PBM Hardrock 6 HR. 6 hours of joy! What a race. This race took place at Kiwarrak Mountain Bike Park situated in Kiwarrak State Forest just outside of Taree, NSW and was put on by the Manning Great Lakes Tip Riders. And what a fabulous race it was!...
Who let the puppy off the leash! After a tough semester, I was free to go wild with no other responsibilities besides holding down the fort at the bike shop and to focus on my one obession: riding my face off for a fabulous five weeks of freedom. This was then followed by... fully-time physio placements... At which I rolled in at 8 AM after smashing out quite a few miles starting at 5:16 AM... 5:15 was just too early.
Before getting too stressed, I reserved a rent-a-car, registered for the Hardrock 6 HR race, and tuned up my beloved Kona Hei Hei to partake in a party train with the locals. It had been quite some time since I've ridden my race bike... like a beloved relationship, neglected, when life gets in the way....
The car was packed and ready to roll by noon. Unlike the States, races in Australia are on Sundays allowing Saturdays as a day to prep. Upon arrival, I took the Hei Hei out for a sunset whirl and the skills were rusty but started becoming dusty after a couple kilometers chasing my mattie. The trails were sandy, loose, flowly with a few booters to keep things interesting. Pretty sure there's a reason Sam Hill rides flats!
We picked up our race packets from the back room of the local golf club. Walking in wearing jeans, thongs, and a dark pink T-shirt with a unicorn on the front certain gained a few looks from the older generation of guests. Unsure of what to think, we gathered our race plates and swag bags and were happily on our way!
We camped out as mountain bikers do, and slept beneath the dark night sky which was filled with countless stars and the Southern Cross. This reminded us our mates at home in Nor Cal who are looking out to the same abyss of darkness just a different aspect of the milky way but still bounded by the chilly nights and love of riding bicycles.
The sun peeked over the tree tops and we were up. I rolled down to feed zone to scope out a place to plop our fuels but, real state was rare at 7 AM. Racers had feeders, teams had tents, bottles were preped, and parents of high schoolers were about. Luckily, a 3x3 foot (or one square meter, Australia) area of dirt was available next to a high school Madre. We quickly grabbed our bags of fuel and a giant jug of water from the campsite and rolling it down on our bikes to our prime location. I was having flashbacks of my first 6 hour race in Humboldt County: I rode from my house to the race with three bags of water bottles and food dangling from my bars. Luckily, we only had a 30 m to travel this time.
I pounded some coffee and oatmill and was ready to rock. Then, suddenly, standing to my left was Jason English, the man himself, the Australian, 7x 24 hour race World Champion... standing 5 feet from my bicycle. I pretty much got my bike and rolled away! Nervous sheninigans, ridiculous famous bike people! All I hoped for was that he wouldn't lap me during the race.
The time came to line up as we did. The jitter were real as they always were at a start line. To the sound of the horn, we were off and rolling. The first lap was a bit of a cluster but luckily I was riding with a few locals learning all the lines and not flying off too many corners. Then lap 2 was party time! I rode with a girl from a team which was such a good time espeically since she said it was her first MTB race ever. I couldn't help but cheer her on. Lap 3 was time for a refill but I couldn't remember where our 3x3 dirt pit was so I just kept going. Then I envisioned where it might be considering the direction we were coming from and BAM! There it was for a lap four fill-up! I filled my bottles, smashed some foods, and off I went for another lap. Living in a state of flow somewhere by lap 8, the neigboring Madre said I was doing great and was in first while I was filling my water bottles once again. To my suprise, I couldn't quite believe I was in first because I was having the time of my life slaying the trails and sending the booters and loving the fact I had the endurance to do so. I hopped back on for a few more laps and luckily I got to follow my mattie, Dilzy (Australian for Dylan), for a true sender of a time. Feeling quite savage, I worked hard on the last lap to make it to the double digits of 10 laps but was just a few minutes shy.
I crossed the finishline in search of a beer. To my suprise I managed to hold on to first. Feeling a bit self-conscious of my savage beast that comes out in a race, I was pretty sure second and third place looked at me like I was insane when we were called up to the rocky podium. On top of this, I also managed the fastest lap and won the most beautiful cutting board supplied by a local company.
The atmposhere of the race was also fabulous. The mayor actually came out and gave a speech and was pretty stoked to have a mountain bike race. There were heeps of local sponsors supplying swag and the Tip Riders were so proud to have everyone race. Also, like the local races back at home, the community absolutly loved the race and the support was unreal.
The only difference between here and the states was that I wasn't wandering around say "hay how's it going!" or "air ya goin?!" to all my race friends like back at home. But like home, the mountain bikers and community who put on the race were proud of their trails, happy to hold a race, and were supporting an array of high schoolers racing and having a good time.
Who let the puppy off the leash! After a tough semester, I was free to go wild with no other responsibilities besides holding down the fort at the bike shop and to focus on my one obession: riding my face off for a fabulous five weeks of freedom. This was then followed by... fully-time physio placements... At which I rolled in at 8 AM after smashing out quite a few miles starting at 5:16 AM... 5:15 was just too early.
Before getting too stressed, I reserved a rent-a-car, registered for the Hardrock 6 HR race, and tuned up my beloved Kona Hei Hei to partake in a party train with the locals. It had been quite some time since I've ridden my race bike... like a beloved relationship, neglected, when life gets in the way....
The car was packed and ready to roll by noon. Unlike the States, races in Australia are on Sundays allowing Saturdays as a day to prep. Upon arrival, I took the Hei Hei out for a sunset whirl and the skills were rusty but started becoming dusty after a couple kilometers chasing my mattie. The trails were sandy, loose, flowly with a few booters to keep things interesting. Pretty sure there's a reason Sam Hill rides flats!
We picked up our race packets from the back room of the local golf club. Walking in wearing jeans, thongs, and a dark pink T-shirt with a unicorn on the front certain gained a few looks from the older generation of guests. Unsure of what to think, we gathered our race plates and swag bags and were happily on our way!
We camped out as mountain bikers do, and slept beneath the dark night sky which was filled with countless stars and the Southern Cross. This reminded us our mates at home in Nor Cal who are looking out to the same abyss of darkness just a different aspect of the milky way but still bounded by the chilly nights and love of riding bicycles.
The sun peeked over the tree tops and we were up. I rolled down to feed zone to scope out a place to plop our fuels but, real state was rare at 7 AM. Racers had feeders, teams had tents, bottles were preped, and parents of high schoolers were about. Luckily, a 3x3 foot (or one square meter, Australia) area of dirt was available next to a high school Madre. We quickly grabbed our bags of fuel and a giant jug of water from the campsite and rolling it down on our bikes to our prime location. I was having flashbacks of my first 6 hour race in Humboldt County: I rode from my house to the race with three bags of water bottles and food dangling from my bars. Luckily, we only had a 30 m to travel this time.
I pounded some coffee and oatmill and was ready to rock. Then, suddenly, standing to my left was Jason English, the man himself, the Australian, 7x 24 hour race World Champion... standing 5 feet from my bicycle. I pretty much got my bike and rolled away! Nervous sheninigans, ridiculous famous bike people! All I hoped for was that he wouldn't lap me during the race.
The time came to line up as we did. The jitter were real as they always were at a start line. To the sound of the horn, we were off and rolling. The first lap was a bit of a cluster but luckily I was riding with a few locals learning all the lines and not flying off too many corners. Then lap 2 was party time! I rode with a girl from a team which was such a good time espeically since she said it was her first MTB race ever. I couldn't help but cheer her on. Lap 3 was time for a refill but I couldn't remember where our 3x3 dirt pit was so I just kept going. Then I envisioned where it might be considering the direction we were coming from and BAM! There it was for a lap four fill-up! I filled my bottles, smashed some foods, and off I went for another lap. Living in a state of flow somewhere by lap 8, the neigboring Madre said I was doing great and was in first while I was filling my water bottles once again. To my suprise, I couldn't quite believe I was in first because I was having the time of my life slaying the trails and sending the booters and loving the fact I had the endurance to do so. I hopped back on for a few more laps and luckily I got to follow my mattie, Dilzy (Australian for Dylan), for a true sender of a time. Feeling quite savage, I worked hard on the last lap to make it to the double digits of 10 laps but was just a few minutes shy.
I crossed the finishline in search of a beer. To my suprise I managed to hold on to first. Feeling a bit self-conscious of my savage beast that comes out in a race, I was pretty sure second and third place looked at me like I was insane when we were called up to the rocky podium. On top of this, I also managed the fastest lap and won the most beautiful cutting board supplied by a local company.
The atmposhere of the race was also fabulous. The mayor actually came out and gave a speech and was pretty stoked to have a mountain bike race. There were heeps of local sponsors supplying swag and the Tip Riders were so proud to have everyone race. Also, like the local races back at home, the community absolutly loved the race and the support was unreal.
The only difference between here and the states was that I wasn't wandering around say "hay how's it going!" or "air ya goin?!" to all my race friends like back at home. But like home, the mountain bikers and community who put on the race were proud of their trails, happy to hold a race, and were supporting an array of high schoolers racing and having a good time.