Scotty and I headed down to Invercargill after work on Friday and stayed the night at the same campground (we’d just decided to head down that day and couldn’t be bothered finding another accommodation option because this one was cheap and close) – needless to say, we won’t be returning for a third time! (Who says that humans are capable of one-trial learning?!..).
Saturday morning came around and I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t raining or snowing (as forecasted earlier on in the week). In fact, the day turned out quite nice – it wasn’t too chilly, there was no rain, and the sun even popped out a few times! We arrived onsite a bit later than we’d have liked (cf. previous paragraph about the campground!), and found ourselves an area to set up our tent away from the main tent village, but fortuitously placed next to a couple of other Dunedin-based teams. Dunedin Reprazent!!
(me looking all serious-like at race briefing..)Our four person mixed team consisted of myself, Scotty, and friends Ash and Sal. Ash and Sal had done a wee bit of riding down in Invercargill before but hadn’t done much XC racing. We were out there to have fun though so it was a nice social vibe, making for a change from some of the other team relay events I’d entered before. We nominated Ash to head off on our first lap, and we settled in and waited for him to come in.
Some 40-odd minutes later when a few kids had come around from finishing their first lap and Ash hadn’t come back, we realised something had gone wrong. Someone from the team next to ours said he had a mechanical issue out on course. A few minutes later when he finally came round, we could see what the issue was – his stem bolts attaching the handlebars were completely loose and he couldn’t steer or brake! Scotty headed out on our second lap and Ash set about fixing up his bike. Rider reports from the teams next door were that the course was a lot harder than the 12 hour course for Naseby and that there was no room for recovery – sounds like it was similar to the course from a couple of weekends back.
I was the third rider and after a fairly slow transition (I had to find my multi-tool because if I didn’t have it on me, no doubt I would have had a mechanical issue like Ash’s!), I headed out on course. The first third or so was similar to the course from the other weekend. But I knew what to expect so settled into a pattern and tackled the flat corners as best as I could. There were a few 4wd sections, then into some new tracks that I hadn’t ridden before and gosh they were FUN! Super jet dinosaur monkey fun even! Nice and flowy and technical enough to keep me guessing what was around the next corner or over the next “caution” warning sign. I even got both wheels off the ground on one section! Weeee!! The last 5-10 minutes were a bit pedally (well, the whole course was pedally really) and longer than I’d expected. The fastest riders had come in around the 31-32 minute mark on the first lap so I was expecting to be out there for around 40-odd minutes. As I crossed the start/finish line, I saw that my time for the first lap was 40:11 – sweet. That wasn’t too bad, considering I probably spent around 15 seconds at the start trying to find my multi-tool! Average HR: 189, Max HR: 197. Hmmm hard effort out on the lap eh!
Another rotation around our riders and I was off again for my second lap. That went a lot better as I knew what to expect. Less caution around the “caution” signs and faster on the 4WD. I was even smiling on the second lap – what a change from the race two weekends ago! Vrmmm vrrrmm vrmmm! Yup.. I even made motorbike noises outloud in places. Second lap time: 38:24, Average HR: 191, Max HR: 198. Weeeee!
I came in on my second lap just before 4pm and we figured out that I might have time for a third lap, depending on how long the others took. Sal came back a bit slower than her first lap time (her chain got jammed between the cranks and frame and took herself and a helpful rider a good 10 minutes to sort out). By then it was getting a bit dark and time to set up the lights. Between us, we had four SLA batteries.. yet for some reason, only two of them were working! Argh. Ash took off with one good one and Scotty got set up with the other one. When Ash got back, we figured there was no point in me heading out for a third lap (wouldn’t have made the 7pm finish time) so we set about packing up the tent. Scotty was pretty stoked when he came in on the final lap and everything was all packed up. Lucky him!
I stopped off to check out the lap times and was quietly stoked that my second lap was the fastest one that our team did – our team placed 10th out of 17 teams, but the placing wasn’t important. I had fun out there and it was great actually enjoying the event. It was incredibly well-run for a first-time event and I hope they do it again next year. We decided to head out on the road back to Dunedin before it got too late so didn’t stay for prizegiving, but pretty sure R&R Sport team FUBAR took out the 8 hr mixed team category and solo R&R rider Mickey Fan did well in the solo category.
Next event might be a 20km roadie time-trial next weekend but we’ll see what the week brings. I might work on my trail karma and help do some trail-building next weekend instead. In either case, I’m back to enjoying the bike again and it feels good.
Photos: Lionel Benjamin - check out the rest of his photos from the event here.
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