Hello,
Seems like everyone is doing a race report from last weekend so I thought
I'd add one myself.
Last sunday I raced the first round of the Fat Tyre Flyers winter MTB
series. I've been racing for a bit under a year and have done half a summer
series so everything is still kinda new and exciting for me so forgive a
little self indulgence.
I raced sportA in the summer series and never placed better than third but
thanks to a surprise performance at the Nationals I was told I'd cop heaps
if I raced sportA again. I heard the winter series was a bit more relaxed
so I thought I'd try my hand at expert class.
The weather was a little damp but was forecast to clear up and the track at
Anderson Gardens is not one to hold much water. So many people were
supposed to show up but never came. Snozza, Paul Bryant and Dan-o were
supposed to round out a star-studded veteran class but failed to show up.
What happened Snozz?
Anyway, one advantage of Expert class is that you get to start second behind
elite so you get a clean 1st lap. A field of 9 had shown up and I only knew
three of the names, all of whom I had beaten and had been beaten by in the
past.
The first lap was torture, I've always been a bad starter but this time
there was no mercy. The one thing I immediatly noticed about expert was
that the field was so much tighter. The range of ability from fastest to
slowest was tiny compared to the sportA field so it felt much more like
riding in a bunch. Even so I was struggling and conceded 21 seconds to the
leader and short of Lewis and his tyre trouble would've been coming DFL.
I half accepted that I wasn't going to do so well but half realised my legs
would come good at some point. I think it was the end of the second lap
where I finaly started clawing back some ground. The middle few laps were a
great tussle for positions but I really didn't know who was in which class
after we all started lapping people.
It came down to the last lap (of 5) and I realised I still had a bit left in
me and managed to gain some spots off some guys who'd clearly started to
hurt. By the time I'd passed the last guy I could see in front of me I gave
it everything I had to secure my position. It hurt heaps but I knew the end
was near. I crossed the line but had no real idea how I'd placed.
I managed to get a sneak peak at the results on the computer and couldn't
wipe away my smile to find I'd placed third in my first expert race. In a
1:30:15 race I was 1:12 off first place, nice to have a realistic target.
So, to all potential MTB racers out there I recomend giving the winter
series a go. It's very friendly and relaxed and perfect for getting nice
and muddy.
Cheers,
Duncan.