Red Centre Racing

Once out of the gorge the country opened out into an array of ridges. You had to take the time to look around; to view the red rocks and broken cliff lines of this magnificent part of Australia.

White all around, 6,000 metres up in the Himalaya; skiing or face planting into a metre of softness on the way down a mountain, breathing heavily at every turn. Red all around in the centre of Australia; sweet singletracks over rocky ridges, desert sands slow progress. The face plants hurt now. Life is best enjoyed as a series of contrasts. Just back from India and keen to avoid the office for one more week, I dented the frequent flyer account and flew to Alice Springs. Back in March 2003 I’d ridden the first Central Australian Bike Challenge (CABC), a stunning event that opened our eyes to the mountain biking possibilities of the Red Centre. The CABC ran for a number of years, pootling along with 60-70 entries despite rave reviews. In 2006 the organisers moved the event to the cooler month of May and 160 riders showed up.

 

With numbers building they then announced the CABC would be no more. Shame, shame cried the MTB community. Fortunately for all of us, the local Alice Springs Mountain Bike Club contacted Victorian based event organiser Rapid Ascent. A few visits later, a few rides on the trails and out of the sands rose the ‘Anaconda Enduro’. May is one of the best times to visit the Red Centre; cool nights bring forth blue sky days between 20-25 degrees—perfect riding weather. This also meant memories from 2003 of the 4am alarm call, with racing starting before dawn to avoid the heat, were banished. The 9am start times for 2008 were much more civilised.

 

Civilised is a good description of the Anaconda Enduro, a five day event with seven racing stages; the shortest being 300 metres, the longest over 100km. Over 200 riders and a fair few family supporters booked into accommodation, with most staying at the event host, the Heavitree Gap Resort. All but one of the stages started and finished within 10km of the resort. Racing was generally over by lunchtime (by morning tea for the elite!) allowing plenty of time poolside or for long lunches and caffeine injections. Bar Doppio, my favourite Alice café, was still there and rarely without a line of dusty bikes against the windows. A number of factors allowed plenty of time for socialising and less time fixing bikes. The dreaded prickles, which caused so much puncture carnage at the first couple of CABC’s, were generally in hiding. These vicious thorn seeds tend to blossom after a wet period and The Alice had been very dry in 2008. Also, most riders were now wise to the running of tubeless tyre set ups filled with sealant. Cleaning the bike was easy, a quick hose off of the dust, a spot of lube. Mud? What was that? In 300 kilometres of riding we did once run through some water. A foot wide damp patch running out of the back of some factory across a bike path! Be warned though. It only takes one fall of rain to turn a desert into a quagmire—a place where you’ll not only be unable to ride but may be unable to push your bike. Finally, local trail fairy and bike shop owner Corey Gerdsen along with two warring elves Shimano and SRAM, were widely lauded for their abilities in keeping everything running smoothly.

 

Stage one was a good baptism for those yet to experience the Red Centre delights. A social lap around the velodrome before the race was on; 41km into the desert in the shadow of the magnificent West MacDonnell Range. Loose rocky trails, hard packed red earth through spinifex and tyre swallowing soft sand. It was good to be back Down Under, although I was questioning my sanity with only two rides in the previous two months. All talk at the start line was of ‘The Hells Line’; supposedly a rotten, unrideable fenceline track. Tom, the MC didn’t settle first stage nerves with his warnings. As with many things, fear outdid reality and if that was Hell then I’m happy to be going there. Adrian Jackson (Vic) and Matt Fleming (NSW) stuck together for a sprint finish at the Alice Springs Desert Park with Jackson taking first blood. For the Women, Imogen Smith (Qld) took the stage over desert newbie Naomi Hansen (Qld). Onto Anzac Hell Hill early in the evening for a dash up, up, up 300 metres of bitumen to the lookout in the centre of town. A time trial that some dawdled while others blasted. The biggest blaster of all was Tasmanian Ben Mather who killed it in a staggering 44.61 seconds. I think it took me almost as long to descend the bloody hill!

 

Back in CABC days I remembered the stage looping from the Old Alice Springs Telegraph Station as one of the best. The new incarnation was even better—nearly 50km long and, aside from the first 15km or so, consisting of almost all singletrack. Singletrack that kept you focused and kept you smiling. Smooth straights, not too technical rock gardens and lots of tight sniggle. On a fast downhill only 6km from the finish, Matt Fleming lost his focus and took a big fall. In the spirit that is mountain biking, the rest of the lead pack (Adrian Jackson, Perren Delacour and Tim Bennett) all stopped to bandage up a nasty head wound before continuing to the finish with West Australian Bennett winning in a sprint finish. Matt, despite the injury, battled on to cross the line only minutes later. Imogen Smith smashed her derailleur early in the race allowing 29er rider Hansen her first stage win. But as always in these events, it is the stories that flow from the all down the field that inspire and impress. Take ‘almost 60’ grandmother Coral Taylor. Over two years ago Coral was cleaned up by a 4WD on a dirt track out the back of Kyogle in northern NSW. The altercation left her with a broken pelvis, an arm in pieces and much more. Operation after operation ensued, slowly building her body back up. Despite or perhaps because of the words of medical doomsayers, Coral set goals. The Anaconda Enduro was one, to be her first MTB race. And ride she did, every stage bar one. A fall on a stage early in the week that sent her off to Alice Springs Base Hospital for a bit of patching, made this fine lady decide to miss the night stage, only because she’d never ridden with lights before.

 

At the top end of some categories, legends remained unchallenged. Veteran Woman Meg Carrigan was the only person to make a clean sweep of every stage in her category. Then there’s ‘Hans, Hans, Hans’. Hans Dielacher in Vintage Men, who comes out from his northern NSW hideaway to invariably smash all beneath him. Hans caught me leaving the general store with a six pack of Coopers. Shaking his head he berated me in an authoritarian German accent, ‘No, No, No Huw! This is wrong. We will drink beer when the race is finished.’ ‘But, but Hans, this is carbohydrate, surely a couple a night can’t do any…’ Hans cut me off. ‘You would do better tomorrow without!’ No doubt he was right.

 

Tomorrow was the ‘Big Day Out’. The event program said ‘Stage 4 - 95km’ but by the end of it my computer showed well over the tonne. The school buses arrived to pick us up at 5:30am and take us to the day’s lesson in desert riding. To the start point at Ross River Station in the East Macdonnell Ranges. Every boy and girl made it to the bus on time. All except one singlespeeder. His punishment was a $158 taxi fare out to the start—ouch! In fact this same boy took a wrong turn on the following day’s stage and decided enough was enough. He played truant for the rest of the week.

 

Waiting for the 7:45am start, riders huddled in patches of early sun, trying to stay warm. It was a pleasure to get moving, to ride towards the constrictions of N’Dhala Gorge. I remembered this being a 1km push through a dry, sandy riverbed but fortunately in 2008 the organisers had found a more rideable route along the edge of the gorge. A few fences had to be crossed and some side ‘creeks’ but essentially it was more ridebike than pushbike. Once out of the gorge the country opened out into an array of ridges. You had to take the time to look around; to view the red rocks and broken clifflines of this magnificent part of Australia. The first 40km was enjoyable but tough before a respite of sorts at the first drinks station—22km on the sealed Ross River Highway and another 22km on reasonable dirt but sometimes corrugated road allowed for fast progress. With 10km to go, or so we thought, the race headed into a wonderland of singletrack and 4WD trails. With fresh legs it might have been even more fun, but even 90km into a ride, I couldn’t stop smiling as the trail roller coastered its way up, down and along rocky ridges. Two things can be learned about Alice Springs singletrack. The first is that although it weaves a route through what is often clear country, it isn’t that easy to overtake. Dropping to the side of the trail usually puts you into rocks or sand—you’ll find it easier to pass in a dense forest in wetter parts of Australia than here. The other is that where bushes and trees are in evidence; don’t think you can safely brush past them at speed. Like the landscape they inhabit, the vegetation is tough and hard. A ‘bush’ will likely leave a decent gash in your arm or leg if you pass too close. Seeing the town from the crest of the ridges, it was apparent that the stage was going to take us well over the 100km mark, a mark on any ride that is always satisfying. Satisfying indeed to ride through Heavitree Gap to the finish line at the resort only metres from the pool and masseur.