Ingkerekke Commercial MTB Enduro 2013

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Ingkerreke Commercial MTB Enduro Words by Shaun lewis photos: rapid ascent

At the start of winter, Swell-Specialized's Shaun Lewis headed back to Alice Springs for the fourth time to race the ICME. It was his first attempt at the race since 2009 and in 2013 he was pleasantly surprised to find that 'the Alice' is still a great town, but the trails (and the event) are better than ever. Read on for his account...

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T

he event now known as the Ingkerreke Commercial MTB Enduro has been taking place in Alice Springs for many years now. It was originally called the Central Australia MTB Challenge and was a concept which was ripe for development (both in terms of the event format and the trails in the area).

With Rapid Ascent taking over the running in 2008 and local company, Ingkerreke Commercial, stepping up as title sponsor to ensure the ongoing success of the race, it has now evolved to become the wellknown and much-anticipated Ingkerreke Commercial MTB Enduro, or ICME for short.

The annual event has settled nicely into the Australian MTB calendar in May each year, with the current 7 stage format over 5 days proving very popular.

For me, this was my fourth journey to the Red Centre for the event, having competed in the 2006, 2008 and 2009 editions. I have three memories from my first race in Alice in 2006: sand, sand and more sand. There was some great singletrack in the race, but when I think back, the overwhelming memory is trudging through sand.

Fast forward a couple of years to 2009 and it was easy to see the trail network in the Alice growing. A couple of years further down the track and the place has turned itself in to a mountain biking Mecca.

The ICME event, while a great event in its own right, does a great job of showcasing the trails around the town. Logistically, this is the

easiest stage race I have done, with all stages (bar the longest stage, which Rapid Ascent provides transport for) starting and finishing in and around town. You can sleep in the same bed every night, you don't need a car and you can just concentrate on enjoying the racing, the crew and the Alice.

In 2013, I arrived at the event as one of three riders on the Swell-Specialized racing team, along with Jenny Fay and two-time ICME winner and defending champion, Andy Blair.

The primary goal for Andy and myself was for one of us to get the overall win. Our plan for this was pretty simple, hit the first stage hard and try and get a hold on the race. We knew from previous events that the race is generally won by small margins, but we also know that the race can easily be lost in the blink of an eye due to a mechanical problem.

When we looked at the start list, we knew the week wasn’t going to be easy. We knew we would have to look out for Ben Mather, who won the hotly-contested 2009 edition, young guns Kyle Ward and Michael Crosbie and also IMCE regular Ben Hogarth. We also made note of two Canberra lads Andrew Hall and James Downing, but unfortunately for the lads their plane was diverted by fog and they missed the start of the race, taking them out of contention from the get-go.

Stage 1 of the ICME provides riders with a bit of a taste of the seemingly-endless singletrack on offer in Alice. In addition to enjoying the great trails, we were a little spoilt this year, with some pre-race rain firming up the trails. The trails are normally a little bit loose so the recent rain meant that the

sometimes sketchy trails were turned into ‘hero’ dirt. It was going to be a fast and fun way to start the week.

We started under dark skies as we rode behind the police escort for the first few kilometres of the stage with a smiles and friendly banter, but as the police car pulled

We were possibly a little spoilt this year, with some pre-race rain firming up the trails that are normally a little bit loose, to give ‘hero’ traction and a fast fun way to start the week. off the race was ‘on’ and the riders charged toward the KOM, which was made all the more attractive by local lad Paul Darvodelsky putting up $200 for the first to the top of the hill. After the KOM a front group established itself with Ben Mather, Ben Hogarth, Andy Blair and myself. Behind, Kyle Ward and Mick Crosbie were chasing so Andy and myself kept the pace high.

Andy loves leading in the singletrack, and he seemed to remember a lot of it from previous years. We all seemed content with this and just buckled in and enjoyed the ride. However, as we entered the final 10 kilometres, Andy took advantage of a small gap he’d created and rode away to take the win. Behind I made the most of having Andy up the road as Ben Mather chased. I ended up second with Ben finishing just behind me.

In the women’s category, Row Fry took the win finishing just ahead of our teammate Jenny Fay with a more substantial gap back to Jenni King.

Andy loves leading in the singletrack, and he seemed to remember a lot of it from previous years. We all seemed content with this and just buckled in and enjoyed the ride. However, as we entered the final 10 kilometres, Andy took advantage of a small gap he’d created and rode away to take the win.

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Stage two is held in the afternoon on day one and is a short, spectator-friendly hill climb in the Alice Township. With not much to race for time-wise, this stage is a great opportunity to mingle with other riders and rumour has it a few beers were won and lost in the betting ring. Bragging and beer rights went to the stage one winners Andy and Rowena, who both posted blisteringly quick times of 44 and 54 seconds respectively for the 300m hill climb blast.

On day two, the riders woke to sunshine and blue skies. Spirits were high as the stage description promised some of the best singletrack that Alice has to offer. It wasn’t an empty promise either and after some early-race fire roads to spread the field out we were into the seemingly endless singletrack for the 49km adventure. Our job for the day was to protect Andy’s yellow jersey lead and, if possible, extend it. The ICME is an unpredictable race owing to the amount of sharp rocks about, which has taken many a competitor out of the running in the past, so we would have to take any opportunity we could to build our buffer over our competitors.

Early on Andrew Hall and Kyle Ward detached themselves from the front of the race. As they were a few minutes down overall, we didn’t have to chase them right away, but we wanted to pull them back before the finish. As we hit one of the big obstacles for the day, The Roller Coaster section, Andy pushed the pace with me on his wheel, but as soon as he started to turn the screws he had a rear wheel puncture.

This was a critical moment for us as I had to decide whether to wait with Andy and try to ride back to the front with him but risk us both losing time or stay at the front of the race in the knowledge that I was sitting in second position overall. I decided the safest option was to stay with the front of the race and left Andy to his own devices.

Unbeknownst to me, Andy was eating up the field behind after fixing his flat and he ended up only a minute down by the finish. Meanwhile, I found myself alone with Mick Crosbie at the front. With Andy behind, Mick had to do all the work and I was looking good for the stage win until it was my turn to get a flat after hitting a gutter with less than a kilometre to go arrggghhh!! To be fair, after all his hard work, young Mick Crosbie deserved to take the win.

All in all, we had to be happy that after a flat tyre each we finished only a minute down on the winner and had protected our position on the overall standings. We hoped that would be the end of our bad luck for the race…

In the women’s category, Row Fry tightened her grip on the overall, taking her third stage in a row (no pun intended) and increasing her buffer over second placed Jenny Fay. Wednesday is hump day and, appropriately, is when the ‘queen Stage’ (the longest and hardest stage in a tour) was to be held. The organisers bussed us and our bikes out to the remote village of Santa Teresa, dropped us off and told us they would see us back in Alice, 88km later. People often say it is pretty flat in the Outback, and while the other stages prove it can be anything but, for the queen stage, the old saying holds true. As such, you are pretty much guaranteed to ride the fastest 88km on dirt of your life.

While some people thought this stage was a little boring at times, I enjoyed the journey of the ‘point to point’ format of the stage. In the race for the overall, Mick Crosbie’s fortunes turned as he took a dive in one of the sandy rutted sections. Although he recovered and after a bit of a tussle, we all came into the final few kilometres together and the stage

was set for a showdown! Unfortunately the showdown didn’t eventuate as some course markings were tampered with. It was a disappointing way to end the stage, but after some discussions with Rapid Ascent and the other riders, time adjustments were made to ensure the week of racing was not ruined for the front group.

After the queen stage, we had to back up for a double-stage day on the Thursday. It consisted of an individual time trial (TT) in the morning, followed by a mass start night race under lights over the same course. The TT went well for most and gave people a chance to make up time on opponents if they fancied themselves with clear track ahead, this was with the exception of Peter Selkrig who I passed as he rode, very much standing up, with a broken seat post. Credit to him, the tough man didn’t give up and did it the hard way.

The Swell-Specialized team had a good day with Andy and Jenny each taking wins with me taking second, meaning that we took a healthy lead going into the final two stages.

When I first heard about the mass-start night stage years ago, I was terrified. The thought of racing full gas, in total darkness, in a group filled with fast blokes trying to make a bid for the race win or improve their overall position on general classification was terrifying. However, when I first raced the 2008 night stage, that all changed. From then on, the night stage at Alice has been my favourite stage of any race I’ve ever done, I simply love it (and I suspect I’m not alone). You ride to the stage start watching a beautiful outback sunset over the MacDonnell Ranges, wait for total darkness, the organisers CRANK up ACDC Thunderstruck on the PA system and every-

body switches their lights on. At that point the start line is lit up like day, anticipation is high….then BANG, you are into it. For me, this is the signature stage and most memorable to the ICME and it is always hard to wind down enough to get to sleep, luckily the week is almost over [Winning the stage and pumping yourself full of caffeine gels might have also had something to do with it Shaun…? – Ed.].

In the women’s category, Row Fry took yet another stage victory and would go into the final stage with an almost unassailable lead.

When the sun rose on Friday, we woke with a mix of emotions. The tired legs were keen for some recovery, but with such great racing (and the memories of the night-stage still fresh in our minds), we almost didn’t want it to end.

With the end of the tour in sight, we were keen to finish the week off in style.

The final stage takes in parts of the earlier stages in the week but also some new trails.

The result is a stage with a cool mix of reminiscing over the old and ripping up the new over some really cool slabby rock sections.

For us, our priority was obviously to protect Andy’s lead over the 40km loop, but the real battle was for third place on the podium with Mick Crosbie and Ben Hogarth going head to head. But defending the lead turned into an attack when Andy and I established a gap crossing the Todd River. It was a great way to end the tour as we worked together to maintain our advantage and finish the stage together after a tough but thoroughly enjoyable week of racing. Mick held off the spirited charge from Ben (Ben had pulled back time on both of Thursday’s stages to Mick), with Mick grabbing third on the stage to cement his

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third place overall.

Row Fry also continued her domination by winning the final stage and amassing an impressive 26 minute gap over her nearest rival, and our teammate, Jenny Fay (who lost a massive amount of time with a mechanical in the night stage and a flat tyre in the final stage). Terri Rhodes was consistent all week and secured third place.

There were smiles all round at the finish line, with some people still racing hard for placings in their categories and others just happy to finish the week without any major spills or problems.

For me, while it was great to come away with the race win for Swell-Specialized, at the finish I also reflected on the event and trails on offer in Alice in 2013 more generally. Alice has changed from a race, and an area, which was once infamous for its spirit-crushing sandy sections (of which, a few remain) to a true riding destination with a huge amount of sweet and flowing singletrack.

The rocks are still sharp and unforgiving for both skin and tyres (so don’t go light on the rubber and keep it rubber side down!) but I think the evolution of the course and the development in bikes, namely 29ers and bigger tyres, make the sandy bits easier and the singletrack more enjoyable and faster.

The bottom line is that Alice and the ICME is getting better every year. Whether you are there to go for the overall win, to get the best out of yourself or to just take in the trails and the riding that Alice has to offer, the ICME is an awesome event.

One thing’s for sure, Alice, I’ll be back.

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