Punishing little petrogale...

Hadn't been to Appin since one of the Bright Orange 8 hr events a few years ago, so thought I'd give this one a go.

It's a tough little race, relatively flat but with lots of techy, rocky little ups and downs breaking up lots of nice tight flowy sniggle. Could have done with more suspension than the Niner Jet 9 afforded, and should have let a bit of air out of front and back shocks to take full advantage of what travel there was. Had put a fresh Ignitor on the front, but should have also put one on the back - the Aspen lacked grip on sand covered sandstone. But mostly just needed more skill and courage than I had available. Walked quite a few sections on the first lap. Rode more of them second time around as I'd had the chance to scope them a bit and there was very little traffic at the back of the field on the second lap, which allowed a more relaxed approach to the tricky bits. Overall there were very few opportunities to relax on this track - the fire trail sections were all pretty eroded, with only one or two lines easily rideable, except for one newly-bulldozed section, which was a bit soft but still had the teeth-juddering dozer track indentations. Probably didn't drink enough as a result.

Had a spill on each lap - the first in traffic when the guy in front baulked at a rocky little uphill chute and moved when I tried to go round him - there was nowhere to put a foot down on the other side, so down I went, finishing a few feet below track level. The second was all on my lonesome on a rocky downhill bit where I just got the line wrong. The need for lots of bursts of leg power to get through the rocky sections (and maybe not drinking enough early on) brought on cramps in the back end of lap two. At one stage I was using the bike to stretch out a left hammy when the right quad locked up - only just managed to avoid going down in a painful heap with the bike.

Felt more stuffed at the end of 44km here than I did after my last 100km race in 2011. And I'm fitter and lighter now.

This race is a great challenge for anyone who really fancies their mtb skills (as opposed to just their mtb legs and lungs), but I think I have done my first and last one. Unless they introduce a grand masters category, or better still a clydesdale grand masters category.....