Genrock & Roll

Pretty good race track overall, with the first half featuring some very nice single track, followed by a fire trail downhill plunge, a bit of traverse fire trail, then the unrelenting Snakes and Ladders sniggle climb. After a bit more sniggle, including a couple of multiple line option sections through some old quarries, there then seemed to be a lot of uphill fire trail slogging, broken up with a few water crossings. The finishing climb up a steep, loose and rutted bit of fire trail was particularly tough and the only bit where there was a section that I had to get off and walk on all 4 laps.

At a tick over 200m of climbing per 9 km lap, it was pretty challenging, and the heat (only high 20's, but with what seemed like pretty high humidity) helped toughen the course up further. My Halo bandana's moisture carrying capacity was exceeded on quite a few of the climbs....

The start could have had a bit more fire trail to sort the field out, as the first lap involved a few minutes wait at the start of the single track and plenty of stop / start stuff for the first few kms - at least that's what it was like down towards the back of the field. The single track sections were much more fun on subsequent laps as the traffic spread out and line memory kicked in.

On the first lap I cooked myself a bit going up Snakes and Ladders holding up a train of riders. Second lap I took it a bit easier, but still had a nasty spike in HR that caused me to stop and wait for a couple minutes while it eased back into something only mildly anaerobic.

Stopped at the end of each lap in the shade generously provided by Rob (Siklama) for a gel and to change water bottles. On my fourth lap I had a fall after losing traction on the rocky exit on the more difficult of the creek crossings and while there was no major damage, I was getting a bit of pain in my good knee, so decided to pull the pin after 4 laps rather than push on out for a fifth.

This made no difference to the category placing as the winner knocked off 5 laps in little more than it took me to do 4. But he had a slightly better cycling pedigree than me.....

The event centre / transition set up on Gun Club Rd made for a good race atmosphere and if they can use a bit more single track to increase the lap length and dilute the amount of vertical per lap, it has the makings of a damn good regular venue.