Team Gilly Goat consisting of Drew & Geoff Gilchrist led from start to finish for the overall win while another father / son combination of Brad & Kevin Jones came 1st & 2nd in the 3hr solo category after driving all the way down from Brisvegas just to “ride some different trails”. Awesome effort guys! Sara Hinds took out the solo female category and still managed to managed to look very fresh at the post race BBQ.


As  always, the results attached at the bottom tell just a portion of the story from the day with a lot of very tired and dusty riders swapping war stories afterwards.

A huge thank you to everyone who helped out on the day including Geoff for setting out & pulling down the course, Mark Winter on the BBQ (sorry we drained your car battery mate...), Richard on the timing and Al from Ventoux Cycles bringing out some awesome Giant demo bikes – there were a couple of riders very happy to have plush suspension through Bullroarer! 

Coming up:

26 October – Participation ride & XCO race at Jacks Ridge hosted by Nambucca Valley Cycle Club

2nd November - Coffs Harbour City Council are running their annual On Ya Bike cycling promotion as part of the Sustainable Living Festival – please support your council that is creating a safe cycling city.

8th November – the G-Bomb 12hr hosted by the Grafton Cycle Club at Bomb Bomb State Forest – Get a team together for this awesome event – or Nigel No Friends and go solo J

As always, keep an eye on facebook for social rides, night rides etc.  Happy Trails!

Round 2 of the 2014 GNaTPACK series is done and dusted.  A beautiful warm day, a cool crowd of people and buffed trail set the scene for some great racing.  75 riders lined up for the start and I'll let the below results tell the story of what unfolded over the 2+ hours of racing.

As always, the numbers do not tell the true story of what happened and there was some very close racing to be had. The battle in the open males came down to a 3 rider sprint into the final section of single track leading to the finish with Kerrod Parker coming out a worthy victor.

Australian U23 champion Holly Harris had a relatively easy ride to take out the open females and it's great to see riders of Holly's calibre returning to the series where they gained their competitive start in the sport.


The Coffs club would like to thank all riders for taking part in the race, especially those who travelled from the outer reaches of the region.  Thank you also to Gilly for putting together a fantastic track, Trevor for co-ordination of the event, Helen & Mike for rego duties, Richard & Heidi for precision timing, Chef Mark for an awesome BBQ and everyone else who played a part.

 For those who are not familiar with the concept of the Bum Steer, the riders nominate their predicted finishing time and the person closest to their predicted time wins.  Yep, it's that simple but no watches, GPS, trip computers etc are allowed.  Riders could chose from 1, 2, 3 or 4 laps and the only bonus you got for riding more laps was just more fun on an awesome course.

A 7.2km loop was laid out known as Winters Wonderland and included some sections of trail not raced on for a long time but opened back up by the ever present shovel of Mark Winter.  Over a very dry summer the sawmill trails have not suffered too much from moto use and the ruts seem to have dulled down a bit and make brilliant berms on the corners when you hit them in the sweet spot. 

A good bunch of 28 fun people turned up for the Bum Steer and it was awesome to see some new and returning faces to xc riding - it's great to have you on board.  Laverty Pathology generously sponsored a $50.00 breakfast voucher prize for the winner which was the well deserved Sue Webber who finished within 15 seconds of her predicted time. How Sue managed to count the seconds passing while riding for 1hr 46mins I will never know!! 

A huge thank you to Laverty Pathology for donating the prize, Heidi Winter for time keeping, chef Mark Winter for the BBQ, Gilly for laying out the course and helping people cross wait-a while bridge,  Jaye & Sue for the awesome food and everyone else for coming along and making it a really fun day.  Next up is a 3hr night race on Saturday 8 March.  It will start at 5.30pm so people without lights can ride for approx. 1.5hrs if they wish. You can enter solo or as a team.  If you have never ridden on single track it is a lot of fun and quite easy - with a good set of lights most people can ride as quickly at night as during the day.  Keep an eye on facebook for night social rides which are a good starting point.

Full results are below

The scene was set for some fast and furious action with the overall champions being decided by a combination of Short Course Eliminators and a 3 lap xc race to finish it off.  Conditions were ideal with a dry and slightly loose trail surface and not much wind to slow or cool you down.

The short course eliminator was a big hit with it being run over an 800 metre course around Lockstocks and past the entrance to Barking Spiders. The key to winning was in getting a good start and leading into the single track, so the first 75 metres along the fire road and into the first corner provided some great entertainment. As the rounds progressed riders were grouped with others of similar speed until the final four was decided being Tim Cotsell, Geoff Gilchrist, Emily Parkes and Ryan Gilchrist. Ryan got the better start and the crowd was wondering if he would be allowed to get away before his father quickly shut him down and led into the single track. The race for third between Emily and Tim was almost too close to call with Tim getting his wheel across the line just before a hard charging Em.

Eliminator Placings:
Geoff Gilchrist
Ryan Gilchrist
Tim Cotsell
Emily Parkes

We then had change mode from explosive starts to a 3 lap. 21km xc race to decide the overall champions.  Unfortunately the timing system didn't want to play on the day so we don't have a full breakdown of lap times but xc places were:

Men                                    Women                            Juniors
Geoff Gilchrist                    Emily Parkes                    Ryan Gilchrist
Pete Marshall                    Shona Walker                    Camden Aitken
Tim Cotsell                        Helen Parkes                    Ben Winter

After both the Eliminator and XC race were taken into account, our 3 very proud Club Champions for 2013 are:
Mens - Geoff Gilchrist
Womens - Emily Parkes
Juniors - Ryan Gilchrist

Two sets of results are below, one showing just the Coffs members for consideration of club champion and then the raw scores including all others who competed on the day.

Thank you for everyone for taking part in what was a really enjoyable day. Massive thanks though to the Gilchrists, Trevor & Sue, Chef Phil, Heidi on the starting line, Drew & Aaron in the timing tent, Greg, Richard, photographer Rob and anyone else I've forgotten to mention.  If we can get our hands on some of the photos I'll post them here.
Wishing you all a safe and enjoyable Christmas and look forward to riding with you in the new year.
Cheers
Pete

After the mid north coast got hit again by storms on Saturday night it was a last minute call as to whether the race would be on, but the Nambucca trail crew were prepared and had rolled out 9kms of tarpaulins to ensure the track was in perfect shape for Sunday's race.

Results can be seen below and it is fantastic to see Ian Porteous not only back on the bike after a long run of injuries but also riding very quickly indeed.

Next up on the calendar are the inaugural MTB club champs on Sunday 8 December at Cows with Guns.  Rumour has it that the race director is planning something a little unique that will test the speed and skill of riders.  It is also our annual christmas get together so it's just a much a social occasion as for riding - hope to see you there.

If some familiar faces have been missing from the local trails over the last couple of weeks, it may be due to the fact that 11 riders headed over to WA to take on the Cape to Cape Enduro. The race attracts over 1,500 entrants covering 216km of riding over flowing single track, some steep fire road climbs, beach rides and stage finishes at wineries to make sure you get through the day!  For most of the group it was also their first ever stage race so it was fantastic to see them get through it and come back with some great results.

Greg Howarth - 50-59yr males  64th from 140 in category   557 overall
Glenn O'Grady - 50-59yr males 26th from 140 in category. 283 overall
Tim Cotsell - 40-49yr males   128 from 373 in  category.   342 overall
Barry Rix  40-49yr males  38th from 373  in category and 120 overall
Shona Walker  40-49yr Females   13th  from 59 in category and 426 overall
Karen Clarke  50-59yr  females   8th from 23 in category and 843 overall
Marshal Clarke   50-59yr males   103 from 140 in category and 842  overall
Carolyn Carrigan  40-49yr female  56  from 59 in  category and 1036 overall
Sara Hinds   40-49yr female   50 from  59 in category and 984 overall
Richard Lenhert  60+ males  5th  from 28 in category and 527 overall
Keiley Hunter  50-59yr  females  9 from 23 in category and 856  overall

Congratulations to all - we can't wait  to hear your stories when you get back.

The Bum Steer is an event where you estimate your total time and the person closest to it is the winner - no watches, trip computers, gps etc allowed.

A 9km course was laid out for riders taking in most of the favourite sections of trail including Tricky Chuck, Red Hill Rd and the heritage listed Pig Track.  With the continued dry weather it meant trail conditions were perfect and there were smiles all round.

Results are as follows with estimated time first then actual time in Red:

Ben Winter, 1 lap, 47 min, 47:37sec
Mark Winter, 1 lap, 47min, 47:31 - coach and cook :)
Camden Ayton, 1 lap, 38min; 33:09
Aaron Ayton, 1 lap, 43min, 43:30
Trevor Creighton, 2 laps, 1:03:00, 1:02:10sec
Saul Thompson, 2 laps, 1:02:00, 1:01:55
Bregie Auldeis; 2 laps, 1:18:00 - DNF - Puncture
Lionel Campbell; 2 laps, 1:00:00, 1:06:47
Kristian Morris; 2 laps, 1:27:00, 1:14:37
Mark Callaghan, 2 laps, 1:37:00, 1:14:58
Tim Parkes, 2 laps, 58min, 56:48
Hel Parkes, 2 laps, 1:25:00, 1:23:33
Em Parkes, 2 laps, 57:08, 55:05
Rowena Stockton, 3 laps, 1:39:00, completed 2 of 3 in 1:09:0
Edward Brazier, 3 laps, 1:37:30, 1:43:00
Pete Marshal, 3 laps, 1:24:00, 1:18:39
John McQueen, 3 laps, 1:46:00, 1:36:01


Congratulations to Saul Thompson who finished within 5 seconds of his estimated time.  When pressed for the secret to his success, Saul had to admit that he counted seconds for the full 2 laps that he rode so he knew exactly how much time had passed - he has taken concentration to a whole new level.

It was great to see some new riders take part and a massive thank you must go to the whole Winter family who did track lay-out, registration, timing & cooked a great BBQ. 

Next up is a club 3hr at Cows with Guns on Sunday 3 November - ride solo or as a team.

A massive shout out to Trevor & Sue from Refusenix for staging the Ride for Glory 6hr x 6hr at Cows with Guns on the weekend of 19/20 October.

With 30mm of rain the day before the race, there were some anxious thoughts regarding tyre choice and if it would be muddy but after months without rain there was not a puddle in sight and the rain just made the trail that little bit more tacky.

Two different courses were laid out for saturday and sunday so times are not consistent across the whole weekend/  Coffs had the fastest team in the event, but Tweed proved the stronger club across the categories and won the inaugural 6x6 club championship.

Results for both days are below - Thank you and congratulations to everyone that took part.