Chocolate Foot Single track Mind Series Round 5 Mount Annan

This was my second enduro race so I knew what I was up for but last time the temperature was more what I was used to (low single figures to start, raising to low teens) not the 32 degree day we had on Sunday.

I did the first lap as I was the only person who had done a lap of the new Mt Annan course. I'd not done a first lap before and was a bit nervous as I was waiting for the gun but it turns out that the first lap is a reasonable pace with sections where I was stood waiting for the traffic to clear on obstacles. By the end of the lap I was mid field which I thought was reasonable.

Ben was up next, we did a smooth transition and he went flying off into the distance. I got my breath back, had a bit of fruit then went for a wander round while waiting for my go again. As I headed back to our camp I saw that Ben was back and Craig was putting his helmet on, wondering what was going off, I ran over just as Craig was powering trackward. The reason for Ben being back is pictured below:-

Ben's wheel has washed out on a fast bend, then dug in to the dirt making all Bens weight push on the front wheel, buckling it badly. (Correct me if I'm wrong here Ben). Luckily Ben wasn't injured, other than I few scrapes and bruises.
We thought then that Ben's bike would either be out for the day or we'd have to keep swapping wheels. City Bike Depot had a tent set up so we went to them on the off chance they would have a wheel we could borrow. The guy there took the wheel and smashed it into the ground a few times and got it reasonably straight. A violent but effective repair! At least Ben was able to continue racing.

We checked the live timing of where we where and we'd dropped to 27th position. We knew we now didn't stand as chance but gave it our all anyway. Our lap times where comparable to the guys in the top 6 so we knew we where at our top pace. Craig's lap times where brilliant, when I picked up his bike and felt the weight I was even more impressed. Can't wait to do a social ride with you Craig and pick up a heap of tips, tricks and skills.

The next 5hours of the race were pretty uneventful other than the blistering heat and later on, the strong southerly that came through. All of us doing low 30 min lap times.

It was now nearly 6 hours into the race and we had clawed our way back to 11th place - not bad considering. I was about 750m from the end of my 4th lap (11th in total) and my chain snapped on the quick link! I got my chain tool out but realized I could run to the line and tag Craig in the time I could fix the chain. So I chucked the bike on my shoulder and ran the last part of the course. In my haste to tag Craig I didn't go over the timing strip and had to run over it backwards. Craig set off and Ben and I checked the live timing, we hadn't lost any places! I took my bike to the SRAM tent and they put me a new quick link in and I was good to go again.

Craig took a bit longer than normal to do his next lap which we thought was unusual until he told us he stopped to help another guy with a snapped chain. A quick word to the race officials and his extra minutes where taken off his lap time - love the camaraderie and honesty in this type of event, even the elites when they come flying past are very courteous.

I had a quick look at the live timing while Ben was doing his lap and saw that my last lap had been dis-allowed, my time being added on to Craig's lap. We where now back to 23rd! I didn't have time to sort it out with the officials and set off for my lap very despondent and thoroughly pissed off with today's bad luck. Needless to say, that lap wasn't my best time.

While I was doing my lap, Ben went to the officials to see why they discounted my lap. Apparently the timing guy hadn't seen me miss the timing loop first and had only seen my running backwards over it. Thinking I was cheating, he wiped my time. Ben explained all this to them (thanks Ben) and got my lap reinstated - we where back to 11th!

Craig did our last lap of the day taking us to a respectable in the circumstances 11th position and 8hrs 14 mins overall.

An exciting day with plenty of highs and lows. Mount Annan track is a techy course that needs a fair amount of skill to ride smoothly. The new section needs a few rain showers and some hard pack on it and then it'll be excellent. Currently it's very loose and slippery as Ben can testify. Big thanks to Craig for joining our team, your lap times definitely helped us grab a few places back.

Can't wait for the next round at Lidsdale state forest, Lithgow.