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Post by crummy on Mar 11, 2009 15:33:58 GMT 10
Report to follow................... soon.
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Post by crummy on Mar 12, 2009 13:54:45 GMT 10
The track was a combination of the tried, true and regular. Then there was the bit I hadn’t ridden before and some more. These newish sections included loose rocky bits gardens and technical pinch climbs. I don’t like to flick back to granny-gear but these sections were at the extreme end of my middle-ring ability. The thing that highlighted these parts of the course and abilities was when Mr English showed me how it was done. It was made to look smooth and mostly effortless. It had to be the toughest version of Yarramundie I have ever ridden.
52 solo males, 7 solo females and heaps of teams pulled up to the start. In the crowd were Diane Perry (with the Fenz’s power-hub), Duncan Miller and the DIYMTB team, the Rockstar team featured the late arrival of Gordo. Tony and the FRS team on a high from their 2nd place at the Jetblack 24hrs Sydney were also there.
With such a big field of riders and so many “competitive” racers the starts for me are probably my down fall. Getting caught in the conga line for the first lap can put you back a solid 5 minutes off the front runners. But I did get to ride with SCUM regulars Duncan and Diane. Highlight of the first lap was the log jump I did at the bottom of the section after transition. Thankfully it was just after the corner and I had reasonable speed, note to self “ride around it next time”. Once the track had cleared up a bit my next laps were much faster and consistent. The vibe on the track was really good and there where plenty of passing opportunities. Through these early laps I was feeling good; Gordo was on my tail heading out for the third lap. All though I tried to warn him the log jump sprung in front of him, elbows out I held him back to the fire trail.
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Post by crummy on Mar 12, 2009 13:56:26 GMT 10
I hit a snag around the halfway mark with my right cleat finding it’s self loose. Being unable to dab with the right foot in a couple of situations and being virtually locked to the bike wasn’t a good feeling. I managed to make the first loop back to transition and took an allan key to my shoes. It was my slowest lap with time off the track, a couple of falls in the technical section as I couldn’t get away from the bike and some breathing time after the falls to gather myself. The racing was starting to get to me, a couple of falls, a loose cleat and gels that didn’t seem to be working. I was tiring and my laps were blowing out by 5 minutes. The front runners were lapping me, Mr English was on his third (normally it is only twice). I soldered on and pushed out the last lap, lap 12, with a time similar to my 5th lap. I feel this was the best performance I could do, after a week of which I had symptoms of the flu. The main thing that I may be lacking is time on two wheels. I have been spending 2-3 days doing gym based and Fenz inspired (power based) workouts. The results are as follows, Crummy 8th, Duncan 12th one lap down from me, Shane Taylor and Mr Dreggs 33rd and 34th repectivly after 4hrs of riding. Not last or least Diane did 4 laps in 3:26. Tough eight hour course, when is the SCUM round so we can swap rocks for log-rollovers? More details @ mcrummy.blogspot.com |
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