...and I begin with a big thank you to Craig at Bicycle Inc for the invitation to ride for the day. My whole focus had been about The Red Centre Enduro and my legs were still feeling good, so I had the opportunity to exploit them riding a Giant Anthem SL1 for the day in my first 6 hour solo.
So here I am in a Giant kit, sitting on a Giant bike. Not totally unfamiliar, just unfamiliar in a mountain bike race. Forrest looks a little different to Beach Road.
Good start and try to stay out of the red. Too early to smash myself. I love how rear of the Anthem reacts. The front end is a little harsh for me though, but that could just come down to set up.
Oh, mud in the corner and I find that I am laying in it. The front end decided the line I chose was not correct.
Mariners just gets quicker and quicker. The Anthem is just railing through the berms. I can't understand why I avoided the rock up until now. I am getting some nice rhythm and people are quite generous in allowing you to pass. Neck is getting sore. May not have been a good idea to race a week after dropping the road bike and cracking my helmet.
Come through transition and Dom is smiling with his arms full, waiting for instructions. All I need is a change of bottle.
Now three hours in and I am in so much pain. Ross catches me and we ride together for a while and chat. Another first, normally I am fairly quiet on the bike. My neck gives in and Ross moves on.
Jess sees me come into the feed zone and jumps into support mode. Before I know it, I have a couple of Nurofen, some food and The Black Doctor into me. The encouragement from her, Conan and the rest of the Giant Crew was appreciated and lifted the spirits.
The pain eases and I am now going faster. Dom still looks like a street vendor trying to sell armfuls of crap, but by the time I exit out of the end of the feed zone I have fruit cake and a fresh flask of gel in the back of my jersey.
Mariner's is still fun and now that the leaf litter is gone from Foxtail, it is just an awesome day of riding.
The sky has been grey all day, but now it appears to be getting sinister. One more bottle change and that will get me to the finish. Where is Dom? What? He is sitting on his ass. Ha. Bastard.
The sky is now black. On my last lap and as I enter Foxtail, down comes the rain. The temperature drops and I still have half a lap to go. Rapid change of conditions change and not in a good way. No grip and never have I gotten so cold so quickly. Still a little of 3km to go. Push as hard as I dare. All I want to do is stay upright and get back to the finish line so I can get into dry clothes.
One final corner and slight climb up the finish straight.
A big thank you to all that got me through the day, especially Dom for his selflessness, Jess for keeping an eye out for me and Craig for allowing me to ride such an awesome machine.
Race Data
Finished the race 100km later in 6:15 with 1846m of elevation gain. Total calories burnt 4529. Other than my neck giving out I was happy how the day went. The numbers translate across well for marathons and improved mentally.
