Greasy, rough and long - that was the general consensus of the riders of Fiver #3 sponsored by Steed Cycles and Race Face.
The Fivers are a local race series held by the NSMBA every summer in a mini enduro format that sees racers tackle a course usually comprised of three descents with the occasional climb thrown in for good measure.
Held on alternating Thursday evenings and sponsored by a different local business each time, they're an awesome opportunity for a bit of casual racing but more importantly they're a chance for us to get together and celebrate the amazing mountain biking community we have here on the North Shore.
The trails picked for our race day were stage 1: Seventh Secret > Leppard, stage 2: Lower Oilcan, stage 3: Lower Dreamweaver. We were lucky that race day happened to be beautifully sunny following a couple of days of rain, so the trails were in pretty good shape, but Seventh Secret was pretty greasy up high, making for some slippery trail conditions. Combine that with a damn long first stage, a fast and rough second stage and decent third stage to really finish people off, it was a hell of a tough race.
What better way to end the night than cold, frosty beverages and seemingly endless chilli dogs then? Ready to greet hungry, thirsty racers was a buffet of dogs, drinks, chips, nachos etc with all the vegan, non-alcohol and gluten free bases covered, while our DJ spun some chill tunes in the background.
Topping everything off was the incredible spot prizes supplied by Race Face including two sets of Next R carbon wheelsets, a set of Turbine wheels, Era and Next R cranks and a bunch of other awesome Turbine goodies.
Jarrad had a wander around our après event after fiver #3 to chat with some of the racers and volunteers about how the race went for a special edition podcast episode. Hear it straight from the racer's mouths!
For those that have never raced a Fiver, you can find all the details on the NSMBA page here, but in short they happen on alternating Thursdays through summer with the regular 'classic' Fiver events, and a new more beginner-friendly Fiver Casual series, as well as a WTNB series too. They cost $5 to enter on top of your NSMBA membership which is required to race. They're a ton of fun and we recommend you try it out!
As always, massive thanks to the NSMBA for organising and hosting one of the most fun race series around, to all of the volunteers for making it happen, to Race Face and all the staff for helping with the après event. We can't wait for next year!
