Pain at the 6Hr (or was that the 8Hr?)

Today was the last of the State Enduro Series at Officer Scout camp, a relatively local race for me and the first hit-out since the Croc (not counting Thur night dirt crit this week!). My body is in enough pain for it to have been an 8 hour race, but despite the little printing mistake on the otherwise very nice trophy it was acutally a 6 hour. My self imposed limit for solo races is 6 hours, and that is going to stay for the time being, despite many people telling me I should race 12 and 24Hrs (I like going fast too much to do silly long races). 6 hours is the longest training rides I do anyway, and what better way to get in a bit of hard training than to enter a race.

The start was typically fast as the teams guys went for the hole-shot into the first bit of steep singletrack, but I threw a spanner in the works and smashed it out to lead for most of the 1st lap. Not wanting to look like an idiot, I had to then keep up a solid pace, and rode amongst the leading teams for the first few hours. After that I began fading, but was still increasing my lead in Solo. I ended up lapping the solo field, which meant I could stop a bit before the 6 hour mark and still win. 2nd and 3rd got out for a final lap which meant they ended up back on the same no of laps, but who wants to have the presentations waiting for you ;) Craig Peacock also was out flying the Merida Flight Centre colours, and came home with a trohpy in the Solo 40+ class.

Big props to FTF dudes for putting on a tough little circuit. The Merida FLX was the perfect weapon for the tight singletrack; the geometry is dialled down for fast twisty XC racing, and being a scant 9kg doesn't make it bad either ;) Schwalbe Racing Ralphs once again proved why they are my favorite tire by hooking in all day in the sometimes loose, otherwise tacky circuit, leaning over further each lap as I got to know the course better. Pics by Stephen Rowe will be up later here, and best of luck to Stephen who will be under the surgeons knife soon to beat the dreaded C, we will all be looking forward to seeing him back soon snapping away at our races.