2009 Mountain Bike World Championships at SFP

So, the big event has been and gone, and as the dust settles and the forgotten strands of bunting flap forlornly in the cold September wind, I figured I'd recap on the racing and offer my perspective as one who had a fair bit to do with the construction of the trails that were being raced upon.

In late August 09 the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships rolled into Canberra town. You could say that preparations had been underway for about three years, as it was about that long ago when the ACT government came to Jacobs and asked if it was possible to build a trail network that would be capable of one day hosting the World Champs. Absolutely, positively came the answer, and so it came to be, this weekend just past.

Was it good? Hell yeah, and damn anyone who says otherwise. The 4X on Friday night rocked under full moon, clear skies and heaving, excited and somewhat intoxicated crowd. The track was bloody amazing and from what I heard on the night and since, everyone seemed to think so too. The XC on Saturday was equally great...truly. Being an old XC hack, I may seem biased, but anyone that bothered to walk up to Hammerhead to watch the carnage or anyone that saw the winning move from Switzerland's Schurter in the final lap will agree it was an awesome and captivating race to watch.

Eventual winner of the Men's XC,

Nino Schurter

Best placed Aussie, Chris Jongewaard

The DH was a sight to behold, and the deafening sound of 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi'*, air horns and cow bells could be heard in Gundagai. Best places to watch the DH included the perennial crowd favorite Triple Treat, G20 and the rock gardens up top. So good, however, was the TV coverage, that it was hard to leave the big screen set up at the bottom of the hill. They had every inch of the hill covered with cameras, meaning you could watch virtually the entire run from top to bottom. The close proximity of the beer tent added to the allure of this location too.

So the winners were:

• 4X - Jared Graves and Caroline Buchanan. Both Aussies. Both deserving and humble champions.
• XC - Irina Kalentieva and Nino Schurter. One Russian, one Swiss. Also equally deserving, but not Australian, so not as exciting.
• DH - Emmeline Ragot and Steve Peat. France and Britain. Mick Hannah, the best of our bunch, took bronze. Even though we didn't win, I don't think many people were upset to see Peaty standing on top of the podium. He's been riding a long time, and come second now about four times in World Championships, so he pretty well deserved it.

Glen was busy commentating and just generally being a very important person, so I didn't see much of him over the weekend. I was hanging with the people. In fact, I even paid for my own ticket. Glen gave Peaty a $1 coin before his race, saying that, with the Queen's head on one side and skippy on the other, it would bring him good luck. Click here to see an interview about said coin.

I took my bike and did a bit of pedalling myself while there. It really is a pretty damn cool cycling city, Canberra. No matter what else it lacks, it doesn't lack places to ride bikes. I went with a keen crew of riders (Deano, Bretto, Shan, Brucey, Craigley, Nicko, Tommy, Dan and Laurie) and some time on the trails was a big priority. We rode at Stromlo twice and Sparrow Hill once, and we all had a very fine time. Stromlo is rocky and relatively technical, but has some great sections of flow and the granitic sand offers oodles of grip, and once we got away from the event area, the trails were empty. Sparrow is pine plantation and the emphasis is clearly on flow, rather than technicality, but is a great place to ride. Wish I took some pictures, but I was too busy riding.

Inspired by the men's XC, Bretto and I even went and busted out a lap of the course straight after it finished. It's weird being out there after such a huge event. Where only an hour earlier the track was thronged with fans and spectators, when we rode through it was strangely quiet and lonely, with only the sound of the plastic bunting flapping and crows picking foraging amongst the rubbish for food. The course was great. I'd ridden it before of course, and yes, I am biased. Most of the course is not that technically difficult, but the main climb (Cardiac Climb) and the following 200-300m is very technically difficult. Big rocky step-ups and rock garden climbs pepper the climb, meaning that you need to hold some energy in reserve to punch through these sections. I'm yet to clear it without a dab (i.e. putting a foot down). I've cleared every section in isolation, but stringing it all together is another story.

* Call me un-Australian, but I'm really sick of the Aussie chant. Can we come up with something else?

Stromlo Four Cross Track

Here's a sneak peek of some of the changes World Trail is putting in to the 4X track at Stromlo Forest Park for the World Champs coming up soon. 

These moguls should make for some very interesting racing come September...

SBS Has Sold Out

What is going on with SBS? Cricket? Cricket! What the...?

SBS has always been the antithesis of cricket and football. It has always stood firmly on the side of the downtrodden and unpopular. It always held aloft a torch for foreign sports, films, detective shows starring shaggy German Shepherds and hot Eurasian news readers combining a fierce intellect with stunning good looks. Most importantly, for years it has always been the only station that gave a shit about cycling - road, mountain, you name it.

Every July SBS becomes the most important station on my television. I tune in every morning around 7am, every evening at 6pm and often for 2-4 hours late at night. You see, the greatest annual sporting event of the world is on in July...the Tour de France. SBS coverage of the event is normally awesome. Normally I say, because this year they have decided to bump it off and put on the bloody test(e) cricket instead.

I don't know what else to say. I'm astounded. SBS is not a cricket station. It is absurd. It is an outrage. What are they thinking?

And yes, apparently it is on SBS Two (the digital channel) but that is not the point. Who (other than a handful of early adopter technophile geeks) has digital television? And besides which, its the principal of the thing. They have swapped le Tour for cricket. Damn them I say. I really wanted to watch that mountain stage tonight.

The Coolest Dog in the World

Introducing...the coolest dog in the world...the one, the only, Drummer!!!

Ok, he may be a little bit soft. But he has got character I tell you. 

And in case you didn't know, he's a Bedlington Terrier. Not many of them around. Only the cool people have them.

New Rig

I just got a new bike. Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Elite. It's red so it goes fast. Check it out:

Yeah, it is a bit different to the Scott Scale I've been riding. From a light weight carbon hard tail

with only 80mm of front travel to an aluminium duallie with 140mm front and rear  is quite a leap. It's not my first duallie though - I rode a GT IDXC 1 for a couple of years and loved it.

Its gonna take some getting used to though. I've only had one ride on it so far and it is light years away from the Scott. I think its gonna be a fun learning experience. Its definitely heavier than the Scott and slower uphills. Hopefully though I'll be able to make it up on the descents by taking faster lines and holding my speed through the rough stuff. Might be slightly quicker on the more technical climbs too.

I should also point out that Specialized is World Trail's official supplier of bikes and gear, so I got looked after with this purchase. Thanks to the guys at Total Rush in Melbourne for putting it together and sorting me out.

You Yangs Crazy Six Hour

On Sunday the 7th June, my sister and I raced as a mixed pair in the You Yangs Crazy Six Hour race at, strangely enough, the You Yangs. 

My sister Jodie is no slouch on the bike. She raced in the 1996 World Championships in Cairns, north Queensland (a course built by Glen and the local club), so yeah, she can ride a bit. She's also had two kids and so hasn't really raced or trained for the last five years, what with holding down a job and being a mum and all. She's also married to Josh Street, a name which should be known to any Aussie mountain bikers that rode or raced in the 90's.

Anyway, we made it on to the podium (figuratively speaking - there wasn't actually a podium). We came third. I should point out that there were only six teams in our category (mixed pairs), but third is third in my book.  

Go Gerro

On Saturday, May 23rd, late last week Simon Gerrans won Stage 14 of the Giro d'Italia, a 172km stage from Campi Bisenzio to Bologna. He rode in a twelve man breakaway the whole way and then stomped away from his breakaway companions on the steep pitch to the finish line. Big congrats to the boy from Mansfield and fellow member of the Mansfield Mt Buller Cycling Club.