This was my first local club race - & a great learning experience. Having come out of a recent cold & minor ankle surgery, I signed up for D grade. I found it easier than I thought... I'll be in C grade next time.

My ankle held up fine. I'm getting the stitches out today. The new parts of the track look great! I'm really looking forward to seeing the pros power around in a few weeks.

I did find it a little hard to figure out who was racing who... maybe there should be a coloured arm band system? Red = A Grade, Blue = B Grade etc.

HMBA XC Round 2

With Round 1 washed out everybody was pretty keen for the first XC club race for the season.
Getting ready for pre race briefing, it was evident there was going to be some changes to some of the standard XC course for the race. All the rain in recent weeks had left some of the course a little boggy, plus a few new sections had been recently cut, in readiness for the National XC round in early March.

The 3 Ring Circus, held in the Wingello State Forest (Southern Highlands), was a 50km enduro that had riders covering a course made up of 3 different loops or "rings" (Get it? "3 Ring Circus"). Anyway, the trails in the area were amazing, particularly the single track that was on offer. The 3 loops were 6km, 25km, and 19km respectively for the total 50km. I rode the first and last loop with my wife covering the 25km of the middle loop. As relative newbies to MTB events, we were again impressed with the friendly, welcoming atmosphere from both the organisers and fellow competitors.

This was our first 24 hour race as a pair and what a brilliant event! The course at Mt Annan, west of Sydney, was awesome. We hadn't ridden there before and were really impressed with the variety in the trails. At approx 9.5km each lap, the course had plenty to offer all riders with a mix of technical, flowing, and flat out fast sections. The whole event was great fun with a relaxed atmosphere, cool music, brilliant catering service, and it was all very family friendly. Our daughter had a blast getting involved in all the kids activities!

This year for the 8 ¼ hour I signed up with Craig (craked) and Wayne (Dicko) for the Male Threes as “The good, the bad and the ugly"

Phil, Jos and Michael were signed up as the “Iron Horse Pony Club”

We all put in $20 and the fastest lap between the two teams would take the pot. Our first goal was to beat the Ponies and second was to take home the cash. We achieved the first as the Ponies claimed the fastest lap with Michael doing a 37:30 on his second lap. Well done mate.

Great fun. Great intro to meeting the wider mtb community. Mark & I tried to find a 3rd team member, but only started with 2. Had a little spill on the 4th lap due to finger strength giving way. Yes- you read that correctly. Changing gears & braking became quite hard during the 4th lap. Will definitely sign up for more future events.

has anyone been to awaba track this week to check it out to see what the track is like for the 8 1/4 hour this weekend

So I've spent about three hours so far getting the bike ready to head back home for Christmas. Will be in Cooks Hill from 3 Dec and hope to get a ride in the next day. On Sakhalin Island in far east Russia and the MTB season has ended. This time I'll be home for six weeks so decided to take my Giant Anthem X Advanced SL1 in a suitcase. Unbolted the rear suspension links, handlebars, seat, brakes, etc - have wheels at home so don't need to take them. Cleaned the dirt off, cleaned the bearings, cleaned everything, then bubble wrapped and taped the whole thing.

hot lap 1h 02min but was just crussing around the red and it was the long way up the camal climb awaba

Well I was planning to go for a ride today but the weather has put paid to that and looks like it will for the next few days. So here I am in my gym (a converted garage) doing weights, thought I might as well give my legs a workout despite the rain.