Heaps of fun at Husky

What a blast that was (soooo much more fun than the mud fest in Canberra). The weather was perfect with the sun gently piercing a deep blue sky and the early temperatures not warranting a full arm and leg covering. With all the rain over the past few weeks my training was limited to a few commutes to the city while dodging the showers (and the taxi's). Perhaps that's why the sunshine made the day all that better. With 4x weet-bix and half a cup of optimizer for breakie I trundled towards the start line. I didn't sleep well but I put that down to the bottle of red wine c/o a piss poor effort from the Wallabies and a hotel air conditioner that sounded like a Boeing 767. But once we rolled over the start line all that was forgotten. The opening 10k was an eye opener. I kept waiting for the pace to slow but to no avail. The track was fast and furious. There were no 'leg sapping' hills to slow the speed and it seemed I was forever peddling. I must admit it was nice to be in the big ring charging along the fire roads. The trail fairies had been very busy and the single track was well groomed with a couple of obstacles thrown in to keep things interesting. Hats off to the SCUM crew for their energy and effort. I had a graceful dismount following a front wheel washout. Everything went into slow motion as I made my way earthward until the bar jagged my thigh. I was laying on the ground, still clipped in but all crossed up ! Better than the bloke I saw head OTB and ended up straddling a tree stump. Ooooch. Back in the saddle I was doing it tough for the middle 33 k's. The k's were slowly clicking over and my lower back started to declare it's unhappiness. It was with mixed emotions as I hopped off to wade through the creeks. Sure felt good to straighten the back but the wet shoes and ... frozen feet ... gave me something else to whinge about. My catering worked out well. I fed gloriously on gels every hour. Sure beat trying to chew my way through power bars while breathing heavily - a mistake I made during CP. It was great to see the golf course come into view and with that I clicked up into the big ring again and powered home. It was a great event. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, the course was well marked and the track was a fabulous blend of fast fire roads and sweet sweet single track. I'll be there next year for sure.