When the first email came around suggesting that the Central Austalian Bike Challenge might be fun to do it went straight into the delete file – to hard core. Then a bit later another one came around – yeah why not. Then I was asked which bike I'd take, once that question is asked there can only be one answer (no matter how silly it may seem) – I'm taking the Surly 1x1. A week and a bit out and it wasn't looking good that I would make it being diagnosed with a "measles type" virus. Lots of rest and I'd recovered enough to at least go - I figured I'd just take it pretty easy.
Lone Dingo Prologue 8.1 km (Telegraph Station – 3 x 2.7km laps)
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I got my bike together just in time for the ride out to the start. After some milling around there was a call for a sighting lap for everyone. Bah! I’d seen half the course on the ride up and despite the flatness I was going to struggle with the 3 laps so I wasn’t going to ride a 4th, choosing to sit down on the nice soft grass instead - this was my first and only encounter with the infamous prickles all week.
The race cruelly started with a Le Mans start across the deep sand of the Todd River. The crew took their usual position towards the back, however against all mtb-oz etiquette Matt B started running. I’m not sure what he was thinking but some how he still seemed to get on the bike last. After cruising round for a couple of laps the comment was made “At least it looks like we’re not going to be lapped” which was met with a cheery “Coming through on your left guys” from Lefty with Matt Fleming in tow. After letting them get away I made a last ditch effort to jump on the back and of these two, they weren’t working too hard and I nearly caught theme before dying in the sand. Coming through after these two I cheekily attempted to claim the place but was duly sent out for another lap.
Choking in the dust (CyclingNews.com)
1st Matthew Fleming -01:00
2nd Aiden Lefmann
3rd Shaun Lewis
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74th Black Monkey
Stage 1 – Chambers Engineering Ridge Trail including the Asprint Hill Sprint. (Velodrome to Flynn’s Grave – 36km)
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Still trying to find my legs after a couple of weeks off my bike, the plan was to take it easy today & see what happened. The start was half a lap around the velodrome (on the infield) and out through the gate. Despite my best efforts there was no carnage as 150 or so riders tried to squeeze through the narrow gate to exit the track. Down the road & we were quickly in singletrack and those of us at the back end of the field were walking up the hill. Coming down off the top of the first hill a couple of riders stopped to get out of my way (always feels good to overtake a dually on a downhill) on the techy descent. The Hill Sprint wasn't too much of a hill but reasonable steep towards the top, unfortunately I lost the battle of traction having to slow down with another rider in front of me wobbling up the hill so walked the final few metres.
Cross the railway line and we're back in singletrack and I'm passing a few riders eventually catching Matt B and Dior. I spend most of the rest of the stage swapping places with Matt B always careful not to follow his 'lines' to closely, through some fun singletrack. On what was to be one of the final climbs I fly past hearing him say “Fark!” I briefly stop and ask if he's OK I get a yes/no mumble grumble chain mumble... OK so I keep going, rolling down to the finish in 62nd place.
Thirsty work (CyclingNews.com)
1st Matthew Fleming 1:36:12
2nd Aiden Lefmann 1:40:52
3rd Mark Frendo 1:40:56
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62nd Black Monkey 2:30:42
Stage 2 – The Rhodes Contracting Big One (Ross River Homestead to Alice Springs – 90 km)
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The theme for today was corrugations – lots of them. Fortunately these were broken up with sand, deep sand and lots of it. It was also the stage people started noticing what bike I was riding.
The start was early – out the door at 5am for the bus trip out to the Ross River Homestead where we were greated with a chilly 2°C morning. Around the same time the sun came up we were off, mmm corrugations a nice way to start. Into N'Dhala Gorge which was spectacular but the riding less so lots of very deep fine sand here especially by the time I came through. Finally out of the gorge and across the paddocks before climbing to Depot 1 where I catch up to Matt B. Dior comes though just as we're leaving. Weeee! A fun rocky 4wd track descent Matt B is getting away from me but no worries I think, I'll just keep enough momentum & I'll catch him on the climb. Half way down I catch another rider and decide to change wheel ruts, there was one spot up ahead where it looked feasable to do it all I had to do was avoid one rock... Needless to say I passed the guy, unfortunately I was in the air and sideways at about 40km/hr not having missed the rock – this was going to hurt I thought fully expecting to be carted off to hospital after I hit the ground. Hmm I start getting up, a bit dazed, and Dior stops to ask if I'm ok, I mumble something like “mostly I think” at which point she points to the mass of blood on my leg and asks if I'm sure I'm OK. It's just an exploded Gu mixed with the red dust. I'm still pretty grazed and shaken though and send Dior & the other guy that stopped to help on while I decided whether to go on or walk the short distance back to the Depot. Eventually I continued on, catching back up to Dior not long after Depot 2 after 10km or so of swapping turns with Vlad from Melbourne and Tattoo Man (Rick?). Rode the rest of the stage with Dior which included some great single track just before reaching Alice Spings but I was a bit too tired, bloody & bruised to enjoy it.
1st Matthew Fleming 3:11:33
2nd Shaun Lewis 3:16:09
3rd Adrian Jackson 3:16:12
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69th Black Monkey 5:05:51
Stage 3 – The Aurora Ultimate Ride (Alice Springs Telegraph Station Loop 39 km)
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With an abundance of singletrack and only a little sand this one was billed as the best track of the event and it certainly didn’t disappoint. A short section of 4wd track lead onto the old North Stuart Highway and the entire field seemed to be sprinting away from me as I spun out on the old ashfelt section, but a couple of short and steep pinches & into the single track and I'm catching them back up. I pass Matt B getting rid of some excess fluid at the top of a short climb (rookie mistake Matt ;-)). Lots and lots of tight twisty singletrack, interupted by a couple of sections of sand along a creek. More singletrack after the depot that seemed to go on for ages, climbing and descending along a ridge line. About 600m before the finish there's a little rock garden decent – I make the first section OK, then a tight squeeze before the final drop, is the line right or left I think. I start to the right realizing too late that the easier line was up around to the left – bugger!
1st Matthew Fleming 1:42:14
2nd Mark Frendo 1:43:57
3rd Aiden Lefmann 1:44:34
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62nd Black Monkey 2:31:29
Stage 4 – The Gorey & Cole Drillers Track (Alice Springs Golf Club Loop – 46 km)
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After a quick blatt around the golf course it was up into some great singletrack – lots of little technical climbs followed by tight flowing downhill corners. Spoonboy crashed early on, Out of the singletrack and onto 4wd track with short sections of sand (a taste of what’s to come). I spend a bit of time talking to a girl from Darwin who’d only been riding since February before stopping to give a guy a bit of duct-tape to repair a delaminating sole on his shoe. Some more 4wd track before heading out onto the Undoolya Road to revisit the worst sections of corrugations from Stage 2. On this section Aerobar man came flying past and Darwin Chick caught me just as we headed off across the paddock to Jessie Gap. About halfway along the section from the Depot to Emily Creek checkpoint I finally catch Matt B and let out a maniacal laugh sending chills down his spine. His attempt at a brief counter attack was short-lived, as he'd injured his knee hitting a rock after falling off in the sand. Sand, more sand and just for kicks a 50m section of very deep sand to cross Emily Creek. After Emily Creek I pass Dior who was not happy with the sand and sounded ready to to spit the dummy. Finally back into the single track and then a quick sprint through the golf course to finish
1st Aiden Lefmann 2:01:49
2nd Shaun Lewis 2:02:12
3rd Matthew Fleming 2:02:16
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62nd Black Monkey 2:59:25
Stage 5 – Top Gear Car and 4WD Centre Route – Race to the Top (ANZAC Hill – 31 km)
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After spinning my legs off on Stages 2 and 4 and with this stage touted as being a fast one I had wandered down to the Ultimate Ride on Wednesday afternoon to see what I could find in the way of a bigger gear. Hanging up in the back of the shop was a Deore chain ring, 42 teeth - not perfect but it will do. So it was with this coupled with the 18 tooth “in case of emergency” cog I started this ride. 42:18, how much could it hurt? The ride up to the start gave a little indication…
Lots of single track to start this one, suprisingly once the masses thinned out and I was able to keep momentum on my side I was able to stomp my way up the pinches. Once on to the seoncd half of the course the big gear started to pay off and I was able to keep a reasonable speed through the flattish 4wd drive tracks. On the downhill section of the Old Stuart Highway I was passed by Huffy Man (Bugger! I thought I was going to beat him for once). Todd passed me on the Stuart Highway at a rapid speed and I was not able to spin fast enough to hold his wheel. Back into the dirt again and another 4 riders caught me and I was able to hang on the back all the way to ANZAC Hill, the big guy on the orange Blur was particularly good to draft. At the bottom of the hill I sat up, & rested before taking a few deep breaths before starting to stomp my way up the hill. The hill is not high but with a 25% gradient it is certainly steep, I'm standing, lungs screaming for more air almost to the top about to admit defeat when Lefty calls out from the finish line “Stomp it Rob!”, one last burst of effort and I'm across the line.
1st Matthew Fleming 1:11:09
2nd Mark Frendo 1:13:33
3rd Shaun Lewis 1:14:39
4th Aiden Lefmann 1:14:39
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54th Black Monkey 1:38:23
Stage 6 – The Neata Glass Time Trial (Flynn’s Grave to Simpson’s Gap – 18 km)
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Some more serious preparation went into this one. With the promise of a flat course the 16 tooth cog went back on and a bottle of Coopers finest Pale Ale was taped into the bottle cage, providing some incentive to ride quickly so it would still be cool at the finish or when ever I gave up along the track. Starting positions were in reverse GC order so I only had to wait half and hour or so to be called up to the start.
The start was uphill, WTF! OK it wasn’t much up hill but enough to make it a real challenge to get 42:16 rolling. I tried in vain to catch my 30-second man (girl actually), before being caught by the guy behind me, unfortunately on a downhill section so I couldn’t hold on to his wheel. Next Todd came screaming though; he was flying, having already passed 2 other riders and one team. Luck for me there was a few tight corners and I was able to hold his wheel for a while before he steamed away. When that boy learns to turn he’s going to be fast! Looking up ahead I could see a gap in the ranges, which must have been Simpson’s Gap, it seemed to close surely I had another 20 minutes riding to do, the track must twist around a lot I though. Next through was a chain of 3 riders (a team and one other) and I was able to hold onto these until I could see the finish line, I reached down & ripped the beer from the bottle holder and associated duct tape and opening it 20 metres or so before the line. It was still cold and not too shaken so I was able to take a few well earned swigs while crossing the line to the rapturous applause & laughter of the assembled masses.
1st Matthew Fleming 0:26:04
2nd Nick Both 0:26:14
3rd Shaun Lewis 0:26:33
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66th Black Monkey 0:34:33
Overall
1st Matthew Fleming 10:08:28
2nd Shaun Lewis 10:25:09
3rd Aiden Lefmann 10:25:32
…
62nd Black Monkey 15:20:23
It was a great fun 7 days. One of the best organised races I've done. A good mix of technical riding, amazing singletrack, 4wd tracks and roads.
Some time in the future I'll be back, with singlespeed of course.
A few photos
To read how the race panned out at the pointy end, read the CyclingNews.com reports
