Half Kowalski 2014

A few days before the race I find out my race wheels have a cracked hub, meaning I was riding the race with wheels and tyres set up for goofing around in the bush. I also only recently picked up a Specialized epic and am still dialing it in.

The result was the bike was a pig to ride and I don't think I will every get used to the grip shift and 2 x 10 chainring.

I was doing pretty well in the first 10-15 km and had lost a few places in the initial surge but started to slowly pick people off. Handling was difficult when descending but as long as I was doing ok and was riding steady for a negative split.

The track congestion was difficult and at about 10-15 km it seemed the race was one huge conga line. I kept losing momentum from mis-shifting and wasn't decending very quickly at all. I figured I was only in the race to enjoy the trails so I just got off the trail and let the race pass by, then jumped back in for some nice stretches of uninterrupted riding.

The riding was good and I am always happy to ride the Kowalski's trails. At 41 km I saw the start/finish and decided I'd had enough and took a short cut back to record a DNF.