Loving the enduring support from SenseCore and TLC Cycles.
With many of ACTs top riders attending the Snowies MTB Festival I was sure this was a good chance to bag some sneaky points towards the local XCO series. So I prepared well but reminded myself that even with the hotshots out of town CORC A grade will still bring the hurt.
With my bike in the shop getting repairs I had to beg borrow and steal something to race. My friend Brad Dalton gave me the chance to ride his Scott Spark 700 RC weapon. I will review this bike in a later blog when I start up a side thread. To put in simply, this Spark is setup and dialed in.
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| Taking a breather on the Luge |
With no time for practice or setup before the morning of the race, I set the saddle height and rolled a few kilometers down the road to registration at my home track, Stromlo Forest Park. I got to rego nearly an hour before start time so I could do a practice lap to get myself dialed in on this new bike. It was immediately evident that there was going to be a great turn out for this race. Conditions were supreme with a storm hitting the track the night before and giving the trails a natural hose down for endless hero dirt. Low and behold, half the guns were in Thredbo, but they left the other half here in Canberra. Team Torq, Trek Australia, Onya Bike,a token Canadian and even the odd National Road Series rider all entered and frothing on the A grade start line.
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| John Bridge chasing me down the 4x track |
The track was perfectly planned to allow riders to capitalise on their strengths. A fairly flat start, into a meandering climb, over some technical rocky outcrops, a short pinch fire trail climb then a super rad decent to the finish, including the 4 cross track. To me this resembles the ideal XCO layout.
90% of MTB races start on an uphill section. This race was to start in a decent at the bottom of the 4 cross track. I knew this would catch a few off guard, so I got a little crafty with my gear selection. Basically I clicked a few extra gears to start in as I knew we would pick up pace in seconds. Sure enough we started and many riders fell back fumbling through gear changes that weren’t quick enough to keep up with the hectic pace. A big flat wide open loose right hander saw me up the inside and into 3rd place behind two Trek riders, Jack Lavis and Ben Henderson. I have to admit I was smiling, the plan worked and I was in awesome position. Young Josh Battye made a couple of moves towards the front and it would stay that way until the final decent into the finish. When we dropped into the 4 cross track something happened to me, I gate snapped into BMX mode and took a couple of riders over the final jumps. Jack Lavis thought he was out in front alone and did a mad whip right in front of me. I gave him the royal tyre tap in mid-air then smashed it past him and went through start/finish in 1st. Ah if only the race went for 17mins, that would have been a good result. But reality soon set in and I remember that I have 4 more of those laps to come. Soon into the 2nd lap I let the pros go and settled into my own groove.
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| My last hoorah before those 3 guys behind dropped the hammer |
3 riders caught up to me including my friend and team mate John Bridge, Callum McNamara and Marc Williams. We would all ride together for the rest of the race, changing position when it suited, John powering the flats, Callum turning it on up the pinches and Marc prowling behind, waiting for his chance to pounce. I had one last moment of glory when I over took Bridge and Callum while we got caught up with a lapped rider. But on the last lap I started to really feel the exuberance of the 1st, self-doubt set in and I let the 3 guys go past me, to finish in a lonely 8th place. I was happy with the way it had all panned out. In thinking back if I put my head down and went for it I don’t think it would have been enough to hold off the strength of those guys. But I do feel bad that I didn’t at least try to maintain the gap. Next time I will go until I explode.
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| Large A Grade field, good to see |
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| 2nd fastest lap of the day |
That was the most fun I've had in a race in a long time. Hope there is heaps more of the same in coming months. 8th out of 18 in A grade isn’t bad at all. Congrats to Ben Henderson on taking out the win. Special mention goes out to Paul Smith and Andrew Bryant for stepping up to the 5 lapper category.
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| Ben Henderson on his way to a strong win |
