See the day in pictures above.
CYCLISTS from all across the state and beyond rode in to attend the Wylde Western Sydney 7 hour yesterday, including one man in an Elmo suit.
The Wylde Mountain Bike Trail was a bit of an unknown for many of the riders, particularly since it was the first competition of its kind out in western Sydney.
But following the race, many of the riders said the 12-kilometer trail was a big success and were excited about future competitions being held there.
‘‘I would absolutely race it again,’’ said the winner of the four-hour women’s pair category, Veronica Russell.
‘‘It’s a very good course and had a great flow. It was great fun.’’
Yesterday saw over 300 riders, from as young as 15-years old, competing in both four-hour and seven-hour categories.
For many, including some members of Mrs Russell’s team, it was their first time riding competitively.
‘‘It’s a great course for beginners,’’ Mrs Russell said.
‘‘The trail was quite relentless, especially after a few hours, but it wasn’t too technical.’’
The first seed of riders started at 8.30am and finished at 12.30pm and 3.30pm.
The cyclists had jerseys of every colour imaginable, but some riders like Adam Macbeth who wore an Elmo onesie, took some liberties with their racing kits.
‘‘Why not?’’ Mr Macbeth said.
‘‘I wasn’t taking the race seriously — although I could barely see where I was going, it was a crack up.’’
Sesame Street’s finest said he did an entire lap of the 12 kilometer trail in costume, and even managed to do a jump.
For a brief time, the weather was looking to dampen the day but it had a rather positive effect on the race.
‘‘It was about right amount of weather for that day,’’ said the winner of the men’s four-hour pair category, Michael Griffin.
The wet weather the night before had made the trail dusty, but the 10-15 minutes of rain during the race fixed this.
Mr Griffin said the rain had pushed the dust down and improved the grip of the track, particularly on the winding roads.
The midday showers were also perfect for cooling down the riders who at that point, had been going hard for three hours.
Outside the sore hamstrings and bruised behinds, there were a few incidents out on the trail that required medical attention.
One of the organizers, Joe Ward, said the ambulances responded to a few riders who were ejected from their bikes, but there were no major injuries.
Yesterday was the second race of the evocities MTB series and was sponsored by Fairfax Media, the complete results can be seen here.
The next event will be at Bathurst on May 31, followed by Albury on June 21, Dubbo on July 12, Tamworth on August 8, and the final round in Wagga on September 6.
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