Postby christian » 03 May 2010, 08:39
Race report.
Victoria, Lindsay and camped on the Saturday night so we wouldn't have to get out of bed at 3am like John and Kevin had to. It turns out there is a line for the toilets even at 5am, and just before the race the queue was quite large.
The race started at 7am for elite, 7.10 for the first non racing group and two more groups after that. My plan was to ride in the first non racing group but didn't get to the start early enough and they had already fenced it off. John made it into the first group. It doesn't really matter which group you are in as you have a timing tag, its just the amount of people you need to pass. The race started at a fair pace as there were a few of us who should have been in the first group, it was like a road race on mountain bikes down a dirt road, I managed to stay near the front. The first hill was a killer, and slippery as well. This was why I needed to be close to the front, lots of people can't ride the hill and end up walking and getting in the way. I managed to make it to the top. I heard that most people in the third group walked it. It was at the top of this hill we started passing people from the first group who had to walk. From here it was a mix fire trails, single track and very rock sections including some nasty loose descents, but over all it wasn't too steep. I kept finding myself in small bunches of four or so riders, its easier this way, you keep a steady pace and don't blow yourself up. I caught John at around the 40km mark, he was suffering with stomach cramps, he rode with me for a while but when I reached the half way mark at 50km he was nowhere to be seen. Half way was a quick stop for some free food, then back on the bike.
The next 20kms flew past, a couple of climbs and one very cool descent though a dark rain foresty section, it was a bit rocky in parts but not loose and the track flowed, so you could go quite fast. Next was the canoe bridge, which is a series of canoes with a plank across them, I think it was about 100m long. This year you had to ride over or wade across the creek which was waist deep. I rode across without any difficulty, a friend who was also riding said he saw 6 people on a row fall off.
A quick 5kms down a sealed road to the next killer hill, it didn't start out all that steep but it didn't seem to end. It did level out eventually, sort of. The next 20kms where painful, the surface was sandy and it seemed to be uphill most of the way. The sand just saps all your strength. I was in a world of hurt for this section. I had to walk one hill as my legs were cramping up, three guys in front of me were having the same problem. I was making good time at the 75km mark and it looked like I'd make in in in 5 hours, little did I know how long it was going to take to ride the next 20kms. At about the 85km mark I seemed to come good, sort of, still cramping a little but I could keep the pace on the flats and could still ride up all the hills.
We eventually got to go back down to the valley floor, and it was a long way down, the last descent was steep, luckily it was fairly smooth, but with some big water bars. By the time I got to the bottom I could smell my brakes. For the last little bit I slipped into roadie mode and motored down the dirt road to the finish. I finished in 5 hours 24 minutes and 11 seconds. I'm happy with my effort, its the first time I've ridden the race, I'll have to do better next year.
Also the race is really 104kms, not 100km, but the Dirtworks 104km classic doesn't sound as good.