Singletrack Mind Series

The Chocolate Wrapper - Event Report, SRAM Singletrack Mind Series Round 3

Dear Singletrackers

Big props to all of you who resisted the voices in your heads saying that under a nice warm doona is where you should stay rather than shivering on the start line. Plenty of competitors told us of the ice they had to chip off their bikes prior to riding, so thanks for being so committed and proving that mountain bikers are a tough lot! Despite the temperatures, Stromlo again proved itself to be a great place for an enduro … but that heated office was a real bonus from our point of view ;-)

There were lots of great stories from the day’s racing, one of the best was in the female threes category where there were only two teams but they raced hard all day, with only 1 minute and 10 seconds separating the two teams at the end of the day! We were pleased to see female riders once again making up 17% of the total field – we’d still love to see this number grow. We were also heartened to hear of many stories of Good Samaritans, the best of which were rewarded with great prizes at Presentation – these people sacrificed precious minutes, and in one case four hours, of their race time to help others, and that’s exactly the kind of people we love having at our events.

Congratulations to all the category winners and place getters for their incredible efforts, and who walked away with around $10,500 in cash and prizes from our fantastic sponsors SRAM, Avid, RockShox, Truvativ, Leyzne, Merida, NZO, Hammer Nutrition, Jimmy Jack wine, Aussie Butt Cream, Kenda, Mountain Biking Australia magazine and Muc-Off! And congratulations also to Murray Mackne, the lucky winner of the $1500 Merida prize, and Carmel Ainsworth who headed home with new bling for her bike, an Avid Elixir X9 brakeset!

A big thanks goes out to our awesome event sponsors and services: Castech Sports Technology for their fantastic timing service with massive scoreboard, results café, and live to the web results. SRAM and City Bike Depot provided awesome tech support, and a shiny new fleet of Merida demo bikes. Hammer Nutrition were on hand on to provide samples and expert advice on sports nutrition, Mountain Biking Australia magazine provided free copies of their magazines, and Muc-Off kept those chains quiet all day.

Facebook Competition – win an Avid Elixir X7 Brakeset!

We hope that there are still a few Chocolate Feet out there in tact to participate in our Facebook competition. What we’re looking for is a photo of your Chocolate Foot in action or being devoured. Whoever submits the most amusing piccy will win an Avid Elixir X7 brakeset, worth $440! We’ve been figuring out the mechanics of Facebook to do this, and seems the simplest way is to head to our Facebook page, click ‘Like’, and then you’ll be able to upload your photo, with a caption if you wish. The competition will close on Friday 8 July so you’ve got just over a week to get creative!

Results, Photos & Reports

Preliminary results are up on the website. Series standings will be posted very soon when we’ve had chance to crunch the numbers!

As always, event photographer Dave Bateman got some incredible shots, and event crew member Josh Nicholson kindly shot the action from the children’s race. Check them out in the Gallery. We’ve posted a couple of event reports on the website and also a summary of comments received from competitors, supporters and event services – thanks to all that have sent kind words, we in turn would like to thank all of you for the great vibe on and off track.

Event Crew

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who assisted in the successful running of the event:

Canberra Off-Road Cyclists – Sarah O’Callaghan, Brendon Mulloy, Kris Nicholls, Steve Hanley and the rest of the dedicated crew from CORC made Round 3 a fantastic experience.

Course Marshals – the Venturers who cheered on every single rider as if they were winning a World Cup – so many of you have commented on what a buzz this gave you

Riders – We’ve received so much positive feedback on the fun vibe and politeness of other riders, we’re totally stoked that you guys are doing your best to obey Rule # 31!

Jim Trail – who did a fantastic job of keeping everyone entertained as MC during the afternoon, and his commentary during the children’s race was just brilliant!

Pink First Aid – this crew were kept reasonably busy all day and we wish all the battered and bruised a speedy recovery. Particularly the guy who broke his hand with his wedding less than four weeks away … hope you’ll be out of the cast by then!

Volunteers – We couldn't have done this without our wonderful volunteers, for whom nothing is too much trouble and who often go above and beyond the call of duty. To Josh, Liss, Jason, Kris, Eric, Gumby, Aidan and Josh – you’re all awesome!

Transponder return

Did you find an orange timing chip attached to your fork leg when you got home? Oops! If you did, please pop it in a tuff bag or wrapped in bubble wrap and post to:
Castech Sports Technology
PO Box 219, Wahroonga NSW 2076

Lost and Found

We can't help you find your lost fitness or "mad bike skillz" but if you lost some gear at the race we might just have it here. We’ve got a pump, a beanie, a set of tyre levers, a rear flashing light, a small blue blanket/wrap, and a lone glove, so get in touch if you think you’re missing something.

Hammer Nutrition Special Offer

Don’t forget that, as a competitor in the SRAM Singletrack Mind Series, Hammer Nutrition offer a 15% discount off their fine products purchased on their website. Purchase the products online then proceed to the checkout cart. Insert the code CHOC FOOT into the coupon section, check out, and your discount will be applied.

Putting our best foot forward …

There’s a little break between events now and Fi and Joe are temporarily moving Chocolate Foot HQ to Jindabyne while Fi works at Thredbo and Joe tries out the life of a ski bum. Singletrack Mind Series Round 4 on 21 August at Wingello State Forest is another winter-friendly 7hr event and preliminary info will soon be available on the website. Don’t forget that each entry to the Singletrack Mind Series gives you another chance to win the $3000 Golden Ticket!

That's it for the Chocolate Wrapper, our event wrap-up and again we'd like to thank everyone for contributing to the success of Round 3. We really look forward to delivering more great days out on the bike!

Cheers

Joe & Fi