While you were voting - Rocky Trail Stromlo 7hr

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Midweek i made my contribution to Abbott-proofing the senate, so had nothing else to worry about other than keeping the rubber side down on what proved to be a very physical track populated by loads of solo talent.  With Canberrans McAvoy, Bellchambers and Moore present, along with new kid on the 40s block, Morris, and Welch also on the start line, 5th again looked to be a likely outcome if I put together a solid ride.

Fortunately the politics of single track negotiation are far friendlier than the sort that normally plays out in our nation's Capital.

On approaching a slower rider;

“Track, if you get a chance?”

“How about just ahead, on my right?”

“Perfect, thanks for that”

“Have a good ride”

“Thanks, you too!”

That said, once again the start was a bit of a dog's breakfast, which, although frustrating, I actually don't mind as it means I can finally go a bit harder when I'm good and ready, rather than having pain dictated to me from the gun, and I do hate holding better technicians up, particularly on descents.

The course wasn't quite what I was expecting.  Leaving transition Fenceline took us onto the Cockatoo climb, which was abandoned halfway up where we were tipped onto the bottom part of the downhill run. Skiing deep powder led to tabletops aplenty.  Following another trip through transition the gnarly sectors of Blackberry and Slant6 had us engaging in rutted trench warfare up the Bluetongue climb.  I knew half of this from SoloNats, but the top sector had more of the same, including a rock step that I failed to tick cleanly the entire race.  After I handful of passages I resigned myself to doing it the old fashioned way.  Bluetongue topped us out half way down Skyline, followed by Luge Upper and Lower, and the usual shuddering run back home.  On the plus side, lots of climbing.  On the down side, lots of descending, which is really not my forte. 

It was on my fourth time down Luge Lower where I had my first proper off in some time.  Probably timely as i was starting to get bigheaded.  Maybe this simply means i haven't been trying hard enough?  I was cunningly running an edge-of-track line on some freshly tilled earth only to have the front dig in and drift, sand-trap style, and by the time it corrected I was high-siding it over the bars with a tree poised to catch body and machine.  I had enough flight time to realise, Rudd-like, that the end of my season and hardtail were nigh.  Somehow, pseudo-matrix style, I adjusted poise and collected the tree in a manner that bent me round the side of it.  I was certain the bike nailed it cleanly.  By some miracle I got up and discovered that apart from a dinged thigh I was unscathed.  I assured numerous concerned passers-by i was actually OK.  "How on earth did you flip it and end up DOWN the slope?" was demanded of me later by Mr Speering, a much better bike handler who was following and saw bits of it.  Normally over-cooking it here would have one bailing on the uphill side of the track.  I fully expected the top tube of the bike to be snapped in two, but could only find the smallest of chips that I assumed was the impact point.  In short the bike looked perfect.  Most confounding!  I figured if it got me back down the hill I'd keep rolling.  It did.

[post-ride-script; the impact point was actually the AYUP light mount which got shunted along the handlebars by 1 cm, perforated the number plate, and was still carrying bits of bark the next day.  The headset was also a little loose.  My midriff also seemed to have been involved, although this wasn’t even noted till I hit the showers]

With a fresh jolt of adrenalin I got back to the business of putting down some steady 30- 32 min laps.  By about the 4 hr mark I started catching glimpses of Welch up ahead.  Earlier than expected but not surprising, and I think I owe Mr Selkrig a beer.  Let me explain.  The Saturday prior I did a hard 120 km to Mt White return, which gave me a rare 500 km week.  It took me most of a soft pedaling week to recover.  Phil disclosed to me pre-race that on the same day he and Selkrig, at Selkrig's beckoning presumably, combined to knock off 315 km, at a similar average of 29, giving him over 750 for the week.  It would have been remarkable were he not still fatigued.  Hence, for once I didn't expect a Lazarus-with-a-triple-bypass comeback.  With about 2 hours to go, Anita, having undergone an endurance event of her own (voting at Old Parliament House where staff expected 600 but processed 6000), let me know that Moore was but a minute behind.  This put a bit of a rocket up me to keep squeezing out good splits for the remainder.  

Despite surfing the edge of cramp for the last few laps I managed to hold on and actually picked up third in Masters (and 10^th outright), 18 minutes behind McAvoy and 23 behind Morris, who were a cut above and must both be considered equal favorites for the 24 in Oct.  I should disclose that the podium was only made possible due to Bellchambers (who finished 17 minutes ahead of me), being corralled into the single-speed category, which he creamed.  Welch was naturally disappointed with 4th but picked up the series Masters win for the 5 rounds of the Rocky Trail 7 hr events as consolation.  In what was a real shock, overall solo favorite McDonald only picked up third behind the well-credentialed Hall, which in itself was not a great surprise, but the outright winner was an unheralded young-un from Goulburn with a mostly superbike background.  Check out www.troyherfoss.com/.  Between racing GPs in Europe he'll nip down to Italy to do the odd Grand Fondo, and podium there too!  Amazing talent and another one for the top guns to watch at Worlds should he decide to enter.  

In my dreams it would be customary to finish such reports with thanks to a long list of sponsors.  Well, lets just say I'll be sticking with my day job, but I should say a big thank you to Craig and Ingrid for putting us up for our late arrival on Friday night, and especially to Eva and Zoe, who donated their bedroom, complete with an assortment of dolls and ponies, for the occasion.  And to Anita who also made the trek this time, handing out bottles and keeping me in the loop re standings.