A painful but enjoyable Fling

Phewww glad that race was over. After the Half Kowalski in September I was looking forward to riding the Fling. I decided to go the full, training involves riding up and down the Oaks for almost 5 weeks in a row, but that wasn't enough as the hills on the Fling are just nastier, longer and there's always another hill around the corner.

I drove down on Saturday arriving at Bundanoon by 7pm and the town was transformed into a MTB town! I wish my local suburb was like that, went to have a quick dinner and then went to the camping grounds. Sleeping in the back of my car wasn't as bad as I thought, the cool wind at night was nice and to wake up to the sound of bagpipes was a first for me.

Down to the race, Stage 1 was uneventful and it was over fairly quick, I watched the Elite steam train rode past at around the 20km mark. Quick water fill up at the first transition area and I was off riding Stage 2. The singletracks I was familiar with, so no issues there. The hills were another matter, rode up 2/3rd of "THE WALL" and walked the rest. Halfway hill was when my thighs began to cramp up, but I managed to ride that without getting off the bike, followed by the kicker. The race organizers sure know how to dish up some punishing climbs. At the 72km mark, I suffered a massive cramping after washing off my rear wheel in a climb, my legs were locked up and looking very deformed, had to stop for a good minute before I could get going again. Arriving at the transition area it was time to fill up the water bottle again. I must say I was glad I was on a 29er, those long firetrail sections would've been much harder on a 26", I wished the engine driving the Epic machine was stronger though.

Stage3 was 31K my expectation was to do that in less that 2 hours, but it was one tough stage, rollercoaster wasn't as fun as the rollercoaster at Stromlo, I had to walk most of those steep pinch climbs. The Magellan KOM section was fun and techy, that section would've been fun to ride in a fitter/fresher condition. At your call I went left and just managed to ride that up. Down to the final km and I could see the finish line and that's my first fling.

Surely this is the toughest ride for me ever, glad it's over. After the race I wasn't feeling so bad. Worst feeling is those sore points at my quads where they were cramping up, and still sore until now.

It was a well organised race and one that really tested your will power.