Under the guidance of Andy's older sister Susie, who I'd join for the occasional single track ride, I learnt many mountain biking techniques and tricks. Every ride made me feel a little more comfortable on the new bike and I was quietly confident that I could make the distance too.
Initially we'd planned that our two families would camp together making it a fun weekend away. However life had different ideas - Andy had to leave for a conference in Lorne on race day and Eoin had to make a last minute dash to Ireland. Cath and I therefore found ourselves footloose and fancy free!
Saturday afternoon we converged on the main street of Bundanoon along with a million of other people to register and although the line was long, the actual registration process was very smooth. Next was a relaxing stop at the coffee shop before heading to find Susie and family.
Luckily for us Susie was very organised in booking a camping site at Morton National Park which we were able to fit on to. The afternoon passed quickly as we watched the Bundanoon Dash with many of the local businesses participating and dressing up (along with their bike), setting up our tents followed by cooking dinner. As darkness descended, the temperature dropped and a few drops of rain fell, it was time for bed to ensure a good nights sleep in preparation for an early start.
As with any camping I woke up earlier than needed and was happy not to hear any raindrops on the tent. It was chilly outside, the clouds were low and rain was threatening...not exactly the day I'd hoped for for my first mountain bike race. Packed the tents up, followed by breakfast, talked about clothing choices before driving to the event centre in the drizzle!Our start group was 8.10am and we waited patiently at the back of the crowd before rolling out. The course stats stated 57Km - 14% single track & no track, 68% rough/4wd track, 15% dirt road and 3% sealed road consisting of two stages - The Ground Effect Stage 1 and Gu Stage.
The Ground Effect Stage seemed to fly by. We began with a brief section of sealed road before hitting private farmland. By this stage the crowd had thinned somewhat although there were still lots of jostling going on as we rode through Penrose State Forest. We crossed a river along the way, aptly named Free Bike Wash, which involved getting wet and carrying one's bike. This was the first of many river crossings! My feet were numb for most of the ride thanks to the cold water - not helpful for clipping in and out of my cleats quickly!
Another section through some paddocks before arriving at the Wingello transition point, 25km into the ride after about 95mins. Stopped to use the toilet, have some food and Cath repositioned her seat which had dropped a considerable amount. Leaving here we knew the toughest section of the race was still in front of us.
A nice descent along dirt track before hitting another section of bumpy farmland and finally a short taste of single track through some lovely forest and then opening up on to forest trails back into Penrose State Forest. One minute it would be just us riding along chatting and then next minute a steep hill or rocky descent or river crossing would bunch everyone up again.
Eventually we made our way onto the single track. I knew this section of the race would be tough and it was. Riding single track when you are fresh is a completely different experience than riding it after already riding 35 km's in not exactly favourable weather conditions. The first part known as the Rollercoaster , lived up to it's name. Up and down small steep slippery pinches resulting in lots of getting on/off the bike. Once riding across the river it was up again and into Sherwood Forest - quite a nice section before struggling up Brokeback Mountain which we rode all the way to the top!
By this stage I was wishing we were close to the end...or at least the end of the sinlgetrack. This final part was very rocky and technical (well for me anyway). It was hard as once I'd stopped I'd lost all momentum which made it hard to get going again. Plus the leaders of the 100km race were coming through and expected you to get off the track for them!
As we emerged onto the forest trail, I silently cheered to myself despite having another 8km to go! I got excited as we past a 5km to go sign, to which Cath replied 'I'm cactus' and essentially told me to bugger off! So off I went just to see how much I had left in the tank.
Unfortunately I came unstuck about 400m before the finish line. When approaching a bridge, which we went under, a volunteer marshall shouted at me to get off the track for (another) 100km rider. I pulled up and let the said rider past before beginning again. However I didn't have enough speed to negotiate the rocks under the bridge and didn't pull my foot out of the cleats quickly enough resulting in a quite spectacular slow speed tumble downhill towards the creek!
I untangled myself from my bike, dusted myself down and decided to wait for Cath, who appeared shortly after. We rode together into the finish completing the 57km highland half fling in 4h 07mins.The miserable weather resulted in us riding straight back to the cars, getting changed before heading to the warmth of the coffee shop. While our feet defrosted, we reminisced about the weekend and vowed to do something similar next year.
