452 !

452 !, originally uploaded by ukalipt.

i raced. i took scottie down to yellomundee and raced. it was unreal. i had such a good time. the night befores sleep was great which i think always helps. scottie was in 95% condition and i wasn't because i hadn't had a ride all week. as it turns out i did really well but i am not happy with my results - if that makes any sense.

for the first time every scottie let me down. i hate to blame the bike but he really didn't do me any favours on the day. going down the hill to the track i had a solid plan of attack for the race and i think it would have worked perfectly if scottie handn't let me down. [still love him though].  i know i could probably move up to C class already but i was pressed for time as we were going on holidays after the race and we had a 3.5hr drive ahead of us so 2 laps would leave just enough time.

my plan was to attack the race early, then sit with whom ever was out in the front and see how i could pace myself against them [from the D class i entered]. in total there were 18 riders in D class. we started last which i was quiet happy with. i took off from mid to back of the pack and pretty much sat back for the first .5-1km. from memory i overtook 2 guys in that first section. as soon as we hit a hill i overtook almost all of D class. it was a bit hard to tell but i think i was in either 1st to 3rd by about the 1.75km mark. problem was i didn't know the track and i actually took a wrong turn. only to have 4-5 guys pass me as i u-turned to get back on the right path. not long after that mistake i over took 2 or 3 of the guys who had just passed me and thats when scottie let go...

i don't really know exactly what happened but it seemed as though i had gone over a bump or log/rock of some description and the chain came off. the whole drive chain stopped so i had to pull over. again a few guys over took me as i was putting the chain back on. once on i tried to start pedaling again but the pedals half turned then seized... i was quiet disorientated at this point not really understanding what was going on with the bike and i was more concerned about the leaders getting away from me. i had to stop and focus on the mechanic problem i was experiencing... the front derailluer was basically fucked and bent so badly it was hitting the crank arm and not allow it to turn. i bent it back quickly and took off. the noise was really bad from the chain rubbing on the front derailluer so i stopped again to sort it out. by this time my race was pretty much over with only one guy behind me.

i realised i could no longer fix the issue and would just either have to pull out or ride scottie in the state he was in... so the later was the only choice. after about another 2km i also had come to the realisation i no longer had the middle or smaller chainring on the front cogs - which wasn't good. i had tried twice to gear down but nothing was right at the front so i just forced the chain back onto the top ring and left it there for the remainder of the race. on the second lap i did also have to stop and have a leak, so 20+ seconds was consumed doing that as well.

it was difficult to go up hills and now realise i had started a little to hard. not having raced before that kind of distance i think i will in future not go out as hard, more just keep up with the frontish pack and slowly peck away at them.

in all i did achieve what i set out to do. finish in the top half of D class, coming in a respectable 8th out of 18 starters [15 finished with 3 DNF's in D class]. 

my times were

lap 1: 34:40 - lap 2: 33:50

the guy that came 4th's times were 33:07 - 33:36 | so with those times i could have been in 4th place.

overall i am happy.. and i have just purchased this on ebay.

next stop, dirtworks in two weeks