the.flying.al's blog

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 made a pretty determined effort to get under 3 hours. Not quite there but very happy with the ride.

I made it hard for myself at the start, again confusing start time and rider briefing - I thought I would be lining up in plenty of time but of course everyone lines up well in advance of the rider briefing. This meant I started well back only just inside the starters shute. It wasn't a problem passing riders but it meant I had no-one to work with, and the only way to do a good time at the fling is to work with others.

Very relieved the weather had dried out to allow the event to be held with the trails at their best. It was however very chilly and the forecast wind worried me a bit - my slight 64 kg build doesn't fare too well in the wind.

With the temperature around 6 C I (like most riders) delayed getting ready till the last minute, I mean how do you "warm up" in these temperatures? So I lined up at the start with no warm up.

Hoping for sub 3 hours but not unhappy with the result.

A messy start with the self seeding very curious and I blew too much energy trying to find a good wheel. When things settled down I had a brilliant run sitting on the wheel of some strong riders.

The Gu stage started well and I was enjoying being on the bike. Very pleased that I was out cornering and descending other riders, and enjoyed the single track sections. This is a new experience for me (that is the out descending part, not the enjoying part).

My second 100 k'er and I was hoping to post a sub 6 hour time.

My overall race plan was to grab someones wheel at the start and make some good time for the early firetrail sections. This worked very nicely for a very short time. Then we hit this trail that should have been easy but ended up picking lines around ruts and puddles and my average speed just plummeted.