Singletrack Mind Series

The Chocolate Wrapper - Event Report, SRAM Singletrack Mind Series Round 5

Dear Singletrackers

While we luuurve the great natural venues like Nowra and Wingello it’s pretty cool to rock up to a purpose designed facility like Mount Annan. Apart from the great trails, as a mountain biker it just gives you a feeling of being valued and that our sport matters. Even cooler is the fact that The Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan decided to expand their trails and have the new section open in time for Round 5 of the SRAM Singletrack Mind Series. While the new section of trail might have been a bit fresh, you’ll probably agree that it was good fun in the race and will be great once bedded in. The weather also has become an ongoing talking point with the Series, we’ve had cold then wet, now hot, so snow can only be next?! Indeed it was so warm that Mount Annan’s grumpy magpie deemed it to be too hot and had the day off!

Congratulations to all the category winners and place getters for their incredible efforts, and who walked away with over $12,000 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 Mick Hayashi, the lucky winner of the $1500 Merida prize, and Will Hardman who headed home with new bling for his bike, a RockShox SID XX fork worth $1200!

A big thanks goes out to our awesome event sponsors who were there on the day: 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 fleet of Merida demo bikes. Mountain Biking Australia magazine provided free copies of their magazines, and the crew from Muc-Off helped keep your drivetrains clean and lubed with the fantastic range of products from Muc-Off!

Results, Photos & Reports

Preliminary results and updated Series Points are up on the website. Please take a look and let us know if anything is incorrect! If you’re a team contending for Series podiums, don’t forget to revisit rule#27 regarding rider substitutions for Series Points. Please also note that you need to use the same team name each event to keep earning points.

As always, event photographer Dave Bateman got some incredible shots, check them out in the Gallery. Also, we’ve now added a further 160 shots to Dave’s gallery for Round 4 at Wingello, so if you were at that event you should take another look.

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.

There’ll also be an event video which we’ll post at a later date, and look out for the SRAM Singletrack Mind Series featuring on SBS’s Cycling Central programme on Sunday 2 October!

Event Crew

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

• The Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan – Dan Bishop and all the other Mount Annan staff who helped make Round 5 such a great experience.
• The Mount Annan Magpie – for remaining absent for the entirety of the race
• Course Marshals – thanks to all our fantastic volunteer marshals who were looking out for you on the track
• Riders – As always, we’ve received great 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! We also heard plenty of tales of Good Samaritans, and we thank you for putting aside your race to assist a fellow rider.
• Peter & Simona – for providing great food and coffee and for being a fun crew to have along!
• Dave Bateman – lensman extraordinaire who always delivers outstanding shots.
• Jim Trail – Event MC, who kept us updated and entertained throughout the day
• St John Ambulance – Who tended to your bumps and scrapes all day as well as providing great care to the few riders that needed transport to Hospital. Dedicated, professional and friendly describes the crew from the Macarthur division.
• Volunteers – We couldn't have done this without our wonderful volunteers! Special shout out goes to Josh, Liss, Jason, Russ, Vanessa, Dan, Kelly, Mark and Meryl, for whom nothing was too much trouble throughout a long day … and to the additional crew who helped us pack up while daylight still remained (Lachie, Phil and Romeo) – 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 few bits and pieces including a couple of keys, mini pumps, and sunnies. 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, you are entitled to a 15% discount off Hammer Nutrition’s fine products! 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 …

This weekend we’re heading to Lithgow for Round 5 of CTMBC’s winter XC Series. We’ll be checking out the brand new course at Rydal that will be raced at Singletrack Mind Series Round 6 on 23 October and shooting the preview video for this round – come along and join us! Details available here. After the race we’ll be heading back to Sydney to attend the official opening of Golden Jubilee Mountain Bike Park, Sydney’s newest mountain bike park, and featuring an XC trail, pump track and skills area. Hope to see you there too.

All the info for Round 6 of the SRAM Singletrack Mind Series will be on the website very soon, and don’t forget, 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 5!

Cheers

Joe & Fi