Totally Brown and at the Point of Burning!

Finally got some time to finish the blog for what turned out to be a very *memorable* event in an unexpected way...

In St John's Gospel, Chapter 14, Verse 6, Jesus says, “I am the way.” Well, if only Jesus had come along to Brownie Points Burner, everyone wouldn’t have gotten so darn lost!* It said on the race website, “This race is not to be missed.” But from what I saw, plenty of the signs that were meant to show the route on the course certainly were (missed)!

I should have suspected something was wrong the afternoon before, as Mum and I drove to the event HQ, in Clarendon Forest Retreat but found no signs showing where the HQ site actually was… We drove 500m down a dirt road until we realized something wasn’t right, turned around and finally found the place…by accident! Later, when we went to Taree where we stayed the night, we got stuck in an extremely poorly signposted car park, heck, *that* should have made me more aware of the need for good signage.

But I was so focused on the race, and the new course, that it didn’t cross my mind. Only one thought manifested in my mind as I prepped for the big day; Ride fast to get a placing.

BACKGROUND

In the course of getting some advice on choosing a new bike, I was told to enter the Brownie Points Burner as a good event to add to my 2013 race calendar. Looking around the website, I saw lots of climbing, so the serious training began weeks earlier on the Superfly with a WS club race and several extended training rides that have pulled me through the Strava ranks (among other things). Hill climbing has always been my strong point so whilst I knew the 2.7 vertical km of climbing might break me, I hoped it would break me relatively little compared to other competitors!

After a casual ride around the first 20km of the trail (up until the crazy hill), I made mental note of how the ride would begin, where I would push myself, where I would tail, gear combos, and all the rest of that jazz. It was my first marathon on the new bike so I wanted to make the most of it! Had I known the signage somewhat disappeared after that point, I would have been a lot more wary…

THE START LINE

Coming back to the event HQ early Sunday morning, what struck me was the lack of racers; seemed like less than 50 in the 80km line up. Placing myself in the second or third row when the “gun” (more like “3,2,1, GO!”) went off, I managed get up with the front group at the initial hill, tailing for the first 8km or so before getting dropped on a descent. Ending up in no man’s land for about 5km, with the first group about 200m in front, was the most frustrating thing, but soon I started to see some of those guys begin to get minor mechanicals so I was able to keep pace with one or two of them for at lest a few more k's. Seeing a (spot prize) balloon near the side of the track, I contemplated whether I’d waste a valuable few seconds stopping to grab it and taking the random spot prize inside it but I thought I’d probably regret the delay this would add, later.

Missing a turnoff about 18km in, I managed to waste about 30s working that one out. Little was I to know that was to be the least of it. I got back on track and behind a rider for the next several k’s until the 20km mark, just before the first major climb of the day. Anyone who has done Convict will remember Blue Hill’s incredibly steep 10km stint, and here was almost an exact replica of it: equally rough, tough, steep and long. Grinding on bottom ring seemed the only option; and there was plenty more of this to go. Luckily I had a guy in front of me to pace myself against here, but that made it far from easy! At the “top” of the climb, more climbing!! Equally steep and rough, just not quite as long. Assuming the first group was way out of sight, I kept with the one guy I’d been tailing. Then, over the lip, I don’t think I’d ever seen such a steep descent on a fire road (the guys who were there know what I’m talking about!). It was almost vertical, and in order to survive, I had to hang on to the rear brake, building up heat like a blacksmiths fire, for dear life.

Trailing another rider, I descended to a series of rather deep creeks. It was time for my new bike's baptism! Water went all over my nice dry shoes and of course the bike itself. Trying to sustain pace through this terrain was different to anything I had ever trained on, with beautiful scenery (not that I paid much attention to it) and umpteen creeks, which I alternated between riding and running across. Come 30km and I ended up along the main unsealed road, pointing off down a road that seemed “…a lot less travelled…”

LOST IN THE BUSH

And that certainly made all the difference! As I stayed in a group of around three, we approached the subsequent junction where there was (surprise, surprise!) no signage. Naturally, we continued on until the track just petered out!! Looking at each other, we turned tail and rode back as about fifteen or so other riders seemed to get stuck in the same spot, where we all congregated, looking for some ‘sign’ in a sort of daze and confusion. Eventually, someone saw a sign along one of the trails, but it was on the road parallel to the one we were on (how it was supposed to be the course and how we were supposed to be there, I have no idea) so we crossed the divide and continued riding.

At one point I (being the only one with a phone) tried to call the emergency number to find out where the heck the track was and as I was dealing with that I got dropped from the main group so I started up again on my own. After another 3km, I began to get a bit apprehensive as I saw nobody at all and even more so as I rode down a fire road when suddenly the sign was pointing the opposite direction!! But what could I do? Nothing, so I just followed the signs, alone, for another 7km.

Oh, %^#&! I recognized this place! This was just before where we had gotten lost 10km ago. Somehow I had missed ANOTHER sign and ended up on the 50km course which had taken me back to this junction. Far out! There went my chance of getting a place. Memories surfaced of Capital Punishment where for reasons out of my control I somehow found myself in the midfielders. But eventually on this crazy adventure, I found myself at the first feed station, about 40km in (hence about 50km on my speedo).

Having an extended stop at the feed station (before getting kicked out!), I regained a bit of energy, heading to the famous Taree Tip Trails at slower 'training', rather than 'race' pace (I’d figured, what was the point of racing?). Plus the 'getting lost' part was far from over. Somehow we managed to head down a fire road for 2km, until we were told by riders to return to where we'd come from, only to conclude it HAD to be that road so this time followed it to its entirety.

More very nice singletrack followed by some grueling hills. At this stage I thought: Couldn't this event just be over!? No it couldn't be over, for as I approached the next rest stop, I found I'd done just 56km of the supposed 80K. Just 56?! That was only 2/3 of the way! And if I thought my geographical embarrassment was over (i.e., getting lost), that was just a dream. About 65km (officially), about 30 of us riders had congregated at a T intersection with no signage whatsoever. Even a marshal who happened by didn’t know where we were! Getting his bearings about him, he was finally able to work out the road we were on and the way back to the start (did anyone care about the course anymore at this point – I’d even received a text saying that the winners had given up!). This put us somehow back onto the course, eventually taking us to the “72km” feed station (which was 90 according to my speedo!).

The next ups and downs just killed me, and the others riding with me. All anyone wanted to do was to finish!! But no, it was not time to finish yet. Not until my computer read 100km (so much for an 80km event!) where I finally, FINALLY, saw the big tent and the finish line. I breathed a sigh of relief as I pedaled the last few metres, over the line in about 6 hours.

AFTERMATH

After regaining consciousness, wiping myself off and changing my clothes, I was able to ascertain that EVERYONE, including the “winner” Jason English had gotten lost due to unclear signage during the course (which some claim may have been taken down by locals), and riders had done an amazing assortment of routes including those where they ended up clocking 110km and others who ended up on Pacific Highway. The only route not taken was probably the one signposted on the course!

Handing in my prize card, I turned out to have won a 400 lumen light (to which the new battery included turned out to be a dud… sort of symbolic of the event!)

Is there anything positive I can say about the experience? Yes. I often say that every event I do should be memorable.. and this one DEFINITELY satisfied that criteria. Also, whether or not at race pace or not, I still clocked up 100 very demanding kilometres which will hopefully put me in good stead for the upcoming Kowalski Classic and Wagga 6 hour Enduro. Hopefully next year the tracks will be better signposted and we can really test ourselves to the limits. But until then, it's back on track for more events.

* One may wonder what type of bike Jesus would even ride. I think it might have been a Giant DH bike because at one point in the Bible he claimed to have come to reveal God’s Glory – not the best type of bike for a XC hilly race such as this one so perhaps that explains his absence!