Australian races it was the most laps you could do in 24 hours which meant you last lap to count was before 12pm Sunday, if you returned from a final lap at 12:01pm it would not count. We decided on the running order with me starting for the team on the first lap, followed by Heidi, Mike, Jim and then Lisa who wanted to do a double lap. Held up in traffic for a lot of the first lap, and including the run I got around in a fairly respectable 49 minutes. Heidi knocked off a good 46 minute lap and we were underway reasonably well. My next lap was around 44 minutes which I was happy with. Come night time and we had been pulling into first place, however the rain also started falling fairly heavily.

Due to the nature of some of the tracks, and possible damage to both tracks and riders in heavy rain, at midnight the race organisers decided to stop the race until 6am, due to how heavily the rain was falling this was probably a good thing to do. We all bedded down as best we could in the tents as it continued to rain. The organisers also modified the course slightly and removed A-Trail. I headed out for the 6am lap, which would end up being my final lap of the race, followed by Heidi and then Lisa on a double. Mike and Jim finished off the race for us at around 11:35am on Sunday, too late for any of us to fit another lap in before midday.

In the end we each had completed 4 laps, for a total of 20, we won first place in the mixed teams of 5 category (the race had Solos, Pairs, Fives, and Tens), the prize for which was a free entry next year. I wonder who will be keen to fly across for this race next year? It was fun to watch near the end of the race some of the really fast riders pulling out laps around 36 minutes and one rider who had done a 36:18 a few hours earlier heading out at 11:24:05 in the hopes of getting in before 12pm in order to secure over all first place. (he came in about 30 seconds too late and damn was he moving)

The race being small and the nature of presentations and the people there was great to compete in, far more laid back than many races back in Australia, I definitely recommend anyone who can that they should enter this race, if only for some of the single track in it, I really can not describe how good some of these tracks are, Maybe Mike or Jim will be better with the superlatives.

[mtb/events] 2006 Audax Alpine Classic

Mon, 23 Jan 2006 22:30:00

I rode the 2006 Audax Alpine Classic yesterday out of Bright in Victoria, I completed the full 200 KM (Bright to Falls Creek via Towonga Gap and Mt Beauty, back to Bright, then up Mt Buffalo). It was damn hot (not just hot). I took some photos and put them online on a 2006 Audax Alpine Classic page, to think I decided to suffer through this pain rather than attend the two mini conf days at linux.conf.au in Dunedin, I must be insane. Ahh but it was a heap of fun, really, heck I will even be back there next year.

[mtb/events] Triple Tri 2005 Report and Photos.

Mon, 28 Nov 2005 14:42:00

Bruce, Shanyn and I had a rather fun triple tri again last week. I was still trying to get rid of my cold and thus was not doing too well. We came second again this year, both Bruce and Shanyn put in incredible performances. Most important of all is we all had fun and the whole team is looking forward to the event next year already.

My photos and a longish report are now online. Strangely when I started writing all that I thought I did not have much to write, so I was amazed at how much I ended up writing.

[mtb/events] My 2005 Highland Fling 100 KM mountain bike marathon.

Mon, 14 Nov 2005 12:23:00

Well I still have that cold, which is rather annoying, however it did give me a great reason to slow up and take it easy yesterday. I have uploaded my Highland Fling photos and a few words now. The event was a lot of fun, an absolutely fantastic course for a 100 KM race. The weather was perfect, the marshals and everyone else out there was good. Highly recommended.

[mtb/events] The Gravity 12 Hour race was a heap of fun.

Mon, 07 Nov 2005 17:27:00

Last week I mentioned I would again be competing in the Gravity 12 Hour mountain bike race in Rosewhite in Victoria. Sam, Ben and I went down there, raced, had a fantastic time and all of us are damn happy with it, and keen for a repeat next year.

I have my gravity photos online with a few words. Also I notice Bill Clarke (a work colleague) has his photos up also. One, a panorama shot shows off the campsite and surrounding hills and mountains well. He also has two photos of me, thus proving to a greater extent I was really there (who knows I may have had someone else take the photos and am in fact a couch potato sitting in front of a tv 24 hours a day).

[mtb/events] Gravity 12 Hour mountain bike race

Fri, 04 Nov 2005 09:42:00

As in previous years I am competing in the Beechworth Chain Gang Gravity 12 Hour mountain bike race this year. Once again I am teamed up with Sam and Ben in the three person mixed category. Our team name this year is "Ride Babysit Ride" which may be somewhat accurate as Maxine and Nikita will be camping with us of course.

Last year was a little bit muddy (read this as understatement, in reality it was the muddiest event I have ever competed in), the year before was a little bit warm (I was dehydrated and needed to visit the hospital upon my return to Canberra to rehydrate).

The weather looked as if it may be wet again with the long range forecast last weekend, however it now appears we could be up for a reasonably dry event (almost anything will be dry when compared with last year though). Anyway Sam is hell keen after missing out on racing this last year (probably the year to miss one if you have to though) and I am sure it will be fun. I just have to go into work briefly before driving to Victoria, and am sure I will be under prepared food wise at the event, ahh well I can buy stuff.

[mtb/events] 2005 Mont Australian 24 Hour Mountain Bike Race, post 1

Tue, 04 Oct 2005 21:41:00

Most mountain bikers in Australia know, the 24 hour race is on this coming weekend. 2420 riders, 640 teams on track (including 170 solo entrants), around 5000 to 7000 people will be on site in Kowen forest over the weekend. This is the largest 24 hour mountain bike race in the world currently (and has been for the last two years also) if you look at it from the number of competitors all up or number of solo entrants perspective.

Kowen Campsite on the Sunday before the race.

By Thursday afternoon that will almost not be recognisable due to all the marquees and other equipment we have being put up there from today onward. Then on Friday morning we open the gates to the competitors (until that time most of them get in to the course for practice laps by riding 5 KM from one of the gates into Kowen) to come and set up camp, Solo entrants and possibly the pairs category entrants will be able to set up their camps in the open grass area. The schools teams also get to set up in one of these areas specifically set aside for schools. Corporate teams have a marquee provided as part of their entry (with gas heaters in them too) all the other categories (3, 4, 6) set up in the pines forest section on the top right.

The final information letter to teams, what is likely to be the latest map and the current rider list are on the CORC website in a recent news item.

There will be a few interesting items this year but I should refrain from mentioning these until after the race, things that seem likely at the moment are ABC news rocking up to do a piece on the race on Saturday (apparently ABC news is the most watched tv show in Canberra), due to ABC being there Win is likely to show up also, possibly others. SBS people will be around the race also, along with Jim Trail (who does work for the SBS Cycling Central show each summer) who is of course racing and doing various commentary things for us and for others. (on 2CN radio in Canberra tomorrow at about 11:45am Jim will be interviewing Trent Lowe about the event and other stuff too).

The ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope will be out there doing the race start, Simon Corbell (ACT Planning Minister) will be competing in a team. Various Australian Olympians and other highly ranked athletes such as Lisa Mathison, Trent Lowe, Sid Taberlay will be there.

And you know why all this happens? Because it is a whole heap of fun. I will try to upload some words and photos a bit over the next week form the event, I am not competing this year so who knows how it will work out, I will however not have much time in front of a computer until next Tuesday though.

[mtb/events] 2005 NZ-O WSMTB 12 Hour race

Thu, 15 Sep 2005 14:31:00

As in previous years the WSMTB 12 Hour mtb race was on and I went up to Sydney to compete. After I put our entry in Heidi decided she would be flying over to Australia to compete in the Mont Australian 24 Hour race and to focus on it a bit, thus the prospect of flying to Australia twice in less than a month was not a good one, so I had to find another team mate this year.

I eventually gave up the prospect of doing well in mixed pairs and asked Morgs (the guy between Heidi and I in that photo) to compete with me in mens pairs. Morgs is a damn fine rider, skill levels well above most of us mere mortals and a great guy to have a beer and sit around telling tall stories with too. This promised to be a good weekend. Also Morgs had never raced or even ridden around the Yarramundi course so he was in for a treat as it is a really fun mtb course.

Driving up to Sydney a bit later than intended on Friday arvo (I was held back in Canberra doing some work in preparation for the Mont 24 Hour I had to get done that week) I knew I was going to miss out on a practice lap. I caught up to Sam, Ben, Nikita and Max on the highway, the whole family was sick and it did not bode well for their race, they had been stopping often for Max to be sick on the way up. I followed them almost all the way to Richmond from there, however I saw the battery light come on in the car so had to stop at a mechanic. Annoyingly my alternator had failed, so I had enough time to drop all my kit at the accommodation and drive back to the mechanic at Londonderry. This meant I would have to get away from the race for an hour or so the next day to pick up the fixed car. Ahh well I was not getting home otherwise.

Morgs and Allan drove up in Morgs new car (S*b*r* Forester) after they were able to get away from work and arrived at the accommodation around the time I got back from the mechanic. The Canberra (and extras such as Warren) crew (Morgs, Allan, Crash, Warren, DaveS (on the left), Jim, TerryE, AlanV, DaveE and Garrett) headed out for dinner in Richmond and afterwards tucked in for a good sleep in preparation for the race.

I decided to dress up for the first lap of the race (including the run) as Marea had fixed the top from our 2004 Polaris outfit on Thursday. Pictured here in its full glory. :)

Having fun on my first lap (photo by John Hardwick of Mountain Bike Australia Magazine) (full size)

There is a slight drawback to this outfit though, and the reason I was actually quite happy it rained for most of the duration of the 2004 Polaris, this outfit does not breathe well and is far too hot to be worn in hot weather. I survived through the heat on the first lap and changed to cooler clothes quickly. Morgs headed out for one lap and on his return I went out for a double. We settled in to doubles until around 4pm when we decided the laps for the rest of the day would be singles again.

On my second and third laps I had some cramping problems, obviously I had not been drinking enough, with the temperature heading for 31 Celsius on the day there was a possibility of a repeat of serious dehydration as I had at the 2003 Gravity 12 Hour, keen to avoid this I started drinking lots, getting through 1.2 litres of sports drink, and 1.5 litres of water before heading out for my next double. I had driven across to pay for the new alternator in the car and get my car keys between my first and second double, I was worried Morgs would have gone through already by the time I got back. Unluckily for Morgs he had a flat that he had to repair with glue on a lap then so I had some time to prepare for my next double lap.

In keeping with the drinking lots theme I went through 2 litres of water in my camelback and a 750ml bottle of sports drink in the following 1h25m of the double lap I did at this point. As it got cooler when evening came on my drink lots practice paid dividends as I headed out for the dusk into darkness lap and felt fantastic, I was able to start going fast again and really got to enjoy it a lot. When I got back from that lap Morgs said he was stuffed and it would be his last lap he was heading out for. I was not sure if I wanted to do more laps myself or not at that point. I was keen to wear the silver outfit again now it was cool, but I had suffered in the heat and was not sure if I would. In the end I decided not to, so did the other Canberra crew people we were hanging out with, thus before the race had even finished, in an attempt to avoid the traffic mess leaving post race we had packed up and returned to the accommodation and were sitting around drinking beers and telling stories of the day.

Almost everyone at the race was hit hard by the heat, I know for a fact the Canberrans had difficulty, going from our morning rides in 1 or 2 degrees, or day time rides in 15 or 20 degrees to racing in a humid 31 degrees was not easy. Cara Smith, racing solo said she cramped up for the first time in her life during this race, I saw a lot of people looking like they were going through hell with grimaces on their faces out there on the course. However irrelevant of that I suspect everyone had fun, I know I did and will be back next time.

[mtb/events] Moonride 12 Hour in Rotorua

Tue, 07 Jun 2005 12:22:00

Okay so this is somewhat delayed, I posted before heading to New Zealand about competing in the Moonride 12 Hour Mountain Bike race in Rotorua and my trip to NZ. I still have not put my photos online, however I did write up some experiences from the race a few days later in Taupo and send them out in an email. So with the idea of easy cut and paste diary entries, here is most of the text from my race report on the Moonride 12 Hour race I competed in on May 14th.

Sitting in an internet cafe in Taupo right now so no photos or online report, just something quick.

As a bunch of you know I competed in the Moonride 12 hour as a solo entrant on Saturday. Heidi was there in a team of 5 too. A friend of Heidi's, Lisa Morgan, also rode solo and kicked my heiney.

The course was 9.1 KM (if you include the loop through the 12 hour camp area all 12 hour racers had to do), mostly rather sweet flowing single track, a bit of flat fire road you could really open up (35KMh or so) if you were so inclined. Around 2000 people were there for the weekend (there was a 24 hour race and a 12 hour race on at the same time), like the Mont in .au this is the oldest 24 hour and 12 hour mtb race in NZ I think.

10am start and 10pm finish. I got my entry from the organisers as the bell sounded for the start, I ran back to the tent, grabbed my camel back and waited for the entire field to go past before hopping on the back.

First time through the course was slow as was expected, but I subsequently did another 2 laps in a row after that and it opened up a lot. They had an automatic timer sensor thing and a tag we all wore on our ankles that made it register as we rode over the mats. The wife of the event organiser Murray had told me to attach it to my frame and I do not think it registered for the second two laps, and maybe not the first (was in a big crowd at the time), I eventually attached it to my ankle and kept that ankle down every time I rode over the mats and it worked from then. Teams only had one tag so they did not have individual lap times recorded.

I met up with the guy who handles the timing for this and the NZ national series and he worlds stuff next year and rode with him yesterday and today so I was able to talk to him about all the timing stuff and Russ and I will probably converse with him on some of the timing stuff a bit.

The course was fun, but I have to say it was not brilliant, it got more fun as the day wore on, my last few laps, in the dark, were the best.

One of the fun laps was about lap 12, Heidi headed out on the track at the same time, so I told my body not to cramp and upped the pace from solo pace to race pace. We did a sub 30 minute lap together, which was my fastest lap of the day by a few minutes. All in the dark. I complained Heidi was making me ride fast and that it hurt, she said I should not whine as I was the one in front of her for the entire lap setting the silly fast pace.

Anyway I completed 14 laps in the end, 135 KM or so, Lisa completed 16 laps (she did not stop all day, I (because I am soft) stopped a fair bit) (2005-06-07, interestingly, I have looked at the results since returning to Australia, the timing systems have us both on 15 and 17 laps respectively, I suspect this is because it recorded our crossing the timing mats on the first mini loop through and included this in the lap count, also this means it obviously did record all my laps even though I did not hear the buzzer on two occasions)

The winner of the 24 hour solo, Andy Rhodes (the guy who did the Naked lap at the World Solos in Whistler) did 43 laps. I forget the other details but photos (I was race number 76 AFAIR) and results will probably appear in the next few days on http://www.moonride.co.nz

We stayed in Rotorua for another day and a half, and rode more on Sunday and today. The trails we got to ride out of the race were incredible, they blew the ones in the race away. Although there were some sweet sections (long sections with lots of berms you can do in the big ring) in the race, there was nothing as cool as "Be Rude Not To" or "A Trail" in the race. Heidi mentioned a 24 hour race she did with Lisa up here last year (N-Duro or something) included those tracks and a bunch of other fun stuff. I would highly recommend competing in that 24 hour and am somewhat tempted myself.

I am now in Taupo for the night, planning to ride the Craters of the Moon pack tomorrow morning and try for Tree Trunk Gorge tomorrow arvo.

More fun to be had the rest of the week.

Update: Posting this today on 2005-06-07, of note, the results are available online now, as are some photos. Looking at the 2005 Cateye Moonride at Marathon Photos will allow you to search for them, or currently the Moonride website has a page with the Moonride Photos embedded. You can find my photos searching for "Hanley" or 76. Lisa's photos are "Morgan" or 96. Heidi's team is team 420 (Tumeke Tribe) on 24 laps.

The other cool news, in relation to the N-Duro races, I had a look at the website and discovered the 24 Hour race is actually on in February, on the 4th and 5th next year. I will be over at linux.conf.au 2006 next year from Jan 23rd to Jan 28th, so I will hang around for a week or two in New Zealand and will be able to compete in the N-Duro 24 Hour on some of the incredibly cool tracks there. Lets just hope I can convince a few friends to do the race in a team too, should be a hoot to get an Australian team over there for it. Mikey will hopefully also be at linux.conf.au, and may be interested in the N-Duro race the next weekend.

[mtb/events] A mountain bike course should be inspiring

Fri, 01 Apr 2005 23:19:00

The backstory here has a lot to do with the bush fires that hit Canberra around Christmas 2001, the story continues with the 2003 bush fires that ravaged Canberra on January 18th 2003. The Canberra mountain bike community lost an amazing trail network in 2001, and then we lost the remaining parts of that network of incredible single track in 2003.

The network of single track extending through Greenhills had been built slowly since around 1995 and 1996 by a host of trail gnomes, the Kowalski Brothers, Alan of Jelly Bean fame, DeathMarch, etc. The tracks from Mad Cow descending from Dairy Farmers hill through Freight Train, or various other nearby tracks, onward to the magic that was Labyrinth and on toward Bombalina and Jelly Bean, or a whole host of other options available for a single track loop through the area. All of these tracks, within easy riding distance over the centre of the city were often taken for granted until we lost them. This area was a mountain bike Mecca drawing people from all over Australia, and for good reason, the riding in Greenhills was something to be savoured.

Flowing tracks, not all smooth, not all bumpy, berms, good use of contour lines, the occasional obstacle or diversion around something more difficult to ride, stretching far enough to enable complete loops on single track as long as 15 or even 20 KM. Also with the tracks this close to town motor bikes were rare users of the area, though often they could be heard, or sighted on Mt Stromlo itself (where there were more tracks, and more to come too)

The first Mont 24 Hour race was held in 1999, the course utilised a loop set up on single track and fire road through the Greenhills area, a similar course was used again in 2000 and 2001. After the 2001 bush fires the 24 Hour race had to move most of the course over onto Mt Stromlo for 2002 and use some of the new tracks developed off the back of that hill with a final 5 KM looping back through Tricky Dick and Back Track on the campsite side of the river in Greenhills. The tracks on Stromlo, possibly due to less use, possible due to more motor bike induced damage, and at times due to the design and layout of the tracks were not quite as good as those in Greenhills that were lost to the fires. However finishing up on 5KM of incredible greenhills track before coming back into camp certainly helped bring the grin on once more.

Anyway using these trails that had slowly appeared and changed over the years we ran the 24 hour race was a godsend, the availability of good tracks meant a course could be constructed for the event that would inspire riders and put a grin on their faces. In a race (I would argue in any race, but certainly in a 24 hour race, especially one we like to think of as the best mountain bike event in Australia) the course should be fun, it should be so much fun that team riders become jealous of the solo riders as they get to keep riding and thus have more fun. Team members should be sitting in their camp wishing they could be out there doing a lap all the time, you should finish a lap wanting to go and do another immediately because you had so much fun on the previous one.

After the 2003 bush fires CORC had to move the Mont 24 Hour race to a new location, we chose Kowen Forest, in the north east corner of the ACT this area remained unburnt and was the largest forest area left, all of which meant we could hold mountain bike races in it. The biggest problem however is, due to the distance from the centre of town, no mountain bikers had ridden in the area much or had the inclination to develop trails, CORC had to go in and develop a brand new 17 KM race course from scratch. Paul Cole volunteered for the task and subsequently spent week after week driving and walking through the forest areas working out where a basic loop might be able to go and getting ready to put new track in. Paul did a fantastic job in mapping out the basic loop and getting the tracks in with teams of people motivated to come and help we did get a course in there rather quickly.

Now we get to some problems, first, to build good single track is difficult, and time consuming. The International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA) have a host of articles and links and such about building the best quality single track you can. Properly constructed tracks should last 30 or 40 years with little to no maintenance under a heavy load of riding. IMBA have a team of people that travel the world and consult with mountain bike groups around the world, and run trail building courses and training. The IMBA guys have been to visit us in Canberra a few times and many of us have participated in some track building work with them. However to build IMBA quality tracks can take such a long time, even with a team of 5 to 10 people you may only be able to develop around 200 metres of track in 3 or 4 days. All this depends on the available materials, the soil structure, the slope and contours and a few other elements.

CORC did not have the man power or time to build the 24 hour course to these standards, for the 2003 race we had to get a course in and ready in time for the race, other concerns were secondary. We also come up against some other problems in Kowen Forest. Because of the size of the forest and the distance from town the area has always been popular with motor cross riders, long before we started venturing into the forest. They have a few varied motor bike single tracks spread through the forest though they mostly used to spend their time riding on the fire roads. Once we started putting tracks into the forest they started using them, almost as soon as they appeared. Some motor bike riders have the skill to be able to improve rough tracks as they ride them through their style and use of the throttle. Most however do not and do not give any thought to the fact their bikes can rip a track to pieces on corners and braking.

However I would argue that the better constructed a track is the less damage a motor bike can do to that track. Fun single track has a quality known as flow. You never have a downhill section that picks up speed followed by a sharp corner as this requires breaking heavily before the corner and loosing speed for the flat bit afterwards. Instead to go downhill you should finish with a long gradual corner to change directions, followed by a turn up the hill a bit to wash of speed naturally. Transitions to quick turns and sharp corners should not be made immediately either, tracks should gradually get tighter or have a forced rise or other speed impediment just before a slow section to speed is washed of naturally. Also tracks should follow contours well mostly, veering up and down with a well benched edge into the side of the hill if the ground is not flat. You also have to ensure tracks are designed so water will run off them naturally rather than pool anywhere on the track or run down a section of track causing water induced ruts. One more consideration is the use of berms on fast corners to keep speed and flow as it should be at that point. To construct a berm properly you need to build it with rocks to keep it in place under load, then pack dirt into the rocks, preferably wetting the dirt before use to get a more resilient berm.

If you put the effort into designing tracks as detailed above a motor bike would also follow the flow of the track, not cornering (with excessive thrust biting into the trail) or braking suddenly for a corner (with their much higher weight) and powering out of the slow corner (thus digging up the track some more). Most sections of the 24 hour course do not have the above considerations taken into account, and a few times brand new unridden sections of track have been put into the race not long before the event. Untested track, that which has not been ridden will not have any problems worked out and is likely to be both rougher and more susceptible to damage than older or better designed track.

Now I am not saying the track sucks as it currently stands, the 24 hour race is still a lot of fun. The event itself is great and any riding can be fun so there is enjoyment to be had, however in my opinion the course does not inspire people as described above. Previous courses or other courses however do and have brought this level of awe and fun into the sport. Alan Anderson has built a large amount of tracks in Sparrow Hill and also built some of the more fun tracks in Greenhills. Rod Higgins designed the Nationals course that used to be out at Blue Range before the 2003 fires wiped it out. Richard Bonjter has ridden a bike more than most people and also has built the occasional fun single track (of which some were burnt in Greenhills). The Kowalskis have built some inspired tracks in Greenhills and even one track that is now used in the new Mont course was built by them, and I must say it is one of the best sections of track in Kowen. So I have been talking to these people and working out ways to go about this fun track business. Alan and I will be out in Kowen a bit getting a good idea of what needs to be done to improve the 24 hour course. All of this is with the aim of making the 24 hour course more fun this year.

I have a list of 7 dates (some just one day, some the entire weekend) leading up to the 24 hour race that we will announce soon on the CORC website during which we hope people who agree with my ideas above and want to put the effort into improving the existing 24 hour course loop will come and help out at. Often when building a track it appears to flow when walking through it, it appears to be smooth as silk when walking over it, but as soon as you ride a bike on the track you realise that those two things are not entirely true. I want people to come and help, come and spend half a day or a whole day on one existing 200 metre stretch of track, bring their bikes out and make each section we work on flow, make each section tough to stand up to motor bikers, make each section of track we work on a hell of a lot of fun to ride.

Initially I think, as suggested by Jim, we need to ensure the start and the end of each lap are incredible fun. Fortunately we have the switchbacks at the start which are a hoot, and definitely a signature piece of the course. If we can work out some way to put a signature piece in the last 2 KM of the course also that will help people's memories from each lap be positive. There will be other work after that too though. We probably also need to do some maintenance to the switchbacks to help them stand up to the punishment from motor bike riders and from the race itself.

[mtb/events] First Australian Solo Only 24 Hour Mountain Bike Race

Tue, 29 Mar 2005 22:03:00

From the timing seat with coffee (full size)

Showing the view into the darkness (full size)

On Saturday and Sunday CORC ran the first Australian Solo Only 24 Hour mountain bike race. Similar in style to the MONT Australian 24 Hour Race which we also run, except in this event only solo competitors were allowed, no teams.

At the Mont we have had around 70 to 100 solo entrants the last few years, maybe 15 women and 65 men, we decided to hold the Solo Only race in the hopes that more people would choose to race and try out the solo endurance thing if there was no choice at the event, and the event would be more relaxed due to the significantly decreased numbers. Unfortunately due to our current Event Calendar being rather full, and the fact that you can not run a 24 hour race in Canberra during winter due to the cold temperature, the only weekend we found we could conceivably run this race was over easter.

John Graydon and Russ Baker put a fair amount of work in leading up to and during the race and we had a pretty good event happening, due to the unfortunate dates and that this is the first event of its kind we had lowish numbers. Just under 50 competitors started at midday on Saturday, this is not too bad when you consider that the first Mont 24 Hour we ran back in 1999 only had 160 competitors in total.

I was feeling a little bit guilty as I had avoided having anything to do with running the event or helping out with it (due to other concerns), so when John asked me to come do some timing for a few hours I volunteered, and to help Russ out I thought a graveyard shift would be a good plan. I rocked up and sat at the timing desk entering the riders as they went past from around 11pm until 3:15am or so, it was pretty good to get a feel for what the event was like, definitely different to the Mont now days, a very relaxed and fun vibe around the place, also unlike the Mont where there are riders coming through more than once every 7 seconds even during the night now days, there were often 15 minute breaks between riders passing the start/finish area. I took some photos at around 2:11am (on the left) to show what I was seeing for a few hours there.

I must say, interesting though it may be, I doubt I will start a regular blog update with 02:11am photos, unlike the 09h09 guy I have mentioned in the past.

Oh and I have the results online too.

[mtb/events] 2005 Polaris Challenge report and photos

Fri, 18 Mar 2005 18:49:00

I have uploaded my 2005 Polaris Challenge report and photos for you all to enjoy (or be afraid upon seeing, wait til you see the outfits :). Thankyou to Marea, the other competitors, the Darkside and the Comboyne community for a most excellent weekend.

At this present time I have not proof read the report, I spell checked it, but that does not fix everything, so I may fix things up, also Marea has not yet read it so she may have some stuff to add or fix when she does.

[mtb/events] Have a cow

Wed, 09 Mar 2005 13:21:00

2005 Polaris Challenge Map (full size)

The 2005 Polaris Challenge is happening this weekend, last year Marea and I competed in this event, then it was held near Batemens Bay. This year the event has, for the first time ever, moved north of Sydney.

Three weeks ago we were told the event theme (and fancy dress theme) for the event this year was Cows, Dairy and related paraphernalia. Two weeks ago we learnt the location of the event. The event Centre is at Comboyne, inland from the Mid north NSW coast just north of Taree. Marea and I have outfits ready this year and are looking forward to the event, Polaris is always a lot of fun, you have to be a smart and capable navigator, bike fitness alone does not help particularly to amass points.

I have not arranged any sort of Internet connection up there, but I will have my camera and there will be photos online next week sometime. Looking at the event map (pictured left) the area has some pretty nasty hills (event centre at 600m, some places on the map sitting around 50m or 750m above sea level). The map does not look quite as incredibly hilly as the 2003 Polars map in the Burraga area near Bathurst, but (and this comes as no surprise to regular Polaris competitors) the area is anything but flat. We are driving up there tomorrow afternoon to give us all day Friday to gain some familiarity with the area. Fun will be had.