Bendigo 6hr Enduro 2012

10/9/12

We were treated with perfect conditions for the Bendigo 6hr enduro yesterday. It was officially my first ‘knicks and jersey’ race of the season and I felt strangely light after ditching the thermals, booties and jacket.  An easy way to take a couple of kg’s off for sure!  As well as the perfect weather, the Bendigo club had worked mighty hard in grooming the course and the trails were in A-1 condition.  I think most people had a smile on their face bombing down the flowy berms.  The only down-fall for a lot of the riders was the infamous rocky sections and therefore a high percentage of flat tyres.

Nice to once again race in knicks and jersey:-)

I had once again entered the mixed pair’s category only this time I had upgraded my partner to fellow Trek Superfly rider, Daniel Skerry.  Ed had chosen to sit this one out and instead take on role as team mechanic, bottle boy and ‘trash talker’.  Most people will know of Ed’s mechanical skills, as he always makes sure my bike is in perfect condition, however his abilities in trash talking is also of the highest standard. Fair to say, we were taking this mixed pairs racing very seriously (LOL).  Actually the contest was going to be a tough one.  Gun Giant rider, Niki Fisher teamed up with ex mtb world champ and Tour de France rider Trent Lowe. Another emerging talent from team Giant, Nicci Jeffries teamed up with CycloCross champion Lewis Rattray.

There’s an unwritten rule when racing mixed pairs that the male must start.  So, poor Daniel lined up alongside the speedy Trent and Lewis and around 100 or so other keen riders.  Daniel is one of the hardest working athlete’s I coach at the moment and in recent times he has posted some impressive data in training showing the hard work is starting to pay off.  I know he won’t mind me saying, that he is a little older than Trent and Lewis and it was going to be a tough ask to match the speed of those 2.  He proved to impress me however, when he came through the first lap only around 1min down on the other 2.  So it was game on!

Daniel going all out on the berms!

Well at first the battle seemed to be very tight b/w the 3 teams, but then slowly Lewis and Nicci Jeffries dropped off the pace.  It was still a ding-dong battle b/w us and Trent and Niki Fisher though.  Ed continued the trash talking on the side-lines trying to put off our competitors.  It was not all one sided though; at one point I set off in pursuit of Niki and could hear Trent yell out “you’re going down Jen”.  Ha ha, it was all in good fun of course!

 Niki and I battling it out

I think the most memorable races are the ones you have to fight out and really earn.  Well even though this one didn’t place high on the importance scale, it was certainly a hard-fought race and I think whether we had won or not, it was one to remember.  The 2 teams had chosen different tactics with Daniel and I going for the ‘lap on, lap off’ style and Niki and Trent opting for ‘2 laps on, 2 laps off’.  Well I’m not sure if it came down to a better choice in tactics, but in the end Daniel and I came out the victors.  As I mentioned though, the result was irrelevant in the end as I think all of us had just really enjoyed a good tough day’s racing and it was smiles all round at presentations.

There were some fine results all posted by more of the Pedallab riders.  Steve and Jane paired up and punched out some consistently quick lap times and finished up 5^th in mixed pairs. If there had of been a master pair’s category they would have cleaned up for sure!  David Ross opted for the 3hr solo race and rode impressively to claim 6^th overall.

So it was definitely a great way to spend a Sunday; riding cool trails in the sunshine.  Next week I’ll be heading up to Qld to race the Flight Centre Epic marathon just out of Brisbane.  Definitely looking forward to the event as I remember it being such a good one last year…although it’s funny how you don’t tend to remember the pain so much:)