Half Fling II

At first I was very disappointed with my time as this year I actually did some training and rode lots of hills, even rode broke back mountain, felt good, pushed where ever I could, drafted behind my faster mate, I literally had nothing left at 100 metres to go and had to granny gear over the line. But only 2 min faster than my fatter arse managed last year! Ok so I've calmed down now poured over all the stats and it looks like (for me, at least) the course was 10-15 min slower? General agreement on this?

I really liked the course this year with more interest on the first leg. I used to say I only liked single track, but as I get fitter I find myself enjoying a nice rough fire trail more and more. If you like single track, race the full fling I guess, or the 3 Ring Circus, where you get to basically just race the Shimano Stage.

My nutrition was so much better this year and eating and drinking to a schedule is the only way to go, it was fun riding past the spot where I had a mini bonk last year. My new gadget the GelBot http://hydrapak.com/gel-bot/ bottle worked really well and allowed me get 2 gels into me without even slowing. Drank lots and filling up at all the water stops was essential this year (unlike last year).

We had a couple of mechanicals, with my seat coming loose at one point and my mate getting his chain jammed behind the cassette but it only delayed us a few minutes.

I was a bit worried going into the Rollercoaster behind a tandem, but these guys where a machine, and if you could grab their wheel on a nice open section you were made. A couple of time I thought I'd left them far behind only to have them power past me on the last grassy section. Plus they were super polite in the tighter stuff letting others past.

Where can I go better? Climb more hills. While I climbed probably twice as many hills as I managed last year, I still walked a few. I walked fast though, I even took places walking some hills! Also I could gain more time by pushing harder in those big open paddocks. Now I've just got to back it up with a WSMTB 4 hour Enduro on Sunday!