Race Day with the Rocket Boosters

Wicked Wombat is an 8 hour mountain bike race which can be ridden as a solo or in 2 or 4 person teams. Our team - Rocket Boosters - included Emily, Thomas, Rob (all very experienced riders) and me (a very inexperienced rider). Despite being a competition the ethos of the event is very much focussed on fun with friends.  The course was a  9 - 10km loop (depending on whether you took the shorter, harder A lines or not) and it was all single track. We rode the loop the day before the race so there were no surprises and I knew how to avoid the A lines!

Race morning dawned and we were in for a sunny, warm day. I had already made the decision to join the race once most competitors were through their first lap. So at 8am, with a coffee in hand, we watched the riders tear down the road and onto the single track. We cheered on the familiar faces as they came past the skills park, where we were based - Thomas and Rob were riding together, Patrick was solo while Susie was shadowing Josh.

A short while later I kitted up and was off! Super conscious of being too slow, I was surprised that not too many people passed me and when they did I was able to pull over without stopping! It was quite enjoyable actually however I decided to pull in after the first lap which had taken me about 45 minutes.

While enjoying a short break, I was lucky to see the first of the kids race! The finish area was cleverly positioned adjacent to a grassy oval area which had a small track around the perimeter. At the mention of a race with prizes most of our kids were excited well except for maybe one or 2 including Katy who fell apart at the word 'race.' With so many children ~14 or so, ranging from 12 - 2yrs, it was decided to have several races.

From our gang of children, Ella and Mia were in the first older race, while Katy, Mira, Mica and Isobel were in the second younger race. Ella rode really well considering she was still adjusting to her new bike! Katy started well despite being very unsure about the whole thing. I think the fact that Ella ran around next to her encouraging her all the way helped heaps however if all got too much just before the finish and she succumbed to tears! All the kids were happy to receive a little prize at the end. And so began the routine for the day where every 90 minutes, the kids assembled for another round of races and collecting of prizes in particular bookmarks! Interestingly Katy was much happier watching and cheering the races along with Max, while Ella participated in the older kids race placing well down in the results until the very last one when she strategically joined the 7yrs and younger group in order to win.

After watching the first childrens race, I headed out completing another 2 laps before stopping for a rest. By this stage I had engaged Josh (my nearly 10 year old nephew) in some friendly rivalry. Last year Josh had completed 4 laps and his aim this year was 7! Despite Josh's splits per lap being about an hour,  by this point he was already a lap up on me as he had joined in at the start. It seemed like I had some work to do!

Meanwhile on the kids front, between playing at the skills park (not necessarily on bikes, as seen in the balancing seesaw photo), eating, racing, cheering, making cubby houses, playing games with soft toys the kids were generally entertained for the day making life for the adult babysitters, Andy and Al a little easier!

The afternoon sunshine was bearing down, things were hotting up and the track getting dustier and dustier. I was thankful that I was in the company of expert mountain bike riders, so when I casually mentioned how my chain was creaking during a conversation at lunch, Rob said he could look after it and subsequently rubbed some magic goop on my chain before I started off! Obviously have lots to learn on the mechanical side of these races! All was quiet as I made my way around another lap with various muscles in my body beginning to make themselves known.

With a 4pm finish, organisers had let us know that your last lap needed to begin by 3.30pm. Again not wanting to be caught in anyones last ditch attempt to get another lap in, I forced myself out on the course at 3pm. Happily I rolled over the finish line at 3.40pm after completing about 50km on single track in around 4 hours of riding time without crashing and on very little training either! Didn't manage to catch Josh who finished 6.5 laps an awesome effort for a 9yr old!!

As for the rest of the Rocket Boosters, they summed up a fantastic 28 laps between the three of them which snuck us into third place in the Team of 4 Mixed category!! Needless to say we spent the remaining part of the afternoon relaxing. Andy and Al cooked a great risotto. The kids were fairly shattered after such an intense day of playing and riding. They celebrated New Years with sparklers before heading off to bed. Meanwhile most of the adults had adopted sitting in their sleeping bags in the chairs while enjoying a few drinks before also retiring early well before 2015 began. Ahh how times change!!