The Jet Black MTB Team match report - the AMB 100

It seems like only yesterday, that members of the team were tackling the season ending, tree routed tracks of Mt Annan for the Jet Black 24hr!

Off season?…What off season?!

To get back in to the swing of it, 5 JetBlackers headed off to tackle the mighty AMB course race at Stromlo.

Scott Reynolds had arrived and raced in the Nationals on the Saturday, but had succumb to Hammerhead, as did a lot of riders facing the grueling Nationals course. This was to come back and haunt him on Sundays’ 100km attempt.

Elton and Michael arrived and registered Saturday afternoon, then headed off to town for a quiet night with their families. Martin and I were to endure the 4am trek from Sydney on race day. (where’s the coffeeeee?!)

With the forecast being set at around 34’c for Sunday, everyone knew this was going to be a tough race.

Sunday dawned and Michael took the opportunity to pedal to Stromlo from town, which was great to watch the sun come up and take time to reflect on the upcoming punishment he was about to put himself through.. (Not as much as others though! More on that below!)

With AMB now being one of our new sponsors, El Presidente’ took time out from his pre-race warm up to catch up with Mike Blewitt from AMB and have a chat on all things MTB and Jet Black racing.

Scott and his family were well into breakfast, with Scott washing his brekky down with a few painkillers and a glass of cement for his injured wrist from his previous days close encounter with Hammerhead.

The rest of the crew arrived and the JB marquee was set up in transition.

The format:

Myself and Marty were tackling the 100km on Single Speeds (Yes, 1 gear!) Elton and Scott were keeping with tradition and using gears for their 100km race whilst Michael, having previously raced this course, selected the more achievable 66km race – (Some of us wish we had too!)

The Course:

Most of us had ridden the ‘usual’ tracks of Stromlo (usually around 15km’s worth), and even raced this event prior. But in true fashion, it was different, and longer! 28km’s all in with a ‘measly’ 680 vertical metres per lap.

Fence Line, Blue Gum Climb, ABC Climb, Up the Hill, Pork Barrel, Deep Creek, Double Dissolution followed by a steep but short fire road climb to the top of Skyline (It’s called ‘Casuarina Climb’ – Personally I think it should be called something else, but this is a family show!), Luge, Slant Six, Hearbreaker climb, Little Seymour, Willo Link, Partyline and then back home via Dingo and Breakout

With the race director’s rider briefing complete, everyone headed to the start line which saw around 1km of fire trails to spread the field a bit, and it was in to the first singletrack of the day, twisting its way to the top of the observatory. As usual, and once the bunch had spread out, the first 10km was fast paced. Once riders hit the top it was a case of ‘rider beware’ for some sections of track we never usually get to race on. Plenty of rocks, drops, jumps and surprises, oh yeah.. plenty of those!

The first lap went by without many issue’s, with Michael sitting 3rd in Masters. The 2nd lap was beginning to take its toll with the heat and the brutality of the course. With a relatively safe passage on both laps, he ended up finishing 9th from 38 starters. Not a bad result for a man who normally rides teams, and seeing him ride ‘El Solo’ shows that he may actually be built for something other than ‘speed’, as he likes to tell everyone!

Other members of the team didn’t have quite the same ‘safe passage’ as Mr President;

Unfortunately, the pain killers and cement weren’t enough to allow Scott to continue past one lap, with his wrist pain forcing his retirement from the brutality the course was throwing at it. ‘Big up’ to you for getting back on the steed and giving it a crack though Scott. A big, hearty, Strava like Kudos thumbs up to ya!

Elton had ‘an off’ on Skyline, and ended up playing super hero over the bars. All that was missing was his red cape and he’d be in the movies for sure (Some of you may remember my little stack a few years back at the foot of Pork Barrel, where a similar incident was caught on camera?.. Welcome to the club, Rocket man!

Myself and Elton were together on the first climbing section of the 3rd, and final lap. I was about to stop and see if he was injured badly, but it turned out that the creaking I was hearing was not from below his padded knee pads, but in fact, from his steed. I high tailed it up the hill before the thing fell apart and would have to give him a hand carrying the bits down the mountain.Good result though RM, great training for the 3 peaks roady in Victoria!

Talking of Pork Barrel, (and to continue from where I left off before)

Martin, who I honestly believe is a downhill racer in a single speeder’s body, decided to give the doubles of Pork Barrel a bit of ‘go’. What he DIDN’T do, was compute the speed-to-obstacle ratio in his head before entering the section.

Some say, that you could hear his screams of pain from the observatory tower. Heck, even the transition area!, All we know is, it resulted in a sprained ankle, ripped up forearm, bits of bark removed from other parts of his body, muscle strains from trying to stop the inevitable from happening (nice try though mate) and the, now very defunct in to 6 pieces (yes, 6!), Lazer helmet. – We can safely say…It did its job!

On personal level, I was leading the SS class on the first lap and feeling good, before succumbing to a small mechanical issue whilst bombing down a sweet hill. The trooper that he is, (and pre stack) Martin screeched to a halt to help get the SS LES back up and running. It was a minor mechanical issue that was to dog me for the rest of the race. Every time it occurred, riders would zoom on by. I’d make up positions, only for it to happen again, and again, which plays on your mind over 5 hours of battling a tough course.

A couple of OTB’s during the 1st lap, a couple on the 2nd, but nothing to write home about, and definitely not as spectacular as my comrade’s! The rocky sections of slant six, Double Dissolution and the flat, gnarly sections before heart break really do take their toll on your bike, and your body! So fatigue definitely played a part in the latter for sure.

2 ‘Browns’ were spotted on the track, on laps 2 and 3 which caused a minor halt in the proceedings. (And no, not our esteemed president or his family members) I know Michael would have 180’d so quick, and flown down the mountain quicker than you can say his name, but it was a case of “Let’s see what they do”, and after a minute or 2, each time, they decided to scurry off into the scrub. Of course, they scurried UP the hill, which was the direction we were going!

There were a fair few Kanga’s around the course, which is not unusual for that neck of the woods, but I’ve only ever seen the majority in the early mornings.

With all of the above, I was still happy, and surprised, to come away with the choccies for my first ever SS race. Is this where my MTB legs lie? We’ll see.

A brutal weekend of racing, but some great KM’s of Stromlo ridden. Anyone game to give the full 100miler a go next year? After enduring the course this year, you would have to be nuts to. Never say never though, huh?

A massive thanks to Martin and Julianne from Rocky Trail for putting on yet another stellar event. The volunteeers/marshalls throughout the course, especially the RT back-packer German girls who assisted and cheered at the 2 water stops at the top. They were definitely life savers for a lot of riders! – (Yes, the same ones dishing out ‘coldies’ at the 24hr finish line.)

Stay safe people, and as Martin can SAFELY attest to, NEVER GO RIDING WITHOUT YOUR HELMET!!!

See ya’ll at James Estate for Round 1 of the Rocky Trail Shimano Grand Prix Series.. Bring it!