Victorian 2009/10 State XC Series - Round 1

Some thirty odd centimeters of rain over night was recorded at Director Sportif's house in Woodend the morning of the race. With that much rain, I was curious to see just how wet the course was so a lap of it was in order. Glad I did! While we are waiting for the start we get a bucket load more of rain just for good measure.

I'm happy with my start around the start/finish paddock and I'm 3rd wheel into the 1st of the single track. Out of this section it's through a temporary creek that has formed and onto a short gradual climb up to the next section of single track. This is a nice twisting section that slowly meanders up to the longest climb of the course. This is where I make my move for 2nd and we are gradually pulling away from 3rd. After the climb there's a long section of descending fire road and the guy in 1st, Matthew Molan, really guns it and gets a gap. Through the rest of the course I try to reel him in but there's a 15 second gap between us. I concentrate next lap to try and regain the 15 seconds but this time it's around 21 seconds. My third lap isn't a good one with a combination of the track being really cut up now and myself making a handful of mistakes that chew away at a consistent Matthew.

By the 5th lap the track has dried enough to feel confident to let it run faster but it's not enough to catch Mathew and I'm home for an enjoyable 2nd place.

Full results from all categories here.
A Flickr set of photos here.