Chris Neenan came to race as well, fronting up about 20 minutes after me. For now the rain was holding off.
At 10.30 we were off and racing. Pete, Jason and myself were racing Veterans whilst Chris was racing in the Masters category.
I was in about 8th place at about the 6kms mark when I hit a sanding corner where my front wheel decided it didn’t want to grip anymore. I managed to get off the bike before I went down with it but unfortunately I did an injury to my shoulder in the process. It was at about this point that Chris, Pete and Jason passed me. I wasn’t happy about letting Pete and Jason pass me so I got back on the bike and for about the next 5 to 10kms had to put up with the sore shoulder. Thankfully later it settled down, either that or the rest of me got that sore that I just didn’t notice my shoulder anymore.
The course started off with a lot of single track and later lead us onto a road where we could really get up some speed, great for the road riders. Pete, Jason and myself decided to ride this section together after stopping at a feed station to get some much-needed food.
After a couple of kilometres on the road, which later, after a left hand turn, turned into a dirt road, we were back on some single track. Pete decided that he had had enough of riding with us slow riders and he took off. I tried to stay with him for as long as possible, keeping him within site but it wasn’t long before I decide this was not a smart move as the odometer read 30kms, still another 15kms to go.
At 33kms I was glad to see Chris’ wife with my drink bottle. Although not so happy when she told me how far ahead Chris was but the lollies on offer did make me feel a little better.
Not long after seeing Chris’ wife we riding in a gully on wet grass that just seemed like a lot of hard work to ride over, very slow riding. Just as I was starting to climb out this slow gully the heavens opened up. We were riding on open paddocks in the rain with no protection. It was at about this point, between leg cramps that I was really starting to wonder why I didn’t stay in bed.
The rain did settle so I decided to take an extra long rest at the next feed station to consume more of the lollies on offer. It wasn’t long before Jason caught up. At this point my odometer read 42kms. I was quite happy knowing I didn’t have far to go, just another 3kms, well so we all thought. After riding a couple more kilometres we saw a sign letting us know we had another 8kms to go.
It was great to be riding with Jason again, a welcome distraction to how my body was feeling.
After riding over some of the slippiest rocks I have ever ridden over we were almost home. We had a nice run in on some dirt roads and mostly down hill, a great way to finish.
Jason and I crossed the line together. Pete was approximately 10 minutes a head of us and Chris more then 15 minutes ahead of Pete.
Chris after a great performance finished 2nd in the Masters category.
It’s funny, it doesn’t matter how much you are hurting, once you cross the finish line all that pain instantly goes away and within an hour or two you are asking about the next event you can enter.
Well for Chris and I the answer is this weekend. We are going to be in a team of four competing in a 12 hour enduro, but more about that later.
A map of the course we rode. We turned at check point three and headed towards the finish.
Author: Tim Harman
