Wagga Wagga MTB MTB Enduro Enduro

There are few tracks that I've ridden that I think more of than the Wagga Pom Park singletrack loop. With as much flow and dipping as Awaba, epic descents such as Stromlo, it's hard to fault this track. Even in the 6th lap of the course when I was absolutely exhausted, it was hard not to smile as I descended the mountain with adrenaline pumping dips and newly made berms.

BACKGROUND

I had planned to meet my friend Tanian (whose name may be familiar from the infamous Capital Punishment experience in March) in Canberra for a weekend at Stromlo and Kowen on this same weekend, it being a good halfway point from his Wagga residence where he is at CSU, but I stumbled across this 6hour race, which was hard for all of us to resist. So Tanian‘s dad, his friend and I arranged to drive to Wagga to enter in two separate teams for a fantastic weekend away. I knew that if we collectively averaged around 20km/h on smooth singletrack (like this appeared to be), we could do 3 laps of the 13km course every two hours, hence 9 laps overall was a reasonable target.

Now Tanian used to be a better rider than me, but ever since his rugby has become a good portion of his life, he hasn't been allowed to cycleas it destroys his rugby fitness. Scary. But now that the ruby season is ove, he is “allowed“ to do a bit of cycling.
With emphasis on a “bit.“

PREPARATON

As we arrived in Wagga at his residence, I discovered the state of his Giant Trance. He had dented his rim which had prevented the tyre from sealing, which had been that way for months! After several failed attempts with the air compressor (which had been brought down from Sydney, we gave up and had to shove a tube in. Not the best sign.

However, after a walk to “The Rock“ we loaded the bike for a reconnaissance ride on the track that afternoon, and let me tell you, for someone's who hadn't ridden for months, he was pretty impressive, at least in terms of his bike handling skills. And I can tell you, it is a great track! 13km tight but fast singletrack fun. Not wanting to destroy himself for the next day, Tanian wisely stopped after one lap where I did another faster one to practice hitting 40km/h on the straight and downward sections.

After a sleep in to 7am (the standard wake up time on event days is 4am), a substantial breakfast and a short drive to the HQ, we discovered that Tanian‘s dad‘s friend was too sick to ride so would have his teammate do ALL the riding...

THE START LINE

I fortunate enough to be in the front line at the start of the event, such that when the gun sounded. I immediately was in the top few contestants. It was cleverly organized such that the first km of the first lap detoured up fireroads to allow cyclists to spread out at the beginning, and I found myself in the breakaway bunch .

Racing on such a track is a joy. The constant corners and hills give one breaks from the pain of hammering the pedals, and soon enough I had overtaken all but one of the riders putting me in second place until the final descent 12km where I let one overtake me on an A line (those descents are my weakest link).

Finally I was able to pound myself home where Tanian awaited me. Just.

What I love about a team event is having time to take a break from each lap and hydrate myself and eat something, as I had a chat with Mark, (the one who was sick) who told me that Tanian had to sprint to the Transition area without time to put his gloves on; they saw the first person come by, which hit the warning bells, making him immediately drop everything and run... and then ride

After a good swig of water, I awaited him to return 38 minutes later. Not bad for someone who hasn't ridden in months. Nevertheless, he had dropped back some spots so I had to take the opportunity to regain some more spots. My second lap was again fast and furious as I began to lap many others. I'd gotten to know the track better by this point, hence I can tell you I began going faster in many sections, and finished it in just under 35 minutes, averaging 22.5km/h.

This time, Tanian was ready, and he jumped off on his "faithful" Trance around for his second lap. As I recovered again with some more water, food and relaxation, I looked at the timing tent. At this point, we were still third overall, and second in the open male teams. Not bad. However, Tanian was feeling the hills on this lap, doing it in a more substantial time of 39 minutes, dropping us off a bit. My times were increasing a bit as well; I pedalled out for my third lap, this time in almost 36 mintues, but still not feeling too bad.

This time, when I arrived at the transition spot, Tanian wasn't there. Where was he? There he was, at the Trek demo tent, setting up a demo Superfly for a lap. Wow. The pedals were still being attached. Wow. But in a minute he was out and on his third lap on what we both agreed was a fantastic bike (He would have gone on mine, but he has a reputation for breaking bikes kindly didn't want to risk it!).

This lap appeared to put a burden on him, however, later I found out his legs were starting to seize on hills, and when he finally rolled across the transition area, his words to me were "I'm done."

Crap, that meant I had to do the rest on my own!

RIDING SOLO

My fourth (our seventh) lap wasn't the worst it could have been. Still gaining time (now at just under 37 minutes, I knew I had to pace myself for what looked like two more laps (I had just over two hours left, not enough for a tenth lap). The three uphills became more and more painful, particularly one just before the 10km mark that had a very steep pinch climb followed by six or so switchbacks, and this was pretty brutal. However, the vibrant downhills of the track as well as technical corners helped balance this and give my climbing legs a chance to recharge. Thank God for that!

The fifth lap was slower again, at about 39 minutes. I could feel my energy levels dropping, particuarly on the hills, but overall wasn't completely dead and made sure things stayed this way. Getting onto the sixth (our ninth), obviously the last, was brutal, which was evident by my longest time of 41 minutes. Here I got lapped by the winners (I think) and couldn't catch up, but it wasn't about tailing them at this point. It was about survival. Having not planned for three laps in a row, I had not eaten enough and it was hard not to think about food!

Luckily, it was almost all downhill from the 10km mark, so I could just grind down to the finish. Despite my exhaustion, it was way to hard not to enjoy the beautiful descent, followed by a bit of undulation, mostly downhill, to the finish, at about 5:40 hours into the event. As I rode over the transition tent, I looked for Tanian, where I saw him across another tent. I tried to ride through the tent, but lost my balance due to a sharp corner I had to make), falling straight onto someone's Cannondale. I could not get up; being wedged between two bikes. Very embarrassing, but perhaps symbolic of how I felt after the race! Three people had to lift me up to get me untangled from the mess!

AFTERMATH

Upon looking at the scores at the end of the race, we found out that we had come sixth overall, out of eighty (in both individuals and teams). Not bad, considering one of the team members has not ridden for so long, and my lack of preparation for my final three laps, but it shows our general capability. The winner did it 10 laps, something I think would have just been achievable for me had I gone alone so I recognized how much better I have gotten.

Having Kowalski on Sunday, this was great training for it - Kowen is a very similar sort of track to it, so puts me in good stead for all 90km of it (having done a total of 78km then), and is an event which I would like add to my calendar every year.

REVIEW OF THE EVENT

I think that the Wagga 6hr is one of the most fun events I have ever done; not just the tract, which I have raved about, but the whole organization of it. Trek Bikes had gone down from Canberra so that people could do a lap on a demo bike for no extra cost; a great initiative, and there were dozens of lucky draw prizes donated by lots of sponsors as well. It is a volunteer run event, with very friendly organizers who are keen to make it the best day out it can be, and the $30 cost per team member (less for MTBA members) makes it very economic as well, showing that it doesn't need to be expensive to be good.

Additionally, the signposting is fantastic - Markings every kilometre as well as tape and arrows at every junction (this was high on my mind after the Brownie Points episode!)
The atmosphere is the most calm I have seen; almost everyone is just as focussed on having a good day out as well as doing as well as they can, and seem to be really be enjoying it. During the duration of Tanian's course in Wagga, we will team up and do it annually. If you ever go down to Wagga for a trip, try to arrange it at this time as you will not regret entering the event, as I said, a great track!