Old Mans Valley Bike Festival
By now OMV has become so much a part of our lives that it is difficult to remember when, only a few years ago, one walked past that sad-looking privet forest thinking ‘man it would be great to build some singletrack in there, but stuff like that never happens, not in Sydney…’ Well, it did happen, and many many people’s lives are the better for it.
Now, after so many mattocks swung, so many drains cleared out, however many tonnes of rock armouring laid down, after however many tens of thousands of laps ridden, however many fast laps, slow laps, hot laps, cold laps, illegal rainy laps, laps caught behind brush turkeys…it’s time to celebrate.
On 13 December we (Sydney North Off Road Cyclists) are holding the Old Mans Valley Bike Festival, the first event in the history of OMV. The festival will bring a full day of racing for kids through elites all within a short train ride or drive of Sydney. There will also be a fundraising barbecue and bike demos.
The day will begin with the Hornado Cross cyclocross race, in which riders will traverse meadows, fire trails, some primo Old Mans Valley singletrack and chase brush turkeys up the soon to be notorious 55 sandstone steps of the Higgins Hornado Heritage Heckle Hill. While the course is by no means jungle cross, and no tornadoes are forecast at this time, it will have enough of an old school New World vibe that is probably a good idea to leave the Dugasts at home. I have personally begun cutting in the course — the idea is that even after the event OMV will become a hotbed for CX as well at MTB (and CX trails can double as much-needed beginner MTB trails).
After the Hornado Cross the festival will continue with a full slate of cross country racing for all levels, linking up some of Old Mans Valley’s best single track.
The day will close with the uniting of the full face helmet brigade and the knights in white lycra in the inaugural Bomber/Whippet Relay, a one lap time trial in which the first rider (the Bomber) descends from the top of the valley and tags off at the bottom to a teammate (the Whippet) who climbs back up. Everyone I’ve talked to about this one seems petty psyched about it, even if Bombers think they will have to persuade Whippets to be the Whippet.
As well as being a good time, the festival is a chance to show local land managers that we appreciate the roaring success of the Hornsby Trails, but that a couple of dozen kilometres of legal singletrack is not enough for a city of four and a half million. We got OMV built by showing up in numbers and in order to keep the singletrack flowing in the future we need to continue to remind decision-makers that we exist and that we have a good argument on our side. Since OMV opened, we’ve gone from one step forward three steps back to maybe one leap forward one stagger back, which is an improvement, but it would be nice to see this city reach something like its full MTB potential.
In any case, we hope that the festival will be the first of many events at OMV.
Registration is now open at Eventbrite . Sign up early as places are limited to avoid overcrowding on the track. For more information please visit snorc.org.au.
Proceeds from the festival will be divided between SNORC’s trail building activities and the Hornsby Kuring-gai Women’s Shelter.
By now OMV has become so much a part of our lives that it is difficult to remember when, only a few years ago, one walked past that sad-looking privet forest thinking ‘man it would be great to build some singletrack in there, but stuff like that never happens, not in Sydney…’ Well, it did happen, and many many people’s lives are the better for it.
Now, after so many mattocks swung, so many drains cleared out, however many tonnes of rock armouring laid down, after however many tens of thousands of laps ridden, however many fast laps, slow laps, hot laps, cold laps, illegal rainy laps, laps caught behind brush turkeys…it’s time to celebrate.
On 13 December we (Sydney North Off Road Cyclists) are holding the Old Mans Valley Bike Festival, the first event in the history of OMV. The festival will bring a full day of racing for kids through elites all within a short train ride or drive of Sydney. There will also be a fundraising barbecue and bike demos.
The day will begin with the Hornado Cross cyclocross race, in which riders will traverse meadows, fire trails, some primo Old Mans Valley singletrack and chase brush turkeys up the soon to be notorious 55 sandstone steps of the Higgins Hornado Heritage Heckle Hill. While the course is by no means jungle cross, and no tornadoes are forecast at this time, it will have enough of an old school New World vibe that is probably a good idea to leave the Dugasts at home. I have personally begun cutting in the course — the idea is that even after the event OMV will become a hotbed for CX as well at MTB (and CX trails can double as much-needed beginner MTB trails).
After the Hornado Cross the festival will continue with a full slate of cross country racing for all levels, linking up some of Old Mans Valley’s best single track.
The day will close with the uniting of the full face helmet brigade and the knights in white lycra in the inaugural Bomber/Whippet Relay, a one lap time trial in which the first rider (the Bomber) descends from the top of the valley and tags off at the bottom to a teammate (the Whippet) who climbs back up. Everyone I’ve talked to about this one seems petty psyched about it, even if Bombers think they will have to persuade Whippets to be the Whippet.
As well as being a good time, the festival is a chance to show local land managers that we appreciate the roaring success of the Hornsby Trails, but that a couple of dozen kilometres of legal singletrack is not enough for a city of four and a half million. We got OMV built by showing up in numbers and in order to keep the singletrack flowing in the future we need to continue to remind decision-makers that we exist and that we have a good argument on our side. Since OMV opened, we’ve gone from one step forward three steps back to maybe one leap forward one stagger back, which is an improvement, but it would be nice to see this city reach something like its full MTB potential.
In any case, we hope that the festival will be the first of many events at OMV.
Registration is now open at Eventbrite . Sign up early as places are limited to avoid overcrowding on the track. For more information please visit snorc.org.au.
Proceeds from the festival will be divided between SNORC’s trail building activities and the Hornsby Kuring-gai Women’s Shelter.
