Dirty Dirt Riders XC Club Race

The first round of the Dirt Riders XC series was held today out at Upper Beaconsfield. A few of us went out there yesterday for a cruise around the track, well cruise is what they were doing it was race pace for me trying to keep up with them! I realised how quickly your fitness can drop off once you stop training. With uni finished for a while I have no excuses now so have to get back to training again especially with the next Anaconda Enduro a month away.

The race started off well with my mate Gary Morrow and myself battling for the hole shot, he got it no surprises there, stayed with him until the first gnarly decent followed by a killer climb. The climbs really hurt me today along with the majority of riders there too I am sure, they don't look that big but just a long gradual climb to the top.

Not too sure of my result today as results are not up yet, I raced in D grade with about 10 guys and only one other chick, I know she beat me but don't think I came last. Was a fun race and very relaxed for a XC, all the riders were pretty talkative on their way around giving words of encouragement as usual.

James Maebus lapped me 3 times throughout the race, he had 6 laps to my 3 and still finished before me, that guy is so quick and well done to fellow Croydon Cycleworks rider Brett Henderson for coming 2nd to James followed by Troy Bailey in 3rd in the A grade race.

Brett Henderson in action

Well I don't have much else to report on in the race, was pretty uneventful, which is always a good thing.

Now I always think I am doing it tough in the races and when I see the elite riders coming past me looking like they are not doing it quite so tough I will think of this quote

Quote of the day

"It never gets easier, you just go faster"

Greg LeMond

Which is absolutely true, just because I am not as fast as the Elite riders yet does not mean they are not hurting as much, we are all out there pushing ourselves to our limits, some just make it look easier than others.

Thanks to Steve Rowe for being at the races snapping away at us

http://mtb-images.ser.id.au/

Until next time Happy Trails!

Kat

I'm Back!

It's amazing what a long hard ride can do for you! (Stay on track here) After getting down on the riding especially after my embarrassing end to the last Anaconda Enduro, also just really having the shits with the world, everything has been getting to me lately with all the work I have been doing both with my full time job and the freelance photography stuff and to add to that I have my folio presentation for uni tomorrow night so the lead up to that has been very stressfull trying to get everything done before the big deadline but now it is all done and I finally had a weekend off so what better way to enjoy it by doing a heap of riding.

Yesterday saw me head out to the You Yang's with my trusty trainer for the day Duncan Murray, (in the photo above)we started off doing the same downhill section that was in the previous State XC round that I had alot of trouble with so was relieved to get through that without any probs, then we did a section from the 6 hour and managed to get through that one once again unscathed, with only one dramatic crash for the day resulting in little cut on my chin and elbow I was extremely happy as the You Yangs have caused me a great deal of greif each time I have ridden there, came away from it feeling alot more confident riding the rocks and downhill sections.

Today was out to Ringwood to fellow photographer and all round good guy; Gary Morrow's for a ride from his place in Ringwood along some bike paths (wouldnt have a clue which ones I am not that observant) to the Yarra trails and back again, ended up being a 70klm ride which is not much for you elite guys but was a big one for me, actualy felt fairly good at the end of it too.

So I have revived my motivation to get better at this sport and hope to get some half decent training in over the next few weeks whilst on my break from uni, and also to hopefully redeem myself at the next Anaconda Enduro after my crappy effort at the last one! Phew, 7 hours, dont know if i will be able to stay on the bike for that long but will have a good crack at it.

Well that is all from me, just feeling good after my weekends riding and thought I would share my thoughts.

Many Thanks to Duncan for helping me out with the riding, I am sure it must have been very boring for him having to slow down to my pace.

No quotes for this one but a recent coversation with a friend about how much men suck and how we could dedicate a whole site to it made me stumble over this http://www.mensuck.com/ turns out someone already came up with our idea, (it's amazing the crap you can find on the net!) as most of the people that read my blog are male I am sure you wont appreciate it but any chicks out there should check it out, has some funny stuff on it, disclaimer: if you do check it out and the love calculator tells you that you and Romeo are not 100% compatible I will not be held responsible.

Kat

Anaconda Enduro Lysterfield Round 2

Not a great round, one that I was looking forward to and just hoping to be able to last 6 hours, well race was ended at the 1 and a half hour mark, was going up a little climb really slow and chatting to another chick that had stopped at the top of the climb to let riders pass, I looked back to see if I would be holding anyone up and before I knew it I was on the ground.

Instantly my thumb was sore I looked at it and it had swelled up straight away and I couldnt bend it, I got up and pushed my bike to the side of the track and just let some riders through before attempting to ride back to the finish, I couldnt put any pressure on it and was struggling to hold on to the handle bars so sarted walking, my first thought was not about the race being over but about my upcoming photo shoot in Alice Springs for the Finke Desert Race, with 8 kilos worth of camera and lens to hold on to if anything was broken there would not be much chance I would be right for it in the next 4 days.

Nic Eagle from the Felt team walked my bike back for me and I saw the St Johns guys who told me to get xrays, so off I went and basically I was being a bit of a sook as nothing was broken and naturally if something is swollen generally you wont be able to bend it so does not nessacerally mean it is broken.

Would rather just forget about this round and now look forward to the next.

Got back from my trip to Alice Springs for the Finke Desert Race on Tuesday, had a great time except for the weather at prologue which was pouring rain the whole time and as I was expecting sunny skies I had not taken a rain jacket so after 6 hours of standing in the rain I was absolutely freezing and had to go back to my motel for a couple of hot showers before I actually thawed out.

A few photos from Finke

A very wet Alice Springs

No front tyre Well it has been a very busy few months for me and hopefully with my last class next Monday for this semester (studying photography) I will have some spare time to do some riding, the only riding I have been doing lately has been in a race so if I thought I was unfit before now I am definitley lacking in the fitness stakes.

Will get some rides in this weekend as it is my first weekend off in a long time so looking forward to a bit of a sleep in (7.30am for me) and finishing off last minute preparations for my folio to hopefully score myself a HD!

Thinking of doing the FTF XC at Chum Creek this Sunday but might do a big ride instead will decide tomorrow night so if I do I will give you the update on that one otherwise check back after the Dirt Riders XC on the 29th.


Until then Happy Biking!

Oh and no quote for today but Kat's words of wisdom; Dont go out drinking until 5am when you have to get a flight home a few hours later!

Bad move!


Kat