Yesterdays race was interesting, the wind picked up just before the start and riding the first 7k on the seal I was abusing the sh!t out of the mtber’s because they couldn't’t ride in the x-winds and were trying to ride down the left had gutter not giving shelter to the other riders….how to make friends and influence people. The terrain for this race is monotonous, it’s was on farm tracks through a number of the larger sheep stations around Mt Peel. By the good grace of the owners this race has been running about 20 years now. The tracks are a mix of dirt/ clay (in the minority) or shale/ Koppenhead (large stones). The grade in places made walking almost compulsory, even though the organisers had removed the 20min portage we did a 15min walk up a series of 4wd tracks. Seeing the top 8 riders forced to walk, push, drag their bikes to these slopes was almost laughable at the times.
My tire choice was good for the race, a Maxxis Crossmark on the front and a Schwalbe Racing Ralph on the rear, both UST’s. I avoided any punctures whereas a couple of guys ahead punctured and another shredded a tire so bad he had to DNF.
I slowly lost contact on the lower slopes and was gaped abit more during the push/ drag stage as well. But the plan was to keep things steady, and just turn a small gear over and try not to get blow off the bike along the exposed ridges.
The first time I got pushed off was along a ridge climbing in a smallish gear, rounded a corner, change in direction and woops foot down so as not to get blown over. The second time was on the beginning of the descent off Coal hill, I had just crested the top and the wind picked up to the point where I was pushed to the edge of the track and into the small rocks along the edge of the track, trying to balance against the wind not clip any major rocks and crash foot down again and brace against the wind.
The major decent was interesting, it’s the only time I have ever smelt smoking brake pads, I was actually worried I was going to boil the brake lines! Because of the length, grade, and amount of shale there was a lot of braking trying to keep things under control. Near the bottom you could smell the pads and the brakes started to sponge up.
Keeping track of the riders was reasonably easy, I was passed by a one rider during the major climb, caught three guys who had punctured. And was re-passed by two of them later during the haul out of the gorge.
The ride through the gorge wasn’t that interesting or fun. As mentioned there were a number of river crossings so as to tic-tac our way up and out the other side. By this stage I hit a low point so it was a case of point the bike in the right direction and keep pedalling. The course marking was a bit sketchy in places so it was good to have riders from the shorter race further up the track to be able to spot the trail through the manuka. I didn’t really see anyone for my race during the last stages, so it was a case of hoping to catch people but it never really happened. I hooked up with a rider from the short race and started trading turns with him. It have me a lift and helped the last part out of the gorge go a lot faster. The organisers added a nasty little hill about 7k from the finish that really tested the tired legs at that stage. The people I was passing were all walking, but it was again drop it down low and keep pedalling. Some more gravel road, seal, then across the line.
Overall the numbers from the race were good with them being closer to a road race then a technical MTB race. The steady open slopes allowed for good power output so I’m happy.
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