I wasn’t quite as excited about this race as I would have liked to be, mainly because of the fact that it started at 7am in the morning and I’d have to get up VERRY early. The weekend before the race I rode part of the track which turned out to be a lot of the single track in the race and is some of the best Victoria has to offer, so that helped to get me a bit more excited! I headed up to Woodend on Saturday arvo’ to get registered and check out the race site which was set up in a really great place!
 
So flying the TORQ flag for this race was Paul W and me. We got up at 5am and headed back to the race site to get ready for the start. I think we were both still half asleep as we got out of the car and it was still dark, foggy and really cold. By this time it was probably half 6 and we had half an hour to get ready before the gun went off, so we got kitted up and rolled to the line with about 5 mins to spare (just enough time to think about the warm up we should of done because it was so cold). Looking at the entry list for the race there were a lot of top names like Murray Spink, Shaun Lewis, Jason English and lots of other people that ride bikes very fast, so I was excited that I may get to ride with these guys for a while! The gun went off and we headed up the road for a while then headed uphill on some fire track with mammoth ruts and puddles through it. A lead group of about 25 developed towards the top of the first climb and Paul and I were right there in amongst it. We headed along a long stretch of unsealed road for a few kms before an attack came by Shaun Lewis (at least I thought it was him attacking…) but really he was just wanting to be the first person to hit up the sweet single-track this place had. Everyone slammed on the brakes and it was like peak hour on the west gate trying to get into the single-track. I was about 4th last wheel into it so the pace was on through this section which proved to be a lot of fun over the log jumps, burmed corners and tight twisting trails (yes Dean you missed out again..). About an hour in and the group had thinned out a bit with only 15 or so riders, the fire trail sections with the group was more like a road race except the sprint was to the single-track not to the line. I managed to hang on to the lead group for nearly 2 hours, and lost sight of them when I put the chain into the spokes using the big chain ring and the big one at the back… not the best idea but I won't do it again! I fought hard to try and get back on but having to run up a hill after them put me too far behind. I took a few dumb risks on the down hills, but since my knee just healed (very rare for me having skin on my knees) and not wanting to die I decided to back off a bit and try and finish the race strong. Up the track a bit I came across Rohan stopped, and he told me there were people just ahead and to keep going, so with that thought fresh I got on the TORQ gel and kept my steady pace and caught the 2 people in front. I passed them and came through the 65km checkpoint and the marshal told me I was in 7th, quite surprised to hear this I was very happy with that, but new I’d have to keep up the pace and not blow up.
The next section of the race was a pine forest and reminded me a lot of Majura pines in Canberra. It was a section of single track with jumps, big rollovers and in generally fun trails to ride. I kept eating bits of bars every 30 mins or so but at about the 3.5 hour mark I was starting to feel tired. Long sections of gravel road allowed me to drink and get another gel into the system and I was soon motivated about my position and feeling good again. Shortly after on a loose sandy downhill section I came across Jason English lying on the ground near a tree with Felt rider Josh Fleming helping him out as he lay there in a lot of pain. I stopped and offered help, but there wasn’t much I could do so Josh said to flag down any cars or get to someone to get an ambulance. One of the lead riders had got help already and as I rode down the rode a Ute came flying along so I pointed at where the single track was and hoped that Jason would be ok (he has cracked vertebrae and is in hospital, but will be okay and apparently is talking about riding already! Hopefully this wont affect his worlds race later this year and he can get back in to it ASAP). This section of the race was quite hard and had long climbs but some good single track to keep me amused and motivated. I finally got back to the checkpoint so I knew that there was only 6km to go. At this stage I was full gas because I had just passed a rider that I think had blown up.
The last section of track was a lot of fun and went very fast. I came out of the trees, on to the road then I could see the finish line! To my surprise I came across the line in 4th position which may have been 6th if Jason stayed rubber side down and Josh kept going, but I was happy anyway. Well done to Murray for taking out first in an outstanding time. In the race I went through 2.25 litres of Torq energy that stoped me cramping, 3 gels and 2 bars. Without this I would probably be still riding or dead…. Unfortunately Paul W pulled the pin after 40 km because he crashed and hurt himself (all good now though).
I’d just like to thank my parents for driving me all around the place to races and Torq for keeping me racing at my best with the best product! All in all a great event that was organised well and had really good trails to keep everyone amused.
Luke Fetch © |
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