SPEED CHOPS!!The eight hour mountain bike enduro was held on 5oct recently, and Rishy and I competed as a two person mixed team. The day was hot and dusty, but the setting and racetrack was fantastic. It was a lot of fun, i felt much stronger on the bike for a lot longer into the race than i ever have before in an event like this. didn't need the granny ring at all, felt strong all day. was able to comfortably turn out 11k laps in the low30 minute range, ending up with 6 laps, which put our team total at 12. Some mechanicals held us up a little, rishy got stuck in her granny ring for almost an entire lap due to a stone getting jammed in her FD which cost her a lot of time, while i suffered rear hub issues culminating in a broken freewheel. still, we finished 7th from 10 in our class, on the same number of laps as 4th. next year we will be aiming for at least 14 laps of that course, i think that had we had a trouble free run that would have been achievable.
Rishy tearin it up!
To make the event even more special, my mum and my great aunt came over to watch for a while, it was great to be able to put on a good showing for them. Big thanks to them for making the trip out!
It was great to see so many familiar faces out there, including (but not limited to) (in no particular order) stumeister, greg (tempest), Adventuruss, Zenman, Gav, Matt dog (who tore it up in solo, well done mate), craig storey (who i am sure is jumping around his living room right now looking at a new bike, hope you have that new beast by now mate), mad aussie, winner, and plenty of others. thanks to everyone who said G'day up there (sorry to whoever i havn't mentioned).
My mate hubcap was racing solo, and unfortunately didn't have a very good day. about 6 hours in the heat really got to him, forcing him to pull out early. he still finished about 15th in solo, so a good result from a bad race for him. His mate TK (mechanic from Bike and Cycle obsession in the city) was up supporting us all for the race, and his mechanical brilliance was very much appreciated in keeping us going on a day of unprecedented mechanical misfortune.
A good race, probably one of my better ones. that is pretty much it for the mtb racing season for this year for me, except for some club racing. plenty of weight loss and training time to be had now.
7 comments:
Love the chops.....
Heard you were busting out some sub 24min laps.
See you at the next club race.. Ill have some wicked chops by then ;)
you must have heard wrong, my fastest was just under 30 (by my watch). looking forward to hitting up mt crosby again, might even step up and smash A grade (someone has to be last, haha). speed chops make you faster!!
Declan, you couldn't even grow chops, remember you haven't hit puberty!!
Nice read HILLBILLY!!!!!
Good one! I just found your blog!
Hey Hillbilly, Was good to see you out there too. 14 laps is my goal for next year too. Should be possible if I don't cramp.
And TK, we all know Declan will use mascara to paint on his Chops . . . and he'll probably do his eyes while he's at it.
Jealous Stu? I know...
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