Surfcoast 6 Hour

Headed out to the race with team mate Nick De Kam at 11am, with a couple of pit stops along the way to pick up last minute supplies we arrived at race HQ at about 2.30, said hello to the usual suspects then went for a quick spin to check out the course, first impression was not a great one, I was on the hardtail with frozen front forks and this was a very bumpy course, we were only 1klm in to it and the bumps were already annoying me, not a good sign, pulled off the track near where the rider brief was being held, went to use one of the 4 loos they had to accommodate the 450 riders which nearly made me sick (very weak stomach), again not a great start, so rider brief started which I didnt hear a word of as I was busy chatting as usual, its all the same anyway, so discussed with Nick the race plan, plan was I go first and take it from there pretty much, so head down to the start line and in true Kat style I usually forget something or have something wrong with my bike, this time my front tyre is on backwards, so I discuss with Andrew and James whether or not it is too embarrassing to change it on the start line in front of the other riders or just ride with it like that and change it after my first lap when nobody can see, decision was made to change it there,so we are waiting on the start line and finally we are set off, I am towards the back but knew I would have to make my way up the field so as not to get stuck way back at the first bit of single track, so overtake a bunch of riders, power up the hill and go flat out down the other side only to come to a complete stop for what felt like about 5 minutes waiting to get off in to the single track, riders in front going sooo slow and falling off in front and mucking everyone up behind so was very slow going for the first half of the lap, passed a few riders in the first half but they all caught me back on the first climb, man I suck at climbs! We ended up with 4th in the mixed pairs due to Nicks huge effort.

I have the Hitler mo happening here

Nick De Kam in action

First lap went ok, a bit of carnage along the way with riders getting caught out on the descents and sandy corners, I managed to get through it unscathed and pulled in to hand it over to my race partner Nick, its a wonder he recognised me coming through transition I was just black from head to toe, completely covered in dust which was well and truly stuck on from all the sweat, was a tough lap so didnt care too much about how I looked after the finish line, quickly went and got some food and more water and waited back at transition, i dont have official times yet but Nick came 2nd last year in this event on a singlespeed so knew he would be probably under 30minutes so not much time to muck around, headed out for my 2nd lap and hills, heat and sand were taking it out of me pretty quickly, those bumps just never let up either, only break is a few short fire trails, I was trying to go fast for Nick but hit the wall early and knew I had probably only 2 more laps left in me, again managed to get through the lap unscathed, well apart from copping a fly in the back of my throat and nearly throwing up on my bike, couldnt get it out so a swig on the water bottle and down it went, Nick went off again, super fast of course and I waited feeling pretty crappy about my poor performance so far, Nick cam in and I told him I thought I only had 2 more in me so decided I would do the next 2 laps and Nick would finish it off for the night laps, so went out for the 3rd lap, legs were gone going up the first climb, descending felt just as hard and was mucking up everywhere and had a few close calls, then stacked it on a corner, nothing major, lucky was nice soft sand to land in, took off again and struggled through the rest of the lap, back through transition and on to my final lap, usually knowing I am on the last one is enough to motivate me to go as hard as I can but I was really struggling at this stage, back, shoulders, butt, head, you name it, it was sore, not to mention all the dust I had swallowed throughout the race so far was making it hard to breathe, last lap was getting pretty dark and I didnt have lights so had to push hard to get back before it was too dark, so had a few more crashes towards the end, again nothing serious but just frustrating. Made it back and handed over to Nick to finish off, he did 4 laps straight in the dark, huge effort and he was really hurting by the end of it, I felt so bad not going out for another lap but knew it would be a waste of time, I was really hurting and just had nothing left.

The atmosphere at this race is great, everyone is friendly and the serious guys and gals take it seriously but its not full on race mode like some races, everyone has a chat on the way round and is pretty relaxed, I was in a daze pretty much after my first lap so didnt even realise there was a live band playing there until I had stopped racing, hung out with the usual boys in between being there for Nick on his pit stops and met him at the finish line on his final lap, we were both stuffed Nick more so than me so we didnt hang around for the presso.

I dont know that I would do this race again or not, if I do I will probably do it as a 3 hour solo, here are some words that were going through my head the whole race to give you an idea of what it is like, f****** bumps!, f****** flies!, f****** dust!, f******bumps!, f****** sand!, f****** bumps!, f****** heat!, f****** bumps!, f******climb!, oooh nice view, more f****** bugs, gotta keep my mouth closed, f****** bumps!!!!, aaaahh finish line. For a cleaner more positive outlook on the race I am sure Troy Bailey will have something nicer to say about it so read his blog.


Well I am back in to to the XC and that's what I love so should be hopefully getting some more exciting stories soon, off to Adelaide this weekend for the first round of the Nat's cant wait, also this Thursday is my last day at my crappy job and have 2 weeks off before I start my new one so can not wait for that!

Until next time happy biking!

Kat