Heat & windy do not make for much fun on a MTB. Working to 6pm with a 6:30pm start @ Dirt crits ,meant that I couldn’t really take an easy pace riding from the CBD to Westgate park. Coppin’ a hot hot head wind made for more fun-times down Lorimer Street too. I rolled in to sign up just as A grade rode off on their first lap. That gave me up to 9 mins to sign up, fix the race number to the bike, drop a few psi out of the tyres (pumped hard for the bitumen commute) & drop the backpack full of workgear to start.
As the A graders rolled through on their first lap us B graders lined up for our 4 lap (3km course) start. I didn’t get a chance for a sighting lap but Bonar & Al said there weren’t any new changes to the course apart from a dicky tight climb around a concrete structure on real loose , soft dust.
Leaving a good 4minute break from the departing A graders, us B graders were set off out across the open grass paddock to U-turn around a picnic bench & return to the start/finish where we would head off up the two-track course ‘proper’.
The C graders were then sent off a few minutes behind us for their 3 laps.
These dirt crit races are pretty short really, so the pace is always intence from the get-go. The first part of the course is open two-track so were all bunched together looking for that gap. The 90degree right hand turn over the disused rail line was kinda awkward first time round, being at the tail end of the field I dismounted & hopped over the rail line jumping back on rolling off the siding on the other side. Some riders came down so the field broke up into the sandy tight singletrack straight afterwards. It was pretty good going for the rest of the 1st lap, but the 2nd lap is when heat played a prt. I was struggling & I cut my pace right down out on the open going, riders got past me, I tried to take a easier gear & hold off abit waiting to get back some extra omph. By mid 3rd lap I was runing a taller gear in places & picking off riders ahead. I was still well down in B grade, maybe the last 3rd of the B grade field, back with all the other riders making a difficult job of it.
The new section next to the concrete bridge section near the start/finish had a tight right turn at the base & the very top, with a lot of loose dust right through it, but I found that going to a real low gear would be enough to clear spin through it, keeping low on the bike to stop the front coming up but also enough to load the rear tyre so it bites instead of spins. Luckily it was a real short section with a good opportunity to set up for it.
Roling over the finish I was glad to notch this one down, there were tiems early that I was really considering pulling out because of the heat, but it goes to show you that if you feel like DNFing, just hold out for a bit, maybe take it down a pace & you’ll get a 2nd wind soon enough.
As the A graders rolled through on their first lap us B graders lined up for our 4 lap (3km course) start. I didn’t get a chance for a sighting lap but Bonar & Al said there weren’t any new changes to the course apart from a dicky tight climb around a concrete structure on real loose , soft dust.
Leaving a good 4minute break from the departing A graders, us B graders were set off out across the open grass paddock to U-turn around a picnic bench & return to the start/finish where we would head off up the two-track course ‘proper’.
The C graders were then sent off a few minutes behind us for their 3 laps.
These dirt crit races are pretty short really, so the pace is always intence from the get-go. The first part of the course is open two-track so were all bunched together looking for that gap. The 90degree right hand turn over the disused rail line was kinda awkward first time round, being at the tail end of the field I dismounted & hopped over the rail line jumping back on rolling off the siding on the other side. Some riders came down so the field broke up into the sandy tight singletrack straight afterwards. It was pretty good going for the rest of the 1st lap, but the 2nd lap is when heat played a prt. I was struggling & I cut my pace right down out on the open going, riders got past me, I tried to take a easier gear & hold off abit waiting to get back some extra omph. By mid 3rd lap I was runing a taller gear in places & picking off riders ahead. I was still well down in B grade, maybe the last 3rd of the B grade field, back with all the other riders making a difficult job of it.
The new section next to the concrete bridge section near the start/finish had a tight right turn at the base & the very top, with a lot of loose dust right through it, but I found that going to a real low gear would be enough to clear spin through it, keeping low on the bike to stop the front coming up but also enough to load the rear tyre so it bites instead of spins. Luckily it was a real short section with a good opportunity to set up for it.
Roling over the finish I was glad to notch this one down, there were tiems early that I was really considering pulling out because of the heat, but it goes to show you that if you feel like DNFing, just hold out for a bit, maybe take it down a pace & you’ll get a 2nd wind soon enough.
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