Bottlebutt 100

With a course designed by Jason English this was always going to be a tough race. I entered when it was part of the CycleNation series and my brother was planning on coming down from Queensland so when it got rescheduled we decided to still do the race.
With the Fling last week I pulled up reasonably well and felt really good on Monday's recovery ride. The 60mm of rain two days before the race had me changing to new pads and applying the wet lube.
Arriving at registration in Port Macquarie on the Friday night it looked like a fairly small field of around 100. After some pasta and antioxidant my brother finally arrived and we debated about taking bottles or camelback. The forecast was for a warm day so we went with 2L camel back's.
Saw Doc coming back from his warmup and he already had mud on his bike so we stayed on the blacktop for our warmup.
After the gun went there was a group of around 10 who split off the front on the first uphill road section. We were near the front of the second group. We then went down a really slippery rocky section and shortly after hit the KOM climb. It was mainly wide fire trail down the bottom and I think it got more overgrown towards the top with only one line. Despite the wet conditions it was still rideable and was followed by some wicked water bars on the downhill.
Out of the recent NSW races the course is probably most similar to the Husky race with overgrown reclaimed fire trails with only one line and other fire trails that were a bit rough but would still be passable by a firetruck. Lots of puddles, log rolls and a few creek crossings. There is a LOT more climbing than the Husky and most of the single track isn't as sweet as Nowra (I think you can say that about most single track though).
Anyway after the KOM and descent we went through a variety of steep jungle trails and more fire trails. My bro kept pushing the pace so we were slowly passing people. I think there were a few creek crossings we had to wade, a couple with bridges in less than pristine condition and a couple of mud puddles just to remind us that mountain biking is about getting dirty. Managed to add about a 10 degree angle to my seat somewhere along this section but it didn't move again so decided to keep riding.
About 15k in we caught and passed Jason Kaul who was having a tough day at that stage. Caught two guys just as we got to the first water station at 27KM with over 1:35 on the clock. Did the maths and knew it was going to be over 6 hours. Missed an arrow that would have sent us up the higher way through the underpass so about 4 of us waded through a big pond. Lots of motorcycle rutted bog holes on the other side of the underpass so it was a few hundred metres before we could ride any distance again.
By this stage my front derailure was clogged with mud so I rode the first of the two 25k loops in the big dog. Knew I would pay for it later but was fresh enough to handle the one big climb and a few pinch climbs. There was only one small section in the big climb that wouldn't have been rideable for most people as it just had too many lose rocks.
After we got to the top of the big climb we didn't see anyone until the 50 feed station when Jason Kaul rolled in just as we left. I started to cramp the second time round on the climb but had managed to wash the dirt away from the front derailure during one of the creek crossings so was able to spin away in granny. When I cramped again and stopped for a salt tablet Jason rolled past and we didn't see him again until the finish. Did the rest of the loop with my brother and we only caught one other person just near the 75k feed station. Had a nice splash in a creek as I washed my bike again. I kept the eating and drinking up and was still feeling ok even though it was starting to get pretty hot.
We got into the 75k station and they asked us if we were going to finish. Seems there had been lot of people pull the pin and they said only about 10 riders had come through at that stage. Anyway after some bananas and a few shots in the camelback we were off for the last loop. My brother was starting to struggle with the heat at this stage so we took it pretty easy to make sure we got home ok. More creeks, mud and bog holes followed. Also there was over 500m of climbing in the last 25k and one ugly hike a bike section so it kept us occupied. Eventually we got to the homeward fire road blast with about 10k to go and about the 3rd time he suggested I go on ahead I got to the top of one of the climbs and kept going.
For those who have done the Fling and complain about the grassy hill there were about 5 "grassy hills" in the last fire road blast but I guess we should have expected that from Mr English. Now they were not that steep but at the end of 6 hours with the temperature reaching 37 on the exposed road it wasn't fast or enjoyable.
Got to the finish and sat in the shade for a while for my brother to roll across the line a few minutes later. We ended up 2nd and 3rd in Masters with Jason Kaul winning about 3 minutes ahead and Doc next home in 4th place.

Was pretty thankful the organisers left the Bago Bluff climb out this year. Should be OK when its cooler but there were already a lot of people suffering with the heat, mud and this years "easy" course.

Jason English won in 4:50 something, second was just under 6 hours and I think the rest of us finished in 6, 7, 8 (or more) hours. None of the females had finished when they started the presentation.