Poor planning comes good

For an event I wasn't looking forward to that much this one turned out to be a real goodie... as is so often the way.

The forecast was for cold weather and after last year's hypothermic experience this didn't bode well, the team had had more changes than a Kylie concert, less planning skills than the NSW state government, and I had to drive alone due to no suitable travel companions. Then driving through the M5 tunnel realised I'd forgotten my tarp, table and chair - oops!

That said, I had remembered two bikes, loads of food, four completely clean changes of ride gear, including two sets of leg warmers and four long sleeved tops, my ski pants, jacket and two pairs of gloves (not riding gloves - I had 4 pairs of them!), rest of camping gear and a big block of foam to sleep on.

Turned up on Friday then, a little too late to ride a lap but still light enough to find the crew easily enough and parked up next to team Mixed Nuts. Being the more serious of the lot on the hill figured I'd have more luck sleeping near them. Plus - this is one seriously organised team and I'm very thankful for being able to enjoy a few of their facilities. They had a great setup right next to the track where they chose to transition so we did too.

None of our team really put their hand up for the first lap so I went for that. I knew that the first lap would be a traffic jam, but also knew that riding first would let me get the night laps out of the way early on and hopefully get a decent sleep.

As predicted there was a complete traffic jam entering the first sniggle, even after an extended run on the fireroad on this first lap. Once in there riding up the single track climb was a bit of a precession but thankfully things began to clear at the top. Eventually it cleared enough to really get going and I hooped and hollered down the descent with the doubles on it after enjoying some of the technical aspects of the day lap. Was a bit bemused to show up at camp before transition (I thought the camp was just after transition, not just before) but handed over the baton all the same. What handing over here means is that our official results would be all over the shop, but still - no-one in the team really cared.

Ate some good stuff (see picture), took a shower (as wouldn't be able to later) and hung out for a few hours. As usual, a few hours never seems to actually be that long at these things. Soon enough darkness was coming and I was out again on the night circuit with lights blazing (or not - didn't need them on full blast until the descent came).

To me the night lap felt harder but was more fun. According to the GPS the day lap actually had a tad more climbing but it was mostly in one hit, whereas the night lap was a little more up and down. However, the night lap had an ace up it's sleeve - the Skyline (I think that's the name) descent. As I said to several people already, riding down there at 30-40km/h in the dark with nothing but your lights to show the way is just indescribable.

I was going to do 2 laps back to back here but had to stop and adjust a wire in the backpack on the first of these and on the second had to stop for a break natural, but this just evened the times out - less than 30 seconds difference between the two. This is despite having a slightly quicker rider pass me second part of the second lap and give me something to chase. So that 30 second difference was despite feeling I was pushing really hard on that second lap. It goes to show, you should always ride like you're not trying for the first half to get the best time

Gotta admit to feeling quiet tired after that but changed into some dry, warm clothes quick smart and had more tasty treats (noodles). Then it was time to wonder around taking pictures of randoms, wonder down to the solo area for a chat, wonder around some more and finally decide it might be time to try and go to sleep around midnight.

It was very cold at night. I was inside a bag rated to minus 18 or something silly like that, completely zipped up with the hood on, in top to bottom thermals, inside the car with all the windows closed. And all this lead to just a nice toasty feeling. Which was nice, but normally I'd fry sleeping like that!

Think I woke about 6am and stumbled out of the car to see what was going on. Sharon was out on the track and Junkie was planning to go after that. The gang had stopped overnight and by rights I didn't deserve another lap as there wouldn't be time for everyone else to ride again. That said, Peter confirmed he wasn't game for one more and our other mystery ring in (Kathryn) was no-where to be seen so kitted up.

Time for some fun... got the Yeti out and began what would be my last lap. Took it easy on the climb but was having some awesome fun on the DH section and doubles later in the lap. Really grin inducing stuff topped off by launching off the infamous A line near the end of the lap. Ye-haaaaaa! Smashed up the hill to transition to hand over to... ah... no-one here. Never mind.

Eventually Andrew came by and picked up the baton to take through transition for a final time to stop the clock. Phew!

For that last lap and post race the sun even came out (well, for a while before a storm hit) so great to take a shower at last and wonder around in the sunshine seeing all the tired smiles.

All in all a top weekend. Thanks again to the Mixed Nuts for their hospitality and congrats on their podium! Even driving home in the convoy was fun

For the record my laps:

Lap 1 (minus end part and with waiting around on climb): 58m37
Lap 2 + 3: 1h08m10 + 1h08m37
Lap 4: 1h04m11