First off, glad to hear your wife is OK Rayder.
Secondly, fast recovery to Filpe. It was wrenching not knowing how he was and especially hard with his wife and baby finding out he was down as she stood behind the finish desk. There were a lot of prayers going out for you guys.
To the Expert/Pro class... you guys and gals really are pros.
Though your start time was delayed significantly while an injured rider was assisted, I didn't hear a murmur of complaint from the group waiting to race. That speaks volumes on the caliber of people that we have in this sport. Competition can be fierce and the race can be adrenaline fueled, but none of us wants to see anyone else get hurt.
As for my day, I got a heads up from a friend that the trail was not exactly beginner friendly so, being the sensible person that I am, I promptly ignored the advice.
The race was certainly a bit more... a heck of a lot more challenging than Lewis Morris. And how do you manage to make a loop that is 80% uphill and 93% rock? I didn't think that was even possible!!
I had never been on the racecourse in Ringwood and had not been on the MTB since our gentle, rolling !!ROCKLESS!! Kingdom Trails trip in early July. Saturday afternoon, I got railed by my LBS pals for not taking the race seriously enough and going into it the day after a particularly hard shop ride. But I was in it for the experience and hoped only to finish.
It certainly burned like hell on the climbs from the start and I couldn't wait for it to level out. I was thrilled when it did and bombed through the downhill fire road. As for alternate dismounts, it was a pretty quiet day... only one demonstration of the tree slam dismount.
I did my fair share of walking, and a balking at a few drops, rocks and bridges that I was unprepared for. A few times I chided myself knowing I could have made them. But that one huge tree and the last bridge where you had to jump up, what... 2 feet to get on it...
:scared:NO FREAKING WAY!!!
At the end, thinking I was DFL for sure, I was amazed that I came in less than 2 minutes behind the leader... and took fourth place!
Race tally: Nothing broken, nothing bruised.
Should have gone out for another lap....
Secondly, fast recovery to Filpe. It was wrenching not knowing how he was and especially hard with his wife and baby finding out he was down as she stood behind the finish desk. There were a lot of prayers going out for you guys.
To the Expert/Pro class... you guys and gals really are pros.
Though your start time was delayed significantly while an injured rider was assisted, I didn't hear a murmur of complaint from the group waiting to race. That speaks volumes on the caliber of people that we have in this sport. Competition can be fierce and the race can be adrenaline fueled, but none of us wants to see anyone else get hurt.
As for my day, I got a heads up from a friend that the trail was not exactly beginner friendly so, being the sensible person that I am, I promptly ignored the advice.
The race was certainly a bit more... a heck of a lot more challenging than Lewis Morris. And how do you manage to make a loop that is 80% uphill and 93% rock? I didn't think that was even possible!!
I had never been on the racecourse in Ringwood and had not been on the MTB since our gentle, rolling !!ROCKLESS!! Kingdom Trails trip in early July. Saturday afternoon, I got railed by my LBS pals for not taking the race seriously enough and going into it the day after a particularly hard shop ride. But I was in it for the experience and hoped only to finish.
It certainly burned like hell on the climbs from the start and I couldn't wait for it to level out. I was thrilled when it did and bombed through the downhill fire road. As for alternate dismounts, it was a pretty quiet day... only one demonstration of the tree slam dismount.
I did my fair share of walking, and a balking at a few drops, rocks and bridges that I was unprepared for. A few times I chided myself knowing I could have made them. But that one huge tree and the last bridge where you had to jump up, what... 2 feet to get on it...
:scared:NO FREAKING WAY!!!
At the end, thinking I was DFL for sure, I was amazed that I came in less than 2 minutes behind the leader... and took fourth place!
Race tally: Nothing broken, nothing bruised.
Should have gone out for another lap....
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