Due to the recent flood situation throughout Queensland, round 2 of the Wild West Series at Walloon was sadly cancelled. But as luck would have it the first of the BSMC Summer Sprints at Underwood was still going ahead.
So on Sunday February 3rd Andrew and I packed up the van and headed to Underwood. The weather was beautiful and the track promised to be in prime condition after a few days of showers earlier in the week.
After registration I went for a warm-up lap of the course and was happy to see there were no nasty surprises in the form of massive rock drops or “unrideable” rockgardens. There were, however, so many switchbacks I started feeling a little dizzy after a while. Another interesting little feature was a steep pinch hill that was sure to start hurting after a few laps.
After a 100k day including a local crit race (Murarrie) the day before it was safe to say my legs weren’t feeling fresh exactly. Just how un-fresh would become shockingly clear in the first minute of the race. The gun went off and it was on! I almost immediately dropped back to the back of the field, willing my legs to just pedal! I entered the single track as one of the last riders. I tried to find my rhythm and somehow managed to pass a few of my competitors.
The Summer Series “sprint” format is slightly different than a normal XCO race. Instead of racing a set number of laps, you have to race for 50 mins (40mins for B and C grade) and complete the lap you’re on (more like an Enduro).
This basically results in a 50 minute, all out, I want my mommy, smash-fest! Unfortunately I never really found that rhythm and my legs and heart were not in the mood for such shenanigans. After roughly 57 minutes of grunting and grimacing I crossed the finish line in 4th in Elite Women A, behind winner Jodie W, Anna B and Kylie M.
Andrew had another great race placing 6th in B-grade, closely followed by Simon in 7th. Full results can be viewed here.
Round 2 of the Summer Sprints will be on February 17! And like we say in my motherland … “Nieuwe ronde, nieuwe kansen!
Me: Suffering. (photo by: Elle Maleevsky Cooper)
Andrew: On fire! (photo by: Elle Maleevsky Cooper)
Simon putting the hammer down. (photo by: Elle Maleevsky Cooper)
Simone’s first ever MTB race! Killing it! (photo by: Elle Maleevsky Cooper)
