Category Archives: Events

The turn out for Sunday’s X-Fusion/BMC NSWMTB State XCO Champs was impressive and meant for close, exciting racing in just about every category.

Up at the front end of the Elite Women’s race, Jenny Fay outclassed the field with a sleek looking skin suit, hot pink “Hottie” socks and some seriously powerful riding.  Solo legend, Katrin Van der Spiegel came in second, about a minute and a half behind.Continue reading “X-Fusion/BMC NSWMTB State XCO Champs”

This year’s state cross-country champs were held at Blue Gum Lodge in Springwood, with a short course (XCC) race on Saturday and the regular length (XCO) race on Sunday.  The tight, twisty trails at Blue Gum make amazing use of the small area.  They double back on themselves a lot making for great spectating, but catch you out as a rider if you’re not looking ahead!

The elite women’s short course race went for 20 minutes plus three laps of a fun, sub two-minute course.  It was a great way to get your head dialed into to trails and good for getting nerves out of the way before the longer race the following day.  I held onto second place, getting a decent lead over Erica O’Brien (third) before slowing down to a more comfortable pace.  Vanina Vergoz led from the start, enjoying herself so much she also rode a bonus lap afterward, not realising she had already won the race!

Photo:  Kath Bicknell

I was so excited about the return of sunny weather early last week, I packed in more training that I would normally do in a week and a half.  What I didn’t count on was how long the recovery process can take once you’ve ripped your legs off so badly that even the 8 minute ride to uni hurts!

The second X-Fusion State Round was held at Ourimbah, near Wyong.  The track is super fast, and super flowy, and makes for one of those rides where you just hold on to the handlebars, grinning like a madman as you fly down the descents.  Sick bodies, or sick kids, kept a few women off the elite start line which was a shame.  Kylee Lock dominated the race from beginning to end, I crept along in second and Vanina Vergoz came in third.  Vanina’s recovering from a back injury at the moment and was just ‘taking it easy.’  She’s going to be a machine once she’s fighting fit again.

This race had the highest number of riders that the NSW state rounds have seen in six years!  Congratulations to everyone who came along, and a massive thanks to the all people who pull these events together.  Keep an eye on the NSWMTB , X-Fusion and Rotoburn sites for results and info on the future rounds.

Photos:  Dylan Penhale powers up the early climb / Ain’t no way I’m riding through that bunting by accident!  Kath Bicknell

The first race of the X-Fusion NSWMTB Cross Country Series was held on a fun new course at Fitzroy Falls in the Southern Highlands and saw a much larger turn out than this time last year – very cool!

I was given the series leader plate after winning the series last year, which was a new experience and one I hoped wouldn’t jinx me into a big ego or broken derailleur.

The elite women’s field was small, but was made up of riders with varying strengths and similar race speeds, meaning the win could be anyone’s and that the racing would be close and exciting.  Each lap featured tight, windy, leaf littered singletrack, 100 metres of climbing and a really fun, well built tech section right near the end.  This last part was my favourite in the fun stakes, and also helped me to build a 20-ish second gap on the other women each lap, which made the difference between third place and the win.  I was pretty excited, but will have to put in some serious training if I want to hold on to the leader plate for much longer!  The next race is at Ourimbah in a month.  Details can be found on the NSWMTB site, or on the (series sponsor) DIY MTB site.

Trying to “Miss America” the podium.  (L – R) Meaghan Binder, Jenny Fay, Kath Bicknell.  Photos:  Gaye Camm.