The final round of the South Australian Graviy Enduro series was held at the new location of Mount Torrens aka Dazzleland. The land owners Darren and Carol are no strangers to the scene having raced mountain bikes for years. The location would be one many downhillers would remember as it has held numerous Inside Line state races.
Plenty of cool transport was on show.Style!Style plus 2!
The weather for the day was superb and that definitely helps the good vibes flow. As for the trails they were different from other races in the series, they were more single track and a little tighter in some spots. Overall the response was positive from the riders.
There were some tight corners on the hill.
There were lots of eyes focusing on the Elite Men’s race as a shootout between Cam Ryan and Simon Buzacott, there was plenty of good racing across the categories. Head to the Gravity Enduro SA (GESA) Facebook page to see the results in full.
Cam Ryan was on fire, taking the win.Simon Buzacott took second.Alex Waddicor always has a smile on his face, he smiled into 3rd place.
A great year of racing, we are keen to do it all again next time!
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Off to Fox Creek for a day of bikes, pretty hard to beat if you ask us.
We headed out to Fox Creek for the South Australian Gravity Series over the weekend and thanks to the great guy and gals at GESA (Gravity Enduro of South Australia) we did something we don’t normally get to do, race! We aren’t going to tell you our results but what we can tell you is what the race was like! It was great, end of story… okay we will elaborate further but it was great.
Nature and that!
Being a legal network of trails in the Adelaide Hills anyone could ride there so as you can imagine Saturday before the race there were plenty of punters out practicing the course (which GESA had conveniently publicised prior). Roll on Sunday morning and after a riders brief (and a the odd sneaky course condition check) we were off!
Conditions were good all day.
If you don’t know this round was probably the most physical yet with some long climbs between stages (the downhills get used by Inside Line at the state downhill races) so just making sure you paced yourself was key. Off up the first climb to the first stage, as usual this is where the riders got split up into groups. It was the shortest stage of the day and got everyone focused on what they had to do, some slippery roots kept everyone on their toes. The slalom at the end was also a bit of fun!
No time to smell the flowers, there was racing to be had!
From here the riders got sent on predominately downhill courses; Bowl, Long and even Steep making a welcome return towards the end. A�There were also a few other parts, such as Green Smoothie that weren’t strictly downhill downhill but were great additions to the stages. If you raced elite you alos got the joy of doing another stage (6 instead of 5), which was ‘Pattos Curse’.
A good range of trails kept everyone chuffed.A few scrapes here and there, all part and parcel of the sport.
For the results head over the the GESA Facebook page and you will be able to find them there, for use we weren’t overly bothered with the results. A day on your bike riding with mates means you’re a winner regardless!
Steve Marsh on a different bike from the one we saw at the Eagle round but still going fast!There were plenty of photographers out snapping pics!Again it was great to see the girls out racing (and being the track sweep!)Some really good racing across all categories.There was the opportunity to find some creative lines, finding a second or two here and there.Shelly Flood took the women’s race.Simon Buzacott took the men’s win!
Winners are grinners!
The next round heads to ‘Dazzleland’ at Mount Torrens which is going to be another great event no doubt.
Images: RFPhotographics (FacebookA�hereA�or follow on Instagram @rfphotographics).
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Adelaide has a lot of cycling options, if you are into that lycra, skinny, wheeled caper then the Tour Down Under is the pinnacle for you. However, if you are into mountain bikes, which we assume you are because you are reading this then Adelaide has a lot going on for it, one of its greatest assets is Eagle Mountain Bike Park. Located 20 minutes from the city centre, the park has a range of trails and played host to round 2 of the Gravity Enduro of South Australia (GESA) series.
There was some great riding had over all the stages.
Leading up to the event the weather was reflecting the current winter season but come race day it had cleared up, make no mistake there was plenty of water left around though. It didn’t dampen the spirits of the riders though.
Iced coffee! No it is just the left over water on the track…It did clear up though.
If you are a regular at Eagle then stage names such as Sunset Boulevard, Top Deck and Overlocker will be familiar to you. If not then think of single track, with a mix of rocks, built up corners and fun rollers. The transition stages were wide fire roads that, whilst not impossible, did have a few people getting off and walking.
The reward for the uphills was a series of rewarding downhill stages.
The results are as follows;
Elite Men:
1. Cameron Ryan
2. Simon Buzacott
3. Curtis Dowdell
Elite Women:
1. Shelly Flood
2. Anna Puckridge
3. Moira Love
Junior Men:
1. Matthew Taylor
2. Sam Walsh
3. Sam Walter
There was a good turn out of riders across the categories and the organising committee put another great event together. We have a few more pictures from the event below, enjoy.
Aussie downhill legend Steve Marsh with one of the most impressive moves of the day. The majority of riders were going around this rock, a few of the elite men were riding up on to it and dropping off. Well, Steve came in at full pace and used the first rock as a lip and jumped the whole lot! He washed out in the next corner but he had previously been riding this out. Very impressive.So enduro…Sunset Boulevard saw riders ducking, weaving, going over, around and down!Cameron Ryan took the Elite Men’s win after another battle with Simon Buzacott.Shelly Flood took the Elite Women’s win in the sunshine.Eagle features plenty of rocks.The next round goes to Fox Creek, see you out there!
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Back racing on the/a bike! First enduro race for Mr Fearon,
The final round of the Gravity Enduro South Australia series was my first proper enduro race. Luckily it was held at the Fox Creek downhill tracks because I have been riding there for probably over 10 years now and know most of the trails well. The format of the racing is really relaxed, basically you can ride up the hills at your own pace with a bunch of your mates and then race them back down 4 different tracks over the day. Typically the tracks where all pretty downhill oriented albeit with a bit more pedalling in them to lengthen the tracks. Stage one was the top section of Green Smoothie which crosses over to Fast half way. Probably the most physically demanding track it also had the biggest a�?liaisona��(for those playing at home this is the technical word for the un-timed transit stage). Being the first stage all of the racers climbed up the whole hill following each other. It was then I realised making the 3pm cut off to finish all the stages would be no hard task as the pace was pretty slow.
Stage one was probably the most physically demanding and Green Smoothie is one of the most hotly contested tracks on Strava if that kind of thing floats your boat!
Also worthy of a mention is the timing system, all riders wear a ring on their finger that has a transponder on it. You need to poke it into a little machine at the start and finish of every stage. Unfortunately the machine at the bottom of stage one was placed in an awkward position around a corner so once you saw the machine it was almost too late to stop. There was many close calls and a few crashes because of this. The climb up to stage 2 was really steep although the stage itself was anything but. Being the bottom half of the Green Smoothie trail it was relatively flat and consumed a lot of energy having to always pedal to keep your speed up, nonetheless it was a fun stage and probably the longest stage of the day.
Connor chose to go the full face option, as did a lot of riders, in a large part due to the high speeds of this race!
Stage 3 was either your favourite or least favourite track of the day. It is a relatively new trail (to my knowledge at least) that drops off the opposite side to most tracks at fox creek towards Adelaide. The start was high speed down steep fire roads and drops into really narrow, steep and off-camber single track. Especially with the dry dusty conditions which made traction minimal it was the most technical track of the day. For a lot of people it was the first time riding the track and they were caught off guard. Luckily I had ridden the track twice before and knew to take it easy!
Just like downhill, enduro is much about as knowing where to take it easy as it is to go that little bit harder!
It was a long liaison section in between stages 3 and 4. There was a big group of us so we took it easy and talked a lot of banter on the way almost forgetting we were doing a race. Stage 4 was Fox Steep that continued all the way to the main car park. For those of you who are not familiar its quite a technical rocky track thata��s probably more suited to a downhill bike with a big long flat section at the bottom. It was definitely my favourite stage of the day and a track Ia��m very familiar with. It was the first time Ia��ve raced Fox Steep since my very first downhill race in 2005, which was pretty cool. As people were getting fatigued by this point the final stage claimed a lot of riders but luckily no series injuries. After coming off an injury I gave the race a pretty good crack and ended up winning the day which was awesome. My Kona Process made it through with no mechanicals what so ever and was the perfect bike for the job. It was good for my confidence to win this race so just got to keep the ball rolling onto the national downhill series! Thanks to Kona bikes, Fox Head, SRAM/Rockshox/Avid/Truvativ, Yakima rack, HT Pedals and Maxxis.
First enduro race and first win! 100% win ratio is always nice….
Images in this article from Kaneophoto (Instagram @kaneophoto) andA�RFPhotographics (FacebookA�hereA�or follow on Instagram @rfphotographics).
The third and final round of the South Australian Gravity Enduro series headed to a proverbial favourite among crow eaters – Fox Creek! This track often gets used for the Inside Line state downhill races (as well as the Adelaide Mountain Bike Club cross country races) and it is generally fast!
There were a lot of riders sporting full face helmets because of the high speed along the stages.The sun was shining and riders were all smiles…Okay maybe not quite all smiles but overall!Now that is a cool way to roll!Troy Brosnan with a legend of the Aussie riding scene Steve Marsh. Troy will tell you it was Steve who found him and nurtured him to reach the professional level he has since got to.It was good to see Connor Fearon back racing after his crash in Norway a few months ago.The 4 stages that made up the race, riders had to complete them within the allocated time. Green Smoothie and Fast made an appearance along with a newer track
With volunteers scraping for time after being locked out of the forest due to fire ban in the days leading up to the event, everyone did an amazing job to get the trails bunted and groomed ready for racing Sunday. Being blessed by the weather gods was one way to make racing more flat out and corner slapping than ever. With both beginners and Adelaide mountain bike royalty coming out of the woodwork, it was set to be an awesome race for all.
The sun was shining!So enduro…Troy Brosnan was back on the bike after taking a well earned break in Hawaii!
With some big names in (and out) of the mix in the elite categories, Phillipa Rostan took out the ladies, followed closely by Jackie Schapel and Anna Puckridge rounded out the top three. All eyes were on Troy Brosnan and Connor Fearon to battle it out in the elite mens. The number 1 plate of Dave West quietly confident he could knock the two young shredders off their perch (and rightly so….. with Dave being no slouch on a bike). After the day’s racing it wasn’t to be, with Connor Fearon taking out the elite men win by a considerable margin of around 20 seconds, followed by Troy and Dave filling out the remaining spots.
Connor Fearon took out the win by a massive 20 seconds, a far larger margin than we were expecting. Connor has given us a report from the weekend’s race so look out for that!Troy Brosnan second and smiling as usual!Third place for Dave West on the day, here he leads the pack!Smiles all around on the elite men’s podiumOur roving reporter, Aaron Pelttari, looking schmick if we do say so ourselves!There was different tracks that suited different riders and their skills.Darcy Grooby going flat out!And the prize for looking most like a professional goes to Kane Lademan who had everyone confused for Connor Fearon…!Always good to see more and more girls out on a bike and riding, something we hope continues to happen.These girls are no slouches on bikes either! Shelly Flood borrowing the photographers bike for a bit of fun.Towards the bottom of the stage saw riders have a few different options where they could drop in on.The timing system meant riders just had to insert their chip at the beginning and end of the stage, overall it worked well.The dry conditions meant there was some dust getting kicked up, it also meant riders were washing out when they were pushing too hard!Getting up high, setting up for the corner.Weaving in and out of the trees at Fox Creek.Being the final round the South Australian series we suspect next year there will be even more riders!
Thanks to all that put their time and effort into making these events possible, trail builders, marshals and event organizers for another epic year of enduro racing. we will see you all next season! In the mean time get rad on your bike!
Ps check back soon for Connor Fearon’s exclusive Inside Info where you get the words straight from the winner’s mouth!
That’s a wrap we are outta here!
Words Aaron Pelttari (Aaron would like to thanks Monza Imports, Bicycle Express & Bouwmeester Composites).
Images in this article from Kaneophoto (Instagram @kaneophoto) andA�RFPhotographics (FacebookA�hereA�or follow on Instagram @rfphotographics).
The third and final round of the Gravity Enduro South Australia (GESA) series was held at Fox Creek up in the Adelaide Hills, a favorite destination for riders of all disciplines. Hard to believe that the series is drawing to a close already, it seems like only yesterday we were at the inaugural event at Craigburn farm.
Fox had some of the biggest climbs of any of the events yet but this also translated to some of the longest and fastest downhills, earn your turn as they say! Still the dreaded climbing was made easier by the fact you could cruise up, chatting with mates (unless you have one of those mates who is super competitive about everything and they had to turn the up into a race too a�� everyone knows someone like that right?!). Despite initially being slated as a five stage race in the end three stages were used to determine the victors. This included the new Green Smoothie trail which was built by IMBA and is an absolute blast to ride!
Elite Men:
1. Andy ClarkeA�13.05
2. Brad McDonnell 13.39
3. Alex Waddicor 13.54
Elite Women:
1. Anna Puckridge 16.37
2. Bria Smith 17.15
3. Nicole Jefferies 20.21
Under 19 Men:
1. Cam Ryan 13.08
2. Curtis Dowdell 13.44
3. Darcy Grooby 14.19
Good racing across the classes, Cam Ryan won Under 19 but would have placed 2nd in Elite.A�With 90 or so competitors and it was well run and good end to a successful first season, see you next year!
