The Mont24 Hr - 2011, Mt Kowan

spikenet

spikenet

Likes Dirt
FR Drew said:
There are dozens of MTB events that cater for those folks who want to compete sport wise. The beauty of the MONT in the mind of many people is that mug punters could also get around the course. To head more in the direction of sport riders would be in my mind a step backwards.

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Preference would be that if you must include climbs of this nature, arrange the course to have them mid lap if possible, not in the start and finish.
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Great points.. I agree that the layout was not as fun as previous events or even what is possible at stromlo. I felt like I was smashing myself up the hills to have a mediocre downhill reward.. not that flowy, not really technical. Just lots of decreasing radius corners and looseness that wore out my brake fingers :)

However, I'm sure that with some tweeking it could be a great track. Its got the potential and I'm sure the guys will work hard to make it special! I guess the builders are making educated guesses until it actually gets used for an event like this!
 
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T

toby

Likes Dirt
Plus:
+ Great course, hard work but rewarding.
+ Excellent facilities: food and coffee, toilets, hot showers, good/level and soft camping area
+ Good vibe at transition at all hours. Lots of encouragement. Fun commentators.
+ All the pro/elite riders who passed me were super friendly and courteous. True professionals
+ Lots of friendly ladies on course, many on singlespeeds (so good to see so many women racing)
+ Hardworking and smiling volunteers (at all hours) helping us to have a great event

Minus
- Dusty and bumpy due to being a new track.
- Rude and unfriendly overtaking by a small percentage of (hero) riders in first few hours. Seems to be those in the bottom of the fast group - seriously some of those guys need to take a reality check.
- Bit of confusion in the star area about where you had to walk your bike to etc, could have been more carnage considering how many people were running. Needs improving.
- Did I mention dusty? Jeeze it was dusty...

See you next year!
 
M

morgs

morgs
FR Drew said:
the last 3km sucked more than the climb to the firetower in 03. .
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Absolutely no way, you were obviously fitter back then : )
I didn't see anyone walking (not to say there wasn't) this weekend, but there were sure as hell a lot of walkers on the firetower climb at the first Kowen 24 hour.

East Kowen is reasonably difficult to put a course together on for a number of reasons. It's a little plateau. In the middle of that you have a big no go area (the Geoscience area) that forces you further down the hill through soak areas and much steeper than the way the course ran. THere's a border on one edge and a farm on the other. THere's big swapy areas in the middle that would make the mud of Sunday look like a puddle in comparison and there's a moto area that you can't stray into lest the course gets wrecked. Oh and there's logging going on out there as well. And taking all that into account you've got to put together at least 17km without putting too much on firetrails, oh and there was only a few months to do it.

But, the road will be finished one day, there will be underpasses and potentially an event centre with a tar road running down the middle, ala Rotorua and there'll be cherry picking of Kowen and Sparrow available, bring it on. And in the mean time, it mightn't be perfect, but heh, we've now got a bunch of new trails to ride and there's a lot of linking stuff already in that wasn't in the race, Love Child for example. A 6 minute climb on a jump bike with flats and a hangover, I'll take that in a course as a climb any day.
 
FR Drew

FR Drew

Not a custom title.
Point is Morgs, it was in the middle of the course so you hit it once you were warmed up and before you were utterly shagged. This which is what made the two nasty climbs on this year's track less than ideal.
 
Jackstack

Jackstack

Likes Dirt
Dreggsy said:
I enjoyed the course morgs, it was RAD.
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What he said, Rad to the power of lots!
I did curse the first few k's and the uphill bits near the end but only 'cos I was actually racing this year, I think it would of bothered me a whole lot less if I'd left the race face at home. All the bits in between had me grinning from ear to ear.
One other point, and maybe it's just 'cos I'm a nice bloke and am a very patient person but every time I wanted to pass someone it was done with ease and without complaint and was even thanked a couple of times, so thanks to anyone who let me pass:cool:
 
dhd

dhd

Downhill Direct
FR Drew said:
Point is Morgs, it was in the middle of the course so you hit it once you were warmed up and before you were utterly shagged. This which is what made the two nasty climbs on this year's track less than ideal.
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Crikey! I never meant to upset/flame anyone!

Drew I think you have probably nailed it.
I'm going back to work on my car...... I'm a bit over this!
 
iscarrr

iscarrr

Likes Dirt
-Loved the course, not enough climbing for me!
-Everyone i overtook was great about it
-Dust sucked more than i thought it would
-Only saw one dick move, one guy in a full Jamis kit overtook some poor punter with about 150m until transition, from what i saw didnt even call track, and it was super tight.
-Sort of enjoyed the challenge of the wet in the end, thought i only did one real wet/muddy lap
-Camping was awesome, nice soft grass

Any word on photos? :cool:
 
M

morgs

morgs
FR Drew said:
Point is Morgs, it was in the middle of the course so you hit it once you were warmed up and before you were utterly shagged. This which is what made the two nasty climbs on this year's track less than ideal.
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Everything's a compromise man, when someone finds that utopia that is the course that has a technical challenge, but not too much, climbs that don't hurt, ideal arrangements for an event centre, good weather....
I was personally dreading the climb back up from the Orchard Rd area because I'm fat and unfit and I make myself hurt when the flag drops, but it was pretty good, enough variety and the visual effect of looking up the fireroad wasn't as bad as the actual effort involved IMO. The firetrail climb at the start...sucky. But waddyado, there's a big ugly swamp to the left that you need to get around somehow and if you don't have height you don't have fun flowy stuff. Unless...hmmm....a point to point 24 hour with a shuttle or something...

Was your helmet legal to race XC in BTW? I thought they were outlawed for XC because of lack of ventilation? Just askin'
 
J

jarv

Likes Bikes
Great track.Great orgainisation.Special thanks to the vollies.Loved my 3 showers.A big shout out to Brent and the crew at bike culture for fixing my blown forks after my first lap.Thankyou to my teammates.Cheers to everyone who pulled over for me.Especially loved my mud lap.Best 24 ive had
 
HerdingCats

HerdingCats

Likes Dirt
Favorite part of the course

So what was the best part of the course for you?

I reveled in Sweet Apples. For some reason it worked for me - turns at a happy radius, sufficiently warm, pumped after surviving the Sideshow ... it all clicked. It reminded me of Kowalski's Trouser Snake all those Mont's ago ...
 
H

hiredassassin

Likes Dirt
iscarrr said:
-Loved the course, not enough climbing for me!
-Everyone i overtook was great about it
-Dust sucked more than i thought it would
-Only saw one dick move, one guy in a full Jamis kit overtook some poor punter with about 150m until transition, from what i saw didnt even call track, and it was super tight.
-Sort of enjoyed the challenge of the wet in the end, thought i only did one real wet/muddy lap
-Camping was awesome, nice soft grass
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++1

I loved every minute of this years mont:

-saw the same (or another one?) idiot passing move right before transition (why!?)
-course was lovely, particularly from the half-way point onwards
- yeah there were some climbs at the end, but they were just little pinches and you knew you were at the end so who cares?
- I did our teams last lap and i LOVEd that mud - was running small block 8s front and rear so had ZERO grip. Have never drifted sooo much, laughed all the way to the end!:D
- as a team we placed better than we ever have! very happy with result.

What sucked:

My frame snapping before even geting onto the track on Friday!! Fortunately my team mate had a spare, though it was a hardtail - I haven't ridden hardtail in about 10 years... but I still loved it (just couldn't sit down!).
 
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