Category: Event Reports
Petes Track Sprint Report
Petes Track looked like it might come to a rainy start, but come race day the weather cleared up and revealed an awesome track and a great day of riding, especially because my sponsors, Chilli Cycles, had organized the brand new 2012 Specialized Camber Pro which would allow me to ride at my full potential!…
Peel Goes Back To Back!
Last years winner, Karl Peel overcame all challengers to his title, to take out consecutive Pete’s Track sprint events. Race day dawned sunny and cool, however recent heavy rains led to slippery conditions in some areas of the track with times slightly down on last years race. Peel needed to use all his skill and…
Lauren Fox Congratulations
Congratulations to Lauren Fox for taking out the Under 16’s Female category in the recent Wombat 100 Race. Here is a picture of Lauren on the podium proudly displaying the Gippsland MTB logo. Hopefully this is the first of many podiums for Lauren.
Foster 3 Hour Enduro Report: 22-Apr-2012
I’d been looking forward to the Foster enduro for quite some time now, seeing that Chilli Cycles had done an amazing job on the Cannondale and that I was keen to improve my lap times from last year. I was a bit worried when it started to rain on the way to the event but…
MT TAYLOR DOWNHILL – OFFICIALLY OPEN!
It is with great pleasure that Gippsland MTB Inc. together with Andrew Sharpe from the Bairnsdale Department of Sustainability and Environment and Simon French of DirtArt, declare that the Mt Taylor Downhill Mountain Bike Course is officially open for recreational usage. The course was officially opened over the weekend. Due to its fast paced and…
Mt Taylor MTB Opening Weekend Report
Getting up early for a day of riding mountain bikes is nothing unusual for me, but today was an exception. Today was the official opening for the double black diamond downhill trail and I had a day of downhill shuttles as well as a 3hr twilight enduro lined up for me. For today’s downhill I…
Erica 3 Hour Enduro Report: 26-Feb-2012
Well, the first GMTB event of the year was kicked off in style. For this rider at least, there was some definite nervousness surrounding rain and wet trails from the year previous, especially with the light sprinkle of rain (or was sweat) at about 1 hour in???? However, what greeted the 50 odd riders was…
The Final Challenge: Bulldog Spiral Race Report
Race day dawned wet and overcast for round 10 of Gippsland MTB’s enduro series. Bulldog Junction however was its usual rain-shadowish self and approximately 30 participants were greeted by sunny conditions for the race. The course, taking in partsof Mt. Hedrick, the Traverse and Pete’s Track had been prepared beforehand by several hardworking and somewhat…
Erica 3 Hour Enduro Report 2: 23-Oct-2011
The weather forecast was looking pretty grim for Sunday the 23rd of October, but thankfully the weatherman was off target! A beautiful summer’s day greeted the Gippsland MTB Club at Erica for the 3 Hour Enduro. The warm day saw approximately 51 riders and caught many off guard with wet weather gear and mud tyres the standard.
A tough, challenging course was set for the race which would suit the skilled but powerful riders who also didn’t mind a climb or 3. For some reason the race directors decided to start us at the bottom of a nice steep fire trail hill!! Brenton Jones (TORQ Nutrition Australia) riding his Cube machine took the hole shot, Jones never looked back as he went on to complete the course in 3 hours and 8 minutes and the only person to complete 6 laps. The course proved challenging for most of the riders with not only the obstacles, such as logs and tree roots, but the course was quite slippery to begin with. After some laps, about half way through the race the course turned into the ultimate trail surface. The course dried out a lot and became tacky which allowed for some seriously gnarly and quick descents.
Erica 3 Hour Enduro Report 1: 23-Oct-2011
One dark, cold wet night in June, Trevor Nicklen, Neil Allen and the pygmy kelpie (trev’s dog), sat around a fire thinking out a plot.
- “got to have some rain, not too much, particularly on the day or we’ll get wet”. Tick
- “have some red clay AND some sandy clay treacherous downhills, that’ll stuff em, no one with have the right tyres ” Tick
- “any roots have to be diagonal across the track and as slippery as a butchers” Tick
- “what about a loop that, time wise, is 90% uphill “ Tick
- “that section of uphill they complained about last time , lets close that, form a new track out of soft sand and ‘roll it in’ a couple of days before” Tick
- “and wouldn’t it be the cream on the cake if we could crack a 27 deg day after six millimetres of rain overnight …steamy” Tick
Nowa Nowa 3 Hour Enduro Report: 25-Sep-2011
Sunday 25th September saw approximately 50 riders turn up to compete in the Nowa Nowa 3 hour enduro with another 9 kids competing in the 30 minute kids enduro. The weather was perfect for racing with a cool but sunny day.
A challenging course was set for the 3 hour which was very different to previous Nowa Nowa events. This race was definitely going to suit the climbers with the addition of the climb to the top of the park that is rewarded with a great view to the coast and some challenging corners on the descent.
Brad Fisher got off to a great start and led at the end of the first lap with team competitor Toby Stewart right on his tail with a very fast lap of 29:21. Unfortunately Brad got a sense of déjà vu from last years race when he got a flat on the second lap which let a number of riders pass him. This made for a very competitive race from then on with Brad trying to chase down the riders ahead of him. He eventually caught everyone except Michael and the 2 fastest teams. Stuart Derham showed everyone that training for an Ironman really helps in MTB races, coming in third.
Blores Hill 6 Hour Enduro Race Report
Round 6 of the Goldcross Cycles Victorian Enduro Series was run at Blores Hill out of Heyfield on Sunday 31st July 2011. This event was the first major endurance event that has been hosted by local mountain bike club Gippsland MTB. The event was sponsored by the Heyfield & District Community Bank who provided valuable assistance in making the event successful.
One of the events major goals was to promote the trails that we have in the Gippsland region to riders across the state. Due to a number of major areas being closed at the moment (You Yangs near Geelong and Lysterfield near Melbourne) because of the extreme weather at the start of the year, rider numbers have been down for this year’s series. However, this event proved to be the exception!