MAD ride. MTB 65kms, non-competitive. 5th April.

61kms, 3hours 28mins, averaged 17.30kms/hr.
Signed up on this one to get some kms in & around the Wombat state forest where the BMC100 will be staged in a few weeks & sus out what shape I was in for it. I knew the course wasn’t too technical & it’s profile – [available from their site: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/MAD-Ride-MTB-route ] didn’t seem too much of one thing or another. No real heartbreaking climbs or large chunks of descending.
It was just lil ole me on this one, so being a non-competitive event I casually rolled out of the Riddles Creek start about 20mins after the official start time of 8am & settled down to a nice pace for myself.
Riding the Giant Anthem, the rear suspension set on Pro-Pedal, I ran the Specialized Fast Trak LK tyres, running pressures Fr40psi Rr45psi. With so much open gravel road said to make up the course & not a lot of rain over the last week I figured the smoother dry terrain, fast rolling tyres was the ticket. I carried 1 liter of straight water in my (Fluid) hydration pack & an electrolyte mix in my bidden. Had a saddle bag with 2x tubes, multitool & tyre levers & in the hydration pack also carried a wind-vest, lollies & Gu’s.
Even though it was a cool start I didn’t wear my wind-vest or arm-warmers because I knew it’ll heat up come the first bit of singletrack or climb. It was 11degrees at start time. I wore my full fingered gloves & jersey, with bib-knicks & a ‘lite’ thermal top underneath.
The MTB route began with a few kms of bitumen to take out of town, then turned onto gravel roads into the Wombat state forest, with the first bit of singletrack at the 6km mark. This didn’t last long & back onto gravel roads. Most of the riding was either gravel roads or offroad two-track. Biggest obstacles ended up being choosing a good line through muddy and water filled 4wd furrows at the bottom of gullies etc.
The rest stops were catered well & saved me digging into my reserves of lollies & gels with the fruit & drinks on offer. First main stop being at 25kms in at Firth Park & then another later on at about 40km mark.
Somewhere in the tracks there was a Pajero beached at a 45degree angle on some water filled 4wd ruts, with a wait ahead of him for help the old fella was just sitting in his fold out camping chair watching the bikes go by.
Even though they don’t seem to show up on the ride profile, there were 2x climbs that got me working, the first was on a open gravel road at about 30kms in, & then another real mean offroad two-track track which got me off & walking up when I failed on the granny at one stage. This track had debris & small rock ledges which really destroyed well earned momentum climbing up it.
I rode with the distance displayed on my bike comp so I could get a feel of where I was at. Doing a MTB event for the first time it can real easy to cash in too early and not have something left in the tank.
Even so rolling back into Riddles Creek just before lunch I was feeling pretty fresh. Grabbed a sang, debriefed with some random stranger, had a drink, loaded up the Astra & headed home.