I've been keen for awhile now to do a four hour race, mainly because I thought it would a soft introduction into the world of solo racing. So with a little trepidation I signed up for the Western Sydney MTB Club (www.wsmtb.com) 4 Hour Race, presented by Stans No Tubes and Jet Black. My LBS, Blackmans Bicycles (www.blackmanbicycles.com.au), were also in attendance providing tech support.
The way I approached this race was that if I can ride for 6 hours with friends, then I should be able to ride for 4 hours. I was under no illusion that I wouldn't be racing at the pointy end of the field so I had some relatively simple goals… Ride and finish…
The day of the race provided an absolutely perfect day for racing. It would end up pretty hot by races end but at least it wasn’t cold and muddy! I arrived at Yarramundi to find rego in full swing, albeit with a few computer glitches, but it was a pain free affair. With that sorted, I picked out a nice little spot for myself, got myself organised and went for a bit of ride to reacquaint myself with the Yarramundi singletrack. I also popped by the Blackmans tent to say hello to Chris, Ben and Roger and quick chinwag then it was over for the riders briefing before rolling down to the start.
The start was an interesting one. Immediately uphill on the fire road to spread the riders out before a right hand turn into the carpark then onto the trail proper. I decided to start near the back of the pack as I didn’t feel I wanted to be run over by other riders.
The first lap was an interesting one. There was the usual bottlenecks on the Yarramundi course associated with 300 odd riders, but I probably did a silly thing the day before by switching out my Racing Ralph’s for a new set of Geax Aka’s I picked up recently. I was desperate to try them out though. In hindsight I think that it was a bad move. The loose over hardpack as well as the loose gravel and sand in some parts made steering pretty skittish, and in the corner just before the gate at the moto track I put the bike down. This made me a bit tentative from then on in, but at least I got a pretty good insight into the Aka’s adhesion limits…
Things were going pretty well until I got to the trotting track. It was here I made a wrong turn and turned right as I normally would when riding Yarramundi. Auto pilot had kicked in. Apparently the bunting had been removed and we should have gone left. I wasn’t the only one as a few others went the same way. I was thinking to myself, ‘man this is overgrown I can barely see the track!’. Another rider following me struck up a conversation and we decided we had indeed gone the wrong way. We ended back at the trotting track to have our thoughts confirmed by one of the Western Sydney committee members. Bummer…
The next lap I actually went the right way, and I started getting passed by the faster solo guys including Craig Gordon from the Rockstar Racing team. I spent most of the rest of the race being passed by faster riders and was used to it by race end. There were a few riders I knew that offered words of encouragement along the way which was great. That’s one of the great things about MTB racing, the camaraderie and easy going nature of others and willingness to help out. I did have a bit of an off in one of the rockgarden sections just after the bridge in the southern section of the course. I remember thinking that I was more concerned that, a) my bike may have a scratch or dent (no dent just scratches) and b) getting the bike out of the way of oncoming riders. Luckily, there was none.
By the third and fourth laps things were getting really warm but I was into a bit of a rhythm. I remember one rider coming past and commenting "Anyone out here bored yet?". On reflection, I may have been as the course length was only about 6.5km long but I wasn't really thinking about it when he said it. Not long after I heard another voice behind me, "Hey mate, why have you only half a fork?"... "It's a Cannnondale Lefty mate" I said in between the heavy breathing. Then he says "Hey mate, why are your wheels so big?". I was about to reply and then thought "What the?", before realising I know that voice... A quick glimpse behind confirmed my suspicions. It was Chris, manager at Blackmans Penrith, giving me a hard time. "Haven't you crashed yet?" was my reply. We both laughed at each other before hitting the next bit of singletrack where he proceeded to skip away off toward the trotting track...
I stopped for awhile after the fifth lap, pretty much toasted. I sat around on my esky, trying to recover enough to go out for another couple of laps. I had eaten as much as I could stomach (which wasn't much) before finally climbing on the bike again to give it another crack. I could only manage another lap before deciding to call it quits at about 3 hours 35 minutes. That last lap was pretty slow, and any technical sections were tentatively walked but I finished it and was happy to call it a day...
In the end I was 59th out of 73 solo riders. The winner did 13 laps to my measly 6 but I thought it wasn't bad for a first up effort. It's also difficult to compare yourself to a former 24 Hour Solo World Champ as well... I did take some learnings from it all, which I hope to apply at the next race. My mind is already thinking about it...
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