Around 2400 mountain bike enthusiasts converged on Stromlo Forest Park over the weekend for the Scott 24 Hour Australian mountain Bike Championships. This year saw the event return to Mt Stromlo for the first time since the bushfires and take advantage of the world class facilities at Stromlo Forest Park.
It was a superbly organised event with a fantastic festival atmosphere that made the whole weekend loads of fun. Despite being close to freezing overnight, spirits remained high and everyone was very considerate of the large numbers of riders on the track. The course itself was challenging but fun and held up well with the amount of traffic. Most people competed as part of a team, but around 130 dedicated riders (or crazy idiots) rode the whole 24 hours solo.
Of course, the event couldn’t have been run without the largest mountain bike club in Australia, Canberra Off Road Cyclists, and the amazing team of volunteers.
For those of you following the fortunes of RiotACT admin Kramer and his dearly beloved (me), Kramer and his team of three guys rode 28 laps to come 13th, and myself and Rara blitzed the field of womens’ pairs to take 1st place, riding a total of 9 laps.