A nice day for a bike race

Ahh the dirtworks.. over the years this has been that “one” event for me, as it was my very first race of any distance just after I changed my life by losing a real lot of weight and got into ridding mountain bikes, the first year I did 8:10, next year I did 7:10 and last year I wanted 6 hours but ended up with a DNF.. so this year I really didn’t care who beat me or who I beat as long as I worked to my time of 6:00 I’d be super happy and as an extra bonus if I could finish the race without needing an ASS transplant, as I was riding a hardtail this year, I’d be super double happy.

The race day change to Saturday brings good and bad things.. bad the rush to get there and into one of those awful $10 two man (ok yes really two man..? are you sure about that? Really?? I can hear the guy in the tent beside me breathing.. really are they two man tents??) tents; the good; getting home for a lazy Saturday afternoon and having the Sunday to relax.

Not a lot of carbo loading coopers this year as most of my riding friends elected not to do this race and besides I had spent the last few weeks carbo loading and I’d look (yeah look) like I have no friends sitting in the Settlers Arms hotel by myself, so I decide to get to bed early.

7am; race time, foggy and not too cold but not warm, everyone was packed tightly into the starting line, I could see that it was going to be a real struggle to get into the second group, but I managed to push up through the crowd to near the back of the second group, just behind the tape… looking up at many of the guys starting in the second group that were wearing multiple base layers and jackets (should you be starting in that group mate?) anyhow second group went off and I was in a position to be able to just push under the tape and chase them up the road.. we are off.

The road ride was pretty quick and in no time we are hitting the climb, off the bike early (well as soon as someone else gets off) for the trudge up that hill, get to the top, have a look around and it’s indeed an awesome day and the legs are feeling fresh, the field was now pretty much spread out by now.. this is perhaps the best part of the race, the anticipation of the next 5 or 6 hours (or 8--) of blue sky day mountain bike racing the dirtworks!! (put that in a bottle eh?)

Not long before I have mechanical number one.. dropped chain that gets stuck between the BB ( square tapper BB) and the small chain ring.. and I can’t get the darn thing out? After a few min I manage to lever it out and it out without damaging anything (at one stage I thought that I would have to break the chain), then onto the next drama.. those water bars hit the first one with way too much speed for a sketchy rear wheel landing (ok dave get the position right.. go with the bike eh..) hit the next one with just as much too much speed and land hard on the front wheel!! (holy crap@!) water bottle disappears.. but wait that’s got ALL my race nutrition in it so it’s hard on the brakes and then a trudge back up the hill to get the bottle that’s in the middle of the track with riders flying down, yell out to a few that there is a bottle on the track (wouldn’t want to hit that right there..) and get it back on the bike and I’m off again. Soon enough its mechanical number two.. a flat ( I had just converted to tubeless) so I put some air in it while looking for a leak.. no leak? Oh well I will just ride it and see what happens.

I knew that if I kept a 18kph average speed that I would be on to beat 6 hours, so the next hour or so I’m telling myself not to push too hard (save it for woomera) and just to enjoy the race (but not too much as my enjoy the race = slow) never really get onto anyone’s tail (previous years I have found myself on the back of various congo lines that can make it faster chasing them), got caught behind some slow riders for a while in the technical bits about 15k out from the hollow.. but this year I was pretty much on my own for most of the race, dropped the chain again before the run into Clares bridge and then I’m at the 50 feeling fine but down on the time I wanted..

A refuel and off again, 10 mile hollow climb out was easier this year (the day is not as hot?) and its off through my favourite part of the race (GNR through to the canoe bridge). Rear tyre goes flat again, put more air in it and figure that I will do the same again sometime before the end of the race and I drop the chain “again”.. pretty soon I’m blasting down Sheppard’s on the hardtail (that isn’t a lot of fun) and my average speed is spot on for 6 hours, get to the canoe bridge and it’s a reasonable line (about 10min by my count) spend some time reassuring some newbie canoe bridge riders on just how to do it (I’m 3 for 3 there you know… a pro..yep.. so you just pick a fast gear and don’t look down too much) my turn comes and now as well as not wanting to fall in.. I have just pretty much ensured that I better not fall in (that would be funny one for the newbies eh?) get to the other side and its no wrist band (those cheap ass *#$%^s!!).

The road section to webbs creek climb is a good place to make up some time as you can work with some riders and really get some speed up, that’s a good plan anyhow until you get the guys that don’t understand or care about that rule (it’s a rule man…dude!) so they draft you the whole way to the climb (a pox on you as you know who you are!), years gone by and I would find myself walking this hill, but not this year.

The range climb goes on and on, I have to stop to put air in the tyre and down a couple gels all going well until I get to the bottom of that big climb when I get the start of cramps (I don’t really get cramps) so I get off and walk that hill to stretch the legs a bit, back on the bike and I know that there is only one hill left and then its pretty much all downhill to the finish. Get my next visit from the cramp fairy on the very last climb.. now these are getting worse? but I’m still felling ok so perhaps they will go away, spin away looking at my average speed and now I think I can beat 6 hours by a fair bit if I push.. so the next 10 or so K’s are spent balancing the pushing with the cramps in my calves that are getting worse.

Jacks track is fast fast fast, I nearly take out some guy that had stopped to cross the a puddle??? We double guess each other he tried to move left and I tried to avoid him left? cleared him by an inch or so.. lucky! Hit the gravel road and my right calve locks up.. wow that hurts, stretch it out and it seems better, river crossing was nice, nice cool water on the legs, then trying to get riding again was tough, calve locks up again just after the last rise before the finish, but it doesn’t slow me down too much. Roll across the line with 5:45:35 on the clock.. I done it!!