Hello,
The 2024 international race season got off to a flying start with last week’s Red Bull Hardline at Maydena Bike Park, Tasmania.
Hardline showed how much hype and excitement a fresh, challenging and downright dreamy-looking track can bring to an event.
But beyond the send, Maydena Gravity Fest brought together pros and amateurs from across the country and further afield into a weeklong celebration of all things bicycles and dirt. How cool would it be if every mountain bike race was this much fun?
Misspent Summers advocate Ross Kershaw, who is part of Maydena’s bike patrol team, has put together some notes recapping the whole week of festivities from an insider’s point of view. We thought you might like to read through, feel the stoke (even when crashing in front of his heroes) and imagine a week unlike any other.
Plus, there’s a selection of Sven Martin’s amazing photos. Big thanks to Sven for his five-star coverage for our Instagram and YouTube.
Hope you enjoy scrolling through.
Cheers,
James
+ the Misspent Summers team
LETTER FROM TASMANIA: LIFE OF A HARDLINE PATROLLER
Reflecting on Red Bull Hardline with Maydena bike patroller Ross.
Hardline Tasmania. What a week.
Let’s take a moment to really appreciate the Maydena Bike Park (MBP) team – every one of them: guest services, café, kitchen, trail crews, workshop, patrol and the additional ring-ins. The effort to get to this point and run the event cannot be understated.
As for the event itself – WOW!
I think it is important to acknowledge a couple of key milestones: First time that Hardline was run outside of Wales in its 10-year history. First time women have competed in race runs. How historic and awesome is that?
For bike patrol – the team I’m part of – and all the park crew, Hardline was but one aspect of the weeklong MBP Gravity Fest event. Gravity Fest included the Natti DH Race, Jump Jam, Queen and King of the Mountain, and Kids Fest.
Here’s how the week went from my point of view:
Monday 19 Feb-Tues 20 Feb
- Hardline started for MBP months ago but Monday for patrol was setup base, check all equipment and supplies to be organised for the coming week.
- We rolled into the park early, setup base, grabbed a coffee from the café then upon returning to the patrol area I was politely given my orders to bike up and get out asap to be opening sweep of the Natti DH course with none other than Shelly Flood! Holy heck she’s bloody quick no way I’ll keep pace!
- Opening course sweep done, back to base to check in then onto the hill again to the Natti start line and wait aka cheer and talk banter with the riders for practice.
- Afternoon was a reset to the lower Natti section of the course near the Hardline container drop. My god, watching the athletes hit this for the first time including the women was awesome and an honour.
- Things to note that you don’t get later in the week or on any post/video/shoot: The atmosphere – For the initial attempts the atmosphere felt quite tense. A few men ticked off the drop, then the women! OMG the atmosphere lifted, encouragement, shouting and high fives were a plenty. Trains, tow ins and individual attempts kept on rolling.
- The noise of tyres – you expect and know you’ll hear the tyres on the take-off, at landing, the freehub in the air BUT I was not expecting to hear the wheels rotating in the air itself. Once the rider was midway over the gap and the trees opened you can hear the tyres whooshing as they spin in the air. Crazy.
Wednesday 21 Feb
- The extra-big day.
- Morning plan and the start of the day was like the day before. Setup base, coffee then off to the Natti DH start (unfortunately no need for an opening sweep this time). More cheering and banter with the riders practicing for the race.
- Midway through the morning I was re-tasked to cover the Hardline below Baxter’s Highway as patrol/marshal for the athletes to get practice in from the midline entry down to the container drop and onto the creek gap.
- Lunchtime was on us, the Natti swapped over to arvo practice group, Hardline athletes dropped for lunch and to prep before going back up to the top section. Once the all-clear was given, the patrol team dropped in waves to base. I resupplied on water and snacks then went straight back to the top hold point on the trail network ready for the arvo (somehow managed this change over on under 40mins including the 15-20min bus ride).
- Wicked arvo catching glimpses of riders sending, squishing and rolling the first ‘small’ rock drop to gap drop.
- With arvo practice complete, I was tasked to do the final Hardline course sweep to make sure all athletes were clear (D lines only – no way I was going to try the features).
- As I come out of Baxter’s Highway, through the soon-to-be-dusty corners and onto the off-camber section of trail I see Wyn Masters, Sven Martin and crew filming what can only be described as more award-winning footage for WynTV. In an attempt to keep out of the way, I selflessly made a less than graceful exit into the low side bush, providing heckling material for the rest of the week.
- Dropped to base, track cleared, loaded up on water and snacks then off to the Jump Jam on the newly built Maydena Hits. Two hours of more jaw-dropping riders doing sick tricks. However, all good things come to an end, so we packed up. After 12+ hours on the hill, time to head home.
- Later that night, a request from the female athletes in Hardline came in to have an additional, unplanned practice on Thursday morning to try and tick off the lower section features. This would mean patrol would need to cover Hardline course marshalling as well as our normal duties for this practice session. Without hesitation it was a resounding ‘FK YES!’.
Thursday 22 Feb
- All patrollers were at base early – mornings off, sleep-ins cancelled, other duties put on hold.
- Time for a quick briefing then onto the lower section of the Hardline course for the women to get the extra practice session in on the container drop, shark fin and creek gap.
- Conditions were not favourable after some overnight drizzle and morning gusty winds. With the practice session called off after a few runs, the patrol team reset for the Natti DH practice, DH race, and Hardline practice. I was at the cliff drop to tree gap section of the Hardline course this time. Being there to see several of the women tick off the drop to gap (they had all done the drop previously), was amazing. The atmosphere lifted again with a lot of riders now relaxed and having fun over the gap with suicides, tucks, one-handers, one-footers, cancans, whips etc. being thrown about willy nilly over the tree gap.
- At the end of the session, lucky me got to sweep the track once again from the cliff drop to the finish line. This time I didn’t find Wyn, BUT I did have another off-bike excursion. Haha.
Friday 23 Feb
- It’s on: Spectators, vendors and the lot. 5-6,000 people in a town that normally has a few hundred.
- As with every morning, I was in at base early to set up and the all-important coffee. First task was to head to the top of the bike park to escort and place all the top dozen or so marshals into place on the Hardline course.
- From there I dropped to the top of the drone zone with the other patroller in my team. We spent the day helping the drone pilots, watching riders whizz past at incredible speed and helping spectators find their way around the viewing areas.
Saturday 24 Feb
- RACE DAY!
- With Gracey Hemstreet and Lou Ferguson (no spoilers here you should have already watched the race) completing the course in seeding and now racing, there was extra excitement in the air.
- Repeat of practice morning, base setup, coffee then drop the top marshals into place ready for the race. Made my way down to my allocated spot on the course. Today the container drop. Wicked! It wasn’t far past opening time and the crowds were already building.
- The day’s job was a mixed bag including monitoring the crowd to make sure everyone was safe and being respectful. This got off to a bit of a shaky start because who wants a patroller yelling at you from across the course to get out of that perfectly good vantage point in a tree?
- After, a few people still tried to climb the tree, however the crowd started to warm to me as I told them when each rider was dropping in at the start.
- Soon after the first couple of riders, a group of spectators dressed as bananas started chanting for me to take my helmet off. Odd thing, I agree, but hey let’s have some fun.
- After a couple of teases between riders of me undoing the chin strap then signalling no and walking away, the crowd got what they wanted. The helmet came off with a big bow from me to a massive cheer from them. This continued throughout the day, positive heckling back and forth between me and the crowd.
- Towards the end of the race, I was re-tasked to other jobs. With the race ending, for the final time I swept the Hardline course top to bottom (no crashes this time).
Sunday 25 Feb
Yep, that’s right, back at it. Patrol and the park still had another day of events. Queen and King of the Mountain and Kids Fest. No big sleep ins for most of us but the spirits were high after such an awesome race the day before.
What an incredible week to be a part of and it was such a privilege to play a small role in bringing the event to life at Maydena Bike Park.
Thanks for reading,
Ross.
@rosscoridesbikes
