Easter in the Alice - wrapped up
The centre of Australia is not just red, but it's oozing with flowing singletrack. The Easter in the Alice is a great way to experience it.
What did you do over the Easter long weekend? About 200 keen mountain bikers ventured to Alice Springs, arguably home to some of the best singletrack in Australia. It’s not a purpose built mountain bike park, but the trails around Alice Springs have morphed from animal tracks, to routes people walk, then ridden motorbikes on – and finally become mountain bike specific singletrack.
The trails snake their way through the red centre of Australia, taking flowing lines over the abrupt terrain. We featured the riding in Issue 142, and couldn’t help but head out again this Easter.
The Easter in the Alice stage race also had the first stage, the Bunny Buster, hosting the second round of the MTBA National XCM Series. So the line up was pretty sharp at the pointy end, with both Blairs, Jongewaard, Anset, Smith, Downing, Mather and more in attendance. At 90km of rocky trails and mostly singletrack, stage 1 was a tough day out on the bike, or a fast 4hr blast for the likes of race winner Chris Jongewaard. Jenny Blair won the women’s race.
Jenny Blair takes the women’s lead.The next day distances were much shorter, and the trails that riders might know from the time trial course used by Rapid Ascent in their Redback (nee ICME) race were used for stage 2. 26km of all that is good about Alice Springs mountain biking, with steep pinch climbs, narrow singletrack, rocky step ups, and views out to Emilys Gap. Andrew Blair won the stage, as did Jenny Blair.
James Downing, catching up on fluids.The night race was not unlike some sort of dirt criterium, on the golf buggy tracks of the golf course at Lasseters Casino. The two 5km laps passed via the start/finish area and the club house, allowing for great spectating. The pace for the winners was very high, with the winning time less than 16 minutes! Jongewaard and Jenny Blair won the stage.
The final stage returned to the trails of the Telegraph Station. The bike paths in town lead right to the historic Telegraph Station, and you can head out and hire bikes, have a coffee and cake, go for a walk, or just tour the old buildings. But we were there for the final 45km stage. It seemed like the best trails were left for last, and everyone had great things to say about the course.
There were no huge changes, and Chris Jongewaard won the overall race, and Jenny Blair won the women’s overall.
Full results are available online.
So if you need a good mountain bike fix next Easter, book this one in early. The riding won’t leave you disappointed.
