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So my first Enduro and first full fling, on the new Yeti as well and I am pleased with the result.

Wasnt to sure of what my target time should be, talking to Whisperer he suggested 6h30m would be decent. Start of the race was good and I was keeping my HR to 80% of max which was excellent, got to the first transition and lost some time as I was putting my nutrition into my camelback, however once back on the bike I think I hot the 50k mark with a average of 20 kph showing on the garmin and had covered that in 2 hours and 30 mins, at that point I was feeling pretty decent.

had a ball. was pleased with the performance despite voluntarily adding on 8km and 18min to my time by missing a turn marker in the wineries section. (see obvious loop three quarters around the wineries stage). managed to work with a struggling elite to bring back some time, but i know it could have been better. not to worry - i know the way now!

the new spark RC ran flawlessly which was great!

The fling this year was billed as the best thing since slice bread.
Lots of new single track, some virgin for the event. Relentless hills, and really hot.

I was aiming for a 6 hr finish, but had a horrendous night's sleep. Sleeping in my car, it had filled up with about 23,000 bugs, and I was devoured through the night, finally getting to broken sleep around 2am. Up at 5:45 for breakfast, and I knew I wasn't going to be in prime condition.

Well this was my first complete bike build. I was looking for something to replace the VP Free as I didn't find myself riding DH anymore. I wanted something that could handle going downhill reasonably well but also pedal uphill. The Nomad seemed to fit the bill.

Putting it all together was a lot of fun. It wasn't all that hard as I've tinkered and replaced parts on my other bikes before. I just did it slowly over two nights.

On bathroom scales it came in at around 13.4kg which I was surprised at. I thought it would be more. I'll need to get a proper weigh in someday soon

Earlier today something prompted me to think about a marketing mantra that many companies use: "Get 'em while they're young"

It's like that line about, "Give me a child for the first seven years..." thing: Basically - young children are easy to mould and indoctrinate - they learn fast and most of what is learnt at this age tends to stick - both the good and the bad.

it was hot and humid. had sweat dripping down my face halfway into the first lap, and that was without a warm up. was determined to finish it with the fling coming up, so was out to see if i could last the distance.

happy with how things went. was in the hurt box between 2h and 4.5h, but once i was able to count down the laps with the time remaining it was all good.

Hard. Phew, what a race.

This was meant to be some serious practice ready for the Fling for me, however earlier in the week I had been in bed for 2 days straight with a nasty cold and was still suffering the side effects come today, even though I had a good hit out on the road bike yesterday. Lack of sleep last night due to dinner with some friends and with hindsight, one beer to many last night even though I didnt drink heaps.

Just putting it up as a record even though it's months after the event.

Total mudbath. Arrived and started late as really wasn't in the mood for a wet race! Rode slowly with Sam, Loz and Shano.

Didn't make the cutoff at Stromlo which I was glad for anyway!

Only adding now months after the event to keep a record.
Race shortened due to rain.

Probably the only time I'll win a race!