Be the tortoise, not the hare...

It is 1am on a balmy night on the Gold Coast last weekend and I'm sitting in the VIP lounge of 'Love' nightclub. As I look across the dance floor packed with twenty-something aged dancers gyrating in time to the incredibly loud, but not distorted, doof doof, I notice the DJ is on a stage of sorts probably no more than 50cms high. 'I reckon I could pop the front wheel up that and ride onto that stage' I say to myself and have a laugh.

My training had been going quite well in the lead up to round 2 of the Rocky Trail Shimano MTB GP at Awaba. That is, until last weekend where I spent 4 days in Byron Bay for my brother in law to be's Bucks weekend So I lined up yesterday about 3/4 of the way down the field, wearing the baggies for once on race day on a beautiful morning with little wind. First up was the neutral ride from the carpark through singletrack to 'siberia' where we all assembled at the base of the initial firetrail climb.

About three seconds after the '15 seconds to go' call we were off and into the firetrail climb to awaba carpark and trailhead. 250m up the climb and the guy in front loses traction and is off the bike - I am following too close so also unclip and run about 50m to the next flat bit, not too much time lost. The first half lap was a bit of a train holding the wheel in front - people who had self seeded too high peeled off without too much trouble and by mid way through the first lap the field had pretty much spread out sufficiently.

Onto the second lap and I was leading a group of 3 or 4 thinking about how I was going to stay in front of them as I came up to a rocky entrance to a tight downhill right hand bend. A momentary lapse of concentration meant I took the outside line over a rock drop off which landed my front wheel at the base of another rock step up. Bike momentum was suddenly stopped whilst body speed was maintained and it was over the bars I went, landing on my right shoulder and knee. Luckily a few bruises and scratches were the only injuries and I was on my way pretty quickly, after the bunch asked whether I was ok.

Putting that crash out of my mind the rest of the lap was fine - I was feeling ok but not fantastic at this stage, a short stop to change bottles and slam a gel and onto the 3rd lap. Awaba is a place that flows fantastically in most places, has quite a few switchback climbs (and one decent firetrail climb) and a fair dose of 'false flats' which, like ourimbah, slowly drains the energy reserves. A train of fast moving riders came up behind me and I quickly moved to the side to see the likes of Andrew Lloyd, Andrew finlayson, Ed McDonald and a few others ride past not breathing heavy at all... Machines. I was starting to tire a little by mid lap but maintained a steady pace in the increasingly humid day - the cover of the trees on the lower half of the course providing great shade from the sun above.

By now some the the steepish descents had developed large braking bumps, most corners were holding up really well and there was plenty of grip out there. There was a nice new 'water feature' at the bottom of one of the firetrail descents followed by a muddy section but other than that the trail was dry. Lap 4 I started to labour a bit - I'd had enough gels and fluid to keep the energy up but the legs were feeling the 250m of climbing per lap and the mental challenge of riding singletrack pretty much non stop for 3 hours. I was really enjoying the riding and being out in the forrest and was quite ok with just maintaining a steady pace, being passed quite often by quicker riders and occasionally passing people myself.

I pulled into my 'pit' at the end of lap 4 about 10 mins before the 4hr cutoff. I was just across from the jet black tents, geez they have a big presence at these events. Physically I wanted to stop but mentally I wasn't done, the memory of my last rocky trail event needed to be erased the Vegemite sandwich I'd pre made was useless, too dry! I set off for the 5th lap just wanting to complete the lap. The day was warming up and I ended up taking taking nearly an hour to finish the lap, consuming a gel and a 700ml endura mix in the process.

The call to do the 5th lap was a good one - I finished 13th out of 31 in my age category due to half the field calling it a day at or before 4 laps, which was a really pleasing result and justified the hurt I was in. Not too bad for a desk bound office worker riding just 4hrs a week. The 4hr events are pretty brutal - you can do all the hill climbing you like in training (I did a bit) but it doesn't prepare you for the body assault of continuous singletrack, techy at times. I reckon it's harder than the half kowalski, half fling etc. The guys and girls doing 7hrs+ events must be genetically gifted

As a footnote everyone out there was very friendly whilst passing, or being passed, just a great vibe well done. Thx to Turra cyclery for sorting me out with a new rim strip at short notice after my new rear Ikon bead wouldn't seat against the rim. The tyre didn't miss a beat during the race.