1st attempt at endurance MTBing. Teaming up with mate Paulie on his Specialised Hardrock, I was astride the mighty Specialised Stumpjumper hardtail (team: Flatbar Matadors).
Run by the Fat Tyre Flyers, the venue was in & around the bush at Whittlesea’s scout camp just 5kms north from Whittlesea. A warm Saturday the forecast was 30-ish, humid & some rain – maybe.
We rocked up early which gave us time to pitch the pit area (tent & goodies) & check out the course, Start was to be at 9am, briefing 8:45am. Most riders opted not to do a test lap. It was about 6.8kms long, fairly tight & from what I understand Fat Tyres usually run their courses kinda tight. It kept the average speeds down & made for interesting riding. Within the first 2.5kms the course rose up from the scout camp with single-track climbs that brought in the use of my much maligned granny cog up front. Followed by a descent into some fun switchbacks & up & down & , well you get my drift.
We entered in the Men’s Pairs, a pretty competitive class, but with the aim to ‘finish’ & ‘not be last’ took some of the pressure off our camp. Paulie took up 1st lap duties.
The prologue ‘lap’ was a 50m run to your bike, then a ride along an access road through part of the camping area to a chute that funnelled riders onto the course proper. 9:05am & they were off, I stood there holding Paulie’s & Mik’s bikes & the usual messing about of bolting riders looking for their mounts ensued. My vantage point was a good place to check out some of the fancy dress enteries: Spriderman, the tennis players, a smattering of school girls & office attired single track junkies. Mik first picked his bike & was away with Paulie chasing a short skirt up the wrong end of the ‘bike pick-up’ point before he doubled back for his bike & was off.
The prolougue wound the riders back through the main transition area / timing tent before they began their 1st lap.
Even though I had at least 30mins to get over to the transistion area before Paulie would be coming through ending his lap I raced over quick-smart, all keen as mustard. As I waited they had the announcer go over the first lot of riders coming through on their first lap, offering spot prizes for the best mono going through the chute just before the timing tent, with one bloke (missed his name) doing a nice wheelstand just before he slowed up & looped right over landing hard on his ****.
Paulie rolls through, tags me’ & I’m away.
The course wound around the scout camp in/out of a little gully & up the back into the surrounding bush. I was pretty much on my own & fresh as a daisy so I was cutting up the trail flicking through the corners & jabbing away at the crank lofting me up, over & into the oncoming bumps, logs & holes of the course.
The first climb began easy as they always do, but the gradiant increased, the trail crossed a road & then kicked up, now a tight singletrack snaking up the side of this hill. I found that wash-outs ,ruts & exposed roots really did their best to work against getting a smooth fast spin happening, it was good to see riders up ahead having similar problems & kinda encouraged me to pull the finger out. After the 2nd climb the trail descended & I was making some good rhythm through some switchbacks.
In the heat I was sweating loads & my ‘glasses steaming on the ascents so I pocketed them. The trail was damp from last nights rain so dust wasn’t a problem. In fact the passage of the previous bikes had cleared all the loose leaves/branches & was developing some real nice berms on some of the corners, I was really getting a kick out of this stuff. The layout of the course meant that the 2nd half was pretty much an ongoing decent so coming back to the scout camp was a real blast. Coasting, out of the seat slamming down the trail, jumping to clear obstacles was a hoot.
Into the transition area Paulie was there anxious to go, tag, off he stormed.
Through the morning we did alternate laps, but even with the rest inbetween I was getting really buggered. My next laps I really blew out & had to walk the top end of each awkward/steep climb. After stringing 2x laps together really hit me hard & all the effort I was putting into the climbs made me vague on the descents & the flats, picking some poor lines & making it harder on myself.
Passing of the faster riders wasn’t a problem for me in that I didn’t worry too much about losing a sec or 2 buttoning off or coasting to let them through when the trail was too tight for an easy pass, most riders were pretty cool with it all, never encountered any hotheads.
We got some rain during the day which kept the dust down & made some parts really nice & loamy, comments from the riders was that the course was a rave.
We finished, and even though our results weren’t blistering
, both of us are pretty keen on fronting up for the next one. Well, the next one is Bendigo in a fortnight which clashes with other stuff we’ve got on, but, the next one we’re available for anyway.
Personal bike comp stats:
Mark’s laps:
Lap 2: 30:14 time, 6.88kms @ 13.67kms/hr Avg spd (end 10:21am)
Lap 4: 32:02 time, 6.88kms @ 12.90kms/hr Avg spd (end 11.30am)
Lap 6 & 7: 1:15:05 time, 13.89kms @ 11.10kms/hr avg spd (end 1:29pm).
Lap 9: 35:08 time, 6.85kms @ 11.71kms/hr avg spd (end 3:44pm)
Paul’s laps:
Lap 1 (include prologue extra): 44:57time, distance 8:23kms
Lap 3: 35:12 time, dist 6.68kms
Lap 5: 36:20 time, dist 6.65kms
Lap 8: 37:39 time, dist 6.68kms
Lap 10: 37:13 time, dist 6.67kms
Lap 11: 37:32 time, dist 6.66kms
Offical results:
http://www.ftf.com.au/results/uploaded_results/29397479HDATOResultsDetailed.pdf
http://www.ftf.com.au/
Run by the Fat Tyre Flyers, the venue was in & around the bush at Whittlesea’s scout camp just 5kms north from Whittlesea. A warm Saturday the forecast was 30-ish, humid & some rain – maybe.
We rocked up early which gave us time to pitch the pit area (tent & goodies) & check out the course, Start was to be at 9am, briefing 8:45am. Most riders opted not to do a test lap. It was about 6.8kms long, fairly tight & from what I understand Fat Tyres usually run their courses kinda tight. It kept the average speeds down & made for interesting riding. Within the first 2.5kms the course rose up from the scout camp with single-track climbs that brought in the use of my much maligned granny cog up front. Followed by a descent into some fun switchbacks & up & down & , well you get my drift.
We entered in the Men’s Pairs, a pretty competitive class, but with the aim to ‘finish’ & ‘not be last’ took some of the pressure off our camp. Paulie took up 1st lap duties.
The prologue ‘lap’ was a 50m run to your bike, then a ride along an access road through part of the camping area to a chute that funnelled riders onto the course proper. 9:05am & they were off, I stood there holding Paulie’s & Mik’s bikes & the usual messing about of bolting riders looking for their mounts ensued. My vantage point was a good place to check out some of the fancy dress enteries: Spriderman, the tennis players, a smattering of school girls & office attired single track junkies. Mik first picked his bike & was away with Paulie chasing a short skirt up the wrong end of the ‘bike pick-up’ point before he doubled back for his bike & was off.
The prolougue wound the riders back through the main transition area / timing tent before they began their 1st lap.
Even though I had at least 30mins to get over to the transistion area before Paulie would be coming through ending his lap I raced over quick-smart, all keen as mustard. As I waited they had the announcer go over the first lot of riders coming through on their first lap, offering spot prizes for the best mono going through the chute just before the timing tent, with one bloke (missed his name) doing a nice wheelstand just before he slowed up & looped right over landing hard on his ****.
Paulie rolls through, tags me’ & I’m away.
The course wound around the scout camp in/out of a little gully & up the back into the surrounding bush. I was pretty much on my own & fresh as a daisy so I was cutting up the trail flicking through the corners & jabbing away at the crank lofting me up, over & into the oncoming bumps, logs & holes of the course.
The first climb began easy as they always do, but the gradiant increased, the trail crossed a road & then kicked up, now a tight singletrack snaking up the side of this hill. I found that wash-outs ,ruts & exposed roots really did their best to work against getting a smooth fast spin happening, it was good to see riders up ahead having similar problems & kinda encouraged me to pull the finger out. After the 2nd climb the trail descended & I was making some good rhythm through some switchbacks.
In the heat I was sweating loads & my ‘glasses steaming on the ascents so I pocketed them. The trail was damp from last nights rain so dust wasn’t a problem. In fact the passage of the previous bikes had cleared all the loose leaves/branches & was developing some real nice berms on some of the corners, I was really getting a kick out of this stuff. The layout of the course meant that the 2nd half was pretty much an ongoing decent so coming back to the scout camp was a real blast. Coasting, out of the seat slamming down the trail, jumping to clear obstacles was a hoot.
Into the transition area Paulie was there anxious to go, tag, off he stormed.
Through the morning we did alternate laps, but even with the rest inbetween I was getting really buggered. My next laps I really blew out & had to walk the top end of each awkward/steep climb. After stringing 2x laps together really hit me hard & all the effort I was putting into the climbs made me vague on the descents & the flats, picking some poor lines & making it harder on myself.
Passing of the faster riders wasn’t a problem for me in that I didn’t worry too much about losing a sec or 2 buttoning off or coasting to let them through when the trail was too tight for an easy pass, most riders were pretty cool with it all, never encountered any hotheads.
We got some rain during the day which kept the dust down & made some parts really nice & loamy, comments from the riders was that the course was a rave.
We finished, and even though our results weren’t blistering
, both of us are pretty keen on fronting up for the next one. Well, the next one is Bendigo in a fortnight which clashes with other stuff we’ve got on, but, the next one we’re available for anyway.Personal bike comp stats:
Mark’s laps:
Lap 2: 30:14 time, 6.88kms @ 13.67kms/hr Avg spd (end 10:21am)
Lap 4: 32:02 time, 6.88kms @ 12.90kms/hr Avg spd (end 11.30am)
Lap 6 & 7: 1:15:05 time, 13.89kms @ 11.10kms/hr avg spd (end 1:29pm).
Lap 9: 35:08 time, 6.85kms @ 11.71kms/hr avg spd (end 3:44pm)
Paul’s laps:
Lap 1 (include prologue extra): 44:57time, distance 8:23kms
Lap 3: 35:12 time, dist 6.68kms
Lap 5: 36:20 time, dist 6.65kms
Lap 8: 37:39 time, dist 6.68kms
Lap 10: 37:13 time, dist 6.67kms
Lap 11: 37:32 time, dist 6.66kms
Offical results:
http://www.ftf.com.au/results/uploaded_results/29397479HDATOResultsDetailed.pdf
http://www.ftf.com.au/
