Second year of the eagerly anticipated Chase the Sun series or now know as the Anaconda Enduro series, at Lysterfield Park.
 
With very cool dreary mornings it was a chilly start. Close to 350 riders lined up for the event. The course had some last minute changes but had plenty to offer everyone participating from single track, fire trails, technical sections, a fair few climbs and descents just to keep lungs gasping.
 
TORQ was involved with sponsoring the event so every rider was supplied with a redeemable TORQ token in their starter kit to enable them to receive a TORQ Gel to get them through the day. We had set up the day before and dragged the TORQ base station (caravan) down to Lysterfield to cater to our teams needs.
 
From the team point of view we had entered a few comprising of a Corporate team (myself, Tim Retchford, and Paul W, Pro male team Luke F, Steele, Pro female team Tory, Katherine O’shea (Sponsored by Fitzroy Cycles – Fitzroy), Husband and wife team Claire and Paul A. Adventure racer Mark ‘Sooty’ Barends also rode in a pair (but suffered a bad shulder injury very early on). The start contingent was big and snaked back a long way. There were so many on the start line that at least some carnage was guaranteed. Katherine showed great agility and bike handling within the first 300 meters dodging a major pile up in front of her. To great excitement Luke and Paul w came in first and second respectively after the first lap as a couple of riders went the wrong way. The pressure was on everyone to smash themselves each lap, not just because it was a race but because of the usual team banter of who is going to inherit my nick name - Dean Loser Clark. It has been with me since the Otway Oddyssey and I wanted to pass it on. As expected everyone came back spent but wanting more! Luckily we had lots of TORQ drinks, bars, and gels to munch on, keeping us well hydrated and carb loaded.
 
We all made the most of the breaks between laps, getting some well deserved rest, pigging out on food, joking around and as usual taking the piss out of each other. Everyone was riding well Tory and Katherine were in first, the Corporate team were in first, Luke and Steele were in third or fourth and married couple Claire and paul were in fourth The main thing was everyone was having fun.
 
The day unfortunately came to an end far too quickly and our finish positions didn’t change.
I must say this was a great day and a very well organized event. Kristjan at Full Gas Promotions did a great job with the support from his crew making a great start to the 2008 series.
 
Special thanks to all the TORQ riders. Well done to Tory and Katherine (considering they have only been back a few days from Europe and still getting over the jet lag), my good wife Genevieve who kept us fed and fueled all day, Sram and GT for all their mechanical support, friends, parents and everyone who helps us out.
Sponsors GT, Sram, Louis Garneau, Rudy, Continental
This is also probably a good time to mention (in case you forgot) that I have had severe flu since birth and a very swollen patellar, hampering my training for the last six weeks. Somehow I have managed to pass the loser name on to Steele. I am open to a referendum on this but I believe it is clear cut. I know this will be short lived so allow me my glory from fellow team mates because come next race I’m pretty sure the loser title will be handed back to its rightful owner.
Dean Clark © |
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