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probably an expensive race!


GAZZA's picture

By GAZZA - Posted on 31 January 2010

Re: This ride meeting: 
CCOMTB - Club Race - 2010 Round 1
Team: 
solo
Status: 
Finished
Laps: 
3
Time: 
01:39:00
Position (Overall): 
1
Race Category: 
B Grade Men
Position (Category): 
1

driving up to the central coast this morning i kept looking at the clouds and worrying. a spit here and a shower there! i was more worried about the race being cancelled than anything else.
just as i turned off the freeway, the heavens opened and it was terrential rain! OH DEAR! i nearly turned round at this point and drove home but as i was nearly there i thought 'bugger it' its only a bit of rain!!!!!!
i arrived and was glad to see a good gathering of fellow mtb'ers/nutters had also said 'bugger it' too!
signed on and joined Central Coast mtb club also as i thought thats where i'll be doing most of my club racing this year anyway.
i got myself a good place with Dylan(ladytoast) at the front of the start grid of about 30-40 b grade riders, off we went and i got the wholeshot, first into the singletrack so i knew i had to keep it up and not slow anyone down. i kept pushing 100% until the big drop off when i looked behind(at the bottom of course!) and realised i'd a bit of a gap between second place. i kept going hard and tried to gain more advantage as due to the weather, anything could happen.
after the first lap(of three) i couldn't even see my competition so started to take it a little easier, i shouldn't have felt so comfortable as by the time i reached the bottom of the downhill(roller coaster i think?) i'd been caught by a local rider, Marty, i think? ( i'm terrible with names)
Anyway he stuck with me for a whole lap and sat on my tail, chatting and whooping on tricky sections and i thought, ' this guy's just toying with me, he sounds a lot more comfortable than i am and he's a local, he's gonna wait till 1km from the end and power on and get me at the finish'. thinking that, i dug really deep and thought about all the road races i've been doing and the pain i'd put myself through over the last six months and i gave 110% and dropped him just before the graveyard section, my riding was really loose through there with lots of two wheel drifting round the tight corners and i knew i was forming quite a gap and phycologically i had him beat. i pushed hard through 'Browns' and got first place by about 40 seconds!
my first win since i got back into mtb'ing about 4 years ago and hopefully not my last.
my bike is completeley stuffed, both brakes need changing and drivetrain sounds cactus but it was worth it.
what spurred me on through the race was, if i won, i'd be donning the number '1' for the rest of the series and thats what i'll be doing!
one more thing, all you guys who want to get race fit for the bigger marathons should come and race all these smaller club events. it's cheap and great fun and there's no better training for racing than racing itself! support the local clubs and get yourself outhere!
a great race overall and thanks to the organisers and racers for turning up in such crap conditions.
one more thing,
thanks to Dylan (ladytoast) for lending me his insoles! couldn't have done it without them! Eye-wink

Damien's picture

Great stuff Gazza.

Hopefully I will get to the next round.

pikey's picture

Whats this thing "Training" you speak of? Eye-wink

Good effort mate!

Pikey

Bubble's picture

CHAMPION!!!!

Damien's picture

Youll be right as red bikes are fast enough on there own Pikey you wont need to train ever again Gazza is lucky you didnt turn up to race.

ar_junkie's picture

Congrats Gaz, good to see the hard work is paying off...
Smiling

Andy Bloot's picture

You're a classic Gaz
And what about that buffed rig you're sporting now
You haven't given up drinking have you??!!

Harry's picture

Good for you Gaz, must be feeling pretty damn good!

GAZZA's picture

i know its only a club race but i'm still pretty pleased. i've been training really hard the last six months Andy, i've stopped drinking during the week! there has to be some balance mate! you wouldn't expect me to give it up completely would you? i'm hoping to get some more decent results this season so watch this space!

Bernd's picture

Gazza! that riding in the rain and snow 13 3/4 years ago does help.....
good onya # 1 it is and u got it, VERY well done mate!

Whisperer's picture

Well done taking out B grade Gazza - awesome work against the open field and all those youngn's
Just love your race reports too.

Keep it up - it's an inspiration to the rest of us. Funny how the bar is raising throughout the NobMob racing crew as the years go by. It wasn't all that long ago we were at the Mont (07), and we we felt good at circulating in the top 20% of our age grades. Who knows where it will end if the gang keeps striving for 'personal bests' - It's certainly keeping me training hard.

Enjoy the #1 plate!!!!!!

W

Supagav's picture

Gazza, well done mate. You deserve that win, after the hurry up you were giving me at the 4hr a few weeks back it really shows the speed has stepped up!!! we might have to come and do a few training rides with you....

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