Posted by So I was standing at the start line of the Hellfire’s Out fundraising 6hr enduro with Matt and John discussing our teams while we waited for our first stage riders to take off and I came out with a comment something along the line of “Although I’ll be slower this time, I’m not worried as I’ve brought my secret weapon … Kim and she’s getting faster and faster“.
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| Secret Weapon … those legs are in training for a marathon. How could we go wrong! |
In perfect symphony with my my comment, the starters gun went off …
… and so I attentively checked to see where Kim had placed herself for her knockout first loop … uhmmm … there she is … actually no.
Ahh … here? … no
Uhm … here? Still no.
Here (there was a note of desperation in my mind at this time as I see how few riders are yet to pass me) … but … no.
I finally put my camera down thinking I’d missed her, but at that exact moment … there she was … 4th from last out of nearly 200 riders. Oh yay, that’s not going to cause a problem when they hit the single track.
My secret weapon hadn’t fired … it was a dud!
But fortunately that was pretty much the only misadventure for the day. Like last time we did four laps each, which we were pleased about because they’d extended the course out to 11kms, however we were helped by the fact that they’d reversed the second section back to the ‘proper’ way which was much easier and faster than last time.
I, however, had it in my mind that we only did three laps each last time and therefore rode the first two laps thinking I only had to punch out one more after that and because of this belief I actually lapped slightly quicker than Kim on those two laps (about 45 minutes vs 48 minutes) but then the truth hit me and whilst Kim maintained her 48 to 49 minute laps times, I slipped back to 49 minutes and then 53 minutes on my last laps.
It was amazing to see how fast ‘real’ cyclists are … the winners in our division did 11 laps … that’s 33 kms more than us in the same time. Gulp.
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| This is what fast people look like … |
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| Another fast person (he goes up hills faster than I go down). |
However, there is an up side to my being a slow arse … because I’m slow (and unfit) I stop and take lots of photos when I go riding, and if I didn’t do that (and enjoy writing stupid stories) then this blog and tassietrails.org wouldn’t exist, and given I’m continuing to get lots of positive comments from most cyclists on tassietrails.org, then I see it as my duty to remain slow.
On the not so happy front, remember yesterdays post on the cost of servicing my fox shocks?
Well, 44kms, and just 3 hours of riding later …
Check out the oil leaks on both sides of the forks.
Seriously …. WHAT THE FOX?