10am Registrations start
10:30am Quick speech on details ect
11:30am Registrations close
1-1:30pm Peoples choice closes
2pm Trophy presentations
These are approx. times as its our first show and we’re still getting into the swing of things.
Between these times we can mingle and meet others and talk bikes for the day.
Few key points to keep in mind are:
*when you arrive just come over to the rego marquee and fill out paperwork and we’ll give you all the info you need
*if you arrive after rego closes you are still welcome to display bikes, but they wont be eligible for trophys
*all trophy winners must be present to win, if not it will go to next in line!!
*please use your peoples choice to vote for a bike you like and not your own as if everyone votes for there own bike then no one wins.
* judges bikes will not be up for any awards as its a conflict of interest.
* any questions on the day, just come up to one of us wearing a pedal pushers shirt and we’ll help out as best we can.
*its a public park so we can’t be held responsible for any damages to property but if we all show some respect for others property and keep a look out then there won’t be any problems.
*please use bins provided
*most of all….enjoy the day and meet some like-minded people!!
From the information provided online, this event is a proactive, peaceful and family-friendly reminder from all manner of Brisbane cyclists to policy-makers for cycling to be featured prominently in Brisbane policy and infrastructure development.
What is The Big Push for Road Safety ?
The Big Push for Road Safety Facebook page describes the event as: “Speaking up for road safety’ and riding for Queensland Road Safety Week. Join us as we once again take a ride through the CBD asking for safe streets for people on bikes. Meet at Kurilpa Point Park under the Kurilpa Bridge at 2.00pm for a 2.30pm roll, we will ride over Victoria Bridge and complete a loop around the city before returning to our start point. Bring your family, bring your friends, bring your neighbours who haven’t taken their bike out of the garage for years….the more people who ride the stronger the message.”
Space for Cycling is an international organization with chapters in many major cities and is a non-for profit cycling advocacy group. This means that the organisation is where ‘Brisbane’s bicycle user groups and community cycling organisations have come together to create and work toward a vision for Brisbane where it is easy, convenient, and safe for people of all ages and abilities to ride a bicycle to their destination’. Activities undertaken by the Brisbane chapter include campaigns such as writing to your local councillor, attending local council meetings, keeping the general public informed of developments and organising community bike events.
They have also been tracking key cycling measures and progress on locations such as the Sylvan Road trial, Ipswich motorway connection and the Boggo Road Station – all of which are high-volume, high-interest developments for Brisbane cyclists.
Source: Space for Cycling (BNE). The Big Push for Riding (April, 2017).Source: Space for Cycling (BNE). The Big Push for Riding (April, 2017).Source: Space for Cycling (BNE). The Big Push for Riding (April, 2017).
It makes good sense for this event to happen now also to capitalize on the current media interest and publicity surrounding recent road planning, shared road infrastructure and access and the urban cycling agenda.
Queensland Police marketing the Queensland Road Safety Week
It is interesting to see the Queensland Police marketing for the Queensland Road Safety Week. This week is posited on the offical Police website as begin a ‘chance for all Queenslanders to get involved in making our roads safer’ and that the initiative is ‘encouraging active participation’ for the weeks central theme of “Speaking up for road safety”. To this end, the police state that they are ‘encouraging the whole community to have their say on road safety. Communities, schools and workplaces are encouraged to support the week by hosting local events or sharing road safety information among staff, students, colleagues, family and friends’.
There are lots of official police and government sanctioned modes to ‘have your say and get involved’ on the offical website, so it makes me wonder just how ‘encouraging of the WHOLE community’ outside of participating int he competitions this week really is-and to what degree ‘alternative views’ of transportation and those of critics are ‘encouraged to participate’.
I also like that this is a repeat event. It is a great way to piggy-back on the last event and get some of the same people returning- as well as inviting some new people to get involved as well.
With this in mind, I think next week’s event is a wonderful forum to get the pro-cycling agenda out and into the wider public experience.. It is so obviously non-threatening given the normalcy, fun, family, and overall localised and relaxed vibe for the ride. It will also be a great snapshot of Brisbane’s range of riders and a great showcase for the diversity in bikes, ages, skills, confidence, abilities, purposes and approaches to riding in and around Brisbane.
I’ve always been a big proponent for community ‘protests’ that include colour, fun, kids, dogs, bikes and music. It is hard to get angry, argumentative and putative with little kids in rainbow jumpers sitting happily in bike trolleys, listening to ‘Dancing in the Street’ while holding fluffy white puppies! (Aww bless. Viva la revolution!!)
For these reasons and more, I am very much looking forward to attending this ride with Leki.
Annette Dexter’s enthusiasm, support and fitness is unquenchable! Her last race post was on the 2017 Bayview Blast MTB 100km marathon . Here, she gives an overview of the popluar Queensland MTB event – the 3Plus3. Thanks to Annette for her time and energy. We wish her luck on her next amazing adventure! NG.
On the weekend of 8-9 July 2017, South East Queensland (SEQ) mountain bikers again made a good showing at the 3Plus3 event at Spicers Hidden Vale. The midwinter 3Plus3 has become a firm part of the local riding calendar, along with Hidden Vale’s 24 h and 4 h events in April, the Dingo Duo in October and the Epic in September.
Originally held as a December event, the 3Plus3 migrated to July on a permanent basis after being cancelled due to rain two years in succession. It now serves as a mountain bikers’ Christmas in July. Like other mountain biking events at Hidden Vale, the event offers an opportunity to camp on the 12,000 acre property, rather than staying in limited cottage accommodation at the resort.
Format
Racing takes the form of 3 h lap events events on Saturday and Sunday, with separate courses of approximately 9 km each day in 2017. Riders can choose to participate on one or both days, either as solo riders or in a team of two.
Age categories in the main event range from under-19 to over-50s, and a separate single-speed category is available. There are also kids’ events run across the weekend, with A, B and C grades riding laps of a 2.2 km course across both days and social riders completing the course on Saturday or Sunday only.
Event Evolution
In 2016, the event for the first time offered a separate social ride, with riders using an alternate course to the racers in an untimed event. For the Saturday social event, riders proceeded through transition to a short fire road descent, then up 007 trail, following Dodgem, Western Creek and Woodworm to the popular Plane Sailing trail, exiting halfway along for a descent to Ladder and a climb back to the main fire road, then turning away from race base to return along Gully.
Sunday racers followed the same course, while the Saturday race (and Sunday social ride) took in a short climb up Buckshot, the last portion of Plane Sailing and a descent through Snake to Juiced, followed by a loop through Airplane, Rock Bottom and Escalator. Escalator has had some much-needed spade work, so it is good to see older trails are not being neglected while Hidden Vale pursues expansion of the trail network further from the homestead.
The 3Plus3 remains a popular event, particularly for families. Participation has been growing from year to year, particularly with the addition of the social ride. A Saturday night Xmas feast is available for limited numbers and many riders appreciate an opportunity to stay on after the first day’s riding and catch up with MTB friends before completing the event on the Sunday.
Results
The 2017 overall win for women went to Imogen Smith, who was returning from serious hip and shoulder injuries sustained in a criterium race earlier this year. Imogen rode 14 laps across Saturday and Sunday in a total time of 6:36.
The men’s overall winner was Trek Racing’s Ethan Kelly, with 16 laps in 6:24.
Above: Me and Ratboy (Josh Bryceland) – Peatty’s Team Mate/Mentee and British DH Champ and World Cup Racer. He has been on the UCI World Cup podium 9 times. He is also well known for his mad riding and hard partying ways. It was great I got to catch up with Josh last year as it ended up being his last year racing the Pro circuit and he retired soon after this photo was taken.
Above: Me and Julien Absalon – the most winningest (and considered the best) Elite Men’s Cross Country (MTB) rider in the world …ever!! Too many accolades to list here…Woohoo!!
Above: Me and Troy Brosnan. Brosnan was Junior DH World Champ for 2010 and 2011. He won the overall junior world cup in 2010 & 2011 and Aussie DH Champion in 2011 & Oceania Junior Continental Champion 2011. In 2012 he went Elite, with a third overall in the DH World Cup (2014) and won the Fort William third round. He also won the DH World Champs bronze in 2014 and third overall for the 2015 and 2016 DH World Cup series. He is Australian National DH Champ for 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2016 (*Phew!*).
Last year’s UCI World Cup in Cairns
For me, last year was a total contrast to 2015. I worked the 2015 Cairns event, which was epic given that it rained non-stop a week prior to race day.
This turned all the tracks into slick and slippery death-defying shoots covered in thick gluggy toothpaste!
Boy did everyone work hard that round!!! Ahhhh the memories!!!
(See Instagram @Bicycles_Create_Change for more past UCI DH World Cup pics).
Remember Cairns UCI World Cup 2015- aka ‘Rumble in the Puddles’?
If you need to refresh your memory of how epic the 2015 UCI DH Cairns round was – check out this 2’32” Badass mashup video…
…and yes…that is me in the opening sequence!!
But this year will be a little different. I’ll be watching remotely as I won’t be making the trek to Cairns this year for the big event (*sniff*).
There are six rounds each for XCO and DH – and the World Cup 2017 is starting this weekend – woohoo!!
The World Championship heads to Australia and Cairns at the end of the World Cup season with a full program of XCO, XCE and DH racing on show.
I can’t wait!!!
The UCI is expected to confirm the calendar in late June and the dates will be subject to change until then so don’t go booking trips to the events until then! Scroll down for all the downhill (DHI) and cross country (XCO) rounds.
April 29-30: (DHI) Lourdes, France
May 20-21: (XCO) Nové Mesto, Czech Republic
May 27-28: (XCO) Albstadt, Germany
June 3-4: (DHI) Fort William, Scotland
June 10-11: (DHI) Leogang, Austria
July 1-2 (XCO/DHI) Vallnord, Andorra
July 8-9: (XCO/DHI) Lenzerheide, Switzerland
August 5-6: (XCO/DHI) Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada
August 26-27: (XCO/DHI) Val di Sole, Italy
September 5-10: (XCO/DHI) UCI World Championships, Cairns, Australia
Cairns MTB World Cup Working Bee Shout-out
As a member of Cairns MTB Club, I received this shout-out invitation for World Cup working bee helpers. So if you are keen to be part of the action and for anyone in the area… here are the details as sent to me FYI:
With the UCI MTB World Championships just around the corne, there is a way you can be involved now. The Cairns MTB Club has been asked to construct a new spectator/media trail in the “Vines” section of the Downhill track. We have been offered an incentive to get it done ASAP and we want to pass some of that incentive on to the people that help build the trail.
We need are people to help out on regular Saturday/Sunday morning working bees from 7:30am-10:30 am, for about six – eight weeks beginning on the 10th of June.
We do have a budget to meet so the quicker we can get it done, the less we spend on it, giving the club more funds to put back into trail maintenance and development. The job is to create a 1.5m wide riding/walking trail in “Vines” area running alongside the downhill track. There will be a lot of shovel and mattock digging involved.
The Reward
For every working bee (3 hours long) you can attend and do productive work you will receive a gift voucher to use at the bike shop of your choice.
You can put it towards that new something you have wanted or you can donate the money back to the club to help fund the Black snake rebuild and extension. The Gift Vouchers will be handed out at the end, once the work is completed and has been approved by National Parks. All workers will need to “sign in” with their details at each working bee so we can keep accurate records of attendance and hours worked.
If this is something you are interested in getting involved with, please email Club President Craig at President@cairnsmtb.com with your expression of interest.
Reminder
The first Working Bee will be held on Sunday 10th of June and then every Saturday and Sunday morning until the job is done.
Well, after two weeks in Melbourne, it’s back to Brisbane and back on the bike. This weekend was Round 1 of the 2017 Shimano Enduro Series. It was at Garapine and although tired and not ride fit, I wanted to make the effort to support the event, my team and get back on the big bike.
Round 1: Garapine – 2017 Shimano Enduro Series
Despite a heavy commitment to uni for teaching and researching, I’ve committed to riding this series. I like the regularity of rounds and I look forward to them, even though I find the riding tough and I am not competitive as a racer, I derive great personal satisfaction as a rider and from challenging myself. Suffice to say, I can now more fully appreciate why there are not may academics my age riding Enduro!
See some more pictures from the day @bicycles_create_change or at the Instagram icon at the end of the post.
Changing from Masters to Elite – why?
It was a great day and I love riding the Garapine trails. This season is a little different from last year as I am registered in Elite and not Masters. As I am riding as an ambassador, I pose threat to the lead female riders and prefer to ride where there is more company – hence the change over from Masters. It is such a pity there are not enough older women Enduro riding to fill out all the divisions like Masters Female – where are you all, my fellow elder sisters? I am more than happy to participate and make up extra numbers. In my view, there can be no genuine winners unless riders like me make up the rest of field – so I am providing a very valuable race day community service by filling out this division.
How was the day?
Registration was at 8, briefing at 9 and racing commencing at 10 am. I presume the logic of the late race start is because Garapine is just under 2 hours from Brisbane and starting later will allow for as many riders to attend as to travel up and attend as possible. But equally, it also meant that we had 3.5 hours to complete 6 tracks within the time limit – 2 x Black Snake, 2 x King Brown, 1 x Blue and 1 x Dumb it Down.
Ordinarily, this was not a major issue, but on this particular day, it meant riding in the heat of a very hot day. This was definitely a contributing factor for me as I’m still adjusting to Brisbane’s humidity and scorching summer heat, let alone riding bikes up and down in a full-face helmet and pads. But that is part of the beauty of race days – and the challenge – everyone else had to deal with the same conditions.
What was my approach?
Taking into account the heat, my physical tiredness and that this was the first time I had been back on my big bike ‘Trucka-sore-arse’, in nearly two months I decided that my approach for this round was to:
Enjoy myself
Ride at my own pace
Use this as an opportunity to assess my hydration/food/exertion formula for effectiveness
Focus on honing my psychological approach to riding this race and not pushing my physical skills to the max (ie. keep positive, monitor negative self-talk, maintain humour and sociability in the face of heat/tiredness, check to see what limiting thoughts come up and address them).
Track selection
It was a self- seeding, self-selecting round, meaning that as soon as a rider had started on their first track they then could choose in what order and when they wanted to complete the course. I didn’t go crazy on the timed downhill stages, in fact, I was very reserved, just testing the waters. I rode two Black Snakes first. It is such a great track and I super enjoyed it, so my confidence was up. By the end of the third track I could feel my lack of fitness and the heat starting to take it toll – but I was mindful to keep any debilitating thoughts in check. I keep drinking water and eating and made an effort to keep moving. By my last trail I was thoroughly pooped. I left Dumb it Down til last, but the track was so blown out and chopped up that it was difficult to navigate and make any real headway, so I picked my way through, just happy to finish in time.
Also, I was conscious that I didn’t want to hold up the elite field who were ‘racing’ – it was an EWS qualifying round after all. I was happy to pull over on track and let others pass where, even though it slowed me down and in some cases, I stopped and got right off track for a few guys who were really careering on course. It was the right thing to do and getting my momentum back up was secondary to being safe, having fun and not over cooking myself. After all, it was a long, hot day and I still had to drive 2 hours home after the race.
How did other riders go?
The Defcon crew were amazingly supportive as usual. We had some good laughs, caught up on post-new year developments and generally had a blast. I had a few good chats with some other riders as we liaised back up the hills and I was happy that I looked after myself and was not suffering like other riders were. Taking the approach of focusing on my mental state paid dividends. I was able to genuinely remain positive and friendly throughout the day. I was in a much better frame of mind than quite a few other riders I saw suffering and complaining – and a few were really quite sick from heatstroke/dehydration. It stopped to help where I could offering water and food.
I have always been fascinated by how different people face the inherent difficulties of a physical challenge. I often wonder, given the immense and immediate benefits, why some athletes don’t train their minds and much as they do their bodies. It certainly helped me get through the day better.
Overall
I was very happy with my effort on the day. It was a great set up and I got to ride some of my favourite tracks. It had a great turn out with 300 riders. Some of the elite riders were really going for it on the day – as you can see from the results. I was able to catch up with a few mates I haven’t seen in ages – and it was great to see some other familiar faces as well. As an Australia EWS qualifier, I was half expecting to see Jared Graves and Richie Rude, but alas my plans to catch up with them were not to be. I can’t believe it has been nearly 2 years since I last chatted with them during the 2015 EWS season – boy how time flies!
Overall, I found the day to be quite physically draining, but that made it all the more satisfying. I’ll be buggered if I’m going to waste the opportunity to ride my bike with mates and have fun.
On the weekend, I rode the South East Queensland (SEQ) Enduro 2016 Round 3 at Garapine. It was my first Enduro foray out this year, but I wanted to make the effort to get on the bike after a very busy semester. I needed the fresh air and break from Brisbane. I didn’t care about racing fast or the forecast, people were warning it was going to be pouring with rain and super muddy, but I don’t mind. I’m from Victoria and ridden in some pretty wet and muddy conditions and come out with a super smile on my face – there more people whinge about the conditions, the more fun I seem to have. I see it as an attitude and a decision to make. As long as I’m not cold – I’m up for riding in pretty much any weather conditions – besides, I like the challenge to use new skills.
Meet new peeps
I also wanted to make an effort to meet some more people in the Enduro scene up here and catch up with some riders that I had met in Cairns for the UCI World Cup earlier this year – as well as support the event. I haven’t been training or riding the big bike for ages, so it was a perfect opportunity to go up and be social, have a ride and get a feel for the series. I was impressed with the genuine welcome and warmth that was extended. I heard my name being shouted out as I rode past people and the Defcon boys especially made an effort to welcome me and cheer me on. So to the Defcon Team -especially to Stu (thanks for asking me to ride in your jersey), Andy, Matt, Tim and Luke – thanks for your support, laughs and great company on the trails – you make my day even better!
Masters Women
I entered the Women Masters division for a number of reasons. Firstly I wanted to populate the women’s divisions – and being a little older, I think it is really important for the general public to see older women riding. In some small way, because I love riding so much, I feel like it is my responsibility (and my pleasure) to ride for my age group – primarily to show that women 40-50 ride mountain bikes, to encourage other women to join in but also because I like riding at my own pace – as I’ve said before.. I’m a rider, not a racer. The rest of the competitors did super well, and I was very impressed with the field, including a young female U15 entrant which was great to see and results on the day speak for themselves.
A league of her own
Well, I had a great time. I rolled through the trails, just enjoying the tracks, had a laugh, got sweaty, cheered on other riders, made some new friends and had a thoroughly enjoyable day. I ended taking out Masters Women, not because I was fast, just because I was the only entrant – but that was the whole point. As long as there are people riding different divisions, it gives opportunity and options for others.
So all in all – I had a great day, tricky new trails and lots of fun.
I ended up being tired, safe, happy and delighted to be back on the bike – what a perfect day!!
