Ay Up Dusk til Dawn [Tamworth]

As some of you may know, the last dusk til dawn on the east coast was in SEQ some years back. I have been working in Tamworth for 2 years now, and while the local riding scene there is great, in recent months (due to a lot of motivated peeps) the MTB scene has been on the up and up. A good friend (and race promoter) suggested the idea of a Tamworth 12hr, and asked my thoughts on when to run it due to the heat. Me - loving night riding - suggested a D2D. Daniel ran with this idea and the Tamworth D2D was born.

The Track: 11km of lets say 'brutal' climbing, as well as lots of twisty corners and pinchers. The best thing though, was that we got some rain 2 days out from the race which turned this track - that had been like riding on marbles - into Hero Dirt. Strava was always going to get a work out with these conditions.  I'm not sure of final figures but we ended up with around 80-100 keen night riders. This event was just like what I had raced in years past.

The Race: I don't want to ramble for too long, but since it was the first race of the year for both of us  and I wanted to be sociable during the race, Crummy and I decided to race pairs. Ay Up was there to manage the charging tent and some peeps scored some sick light kits as random awesome prizes. Crummy and I managed 1st in our category & 4th overall after a tight race with the JT Fossy racing crew. This bunch are made up Ray Griffin, Pete Selkrig and Phil Welch, each of these riders are exceptional in there own right over various disciplines. Thanks for keeping us honest guys.

All up the race was a huge success in my eyes. It reminded me of the D2D of old, and I'm sure next year it's going to be bigger and better than ever. Massive thanks to all involved in making it a success, also a big thanks to Ay Up for putting up some sick prizes and supporting the Tamworth MTB scene.

Bit of Wembo 24hr action

 

 

 

WEMBO 24hr

Winning my age group at WEMBO has been my goal for the year. As with most people who trained all year for this, I didn't get the perfect preparation due to injuries. Instead of looking at this a negative, the positive was I didn't over train in my lead up.

The plan...
My plan was very simple: race the two weekends leading up to WEMBO and lay down some good km during the weeks in between. First up was the Awaba 7hr, where I got to race with Canada and Holly in a mixed 3 team. This was an uber fun race - I got to lay down some fast laps & we all ended up getting the win.  Everything was coming together nicely at this stage. I felt that with another week under the belt I would be ready for WEMBO.

The lead up...
Weekend before Wembo saw me race the Scott 25hr as part of a 6 person mixed team. This was the perfect place to get a feel for the WEMBO course because the Scott25hr used all the trails we would be racing on. Our team was made up of Jack, Cam, Holly, Trekky, Canada and myself... There were a few pinners in this bunch so I had to lay down some fast laps. Andy and Ethan were racing the 7plus 6 and managed to get 3rd against a very strong field. Our team had a solid race, but by morning the Onya bike team had done enough damage throughout the night to get away with the win. We ended up 2nd. Thanks go to my team mates - it was awesome fun. A massive thanks to Pete our team manger for all the support and bike maintenance during the race. We would have struggled without him.

My crew...
WEMBO 24hr was finally here, so who were my support crew? I had good friends Richard and Mikey flying in from QLD; Holly (who ended up jumping in the deep end to race WEMBO herself, take out the under 23 title and still manage to look after me); and Pete - team manager, mechanic and legend at looking after solo riders.  I have also had a huge amount of support during the year from my family, friends, team mates and sponsors - thanks heaps guys, it's much appreciated! We had an awesome set up right on the crit track and I spent the morning going through my usual motions of going over bikes, getting gear ready and sorting my food ect ect. Its very cool rocking up to a race and having the support of a team behind you. After a little warm up, it was down to the start line for the race. The elites got under way, and the wait seemed like a life time until our start.

The race...
My race plan was simple. I wanted to work pretty hard for the first 4hours and see who was keen to play. We got started, and it soon became apparent that a few peeps had the same plan. Last years winner Alexis Matthys was one of them. As it turned out we were swapping turns for the few km on the climb up to the observatory, and with a km or so to go before we hit the top I decided to push a little bit harder and see if I could get a gap leading into the first descent. This worked, until I hit the first corner and flatted. I was gutted. I couldn't believe it. I had raced the weekend before, had my lines dialled in, and still flatted on my first lap.  I watched about 50 plus peeps cruise past and dropped a good ten minutes. I finally got my head back in the game: "Sean, you have 23.5 hrs to catch back up". I smashed back through the field for the rest of this lap. Quick bike change in pits and (thanks to my awesome crew) I was back out trying to get back to the leader. For the next few hours Alexis was smacken it, and to be honest I couldn't close the gap. At this stage of the game my crew were working really well and I came into pits not wasting too much time and rolling out with a lubed bike, food in the belly and a fresh bottle, really what more could a solo rider want? Ed was smacking the elite field up and Holly in her first ever solo24hr was turning heads. Meh, keep peddling damn it...

Darkness was coming. I love night riding, and I had it in the back of my head that if I had a shot at the jersey, night would be where I could put some hurt on. Just before dark I was greeted to another flat tyre... I have to admit - mentally I considered calling it a night and heading off to the pub. After a quick can of HTFU I rolled back into pits.  Ed, after smacken the elite field, had pulled the pin due to health issues.  It was around the 9pm mark when I rolled outta pits and I could hear a rider behind me pinning it... Boom! Holly was on my back wheel, and even after 9hrs I thought: Game On Holly....   This was probably the high point of the race for me, as we raced each other to every corner.

During the night I kept an eye over my shoulder for the ever-consistent Crummy, so you could imagine my surprise when I caught up to him! "Maybe I'm not rolling to bad?" I thought. After a quick chat, I kept lapping through the night just trying to hit my lines, not get another flat and hopefully catch Alexis up front.  I'm not sure what time it was when I got the word from my crew that I had actually passed him, and was 2min in front. This was the break I was looking for. After a quick feed I went back out looking to put some hurt on. Another two laps and it was sunrise, Alexis had taken a break and I now had a 50min lead. My crew handed me fresh kit and heaps of food - now it was time to play the safer race.

The next few laps went really well and I was stopping for about 5min each lap, making sure I was fuelled up before rolling out for another lap. I carried this on until just after 12pm and was stoked to have a cold beer handed to me at the finish line, surrounded by all the peeps that supported me during the race.

Massive thankyou to Pete, Richard, Mikey and Holly for crewing and keeping me focused on the jersey.  Thanks to my family and friends who have supported me throughout the year. A big thanks to my sponsors: Target Trek Racing Team, Trek Bikes, Ay Up Lights, Venture Cycles, Shotz Nutrition and Rubena Tyres. You guys make my goals a lot easier to achieve!

Big thanks to Crummy, always a strong competitor when I'm racing against him, and always keeps me looking over my shoulder. Thanks to Alexis for making me work (hard!) for the age-group win. Bellchambers, you're a freaking machine & awesome company. Congrats on the SS World Title.  Last but not least - congrats to Jason for taking the overall win and covering nearly 450km to do it!

Quick Stats:
30-34 World Champ
389km covered
11th overall

Epic Pursuit

This is a race I've wanted to do again since my failed attempt a few years ago. I chose the 50km event as a good hit out in my lead up to Wembo 24.

I rocked up to Hidden Vale and was greeted by an awesome day: a perfect race day with temps rising a little over 30deg.   Racing the Pursuit 50km meant I got to watch the elites and the full epic riders start. After a bit of pre race warm up I soon came to realise that my race had started with out me.  Not an ideal start. The race had started 15min ahead of schedule, although not a massive loss because my time didn't start until I crossed the start line, I did however have a battle over the first few km with traffic.  It wasn't until 20km mark until I came across Zack [Target Trek racing Team mate]. I knew that if I had made it back him I should be up at the pointy end.  My goal for the race was to crack  the 2.5hr mark, so after the road section I decided to make a move on the long climb, hoping to put some time between me and my competition and hopefully catch who ever was in front. 

To be perfectly honest I had a really good race, my average was good and nutrition went to plan and I kept pushing all the way through to the finish line.  It wasn't until I crossed the line that I realised Dave Whitney was just in front, after some quick calculations by the timing team we were told there were only 35 seconds between us... I was stoked to finish so close to a rider that is known for being a pinner.  The end result for me was a race that went to plan, a result I was happy with & a time of 2hr 24min. I managed to get the top spot in the 30-39 cat and a 2nd outright for the 50km.

Thanks to my sponsors: Target Trek Racing team, for my super smooth racing machine; Venture Cycles for keeping my steed dialled in and Rubena for hooking me up with tyres made of glue.

Well as you can see I had a good ride at this years Epic Pursuit [50km].. details to follow

The lead up to Worlds

 

Lead up to World 24hr hmmmmm, well not exactly as planned but I don't think anyone can say that they have had the perfect lead into any race. 6 week ago saw me hit a tree pretty hard and ever since, I have tried to push through with training and racing. The time has come for me to give it a rest for a couple of weeks.

Although not ideal it has allowed other ideas to present themselves and I have had time to pursue them. I have for a few years now wanted to start my own Skills clinic but never had the time to get it off the ground. I'm still working in Tamworth and after helping a friend with some MTB skills, word spread super fast,  before I knew it my long lost dream has surfaced and is now looking more promising then ever.

Where to from here, well I have two weeks of no/ minimal training, then I'm hoping to smash the km's and get some form back.

Last weekend was super cool, I got to race with friend and under 19 National champ Holly Harris at the Rocky Trail 7hr. We laid down some fast times and came away with a win in the mixed category.

Stoked