Ok this time round I felt a little better prepared, I had done a few short but pain inflicting training sessions since the last race to get a bit more race shape going. It doesn’t do wonders but it certainly helps the body get more used to race intensity.
I rode in through the forest this time round, instead of along the road, and did my warm up on the single trails. I prefer warming up on the trails as you already get into the swing of things and get a feel of what condition the trails are in.
I had a better start this time round and was reeling in a few riders on the first climb, felt pretty good. However I dropped 4 spots when I took a wrong turn down the first downhill single trail called Doctors Orders, it was very hard to see where the trail was going (that’s my excuse anyway ;) ). I found myself a little way back to the next few rides, Nic Leary and Michael May were two of them, when I rode out of Doctors Orders but there was another big climb ahead of us so I focused on getting a steady pace going and managed to catch up to them with not too much pain, but I was starting to feel the heat. It was surprisingly warm even before the race, probably more so due to high humidity. I was struggling with the heat as I was a bit dehydrated due to eating too many veggies the day before the race (so much for being better prepared!?!), very clever yep and I really should know better, but it makes it more of a challenge! ;)
So I was staring to feel the heat get to me and I was looking forward to getting to the top of the climb and into the shady and therefore cooler single trail. This was a little way away still as I was still climbing Direct Road and just behind Nic Leary. I was expecting the course to go all the way to the top of this climb past the entrance of Hot-X-Buns but instead we turned right, following Direct Road, to get to Sidewinder. This is where I made a move to try drop Nic, I was pushing it along the flattish road to the entrance of Sidewinder, and expected Nic to be on my wheel but she wasn’t; I must have picked the right moment to go. The next climb up Hill Road and then Frontal Lobotomy felt rather hard as I was getting really hot again, so going into Billy T was just a treat! ;) and I enjoyed the long downhill all the way to the end of Roller coaster and felt rather refreshed after it for the rest of the race, enjoying the trails and roads back to Waipa and the finish line.
The course was awesome!
Thanks heaps for your great help Nic and very sorry you weren’t able to focus on reeling me back in. Looking forward to the next race without distractions! ;)
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