The Importance of Willopower

Won't say too much here as it was relatively uneventful other than it was a great course, great event with a great atmosphere to which I am sure would make James proud.

After getting a sub-optimal start into the singletrack, I found myself alone about 7km in after taking the opportunity to get ahead of several others but with not a single other rider in view ahead of me. I was quite aware that there was (at least) one rider close behind me in the likes of Ondrej Slezak, who had become a rival of mine after beating me in the Wollombi Wild Ride, and I had every piece of determination to fend him off to the finish line, which I did do successfully, albeit only by a a matter of seconds.

Ultimately, I got caught up by another rider (whom I initially thought was Ondrej as he was in the same kit) in the final couple of hills, and, after losing ground on a technical section, was left for dead. Fortunately, that turned out to be irrelevant for he was in the masters.

I feel I had a strong ride overall on all sections of the course (singletrack, descending, climbing, firetrail) so left with immense feelings of satisfaction, as well feel that I'm a lot better at pacing myself (my laps were 1:11:13, 1:11:44 and 1:13:12 as a guide), so looking forward to the next races of the year as I get into serious training!

Well done to everyone else who showed up, will definitely be on my calendar again!