http://www.link2trail.com.au/index.php
A world of mud, for me the worst I’ve ridden in (apparently similar to the muddy Otway Odessy - which I didn’t ride). Entered solo mens 40+.
The cold morning kickoff in the drizzling drizzle at 10am had a relatively small field of about 100 riders depart a short prologue gravel road section (which was muddy) of 300mts before entering the singletrack of the Wombat dam loop. Course lap was about 9.6kms & pretty much all the Wombat Dam loop to the west & south west of the dam, lots of singletrack & even the small amount of two-track was so muddy that it was difficult to ride more than one line for passing. No one seemed to be in much of a hurry at the start, but I must admit I was in amongst the solo riders from the off.
Letting things settle in for the first lap & rode a lazy pace to suss the flow of the course & pick on bits where I could later let momentum carry me through to save on my feeble legs. The mud became a factor from the first lap, where going too easy would fill your tyres (I ran Maxxis Ignitors) & picking up the pace had you off into the bushes. By the 2nd lap the short climbs would have 2 spins of the rear wheel for ever one of the front . Some off camber singletrack exposed ultra greasy tree roots that spat your front wheel out from under you forcing you to unclip, & it was difficult to slam down descents without having to deal with a bike with a mind of it’s own at the bottom.
I pitted each lap after the first 2 for a splash of Endura & some rock hard (it was that cold) Powerbar. I found that for most of the event I circulated on my own and if it wasn’t for the tyre-tread filled boggy quagmire I was piloting myself through, would have felt that I might have been lost. I suffered chain suck each time I bailed to my granny, & on my last lap (of 5 I managed) my rear tyre jammed with mud & leaves leaving me poking my bike with a stick trackside in the drizzle (yes it hadn’t really stopped yet).
I must admit that in amongst this anguish there were those moments that made life on a bike worthwhile, when a length of singletrack opened up ahead of you with a brilliant flow & rhythm , out of the saddlle & pumping away, railing the corners, flicking between the trees. As the course was inundated, you got a handle on the conditions and were able to make the best of the opportunities for speed & momentum as they came up.
With 15mins to go to the end of the event I topped that annoying little switchback climb just before the dam start/finish & tapped out for the day. I rolled straight to the car & piled all the mud that looked like it belonged to me into the boot & strapped the 30kgs mudcake by Specialized onto the rack & roared off to the nearest shower.
My result wasn’t too stella in the over 40s, but I must admit that due to recent form to be rolling close to the finish of a 5hour (shy 15mins) I chalked this up as a worthwhile day out on the bike & have undertaken to inflict myself with more of this sort of stuff soon.
Off to the shop for some brake pads…
Ride log: http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/gpbls16XRiA
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