Ourimbah State MTB Challenge - Round 2
Arriving in Ourimbah for the first time was a bit different, having both downhill and cross country riders enjoying the national park. Ourimbah has a good cross country course as well as downhill tracks to rip up.
Being the second state round in the 2009 series and also the largest populated NSW state round ever with over 150 of the state’s best riders, a good result is a really awesome achievement to get. Under 19’s were to do 3 laps of this technically leg-wrecking, 10 kilometre track.
A late start of 11.30pm saw good weather to embark this race with. On the start line a seemingly forever, long uphill fire road lay ahead. The start countdown was replaced by cleats engaging their pedals and the crowd shouting “come on, you can do it, go harder!”. The sprint was on to the top of the hill, typical for for under 19’s to go so hard so early.
Into the single track I was in second place and with only 10 metres separating the field, the pressure was intense. At the first possible opportunity I accelerated and overtook first place to become first place myself. The next part of the track was extremely fun with lots of fast flowing downhill. After having a couple of months on my new machine, the Scott Scale 20, these aspects became easy for me as I could launch off rocks and flick through tight bends.
The next section of the track, quite possibly what this track is renown for was ‘the drop’ which is an almost vertical downhill, armoured with a wooden down ramp down the centre of the “A” line. It drops around 5 metres from top to bottom and takes your speed from 10 km/h over the top to over 35km/h through the bottom and out the next berm.
For the rest of the first lap I was pushing with all I had, to try and open up a break from the rest of the field. Just before transition for the second lap a misshap occurred, dropping my bottle of water and having to backtrack to retrieve it, this resulting in only a 40 second gap between myself and second place.
With only 20 kilometres left I didn’t have much time to play around so I had to get myself a fast lap time. Half way through the second lap, second place caught my tail which saw even more hurt as I had to pull away again on a steep fire road climb. At the top of the hill I had broken around 15 seconds in front...“all I have to do is keep this”, I thought. To do so I took some extra risks which became rewarding. These included not braking through places like the 'rollercoster', a series of downhill switchbacks, but instead carrying faster speed into corners and accelerating out of them.
Going into the third lap I was still in control of the lead of the race, the Scale was going like a dream, but I had started to feel the burn in my legs. Climbing up the first kilometre of single track some well needed cheering and advice was given to me, including “go hard on the hills and take a rest on the descents” from Brian Price.
Taking this advice into mind I pushed on for the next 9 kilometres with no-one else in sight.
The last kilometre included a steep uphill followed by a descending sweep back to the finish line. Tom, in second place, caught me on this last climb and I was in a world of hurt. At first I couldn’t find anything, no energy at all to pull myself ahead and break away again. Then I thought, “this could be my first ever win at a state level” and from nowhere came a short but well needed burst of energy and I sprinted as hard as I could towards the finish line with second place only centimetres behind!
After what seemed to be the worst pain I had ever endured, some quick positive thoughts changed my state of mind...I had won my first state round and I was extremely happy
Blackman Bicycles have helped me achieve this by keeping my Scott Scale 20 in top notch working order and I would like to thank them for their ongoing support.
Words by Alex Wagner, Photos by John Wagner.
