27 Apr 2008

That’s right, I’m baaaack. Well, kinda. The riding fast part seems to be eluding me so far, but who needs to go fast right?

I got a special greeting for my first race back: a forecast of hail, showers and 15 degrees. I ventured out of the car fully kitted out in my riding warmies. Rego was a breeze and it was out onto the reversed course to see what we were in for. The rain had been soaked up pretty well, and the damp track was gripping very nicely. There was plenty of tech climbs and descents, with some flowing singletrack sections thrown in too. There was logs a plenty to jump, and a rock garden to navigate - which I did without breaking anything! With 200 meters of climbing per 6.5km lap it wasn’t a super hilly course, with much of the difficulty coming from short steep sections. Mainly though, the course was lots of fun. Especially after a few laps when you were used to it, it was easy to have a ball out there.

The race went well for me until the forth lap, when I collected a stick overtaking through the scrub, and somehow turned my derailleur upside down. After staring at in in bewilderment for 20 seconds I grabbed it and gave it a good shove to rotate it back into place. Unfortunately after this my gears began skipping, despite another stop to check hanger alignment. Not not after this I began to feel light headed and realised I probably hadn’t eaten enough. I ate two gus during the fifth lap and during the sixth things began to come good again. The stops and skipping gears had taken away my intensity however, and I couldn’t help just rolling around at a lower pace. I crossed the line happy to have stayed on all race and not blown up. Now to find those climbing legs again…

Posted by erin @ 8:22 am

2 Responses to “State Champs - Beaconsfield”

1. Grover Says:
   April 27th, 2008 at 8:27 am

   bike…details?

2. thylacine Says:
   April 27th, 2008 at 10:32 am

   Far canal. Does that mean you need a spare hanger already?

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