Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 192 i Australian Mountain Bike

JUDGE’S CHOICE TIM BARDSLEY-SMITH RIDER: CALLUM BOOTH LOCATION: SIGNAL HILL CARPARK, DUNEDIN, NZ There were so many good photographs this year, and judging is always difficult. My Judge’s Choice for this year was a photograph shot for the Action category by Jemma Wells. I really like the thought that was put into this image. As a photographer with action imagery you can be so easily distracted by what is going on in front of you, that all thought of framing and composition can go out the window. You just want to get the moment. However to make an image really stand out amongst the crowd, you need to be actively thinking about these aspects. In this photograph Jemma has used the foliage and the blue sky to make a cleaner…

Cudlee Forest and Fox Creek have been some of the best places to ride for mountain bikers in Adelaide for years, but all that went up in smoke in the 2019/2020 bushfires. By working with ForestrySA and a bushfire recovery programme, Fox Creek Bike Park is back, with a mantra to build back better. The new bike park in South Australia is developing into one of the most diverse mountain bike parks in Australia. With a huge variety of trails already built, the team at Fox Creek Bike Park keep unveiling fresh trails to add to the park map. This includes the first trail in SA built specifically for adaptive mountain bike use. There's a skills park, jumps park, bike park trails for party lines and flowing trails where new…

Crashing. It’s an unfortunate side-effect of participating in a dangerous sport such as cycling. To improve we must push our limits and try new things, but sometimes we find those limits and end up making friends with the ground. More often than not our pride is the most injured part, but sometimes our bodies take a real beating. What happens when it’s serious? Who is there to help? Since retiring from road racing I’ve been spending way more time on the dirt and getting my confidence back with consistency and the absence of fear that I’ll break my contract agreement (crashing on your MTB is very frowned upon if you are a professional roadie). I’ve been trying difficult features and trying to get that sweet three feet of air (re:…

Mountain biking is continually growing and diversifying. One of the most exciting changes is the increase in accessibility to mountain biking for younger riders. More bike brands are offering high-quality bikes in youth sizing, and as we have covered in previous issues there are a number of youth mountain bike programmes around the country. These are aimed at getting outside, being active, developing skills or creating purpose. Leo Cerda recently wrote about taking your kids on bikepacking trips, and how to help them progress from a balance bike to their first descent. This is a positive reflection on the growth of mountain biking, but one area that has been difficult to conquer is mountain biking being seen as a mainstream sport. While many regions are building purpose-made mountain bike trails…

For 2022 the new Trek Top Fuel takes its feet out of the cross country camp and firmly plants them in the trail bike camp! In 2004 the Top Fuel was a pure and dedicated cross-country race bike being piloted in Australia by the likes of Justin Case and Imogen Smith. 2015 saw the Top Fuel return, notably being raced by riders like Dan McConnell, Bec McConnell, Brendan Johnston and Zoe Cuthbert. In 2019 it developed into a bike with light trail capability, bumping up from a 100mm platform to 115mm with a 120mm fork. Now with 2022 around the corner we see the Top Fuel move over into the ever popular and growing short travel trail bike market. Along the way, there have been several geometry changes to the…

The Thule Rail Hip Pack 4L is exactly what the name suggests, a hip pack with 4L of storage. Sitting in Thule’s Rail hydration and storage range, the 4L Hip Pack features a 1.5 litre Hydrapak bladder with Thule’s ReTrakt Magnetic hose, a secure smartphone storage pouch, and another four separated storage areas. There’s also quick access pouches on both waist straps, which are perfect for compact nutrition. A couple of years ago I went through a hip pack phase with Bontrager’s Rapid Pack. The Rapid Pack doesn’t feature a bladder, so you were limited to a single 750ml drink bottle. With a drink bottle on board and the pockets filled I found the Rapid Pack quite comfortable to ride with, although I did need to stop every hour or…

Castle Hill is an iconic Ipswich and south-east Queensland mountain biking venue. The trails at Castle Hill date back over twenty years. The area itself, Blackstone Hill, is a significant area in Ipswich’s mining history and architecture. At the top of the hill there are still remains of a mansion called ‘Brynhyfryd’ (known as ‘The Castle’), which was built in the late 1880s. Castle Hill is now owned and operated by Ipswich City Council, who’re getting behind mountain biking in a big way. The trails are regularly maintained, and the council have added amenities like toilets and drinking water that make a full day at the trails that much easier. Castle Hill has 19km of trail on offer, all packed within a pretty compact network. The main fire road climb…

Being creative with simple ingredients can bring rewards not only for your physical health, but also for your mental and spiritual wellbeing. Everyone has been impacted by the ongoing lockdowns in some way or other, and it is important to have a space in your life that is not dictated by mandates and that can provide joy in the simple pleasures. These chickpea hash browns are tasty and don’t contain any of the nasty ingredients you’ll find in similar frozen store-bought products. They are also versatile – perfect with eggs in the morning or use them as the protein source in your evening meal with steamed broccoli, cauliflower, beans and carrots. Chickpeas, or garbanzo beans are a legume grown all over the world and have high levels of fibre and…

Tools needed: Torx or allen keys suited to your stem and top cap. Normally T25, 5mm or 4mm will be all that’s needed to cover almost everything. Plus a torque wrench to get the stem bolts at the right torque and the appropriate bit size for your stem bolts. The headset on your bike is made up of two bearings, a crown race on your fork, bearing surfaces or cups, compression washers, a bearing cover and a top cap - although your stem and spacers play a crucial roll as well. While it’s often ignored, a headset that is too loose or too tight will negatively impact your bike’s handling, and can even lead to serious damage of your frame or fork – and you. Checking for a loose or…

What makes you stop and appreciate a photo? Be it on the cover of a magazine like AMB, on your Instagram feed, or anywhere else. Do you know what is causing you to pause, to stop, to like or post an emoji or even comment? It can be hard to describe what causes you to really notice a photo, but you know when it’s had an impact. This issue of AMB celebrates photography, but specifically mountain biking photography. We have run the AMB Photography Awards presented by Shimano since 2017 and year on year we get a showcase of professional and amateur photography from around the world. We get to see how other riders see mountain biking, as they capture their unique moments. Photos might be inspiring, they might offer…

The world of eMTBs is evolving faster than the fungus inside your unwashed mountain bike gloves, and manufacturers of just about every bike part are updating their product ranges to keep up with progress. We have really enjoyed riding the Bosch Performance Line CX Motor, especially with features like Extended Boost that help you get up and over technical features. But with our phones becoming a tool for just about every part of our lives, there was a clear gap in what Bosch offered riders on Bosch-equipped bikes. But all that is set to change. Bosch have released an entire suite of components and software called Smart System. For 2022 Smart System will only encompass Bosch’s top of the line›Performance Line CX Motor›(which is found on most eMTB models), however…

Jack Moir has clinched the penultimate round of the Enduro World Series and is carrying a slender margin into the final round of the series in the UK! Well as this is print, this will be no news flash for you, and the outcome will be surely known by now and the title decided. The same title that will be lifted from fellow Aussie Sam Hill’s shoulders, no mean feat that one. As Sam has held onto it with a vice like grip for the last three years. (2020 was a non-championship year.) Whether or not Australia is celebrating a new World Champion isn’t to forget what Sam has been able to achieve in recent memory, or to forget that he is still racing and has plans to continue for…

By now, many of us would have heard of the term ‘trail town.’ The endearing title refers to towns and regions across the globe, where cycling facilities have boosted local economies by attracting throngs of two-wheeled tourists. The classic Australian example is Derby, where an otherwise sleepy country town in Tasmania became an unprecedented tourist attraction for mountain bikers from around the world. Bike shops and various boutique accommodation options are just a few things which have blossomed in the area due to the demand created by a vast, world-class trail network. With all this in mind, it’s hard to imagine an economically entrenched mining town in south Western Australia becoming a cycling - let alone tourist - destination. But that’s exactly what the town of Collie is morphing into.…

After a big year in 2020, the 2021 AMB Photography Awards needed to be something special. Last year the categories made the type of photo the priority. This year, it was about what, or who, was being captured. We had a lot of feedback about making sure the Awards had a greater representation of who is out riding bikes. We listened, and this year we brought back the Women in AMB category from 2019, as a way to guarantee more women were represented in the Awards, and hopefully encourage more women to submit photos as well. We also added Next Generation, as a nod to all the young shredders who are making the rest of us rethink what is possible on a bike, and to highlight how much mountain biking…

If you have never owned a track pump, or floor pump, then you’re missing out on the benefits of easily pumping up your tyres at home, or at the trailhead. While a compressor is a very useful addition for any home workshop, they’re still a luxury. And while they can be transported, a track pump is far more versatile to throw in the back of your car, van or ute to have on hand at the trail head or on your riding trip. Tubeless systems have presented some unique issues for track pumps over the years, with the need for excellent air flow to help the bead pop into place on the rim and create an airtight seal. Most modern rims and tubeless ready tyres seal up with a regular…

Crofto will likely be a new brand to most reading this article. They are a newly formed, Australian owned and operated mountain bike clothing company with a very specific goal. In their own words “Mountain Biking is expensive right? After spending thousands on your new bike you then need to fork out a small fortune for all the clothing and accessories! We believe this needn’t be the case and want to offer a great alternative to overpriced gear.” Crofto’s mission is to provide functional and affordable mountain bike clothing and protection as an alternative to the more expensive brands which dominate the market here in Australia. We were recently sent a box stacked with their full line of products which had us covered from head to toe. The kit is…

If you read my first look article on the Hunt E_Enduro E-MTB Wheelset online, you might’ve picked up that I was excited by them. As someone who’s ridden eMTBs for a few years now, perhaps my number one frustration has been sub-par wheels and tyres that are often specced, and often get in the way of a good bike ride! For those who haven’t heard of Hunt, or the E_Enduro Wide E-MTB Wheelset (let’s just go with E_Enduros), I’ll get you up to speed quickly. Hunt are one of the brands under The Rider Firm umbrella, who also own the reliability focussed Privateer Bikes. They’re becoming popular here in Australia, a result of their competitively priced wheels that offer a genuine upgrade from many OEM options. WHAT’S IN THE BOX?…

I gotta say it’s pretty rare these days to come across off camber corners. We are pretty spoiled as riders with purpose built trails wherever we go and this means corners are generally built to carry speed and flow down the trail which means flat or banked corners for the most part. That said, being able to carry speed through off camber corners is a great skill which transfers really well across to flat and slightly banked turns as it’s all about maximising traction and maintaining speed. The other setup you’re likely to see on trails is an off camber entry into a corner such as the corner pictured here. Setups like this are fairly common on natural style trails where the exit of the corner becomes flat or banked…

2021 was never going to be a normal season for the international mountain bike community, but compared to 2020 it was a little closer to what all of us may expect when watching from home. When the first World Cups got underway it was apparent that the rest of the world was going racing – there were just face masks involved and some changes to the podium celebrations. For Australia’s top Downhill, Cross-Country and Enduro riders, there was a bigger challenge than normal to put an international season together. For some, their employment allowed them to travel overseas. Others had more work to get travel exemptions, and some couldn’t justify the risk of getting stuck overseas. And just about a whole generation of Junior athletes won’t haven't had the opportunity…

The mountains are calling, with a bunch of reasons to get into the hills this summer – here are some of our favourites: Thredbo Opening weekend: 20-21 November, Thredbo Summer in the NSW Snowy Mountains kicks off from this weekend. The chair lift will be cranking, delivering riders to the top of the Cannonball Run, Kosciuszko Flow Trail, Ricochet and the All-Mountain trail. thredbo.com.au Ignition MTB Festival: 19-21 November, Falls Creek The ideal combination of mountain bikes and a party, this event at Falls Creek brings the festival atmosphere to mountain biking, with live music, shuttles, beers and plenty of options to ride and relax on top of the Victorian High Country. ignitionmtb.com.au Snowies MTB Festival: 4-6 February, Lake Crackenback One for the racers, the Snowies MTB Festival offers 3…

NEW FOOTWEAR FROM SHIMANO Shimano are constantly updating their broad range of footwear, and the all-mountain and gravity shoes have just had an overhaul. The AM9 is Shimano’s gravity racing shoe, and this iteration sees a massive instep strap added for more support. Speed lacing is covered by an armoured lace shield, and there’s asymmetric ankle protection. Shimano have added 18mm more rearward cleat adjustment in the long cleat channel for greater setup options. The AM5 and AM5 Women’s carry a lot of the features from the AM9, like the asymmetric ankle protection. But the look is far more subtle, to suit on and off the bike aesthetics. Comfort is afforded with a generous last, and a long pedal cleat channel and grippy rubber means you’ve got secure footing whether…

We all thought 2020 was a crazy year, but 2021 has seemingly just rolled on with similar challenges for us all.I notice more people are getting a little jaded, without the usual level of energy and confidence. They are just generally worn down. In a recent article by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland, a business owner in Brisbane said“As a business owner my mental and physical well-being have been badly impacted by COVID. I have the pressure of finding money to keep staff in jobs and paid. This has gone on for so long the human body is not designed to handle this level of stress on an ongoing basis. I have put on weight, don’t sleep and now have high blood pressure from the stress. Having additional…

Railways have always been important for modernising industry and creating connections between communities. Historically, railways have taken people to work and play, timber to ports, gold to markets and produce and livestock to the broader population. Times change, and where some railways have fallen out of favour thanks to improved road links and trucks, another useful resource has taken their place: rail trails. One of the best known rail trails in the cycling world is the 152km Otago Central Rail Trail in New Zealand. But we have a longer rail trail that is closer to a larger population – right here in Australia. The Brisbane Valley Rail Trail is 161km long and the longest rail trail in Australia. It stretches from Wulkuraka on the outskirts of Ipswich, all the way…

GT are an old hand in the mountain bike game. With hardtail pedigree with bikes like the Zaskar, GT can also hang their hat on what they accomplished with the LTS platform around two decades ago. Fast forward to the current day, and GT have been at the coal face, working with their Pro team to deliver winning gravity bikes. And the new GT Force is a perfect example of the fruits of this labour. With pricing starting at $5399.95 for the GT Force Carbon Elite, and $6499.95 for the GT Force Carbon Pro we have on test, the value that GT delivers cannot be argued with. But, what’s new on the bikes anyway? INITIAL IMPRESSIONS GT have overhauled the Force and brought the chassis inline with their DH race…

Kask are a big name in the helmet world, providing safety items for snowsports and equestrian uses alongside their cycling range. Having enjoyed a lot of popularity on the road, Kask’s off-road options are slowly expanding. We had a Kask Rex reviewed a few years ago, and while it was expensive, it proved to be a very popular trail helmet due to the coverage and comfort it afforded. Kask have recently released the Caipi, a light weight helmet that brings a lot of the fit and comfort of the Rex to a cheaper package. In fact, Kask aim to put the Caipi between their road helmets and the Rex, with the helmet targeted at riders who are venturing from the road to the dirt. As such, the helmet is actually…

Summer riding tends to mean longer rides in hotter and drier conditions and as temperatures rise, nutrition and hydration needs on the bike change. Whether you’re a weekend warrior or a top-level pro, you’ll want to dial in your summer nutrition and hydration strategies to get the most out of your performance on the bike this season. IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT THE BIKE Only thinking about food and fluid during summer rides is setting up to fail. A healthy athlete is a consistent athlete, so it’s extremely important to think about nutrition and hydration both on and off the bike. Eating well during the week provides the body enough nutrients to fuel and recover from training. Importantly, good fuelling and hydration start off the bike. Starting a long summer ride…

Before I rode bikes I was a runner and back then my regular trundle was around 10km… I think. Because back then there were no GPS watches: you could measure it with the Refedex (well that’s what I did…) or by running with others who knew the loops and distances by some mad form of witchcraft. Your key metric was how fast you felt or how much the legs burned. Fast forward to cycling and my first bit of wearable tech was a Polar HRM watch. At that time there was no downloading capability, no GPS and no power; it just displayed your heart rate as you did the activity. So fast forward 20 years, tech is a driving force within cycling. But with all that’s on the market, what’s…