6 Hour Wrap-up

A couple of Sunday’s ago my mate and I competed in the annual Jarrahdale 6 hour race. The results and photos of the race are now in – finally I have found “a” photograph of myself with a race number attached to the handlebars.

As anyone who rides mountain bikes will tell you, the surface you ride on is very important, and ultimately determines your overall speed and enjoyment. Western Australia is the home of pea-gravel (see picture, and yes, it is as bad as it looks – a bit like riding on half-sized marbles, interspersed with sand). The days leading up to the race were wet, with the race day being bathed in perfect sunshine. These were going to be perfect conditions for fast (and fun) riding.

There was a big field (300+ riders) and my mate was doing the first lap. He started in the final third of the pack and was severely held up by all the traffic. I rode the second lap, and the field had spread out quite a bit by that stage, but I did manage to pass (and be passed) by quite a few riders. I measured the lap distance at 9.2km, which I confirmed with another competitor, but the race officials deemed each lap to be 8.55km (who knows, but going by the lie-detector strapped to the bars of my bike, I averaged 16km/h on my first lap, which I was stoked with).

We continued with our single-lap race plan, and the only hiccup came at the end of my first lap, when I got to the transition area and discovered my mate was nowhere to be found. People all around me were loudly suggesting I should do another lap (screw that, I was buggerred and needed a rest). Eventually my mate sauntered over to the start line – my speedy lap time had confused his peanut brain. Thankfully he is a strong rider and was able to make up for his indiscretion.

Eventually it got to the end of lap 8 and we still had 1.5 hours to go. We started talking to each other in the transition area about getting 10 laps in, 11 at a pinch (our original target was 9 laps). My mate went out for lap 9 and put in a scorcher, but even if I was able to do a quick lap myself, there was no way my mate could pull off a lap as quick as what would be required, so I just cruised the last lap (lap 10).

Again, I was extremely impressed by the camaraderie shown amongst the racers, with more please’s and thankyou’s than ever. At the end of the day in the “Team of Two” category we were 41st (out of 66 teams), and 96th overall. Best of all I had an absolute blast riding as fast as my legs will carry me, over some of the very best trails WA has to offer.

On a side note, I reckon I was privileged to race with one of Western Australia’s (if not Australia’s) most up-and-coming riders, Reece Tucknott. This kid is only 14 years old, and was simply blasting everyone on course (and doing it without pissing anybody off, which was a bonus). His team narrowly missed taking out the “Team of Two” category, coming second to a couple of blokes who were probably 3 times his age, but with a bit of endurance and wisdom in this kid’s legs, he is going places.