Two Wheel Promotions are conducting a Downhill event at Twin Peaks Canungra on Sunday 23 September 2007. Entries are limited to 120 riders and nomination with pre-payment ($70) will only be accepted. Go to the Two Wheel Promotions website, click on Twin Peaks and download the PDF nomination form and fax to Libby on (07) 5543 5144. Normal conditions apply such as approved full face helmet and body armour is recommended. Registration commences at 7.30am with shuttles departing from 8.00am. This is a good opportunity to get the cobwebs out of the bike as we have not had a downhill event since the State Champs in August. Those intending to compete are asked to let Hayden know through Ashgrove Cycles. Onya bike and into the bush!!!!   HP.

Just a quick note to let members know that I have created a photo album for future Downhill & Mountain X events. I have a bit of work to do in editing some of the photo’s from the Sunshine Series and State Championships for 2007 however; these will be posted as soon as possible.

Your link to gain access to photo’s is: www.flickr.com/photos/harveyp/

If you have problems getting access, send a comment to this post and I will attempt to remedy the problem. Please bear with me as I am an amatuer at this game!!!  

onya bike and into the bush!  HP

2007 has seen increased membership and activity in the Downhill & Mountain X disciplines. The Sunshine Series saw competition at Upper Brookfield (rounds 1 & 5), Toowoomba (round 2), Kenilworth (round 3) and Illinbah (round 4). DRCC was well represented in many divisions and had good success overall as follows:

• Under 15 Men: Brandon Yrttiaho – 1st outright, Ben Power - 2nd outright, Aaron Shillington – 4th outright, Jon Messer – 9th outright.
• Under 17 Men: Hayden Bristow – 7th outright.
• Veteran Men: Nic Jacquet – 8th outright and Pat Egan 9th outright
• Masters Men: Jeff Shillington – 4th outright
• Hardtail Men: Joey Lester – 1st outright and ’Haydo’ Lester – 5th outright

Attention then moved to the MTBA Qld Downhill Championships which were held at Kinchant Dam, Mackay over the weekend 18-19 August and DRCC was again very well represented in both body and voice. The Club had a total of 10 riders and 4 support crew attend the meet which was conducted under ideal conditions and extremely well hosted by Mackay Cyclopaths Club. Podium finishes were gained by the following:

• Under 15 Men: Brandon Yrttiaho – 1st, Ben Power – 2nd and Aaron Shillington – 3rd.
• Masters Men:  Jeff Shillington – 3rd.
• Hardtail Men:  ‘Haydo’ Lester – 2nd.

Congratulations to all who competed at the State Championships including none other than the Club President, Gavin (not as quick as in years gone bye but still managed to complete the course without mishap!). The Club atmosphere was fantastic with our own tent and Club banners featuring in prominent positions at the finish line and in Pit Row.  

Two Wheel Promotions have announced that they will be conducting Downhill competition at Twin Peaks Canungra during September, October and November 2007, so keep an eye on their web site for more details and entry nomination. This will be good training for the forthcoming National Series and National Titles. Additionally, Gold Coast Mountain Bike Club are conducting Club Days at Illinbah 13-14 October 2007 for both Mountain X and Downhill. I understand that Mountain X will be conducted on Saturday afternoon and Downhill on Sunday however; members should confirm this when they nominate with Gus McInally (0407) 753327 and I would suggest those members interested contact Gus sooner rather than later as numbers will be limited. This is a dress rehearsal for the 2nd round of the National Series to be held at Illinbah 23-25 November 2007.

Haydo, Sam and Ben (Power) competed in the GCMTB Club Mountain X day at Illinbah on Sunday 2nd September 2007 and had a great day. We showcased the Club tent with banners along Pit Row at the finish line. All riders accounted for themself in good fashion with Haydo getting to the final round, Ben and Sam to the elimination rounds but not before ’eat’n dirt’ at some stage of the day! All agreed that the track is awesome which requires concentration and technical appreciation rather than ‘full on attack’. A big thank you to the Gold Coast Club for their hospitality and friendship.

Well, thats it for the moment and I apologise for this report being so long winded however; I have just stepped into the role of ‘roving reporter’ for the Downhill & Mountain X disciplines and had a great deal to report on for 2007. Remember that our Club will only be as strong as the membership that supports it! To this end, come along and enjoy the mateship and good times we are having and if you know of anyone looking for a Club to join, introduce them to DRCC – they will not be disappointed.

See you in the bush onya bike!   HP

Elite Men. 7 laps. 5km with 2 major climbs, and 1km of technical downhill that was full of 4 inches of dust. All the Elite riders who knew the course, knew it was one for the climbers. Any thought of starting off easy but diminished, when $50 was put on the line for the first lap flyer. It was going to hurt. Silence on the start line.

First lap and a group of 5 went clear (Frendo, Dave, Glenn, Josh and Myself), and we stayed like this for the first 4 laps. A train of riders all hurting. Glenn attacked on the first steep climb on lap 5, I was sitting 4th wheel, so relied on others to close the gap, Josh was behind and went with him. Frendo was sitting in 3rd was hurting and the gap opened. Right there on lap number 4 is where the race slipped from my grasp.

2 laps to go and I was riding with Dave and Frendo sitting in 3rd, 4th and 5th. Dave attacked on the second long climb of lap 5 and I went with him, and we put a small gap into Frendo.

Start of lap 6, and Dave put everything into the second long climb, and I was starting to feel the previous weeks enduro. It was like an elastic band that took a lap to break, I had roughly 150m gap to Dave, and then roughly 200m in front of him was 2nd place (Josh). I could see them on the climb, but didn’t have the BANG to close the gap.

I tried to make “easy” time on the downhill, to get back to these two, so really went hard through the tech downhill section. The crowd cheering was awesome, and no less than 6 times did I think I was going to crash my freking brains out. It worked, I would close the gap, but they would turn the screws up on the climb (note to self, must weight under 70kg). The climbs were stinging the legs on the last 2 laps, with the first steep climb on the last lap had me running up it.

The photo attached is me on the last lap, gritting my teeth, hurting a lot and in pain……doing what I can to move into 3rd place….digging deep….it was awesome. I wanted to slow down a little, but that’s not fun. So I dug hard and tried to switch the mind into “no ryan, you like this, it’s fun” mode.

Great course.

4th place. Sadly 4th overall in the series.

Next big race is the XC state Champs, that I want to win. Septemeber 9th at the course that will be used for round 2 in the National Series. The real training for the season started this week, long days on the road bike, starting the intensity training, and clamping down on the diet.

As a training treat, I will be entering in the double epic this year, 200km over two days on the 25th/26th of August.

So the schedule up until the first National Round is:

• 29th July Nunn 60km Marathon.
• 25/26th August Double Epic.
• 9th Sept QLD State Champs.
• October 7th to 20th is 2 week training camp based in Bright VIC.

[Ryan Hawson]

Calling all Cross Country racers! The D’Aguilar Range Cycling Club is hosting Race 5 of the MTBA QLD Sunshine Series at Raaen Rd, D’Aguilar (UBD 36 E7) on Sunday July 22, 2007.

This event is sure to be as successful as last year and we hope you can all make it. Registration starts at 7:30am, with the first race kicking off at 8:30am. For more information call (07) 3366 0379.

Also, make sure you check out: http://www.twowheelpromotions.com.au/eventssun.html

Start line, and curious glances are going everywhere “Damm, everyone is on the line”.

Bang, we’re smashing up the climb, with a pace equal to that of a XC race. Sitting happy in third and even a kilometre into the race, the field was spread out. Awesome, only 84km to go. By the 3km mark, Josh (Race Elements) and I had a gap and we laughed that we should kick it up a notch to see what happens. 8km in and we are at the first ‘hike-a-bike’ section and we look to have 20 seconds. Onto the ridgeline, Josh and I were rolling fast, the legs for me were feeling great and the heart rate was low. The second hike-a-bike section came and went quickly, middle chainring all the way, and again I kept the heart rate under 175.

14km in and we hit a long bitumen climb, it was till we neared the top of this long climb, that I looked back and saw chasers were only just starting to climb at the bottom. Once at the top, I took some time to look back and could see the chase group was down to 8. Rolling again over the 1st ridgeline we got our first time check of 1min to the chasers, I was surprised we were putting time into them. My goal now was to make it to Boonah before being caught.

We flew down the hill into Boonah, with my eyeballs bouncing, I could see I was sitting on a nice 83km/hr (it’s around here I think, did I tighten my quick release skewers). Onto the road section, with 9km of paceline to get to Boonah Showgrounds, and Josh is talking about needing to stop to stretch his sore back. This had me worried, as I needed him to help share the pace, and without him I would be reeled in by the chasing group quickly. I told him I would keep going but was a little disappointed, and that got him into race mode again, and we were motoring again. Into the boonah turnaround, and we were out of there quickly, and I noted the time. We passed the chasers and by my watch we now had a 1 min 40sec gap.

Out of Boonah I knew it was 25km of rolling hills until the WALL, I can tell you, that Josh or I spoke very little for these 25. We rolled turns, and it was around the 55km mark that I decided to test his legs. There was a long road climb, and I upped the pace ever so slightly. I could see the cracks being put into him, but also into me, so slowed down to conserve energy for the wall. We needed one another for the next 5 kms till the wall. By now the chase group was down to 4, and only 1min10 sec backs. Josh and I we still out in front, some 55kms together and working to maintain what lead we could.

We turned a tight right-hander, and were into the wall. I look upwards and saw nothing but road. The legs were feeling good, fluid intake high and slammed my last gel. I slammed the chain into the middle chainring and settled into trying to ride a easy tempo, without busting my HR. My plan here was to get caught by the chasegroup, but have done an easy enough climb so when they went past I could hang onto the back of them.

Only Frendo (RiverCity Cycles) and Garry (Cannondale) got up to me, and as soon as they got onto my wheel they attacked. 65km I was out in front, and now I was going to lose it in a second, NOT LIKELY. I turned my body inside-out and jumped on the back of Garry’s wheel, I was hurting but I was holding the pace….but just.

Onto the top of the climb, frendo and gary were off and I was suddenly struggling a little, but held a 300 meter gap to them, but just couldn’t close it. Still 20km to go, anything can happen. The rolling undulations were fast, and when I passed the 15km to go Frendo and Garry had close to a minute into me. A fair timegap in a short time, so I dug a little bit more.

The technical downhills were where I made time. My hands were hurting, so rather than brake I used the point and shoot approach and hammered as fast as I could on 50psi tyres. From the 10km to go, I was with a new anger, I wanted to do well and knew the legs had some more in them. I saw a flash of garry with 7 km to go as he was riding through the off-camber rock garden, he was my sole focus and the big chainring was back in action.

5Km to go, and the long road section up into singletrack. Cramping in my legs, sore back, face twisted in an ugly way, I was now hurting and out of food and water. I knew I was close but needed to ride smart enough to make the finish. Time check to Frendo was around 2 min, and as much as I would have loved to reel him in, my body was broken and I settle to conserve energy for a podium spot of 3rd. The final singletrack into the finish, started to feel like the first kms of the day. Bouncing off everything, bunnyhops, monos just enjoying myself. I was riding fast, but enjoying and savouring the singletrack.

Crossed the line in second place (sadly Garry had taken a wrong turn in the singletrack), and it wasn’t until ‘I tried’ to get off the bike that I realized that ‘yep, I dug today’. Post-race interview was done with me lying on the ground. Took a good couple of mins before I could un-clip.

Race stats:

• 3 hours 34 min 50 secs.
• 170 bpm avg.
• 196 bpm max.
• 84.2 km.
• 23.3 km/hr avg.
• 84.7 max speed.

[Ryan Hawson]

Welcome to MTBDRCC – the site of the D’Aguilar Range Cycling Club.

The Club is managed by Gavin Finlay. He can be contacted by email, phone (07) 3366 0379, or in person at Ashgrove Cycles at 498 Waterworks Road, Ashgrove, Qld 4060.

All new members are welcome to get involved in the Club activities, participate in Events with other club members. Not only is riding fun, it helps you get fit, which makes you more attractive to the opposite sex! And remember, please support our Sponsors who make all of this possible.