1st 100k race

Stayed with the in-laws in Kiama the night before and left a bit late to get to the start on time. Was still getting dressed during the rider briefing and got to the briefing area just as a group went down to the start line so did my warmup in the 100 meters across the car park to the start line.

Wasn't really sure what to expect although I knew it would be harder than the dirtworks 50K. Mainly flat fire trail and single trail in the first 10-15k. Lots of places to pass and trains of riders grouped together. Got caught out 6 inches off line while following someone closely as we went past one of the many puddles and went through a rut soaking my right foot. Spent the next few minutes complaining to myself about having a cold right foot until we got to what looked like a creek crossing. Followed the guys in front through as it was only a foot or so deep. No need to complain about my right foot anymore as now everyone had wet feet. The next puddle was the deepest at about knee hight and everyone carried their bikes through. This continued the trend of cooling off every half hour or so in varying depth and consistency puddles.

Came across my first wooden bridge over a big log and though thats really narrow. Made it over the top however must have been looking at the following left turn as I dropped off it half way down. Lots of other log rolls followed throughout the race and I think I rode all of them. Was so happy that I bought a copy of the bike mag to read while taking one of the kids to the doctors a few weeks ago. I think I only hit my chain ring once and that was because I hesitated and didn't have enough speed. That dvd made life a lot easier getting up and over the many logs.

Rode by myself for a while through more single trail and was a bit careless passing one rutted section as my back wheel slipped down into a rut and flicked the bike sideways while I slid to a halt up against a tree. Dropped down into a section of single track and worked out fairly quickly that I need to improve my technical skills. Got into a good rhythm and ended up catching up to someone. Followed him for a while until he spun after hooking his front wheel on a corner. One of the guys behind me who had caught up asked to pass however the other guys were happy with the pace. Wow that single track stuff is fun. Lots of variety in the three different single track sections and they all flowed really well. Most of them were on the side of lightly forested hills so a fair bit of off camber up and downhill corners with little climbs and switchbacks. Some nice berms in places and while I probably wasn't fast I was starting to get the hang of things after a while.

There were a few hills although nothing too steep. Slowed down after the 50k mark as I had not trained that much and never been past 70k in a ride. Most of the fire trail sections were fairly short generally with only a couple of lines because of erosion or tyre tracks. Had intermittent cramps from about 70k onwards. Very happy the kilometre signs kept going past and the golf course finally appeared.

Overall a really enjoyable ride with lots of technical sections.