2013 3 Ring Circus

The 3 Ring was my first mtb race back in 2011 when i scraped in under 3hrs after a leisurely blue lap. With that in mind I was determined to be closer to the front this time and straight away that disappeared. (Clearly another one who's too polite to push in).

I started from the side and decided to get past as many users as possible on the blue lap. By the time I came through to transition it was pretty much just a small group which then stayed together at the start of the Red section and the first bit of singletrack. This is one area where I need to improve my technique but I wasn't the only one as I found myself in a train being held up by a couple of riders, when the opportunity came I scrambled past with another rider. This scenario was played out again towards the end of the Red lap but by then I was happy to have a bit of a breather as my heart rate had been up in the 170's pretty much from the start. Thinking I was doing OK, and aiming to get back to transition at the 1hr30 mark I was a little disheartened to find myself following the ST that normally starts the Red loop, this was followed by a nasty climb back up.

On to the Yellow loop and I wasn't sure how I was going to get round in well under an hour as I was aiming for 2hr30 (I knew what climbs lay ahead). There were still two other riders around that I'd been with for the majority of the red loop but I lost sight of one after the long climb and shortly after that the other guy broke away. Once out on the road I pulled the guy back and we got to the 5km mark where we picked up another rider. He was keen to work in turns, I think he led for about 500m's of the next 5km. Into the last km and he went past, I was determined he wasn't going to claim the position so I just pushed as hard as I could with the odd twinge of cramp starting to hit my left leg. I ignored that and got home in front of him, relieved to be across the line. Overall I was very happy with the time and the result, 25mins up on two years ago.

Thanks to all the other guys, Brian, Doc & Wayne who helped make it a good day out in the winter sunshine.