The Postponed Husky

Finally after two false starts the Husky mountain bike race was held on the last weekend in February. We camped at a caravan parks in Huskisson. It happened to be the closest to the event centre as well as boasting a pool, pirate playground and river frontage.

We were joined by three families - Susie, Josh and Mia; Cathy, Maki, Luca, Richard and Grace; Al, Rob, Max, Mira and Alma. The drive down after school on Friday via Tarago and Nerriga was relaxing. Our route took us past the event centre so we did a quick detour to register - one less thing to do in the morning.

We followed Susie into the caravan park and within a few minutes everyone else had arrived. It was then a race to put up tents and cook dinner as quickly as possible.

Saturday morning dawned warm and sunny. Rob, Cathy and Richard had left early as the boys were doing the 100km. Susie and I got up at a more reasonable time and once organised we left Andy and Al to it. They had a fun morning ahead - looking after 9 kids aged (aged from 3 -12yrs) between them!!

Soon enough we were lining up on the start line. Susie and Cathy were eager to get close to the front to be in one of the first waves. I was very happy just to hang back, a long way back! Our start was scheduled for 8am on the proviso that all the 100km riders had passed through a section which crossed over near the start. We were still waiting at 8.20am only to hear that there were protestors out on the course pulling down the direction signs! We weren't to begin until the organisers got the all clear from the police who were dealing with the situation.

By 8.45am my wave rolled over the start line. I was nervous as to what the ride would bring especially seeing though my partner in crime, Cath was unable to make it. Within 3km we had stopped twice - firstly to cross a stream and secondly as we merged to be a single line negotiating a rough, newly cut path.

Early on the ride was lovely - a nice mix of firetrails (some big, some overgrown) with sections of single track. The forest was beautiful too and life was good. By 25km the crowd had dispersed, I found myself alone and felt a little tired. Between 30 and 35km I really struggled. I found this section of single track mostly unrideable - newly cut, steep, rocky, rough and muddy. Crossing through the gully filled with tall pandanus plans was really impressive although the steep climb out the other side wasn't! Next was a long section of firetrail with deep rutts...actually thinking back there wasn't much of a firetrap at all just a large ravine where it should have been!!

As the 35km marker ticked by things became slightly easier once more, I knew in my mind there was about 10km till the trail passed adjacent to the finish area before heading out on the last single track loop.  My aim for a sub 4 hour was well out of reach and my main focus was on finishing. The last loop seemed to go on for ages not made any easier by the 100km finishers whizzing past but eventually I turned the corner and there it was - the finish line. I was so happy to see it.

Turns out that it was a tough race with Susie and Cathy both taking much longer than expected. I suppose the extra 7k didn't help either. Rob had an impressive race too especially dealing with mechanical problems early on. With Susie winning her category and coming 3rd female overall, we decided to stay for the presentations. Susie was excited to pick up a new jersey as her prize. The sun seemed to be beating down, we were all dehydrated and ready to save Andy and Al from the kids but thought we should hang around a little longer for the spot prizes including a bike.

First two race numbers called out were no shows, then they read out 1-0-8-0 and Susie went ballistic as it was my number!! The prize was $2000 from Stevens Bikes. Pretty happy with that.

We returned to find Andy, Al and kids fishing at the jetty. Excitement levels were high there too as they had caught a few puffer fish!! After showers and food we all retreated to the pool to cool off and recover. It turns out the pool was a massive hit with the kids as they spent the entire morning there.