Since opening in 2018, Maydena Bike Park (MBP) has gained a reputation for its steep and deep gravity trails, descending a substantial 820 vertical metres of wilderness terrain. While we have spent the past few years adding a large volume of beginner and intermediate trails, there is no denying that the park offers some incredibly challenging trails.
Visitors to MBP who use the shuttle service will typically ride an average of four laps in a day, giving them 3,280m of vertical descending. This is a big day on the bike.
The challenge is born
MBP regular Tim Blair runs (among other things) a foundation that raises funds for childhood cancer research and support, the Tim Blair Run for Kids Foundation. As an ex-clinical oncology (cancer) nurse myself, I know cancer is a disease that is very close to my heart.
Over a few beers one night, we decided to run the first 15hr of Gravity Challenge back in 2021 to raise money for Tim’s foundation. The challenge saw Tim, General Manager Rhys Ellis, and I complete 16 non-stop laps at MBP over 15 hours. That challenge pushed us to (in fact past) our limit, with extreme fatigue, arm pump, blisters, and joint pain ravaging the team from around lap 12 onwards.
This year it was decided that things needed to go bigger, and to invite the general public to the challenge without pushing them to breaking point — that was just for us. And so, the 24hr of Gravity Challenge was born, along with a new public event, the 12hr of Gravity Challenge.
Leading into the event, there wasn’t much time for apprehension or worry, nor for a great deal of training. Our team hit the start line only sure of one thing — this was going to be tough.
Get the double blacks out of the way early
So, what does 24 hours feel like? Painful, exhilarating, terrifying, and hilarious, all in near equal measure.
Starting at about 6 pm, we made the most of the daylight, riding double black and pro-line trails, with a plan to stick to the easier options overnight. Spirits were high, and so was the pace as we watched the sun sink lower each lap. Despite a plan to pace ourselves, the stoke was too high to take it easy, and the opening laps were completed at some truly intense speeds. Reality sunk in as the sun finally set over the rugged South West Wilderness — there was a long way to go.
Zero dark Maydena
As the lights went on, the energy levels kicked up a gear — the caffeine may also have helped. It only took until the start of our first run after nightfall for our plan to take it easy in the dark to go out the window. We ended up racing through some of the park’s most challenging trails in the darkness.
The team blasted out laps on some of Maydena’s most technical terrain— Styx and Stones, Pamela, The Nunnery, Thrash Horse, King Brown, and Sideshow Bob, to name a few. Our approach to crank up the tech in the park may seem counterintuitive, in fact it proved beneficial. With no margin for error, concentration and energy remained high. It was also a whole lotta fun.
As we got comfortable with the lights, confidence grew, and we lined up some of the larger jumps in the park. Maydena Hits proved a…well….hit, with the last jump aptly named ‘the twilight zone’ because we couldn’t see the landing of the 40ft jump. It felt like soaring through the night sky as if you were skimming the stars.
The challenge becomes a challenge
The bumps were getting rougher, concentration was waning, and everything was beginning to hurt. To ensure we’d make it through the night, we settled on a route that essentially offered the best combination of a direct, fast ride, with minimal big hits. We referred to the lap as ‘old faithful’. Eventually, old faithful became a bit repetitive, so we switched back to some unruly nighttime trail riding, including laps of the national downhill race course, The Natty.
By around 3 am, things were really getting tough. The clear skies were amazing, but with it came extreme cold. Staying well hydrated was easy, keeping up adequate nutrition was not. While we had an amazing aid station with everything you could possibly need, the reality was none of us was physically capable of eating much.
At 4 am, my vision was getting blurry. I started having mild hallucinations. It felt like I was at least six beers deep as we continued to hammer out non-stop laps. While it was never actually discussed, the silent agreement was that stopping while on the way down was not an option. We needed to hammer these laps out to stay in the game. The lead rider silently nodded as we reached each intersection and simply rolled on through.
The shuttle became one of the biggest challenges as the night wore on. Despite a rapid uplift getting us to the summit in under 20 min, this downtime, and the extreme cold meant that we started every lap completed seized up. Sore and delirious.
The first few minutes of each lap were utterly terrifying and felt like an eternity —completely disconnected from your bike and unable to react.
Luckily another group of MBP’s regular customers had finished up, what in hindsight, must have been a very long game of pool down at the base and joined us through the night for company. Their banter, combined with our genuine delirium, would have made for some serious entertainment for our drivers.
Music selection became a major component of our success. As the karaoke worsened, the music choices became more questionable.
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The light on the other side
Things were getting grim, particularly for me. Each lap felt harder than the last. The fatigue was ravaging us. As dawn approached, one of the biggest challenges was the wildlife. We had numerous close calls with possums and wallabies, and dialled back the pace to avoid what would have been a catastrophic collision, for both parties.
At 4:30 am, we saw the first hint of glow on the horizon. It was a special moment. Prior to the sun rising, I was at an absolute low point. Making our way to the summit, we were treated to one of the most incredible sunrises I’ve seen at Maydena, perhaps made extra vibrant by our mild fatigue-related hallucinations.
The mood kicked up again, the lights were ditched, and the stoke set in for our first-morning lap.
Bring in the masses
At 6 am, the 12-hour teams arrived, which was another boost to our morale. At least until we realised this meant we were only halfway through. The teams looked a little apprehensive when they saw the look of us, and I can hardly blame them.
Wide-eyed, rolling into the pits, there was no denying we looked (and no doubt smelt) like we were doing it tough. A breakfast burrito definitely got the engines going again as we joined our new companions on the hill. Overnight we had been burning significant calories with little food intake, and we were seriously depleted.
As we settled into the morning, we continued to pull ahead of our one-lap-per-hour target. By lunchtime, we were three laps ahead of our goal. The notion of 30 laps was briefly discussed, but we decided to tone it down as we began making lots of small mistakes.
But with the end in sight, joined by some staff and regulars, the pace once again increased for a short while.
The fatigue and pain were back through the afternoon, and we hit another wall. A snooze on the uplift was alluring, but 20min simply wasn’t enough sleep, and the only option was to tough it out. These were some of the most brutal laps of the event. Fortunately, some of MBP’s fastest local juniors reinvigorated things as we were tired but not quite ready to give it up to the youngsters just yet.
For the finale of our marathon, we brought the whole group up for a party lap from the summit. Our teams had been running on high rotation along with us, with some riders clocking a monumental 13 laps in their 12hr riding window. Watching everyone find and push past their own personal limits was magical. The magnitude of what we’d just done and my tired emotions got the better of me.
By the numbers
When all was said and done, Rhys and I completed 27 total laps of MBP, with Tim not far behind. The vast majority of which were non-stop top-to-bottom laps. We descended over 22,000 vertical metres and close to 200 linear kilometres. While riding, we burned nearly 10,000 calories across the 24 hours.
Despite the sense of accomplishment derived from the ride, I am the proudest of the teams’ efforts and the combined donations we have raised for children’s cancer.
Next year the challenge will definitely be back, bigger and better, with significant interest from riders across Australia. For now, if you have a few spare dollars, the donation link is still live. Every dollar donated goes directly to kid’s cancer research and support.