The festival of riding that was the combined Scott 24 Hr Teams Champs and the 24 Hrs of Adrenalin World Solo Champs was basically that: a great big festival. After hanging out on the Stromlo hillside for three days I felt like I had been to a great big yard party, the kind where you bump into friends, have a catch up, grab some food, talk about bikes, then jump on your favourite one (bike, not friend that is) and go for a pedal on some world class trails! I came home happy and exhausted, buzzing with all the news and stories I’d heard from other riders over the weekend, inspired by the efforts of solo and teams riders alike and looking forward to whichever riding experiences would come my way next.
Riding with team “RAD” (the most perfect, there-for-the-fun-of-it combination of Martin Worthy, Nic Eccles, Gaye Camm, Paula Sutton, Jarrad Needham and myself) simply added to the experience – especially when we decided that crawling into our tents at night, instead of busting ourselves on the trails would add, rather than detract from the fun to be had at the event. I also enjoyed running in and out of Pit-Row to help support solo singlespeed hardman, Stevo Partridge, and hear the latest from other riders’ support crews while I was there. Seeing the enthusiasm for riding shared by the Australian MTB Clinics Chix Development team, who came second in the women’s three category, was another high point of the weekend and hopefully many more weekends to come (nice work ladies, you should be proud!).
The riding itself was a heap of fun too, although a couple of extended mechanicals meant I turned into one of those people who stands trackside asking for tubes and pumps, and calls their local bike shop the following morning for an urgent bike service before, say, hopping on a plane to Rotorua for a two week riding/racing holiday. Massive thanks to Matthew Hill, and Graham Purches for their help, patience and generosity out on the trails, to Gaye Camm for a plush loaner set of forks to play with for the next couple of weeks, Phil at Dirt Works Australia for servicing my soon-to-be-plush-again weight weanie forks and to the crew at the Bicycle Garage in Lilyfield for putting my bike back together again in time to jump on said plane. More stories from more sweet trails to follow soon!
Kath Bicknell 