Fling for me

This was The Fling for me, did the 110 option ( didn't know you could do only 100?!)

This was different race to the one I did two years ago, it's 110kms and it's a long, long day.

Threat of rain as of last week so was pretty apprehensive. I had a spare pair of socks and gloves and light rain jacket all ready to take in my pack. Woke up Sunday morning and not a cloud in the sky! Yeehaa! Walked around outside and the ground wasn't too wet either, this was looking good.

7:30 and we were off. The beginning was the usual fire road slogs, spread the crowd out a bit. The bit where you had to climb the fence had been moved to a gate now, that was welcome. A few short climbs up some singletrack and then heaps of twisty, flowing singletrack through the pines. This bit rocked! Came to one bit were there was a bit of a traffic jam, joked to the guy behind me that there was some North Shore coming up. Got to the bit and it was about 2 metres of singletrack that was a complete bog, we joked that some bridges actually would have helped.

Got to the big creek crossing. Walked through and it got up to my chest!! So cold too, actually took my breath away ( literally!). Squelchy shoes but dried off pretty quick.

Riding doubletracks through paddocks next. Then through some leafy stuff round the bottom of some hills. Started talking with another guy for a little while at about the 20km mark. He'd done the Dirtworks but not the Fling. Asked me what time I thought we were making, said this was easier than the Dirtworks and if we kept this up 6 and a half hours easy. Asked me about the middle stage, said it was long and hard with a lot of climbs, but not too technical. Kind of like the last section of the Dirtworks ( how wrong I was to be!).

About 2 kms later I thought my race was over. I heard this snap and then my back wheel stopped dead as if I had my brakes jammed on. I swore a lot. Looking down a branch as thick as my arm was wedged at a 90 degree angle through my back wheel. Swore more. Pulled it out, no broken spokes. Checked derailler, all good. Rode again, gears worked, no damage. Phew!

Caught up to the guy who I'd been talking too at the top of a climb, told him what happened. Said I was lucky, would be a long walk from where we were. I said that obviously swearing loudly does fix things. He said yeah unless it's a computer. I said then you just wack them hard. He said nah, then you just get a Mac. ( left that in for you IT nerds).

Rode into the transition area, got some water, banana etc. Stoked first stage done already. Looking at my bike the seat looked a little low. Checked it and the post had slipped a bit so I put it back up.

Took off from Wingello and the seat height felt unreal! First 10kms of the 2nd stage I was powering up all the climbs. Was feeling great. Got to the first bit of tree covered singletrack that had obviously just been cut when I rode here two years ago. This was well defined now and was really fast. Great fun.

Bit of a climb through some pine trees then a fast descent and up to a bit called "See Saw". This was a climb up a really old, narrow fire road. It was really eroded with a massive trench through the middle and roots sticking out everywhere. You basically had to pump it from side to side to get the smoothest line up. Bit of traffic here too from slower riders.

A bit into it I caught up to this guy who was making pretty good pace up it, so I just sat on his wheel and followed him which was great as he picked all good lines and cut through all the traffic. Thanked him at the top and he thought I meant for offering him a sip of his drink bottle! I said I meant for the draft up the hil and he asked how I was finding the race. Said I was loving it, he said yeah it's a really good ride isn't it. And it was about to get a whole lot better.

Next bit was Fern Gully which had the first bit of new singletrack. I couldn't believe how good this was, tight and twisty, up and down, techinical too, was really good. Led to a bit called the "Great Wall". This was because it was off camber and cut across the side of the slope, so the downside of the track was rock armoured to hold it up. This went for so long, really was like a the Great Wall.

You really had to be on it on the singletrack. Not knowing what was coming up made it pretty hard (one particular corner took me by surprise), and you just had to trust that all the rocks and logs were ok to roll over or jump. Was very up and down too so you had to work to try and pump the right bits and keep your speed.

Out of this bit, bit of fireroad and then into more singletrack. This turned into a bit of double track that got pretty fast and rocky, then it turned into singletrack again that had the big caution sign at the top. This was a pretty crazy little bit, was very steep and through some bamboo. The bamboo was so tight it was only about handlebar width across, and the ground here was muddy and really slippery. basically you had to feather the brakes, look for the hole shot and slide down! Right at the very bottom for a sec I thought it was all over, but I held my line and momentum carried me through and out to a fireroad climb at the bottom. A guy came out behind me, " you can see how people come unstuck there!" he said, yep, a good lesson in brake modulation I said.

Came to a section called Tangles. This was more singletrack and lots of it. As the name suggests, it was really weavy. Super tight and twisty, dropping down fast, then climbing, over and over. Pretty technical too. Heaps of roots, a few rock gardens. And this seamed to go on forever. It was about this point I figured I had never ridden so much singletrack in one day in my life. And it kept going!!

Finally, I came out of this onto a fireroad. Thank heavens, time for a rest. 20meters later and a sign directed into the trees and onto more singletrack. Could not believe it! Enough is enough! This next bit was awesome too, steep, sweeping corners, tight and loose enough that you really had to drop in on the right line and then just let them go before the next one. Then a tight rocky climbing bit out.

More of this and then fire road climbing to the water station. Refill, quick eat and go. Now a long, long fast rocky descent. This was friggen unreal! Arm pump! Bit more and then Halfway Hill. Good, time for a break as I'm definately walking this! Half way up this, walking , I got my first and only cramp in my leg, but got ride of this soon enough ( salt tablets rule!).

Halfway Hill over, bit of a descent followed by more climbing, then some more climbing. A fire road descent that was probably the fastest I've ever been, then a bit more climbing.

Next up a fire road descent and I could see riders going fast down to the left of me, figured the fire road went to the left and got steeper. Got to the left and it turned into ( I couldn't believe it) more singletrack. This was a fast, straight section of trail that went down for about 500ms or so before turning into more forest. Pretty cruisy undulating stuff through here, then out onto more fireroad.

Then to a bit called "Wild West". This was more singletrack, but it was like Dirtworks style, fast and sandy and rocky through Eucalypts insetad of pines. This went downhill for ages and was a blast.

Finally a bit called Outer Limts which was hard, alot of climbing. For those who have done it this was exactly like the final stage of the Dirtworks ( minus the downhill at the end). After this, the 10kms of unsealed road back to the transition area at Wingello.

I stopped for a bit here, I was hurting. My back killed from hunching over all day, and my right knee was f*cked! Hit the ambos up for some Panadol, had a Red Bull, Banana, Gel, water refill and I was off.

Final stage really hurt, my knee was killing so I did most of the climbs just spinning up in a low gear ( funnily enough still passing some who were walking). Despite being totally rooted though, still enjoyed all the good bits that were to come. Bit more singletrack through the pines, and the downhill stuff after the abandoned yacht in the forest was all time, just full on railing the natural berms! This was probaly 95kms into it, I was in pain, but still having fun!

On the final 5kms back to the finish line on the road I pushed it hard. I knew it was over and I thought to myself that if it means the difference between one side of an hour ( whatever hour that was) then it was worth it, so I took deep breaths, put my head down and pedalled hard to the end.

That was it, all done, was pretty stoked. I did around 8 hours, no official times yet so I don't know exactly what.

Big thanks to Damien, who gave up his entry to me due to injury.

Awesome race, brought out everything you've done on a bike in the one day.