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The Rock Wallaby - Mountain Bike Enduro
North end of Burke St, Appin. There's a small parking area here at the trail head.
Note that the map shows Market Street connecting Appin Rd to this location but that is actually a firetrail and will not work for drivers who should take King St (next block South) and enter from there.
Appin rocks! And Appin has lots of rocks which is why it's so fun to ride! The Rock Wallaby enduro was born at the request of the township of Appin as part of their Bicentenary celebrations and to highlight what an oasis of singletracky goodness Appin has become.
This inaugural event will be held on Sunday 15 May, with the kind assistance of the people of Appin and Wollongong Mountain Bike Club (WMBC). In 2011 it has the dual purpose of celebrating the town's Bicentennial year as well as introducing an exciting new enduro event to the Australian race calendar.
The Rock Wallaby's main act will be a 50km half marathon event with a support act consisting of a 25km event with a number of sub-categories within each one.
The course will entail one or two laps taking in a 25km tour of Appin’s great natural terrain – including the renowned singletrack loop which is home track to WMBC which will be uniquely split up by sections of fire trail and never-before-raced singletrack. As is well known with Appin, the riding will be technical in parts and flowy and smooth in others. It will be a challenge to ride the complete loop without dabbing, however it has been designed so as not to be too daunting for the novice rider.
There is also a free social ride offered on the Saturday afternoon, aimed at locals, visitors and supporters who want to experience a gentle guided ride along the local fire trail.
Blog entries about this meeting (as this is a race standings and times are shown, click on the title for more and to comment)...
| Who | Title | Status | Laps | Time | Pos.Gen. | Category | Pos.Cat. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| tate | Tough, but fun | Finished | 2 | 03:01:56 | 6 | ||
| andyfev | Rock Wallaby - Appin 2011 | Finished | 1 | 02:09:51 | 13 | ||
| ae93gti | 25km of fun? | Finished | 1 | 02:32:08 | 23 |
Were you there and have a story to tell?
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This looks like a nice little race not too long not too short and a great place to ride - just right for me at the moment.
yeah looks like a fun event think I'll enter, not sure weather to go 25 or 50 ........Mmmm fifty's the go
I'm going to give the 25k a blast.
Cracked, been in serious trouble with the wife after Awaba on Good Friday (pictures but no sound for awhile)... Great ride loved the track but resulted in a protruding L5/S1 disc (and numb left foot for 5 days)... Wouldn't be such an issue if I hadn't done the same thing 3 weeks prior! Can't beat voltaren and lying on the lounge floor for a week! Only saving grace is the weather is too crapy to ride at the mo!
Anyone tried Pilates for bad backs? Would be interested in any feedback?
wow thats no good Andy,hope that comes good for you soon .I am a yoga devotee and it is great for strengthening your core and I know pilates is also good ,but you should check with your doc before doing this and also make sure you inform your teacher of your condition so they can adjust your practise to suit your needs ,cause certain moves could make it worse!
I'm really getting serious cabin fever sitting over here on the northern beaches, can't ride anywhere. I hope that appin has had less rain, although currently I couldn't care. Craked I've just taken the leap of faith and bought some clip-in shoes. Looking forward to riding around Appin with the new kit.
Guys, I'll be there pretty early. Green Suby outback, I ride a black Marin. Come and say g'day when you get there.
Lezo
It seems you don't mind taking leaps of faith or otherwise
once you get used to being clipped in you will love it but give yourself a chance it will seem $h1t at first but persevere it will be worth it ,I will be at Appin early also see you there. we rode Appin on sunday and it was pretty good then, place drains well and there has been little rain since then so is prob perfect now!
Count me in! Will be my very first mountain bike race having only taken it up a couple of months ago. Will do the 25k event I think, pumped and raring to go. Will be there in the sky blue Subaru with a black and white Scott Spark, please come say gday if you see me around.
http://www.chocolatefoot.com.au/rock-wallaby/lat...
Looking forward to this one, if I can get out of bed by then.
Ha ha getting out of bed with this cold snap is fun at 5.15 am ,lucky this race starts at 9am will get a sleep in
looks like weather will be fine for sunday and no rain through the week, the track will be sweeeeet .
Good luck to everyone racing tomorrow.
not my fav track for a race , too those that haven't been there keep the pedals moving & don't worry about the rock roll down b4 the bridge . LOL
That was a hard 50km. Hated the course after the first lap a little happier with it after the second.
5 laps of the normal course is easier.
that course was brutal ,hurt me, I couldn't finish it first DNF.
well done on a good finish Jay
Sure was a hard course Jay. I told my wife to expect me in transition after the first 25km lap at about 1:15 after the start. She guessed I was in for a hard day when Matt Flemming came into transition way ahead of the field at 1:20 after the start ...
By the time I arrived for bottles my wife was happily wine tasting the Jimmy Jack wines so I had a bit of a wait ...
Definitely not the course to race on while I'm trying to get my back injury to improve. Great course for a ride with mates though.
Well what can I say about my first ever race. Ran into Lezo at the start whcih was nice before we set on our merry way. Was quite nervous to begin with so I stayed at the back, but once we got going I found myself totally absorbed and focussed and just went as hard as I could. Was a lot of fun but man was it a bit of a slog. Did the 25km and given I only bought my first mountain bike about 4 weeks ago I was really chuffed with myself as I think I finished the 25ks in about 1hr 45min or there abouts from my guesstimate timing. Found the rocks really challenging in some parts and went over the handlebars twice, not to mention a couple of other offs. Thouroughly enjoyed the switchbacks withe the berms at the start as I got a bit of a rythym going and put the hammer down relatively speaking. Ran out of water with 5 ks to go as I haven't bought myself a camelbak yet and found the last leg quite difficult with the various technical bits combined withthe fact that I was well spent bye then.
In summary though I can safely say that I am absolutely hooked on this sport and am chomping at the bit to go again. But first things first and a long hot bath with epsom salts is in order.
Cheers
Benno
wow , 1hr 45 min thats pretty quick over that course well done Benno .
Yeah it was real tough course. It wasn't my cup of tea either, but as they say, you gotta practice your weaknesses.
Just the one OTB for me, it was a real good one though! Got another scar on my chins to add to the collection. My second lap ended up being 3min quicker than my first! I hate riding an unknown course, which made my first lap real sketchy.
Still can't believe the number of DNFs.
Wow benno88 - great time for a regular competitor, unreal time for a newbie. Looks like you're the new smokie of Nobmob. We'll all be looking over our shoulder in future races! Great work.
Tate - 6th outright I think? Awesome result especially with the quality of the field.
i kept checking to see if my front shocks were locked off, does anyone else have blisters on their hands? First lap 2 hrs, second lap 2.5hrs, or thereabouts, managed 3rd in women's open, there weren't many of us .The last 5 kms felt like so much more, especially as I had no one around me for the entire second lap. Loved the challenge as always and very happy to have finished.
Cheers Ness
What a great day out chasing the cute 'n' furry Rock Wallaby. Thanks to all our riders, sponsors, and the town of Appin for making it a success. Preliminary results are on the website: http://www.chocolatefoot.com.au/rock-wallaby/res...
Yeah 6th. If there had have been another 300m at the end, there would have been a sprint finish for 5th. Was happy with the result given the poor prep this week.
Wow, you guys don't muck around getting results up Fi. Thanks for a well run event. Even my wife & 2yo daughter had a great day. Daughter did her usual walk around talking to anyone who would pay any attention to her. Wife took advantage of the slow track and raided my wallet so we now have our bar full of Jimmy Jack wines. Just finished a bottle of the Shiraz ... Not bad at all!
Great result, you have had some decent results recently.
Why was the race so hard?
I knew this would be a toughy but hearing it from you craked I am surpised I thought this was one of your fav tracks ? I am glad I wasn't a marshall out there today would have been easier short cutting the course by the sounds of it . Perfect weather for one tough course !!
Surprising Craig - for you to Dnf it must have been difficult - or was it bike problems ?
yeah Dicko ,woke up this morning with rotten cold ,think it was coming on yesterday ,I had lower back pain and ached all over combined with the intensity of the course I couldn't go on with it,also had a minor mechanical but that was no biggy
I really used to like Appin...but what we rode yesterday was very different. Let me put in a couple of disclaimers for fear of being soft. Yesterday was my first off road ride with clipins and I learnt very quickly, making a number of donations of skin and claret. I haven't hit the floor as much as I did yesterday in the last 6 months. Towards the end is was getting the hang of it. Riding on the flat sections and the uphill bits I noticed a significant difference although coming down which is the main reason i ride, I was a bit sketchy.
For mine, I thought the track was really tough once we got under the bridge, that climb never stopped, having the tarmac was a blessing and then it just kept going and going and so on. Some of the faster rocky sections on the way down were good fun and I agree with Ness, my hands were sore and my shoulders are sore today, actually everything is sore today...
Capital Punishment 50kms was a walk in the park compared to yesterday for me. Might go back to just doing freeride after that.
Great to see a number of the guys out there and from what I see some awesome result, congrats to everyone who finished and to the people that placed highly.
Ride the normal 10km XC loop, much more fun then the lap we rode yesterday. There was some fun bits in the new sections, but not enough to make me want to do the race again.
someone needs to HTFU! you got a lot of value for money yesterday
Lick your wounds, pick yourself up, get back on and do it all again. That's what's it about 
I'm sorry I missed out
Ride on!
Listen to you Phil - had you competed I'm sure we'd all be hearing nothing but tears...
@Logan - the reason why it was so hard is it is quite technical. Even the flat sections had rocks sticking out everywhere so you were constantly popping a wheel up over something which reduced the average speed. The longest straight was probably 200m so there wasn't really anywhere to get some speed up. It required explosive pedalling as you either climbed an obstacle or came around a sharp bend then accelerate like all hell to the next obstacle so heart rates stay high and there was no time to get a rythm happening.
I loved the course, it's just a shame with my dodgy back that I don't seem to have a problem on fire road, just on climbs and having to accelerate out of a slow corner where your back gets a little more involved in the process so I'm fine on the boring bits and have difficulty on the true mountain biking bits at the moment. The upper body was punished yesterday too with the techy downhills. I went OTB on the very last tech descent about a half km from the finish so have a few scars today. I picked my bike up and thought if it's broken I can run to the finish from here...
Phil, you didn't read my disclaimer...
I certainly paid particular attention and up close scrutiny to at least eight sections of track yesterday.
The Trail Gods are happy with your humble offerings. However more prayer is required. Just keep eating the Concrete Flakes™ and don't give up on Appin just yet
One of the guys I ride with on the road who is a pretty accomplished MTB rider DNF'd as well, so figured it had been a pretty tough course. Definitly wouldnt of suited me I dont think, however no matter how hard the race is I am still jealous of you all racing!
2 Weeks this Thursday I hopefully get out of cast, really cant wait to get back on the bike.
you out there for a club race then you will be eating more cement to HTFU
Nothing would make me happier. These cold mornings are certainly helping me HTFU, once i've extracted my plums out from stomach that is.
I thought it was awesome! It was my first ride in 3 weeks since popping my L5/S1 disc twice in April. I managed to finish completely lower back pain free (I did change to a shorter stem and higher bars). Maybe it was my relaxed attitude that helped me enjoy the ride as I wasn't trying to be quickest on the track. Granted, I only did the 25km and it did take me around 2 hrs 9 minutes but this did include 10 minutes to repair a snapped chain at the 3 km mark. I really enjoyed the technical climbs and downhills and dig'd the Appin course. Sure, it was physically hard and I was in cramp hell at 20 km but I really enjoyed it.
Well done to the Chocolate Foot team for such a great event, will definitely enter again next year if it's on!
Has anyone got a map of the 25km loop used for the race? Would love to have a crack of it.
Rode appin recently and loved it - the 8.5km loop.
Thanks in advance if anyone has a map....
Hi there
Here's a GPS trace of the course posted by Alchemist who raced the 50km. Obviously please don't go through the private property at the very beginning of the course
Enjoy!
Fi