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National Series #3 - Stromlo
Uriarra Road, just up from the Uriarra Road/Coppins Crossing Road turnoff.
Round 3 of the National XC Series is held at Stromlo. I figured its close enough for the Nobmobbers to be interested.
Racaing XC at Stromlo is something else. Sure - riding all the trails in a 24, or at the end of Capital Punishment is good, but imagine hitting the Luge track full gas with fresh legs.....
The XC at National level is not to be feared, just enjoyed. We all spend so much on bikes, kit etc - why not ride with the best in the country - in your own age group?
The XC course will have some of the most technical, exciting riding around - and all the whingers who dont like fire-orad races will have a chance to show us 'roadies' how its really done when it comes to Hammerhead. One of the most exciting features to ever have graced a World Cup.
Cardiac climb. Waterfall descent - these are iconic trail features of Stromlo. Get amongst it!
The weekend will feature an Eliminator on Friday night (think 4X but on an XC track - it lasts 3 mins max), Saturday will be the XC, Sunday will have a Super D (you can imagine how much fun being timed down Stromlo will be) and then to finish off, there is a Point to Point which is touted to be the final 50km of the Capital Punishment marathon. How good? How much value for money?
This comes just a few weeks before Capital Punishment itself - there would be little better preparation.
I hope we get a few more Sydney riders to this race - it will be full of CORC 'Stromlo Specialists' - it'll be great fun and really testing.
Please fire away with questions - I'm happy to help.
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. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ps | All Mountain Cup Round 3 | Finished | 4 |
Were you there and have a story to tell?
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I have always kept going left at the start of that cardiac climb as the start of it looks gnarly. Is it going to be in the XC loop? Also where is Hammerhead. I haven't found it in my travels at Stromlo and I thought I had been to most places there.
The Hammerhead is further along after the climb and is a bloody scary double/ triple roll off.
I was by myself when I rode it and didn't dare go down the bloody thing in my Rize!
Will have to go down and practice if I'm gonna do the XC race down there.
The Hammerhead is further along after the climb and is a bloody scary double/ triple roll off.
I was by myself when I rode it and didn't dare go down the bloody thing in my Rize!
Will have to go down and practice if I'm gonna do the XC race down there.
I actually prefer cardiac climb over the usual switchback climb. At least you can smash yourself and get to the top quickly rather than the continual gentle climb that hurts for way too long.
Hammerhead is awesome but I must admit to being a big girls blouse many times there. Outside of the big events it is usually rutted and very much an OTB waiting to happen.
I was up there at the weekend and for the first time ever, managed to ride to the top of Hammerhead without unclipping - i find the climb and the rocks much much harder than Hammerhead itself.
It is scary, but the B-line is only 5secs slower, and is much less daunting.
Maybe we should have a ride up at Stromlo one time before the event and do some skills?
Not a fitness ride, but the sort of ride where you stop, pick lines, try them again and again, until you get it right.
Lots of time can be gained on that climb - much more than is lost on the drop of Hammerhead.
Even the entry to Cardiac - once you know the entry, and the line, its fine. Jen and I and Kyle would have ridden it 10 or 15 times to get it right. Now - we clean it every time. Very satisfying.
Let me know next time your planning to go down there. I think I will be spending a week to two in Canberra around mid January.
The first time I rode stromlo I didn't really like it. It was in a race with lots of traffic and just wasn't that enjoyable. Then the second time was the end of the capital punishment race and by that stage you really just want to get it over with and finish. Then I rode it a few time over the last few months and its growing on me. The rock gardens don't seem so bad when your not in lots of traffic and even places like pork barrel are not as technical as I was expecting.
Does sound like I will need to lift my game to ride cardiac arrest though. There are one or two hills over the back that I struggled with, nothing technical just no traction due to the loose surface.
Anyway I guess they can't put the really technical stuff in most of the races so good to see its getting some use at a national round.
Come on! It only a week away now, and its gonna be great.
All the racing and riding being cancelled around sydney means people must be itching to get their bikes out - come to Stromlo!
Fri - XC Eliminator
Sat - Cross Country
Sun - Point to Point (short marathon) and then SuperD
How much racing? It will be well organised too - CORC are in charge.
Come along for a great weekend...
Can't wait for a bit of racing!
I'll be up the coast so can't make it.
Have you had any confirmation on the schedule? Was going to go for a ride at stromlo this afternoon and would prefer to ride Fridays course. Any suggestions?
Hey - the schedule is now up....
http://www.nationalseries.com.au/components/com_...
Its Super D on Friday, and then XCO on Sat, with the XCP (Point to Point) on the Sunday am - meaning we are not there all afternoon! Joy.
You'll see all your race timings on the schedule.
My advice would be to try and ride the XCO course a few times on Friday morning, then get some lunch and head to ride one trip of practice on the SuperD (unless you want to take it a bit more seriously) and then hit the race up....
I'll be leaving Syd on Friday morning, so will be at Stromlo by 10am for an XCO practice...
I won't be there until around lunchtime on Friday. Got to work in the morning.
btw the XCO course markings are up. Nothing to technical and only a few rock gardens where you have a choice of line. Seems like a pretty typical stromlo course where knowing the downhill bits well provides an advantage.
Went to a Bbq at a friend's place and after thinking we had food Poisoning and a few days off work, we found out that we handled an 'unclean' child!
The little Darling had had a bug that week and we weren't told about it till after we came down ill. First easy ride out this morning and i'm as weak as a kitten. Feeling better by the minute but i'm not expecting any miracles at the weekend.
I thought i was hitting pretty good form aswell?
Won't get down till Saturday morning.
See you there!
See, you should have come to Canberra with us
Gazza, Looks like you have until 3pm on Saturday for the XCO and it seems more of a technique course than pure power although there are a few short fire road climbs that will sort you out if your still feeling under the weather.
Bring your umbrella.
Can't shake this virus.
No point in coming down if I'm not 100%
guess I'll have to concentrate on Awaba?
Good luck Boys and enjoy!
on Sunday. Quite a few boys heading up as its Maddog last race in Oz.
Or West Head?
Hope I feel better by Sunday?
Pace will be on in A Grade, a proper smashfest I would imagine.
You would have loved it Gaz. Pissed down with rain and even the odd hailstone just before the start. It had dried in places by the time I went down. Needed a lot of pedalling for a super D course. See http://www.onlineresults.com.au/Results/real_ins... for the full results.
@ps
5 secs off a podium!!!
Yo da man Paul!
Back down to earth today. That XCO stuff hurts!
100k marathons are a less painful experience. Still I can't complain about the racing. Was never more than a few seconds away from the guys I was racing for the whole race. I guess thats why it hurts.
But the more you do it, the more you become conditioned to it and actually become addicted to the pain and intense high you get from short(ish) course racing!
Good luck tomorrow. I can't tell you how jealous I am.
Look forward to Awaba.
Awesome stuff Paul. I'll avoid riding with you till I get some condition back...
Don't know if you noticed but you're head is in 2 pics in the latest AMB mag.
So I turned up to race today after having a crazy week at work and notgetting around to sorting out a entry for the weekend, turns out on the day entries are not possible WTF!
So after a bit of a discussion with the officials the only option was to find someone that had entered but not able to race. Enter into the picture GAZZA, struck down with a virus he was not able to attend. A couple of phone calls latter and I was sorted. Ended up in 4th place after a great race too.
Looking forward to the race tomorrow
We had another dry race today at Stromlo. The course was one 20k loop and I think they sent us through every rock garden they have in the place. I finished 5th again so 4th in the overall AMC super masters division for the weekend. Gav had a good race.