Racing back in Adelaide

Sunday February 1 saw the second race of the year for the Adelaide Mountain Bike Club - "Summer Series" event. This was held at Eagle Mountain bike park. The summer series are usually shorter, faster paced races to increase fitness over the summer. They are run in the morning incase the temperatures are hot. Unfortunately heat was not a problem and it was in fact the cold! A dreary ride up to the park saw the roads and trails rather wet. To keep participants on their toes the course was run in reverse to its usual direction of flow. This provided some exciting racing with limited passing opportunities and copious amounts of rocks and slippery surfaces! This was something I really should have practiced before the race.  As the saying goes - "Sometimes you are the hammer, sometimes you are the nail" in the case of todays race, I was unfortunately the nail! I got off to a sluggish start, made lots of errors and failed to find that "racing groove". But what is wonderful about these events is that they are a great learning opportunity and they are used as an adjunct to my endurance training goals. It is important when you are training for endurance racing, you do include some high intensity activity to prevent you turning into a diesel engine and just plodding around courses. I managed to achieve this in this session and keeping in touch with racing keeps you in touch with all the other wonderful riders in Adelaide. It is so important to support the local club that runs these events. 

Here is a photo from todays race.

First race of the year

Who would have thought that on holidays this is what we would be doing! But yes, lined up and signed up for the Launceston Mountain Bike Club summer series race at Youngtown, a small inner suburb park for their "50 minute enduro" series. This was a very non technical track and was just a hurt fest for 50 minutes. It was a great opportunity to see how other clubs run events, the general racing vibe in a different community and of course more exposure for a Beach Energy out of Adelaide. We turned up to a relaxed after work vibe. Sign on from 5:30, briefing 6:20. Then it was all on! As it is was a self seeded start (You start where you think you should in the pack) things were a little manic with riders shuffling into tight single track. After the first couple of laps when i thought I was getting into the groove of the track, a huge red belly black snake was just laying over the track. I had been warned by locals that these are often not timid. I don't often stop for much during a race - unless of course you need a water pick up or to check an injured rider, but there was no way i was sizing up against this competition! I slammed on the brakes and gave it a very wide berth! After the 50 minutes,  I ended up winning my age category and second overall. Having no expectations when racing is a truly wonderful thing. What was even more rewarding, as race finish was at 8:30pm, just in time to get a feed at the local pub and celebrate a great day out!

Results listed here: http://my1.raceresult.com/details/index.php?page=4&eventid=34250&lang=en

Biking Tasmania

Wow, what a place! Tasmania's cool climate, breathtaking views and diversity of mountain biking trails makes it an ideal destination for riders and non riders. From a riding perspective there is a plethora of trails to keep both beginners and experts wanting more. For the non riders, there are so many diverse activities that suit young and old.

Back to the riding. The best thing about riding a bike in the wilderness is you get many amazing experiences... All for free. You experience nature at its finest. Wombats, echidnas, rabbits... Snakes! Absolutely not the highlight, but it makes you respect what is around you. The changing landscape is also amazing - ranging from riding through think temperate rainforest with ferns through to dry eucalypt plantations, pine forests all the way to being above the tree line. One of the days we rode the famous "North South track" which connects Glenorchy (a suburb near the Cadbury factory! - yes, went there too!) to "The Springs" which is half way up Mt Wellingon. When we got to the top, we decided to keep riding to the top. The views of the greater Hobart area was amazing. I would certainly highly recommend this experience - but ask a local when is good to make this journey. It can get very cold and windy up there, tarnishing the experience.

One main difference between South Australia and Tasmania is that when there is a total fire ban, people are actually encouraged to enter national parks. We found this a little bizarre due to the high fuel loads but their rationale kind of made some sense.

In launceston, there are three main parks to visit. Hollybanks (in th hollybank state forest) Which is designed around flow trails. They have three main trails. A green (beginner) called NO SWEAT. A cleverly designed trail in which the climbs and the descents are so mellow that you literally do not raise a sweat. A blue trail called TALL TIMBERS which is super fun with a couple of creek crossings and the final trail - JUGGERNAUT. This is classified as a blue trail. It should be more like very dark blue! A 10km descent that takes between 30-40 minutes. This is not to be missed. The other two parks are Kate Reed which has a lovely mix of flow trails with a couple of rock features and the much loved Trevallyn which is what the locals tend to ride. It's a little rocky but super fun. Trevallyn backs on Cataract Gorge. Another tourist location.

Hobart's trails are similar to Adelaide. Hard pack with some lose rocks. Glenorchy and Clarence are the two purpose built parks with many local tracks noodling down from Mt Wellington to Cascade Brewery (perfect really!) other places in Tassie to investigate are Weldborough/blue tier areas and of course Derby which will be opened mid February. Put this on your visit list if you like bikes.

Enough for now!