Mountain Biking is fun. In part, that’s why you’re reading this. But it has a whole lot of ways to be interpreted. Cruising fire trails to a nice spot for a picnic with friends or loved ones can be mountain biking. Racing down ski slopes in coloured pyjamas, against the clock is also mountain biking. People that do either of these probably don’t see much similarity in what they do. As mountain biking is really diverse, and it is what you choose it to be. That doesn’t stop attempts to name every slightly different style though.
Racing is no different. Marathon (XCM) racing tends to be known as a race over 65km with no more than three laps – and I tend to think of a race beyond 120km an ‘ultra marathon’. Despite the move from the UCI to allow lap based Marathons, I’m not really into it. Part of the appeal of a Marathon is a journey. Getting from point to point, not just seasoning and learning lines. That’s what cross country is for.
So the Rock Wallaby Enduro at Appin, south of Sydney, today was a little different. Due to such a wet summer in this part of Australia, the course was down from 50km to 44km. And that would be two laps. Like many people, I don’t shy away from branding a race – so I figured this is like a half-Marathon. But I think the race organisers, Chocolate Foot, get it right with their naming – being an Enduro. More on that later.
Chocolate Foot run the Singletrack Mind Series, which is well regarded as a fun and competitive lap-based Enduro race series. They use good trails, attract good riders, have great sponsors and prizes, and help put back into the clubs who help prepare the trails for the events. So the Rock Wallaby stands apart from their race Series, but maintains their usual ethos and charm.
On the Elite start line, it was mostly laughter and shared jokes. The starting horn was quite literally a fizzer (thanks for the liquid it shot out all down my left side Joe!) but that didn’t stop a whole lot of horsepower tearing up the grass on the oval. Having raced a club ‘cross race the previous day, I wasn’t sure where I’d be sitting.
Out the hoop as it turns out.
As we set off it seemed like the only part of me that was racey was the number on my bars. As I watched the front group ride away, I was pretty content just to pedal along and enjoy the circuitous trails that somehow managed to loop in, around, above and below the rock shelves and bushland south of Sydney to create a 22km loop, with a few fire trail sections thrown in.
Upfront, the race was being decided by Trenton Day, Mark Tupalski and Jon Odams. Trenton Day ended up with the win, and was justifiably pretty happy about it. The terrain was quite rocky and really favoured strong technical abilities, or a strong lower back. Both would be a great combination.
Trenton Day took the win today, and the winners interview that comes with it. Photo: Peter Figg.
For the first lap I had fun riding the trails, sometimes missing turns, but generally having fun. But where was I going? I’d come in with a Marathon mentality, when clearly this was an Enduro. At almost no point today did I have a race focus, so I thought about some of my favourite Marathons, and what they embody. The Convict 100 uses a pretty historical section of the Old North Road, so it feels like it’s taking you somewhere, despite ending up where you start. The same can be said for the Swiss National Park Bike Marathon. The long distance starts and finishes in the town of Scuol- but the 138km and 4000m of climbing between go and whoa takes on smugglers routes, a pilgrims trail, old trading routes, alpine single track, and border crossings. So although I had lots of fun riding the trails at Appin today, doing so alone off the back wasn’t much fun. I’d rather reserve suffering in no-mans land for a big Marathon race.
Thankfully, Jet Racing rider Kyle Ward caught me. He was running the ‘Three B’s’ of a beard, baggy shorts and a backpack. This was more suitable to how I felt like racing (or riding today) and we had fun for most of the second lap as we joked around and I hit trail obstacles that he seemed to float over on his training hartdail.
There probably isn’t a requirement to pigeon hole every kind of riding, and every different race. What was run today? A really fun, competitive cross country race on quality trails, that was close to home. What more could you ask for on a great Sunday morning? Thanks to Chocolate Foot for putting the event on, and all the event volunteers who make mountain bike races happen.
Full results and pictures are available on the Rock Wallaby event page.
Some rake, some ride. That's how grassroots MTB racing works. Photo: Kath Bicknell