The weekend saw my return to racing after a 3 month break. The race was held at Karingal a scouts property on the South side of Brisbane and the format was a 4hr Enduro. The course was technical and physically demanding, lasting around 7kms of pure single track, lots of little ups and plenty of steep gnarly descents. The thing that killed me was the lack of rest opportunities; you were pretty much on the rivet the entire race, hard yakka.
Standing on the start line, I could see the usual suspects! And with the temperature rising knew that I was in for a hard ride. 9-1, as many laps I can, here we go. Heart rate through the roof on the first climb, managed to hit the single track first and proceeded to hit it hard, typical fellows style, not thinking of the consequences it would have later, heart rate hovering around 190 for the entire first lap, not good! Good old Mallet was right there. We kept tempo for few laps, swapping the lead in the process. Around lap 4 of 11, I decided enough was enough and dropped back a bit to rekindle the fire and conserve some energy for the last hour, Mallet pulled away and I was happy let him!
It must have been around Lap 9 when JT (Jeff Toohey) yelled out, ‘Mallets got a minute or so on ya’ that I decided to ramp it up and see what I had left in the tank. The old heart kicked back to the high 180’s and off I went, catching him by early lap 10. Here’s what I should have done, sat on his wheel, recovered and prepared myself for an attack on the last hill into the finish! But no, I decide to ride up to him, click it up 2 gears and ride off the front, it worked, and started to form a gap, although I was working in the red zone. I was playing a psychological l card, hoping to emotional break him! I thought if he sees me go past at that speed he may not even bother going out on the last lap. Wrong. I got help up in the extremely tight single track, he caught up and now we were head to head again, and I was shagged. Started the last lap knowing I needed to catch my breath if I was to have any shot at this, so I sat up all the way around until Mallet hit me up the last climb and gapped me heading into the finishing chute. Oh well, put that one down to experience.
Thanks to Brisbane South MTB club for a fantastic race, tuff, but fantastic. Thanks to everyone who help me out with bottles, most all thanks to http://www.ayup-lights.com/, Tomac bikes @ http://www.supersports.net.au/ , Onza, and Cognition Bike Shop in Noosa for keeping my ride primed! Until next time safe riding….
Standing on the start line, I could see the usual suspects! And with the temperature rising knew that I was in for a hard ride. 9-1, as many laps I can, here we go. Heart rate through the roof on the first climb, managed to hit the single track first and proceeded to hit it hard, typical fellows style, not thinking of the consequences it would have later, heart rate hovering around 190 for the entire first lap, not good! Good old Mallet was right there. We kept tempo for few laps, swapping the lead in the process. Around lap 4 of 11, I decided enough was enough and dropped back a bit to rekindle the fire and conserve some energy for the last hour, Mallet pulled away and I was happy let him!
It must have been around Lap 9 when JT (Jeff Toohey) yelled out, ‘Mallets got a minute or so on ya’ that I decided to ramp it up and see what I had left in the tank. The old heart kicked back to the high 180’s and off I went, catching him by early lap 10. Here’s what I should have done, sat on his wheel, recovered and prepared myself for an attack on the last hill into the finish! But no, I decide to ride up to him, click it up 2 gears and ride off the front, it worked, and started to form a gap, although I was working in the red zone. I was playing a psychological l card, hoping to emotional break him! I thought if he sees me go past at that speed he may not even bother going out on the last lap. Wrong. I got help up in the extremely tight single track, he caught up and now we were head to head again, and I was shagged. Started the last lap knowing I needed to catch my breath if I was to have any shot at this, so I sat up all the way around until Mallet hit me up the last climb and gapped me heading into the finishing chute. Oh well, put that one down to experience.
Thanks to Brisbane South MTB club for a fantastic race, tuff, but fantastic. Thanks to everyone who help me out with bottles, most all thanks to http://www.ayup-lights.com/, Tomac bikes @ http://www.supersports.net.au/ , Onza, and Cognition Bike Shop in Noosa for keeping my ride primed! Until next time safe riding….
1 comments:
Andy, those yellow mavic shoes match the AyUp kit....yes to making them team issue. Bellie is wearing them, so is randall and I....just need to get you on board. CHAT SOON>
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