New found respect for flingers

[Newton]

3 of us did the wingello state forest ride the other day, it's the forest leg of the highland fling. Tempreture was about 36degC, and not much wind, we did the course anticlockwise, completed about 38km with some detours and extra km's to the course, ran out of water, saw the bush fire approaching, decided to cut the ride short and head back to the township of Wingello. What a terrific ride, some of the smaller access roads of the main fire trails and course made for good riding, one hill climb was a real heart breaker, and 75% of it was a long slog on foot.

I can't even begin to imagine the fitness levels and the speed at which the elite riders push at to finish the full fling in a little over 4 hrs.

[AUbicycles]

I can't even begin to imagine the fitness levels and the speed at which the elite riders push at to finish the full fling in a little over 4 hrs.

Kind of understandable how well Cadel Evans moved from MTB to the road.

I think for MTBing that an additional factor is the concentration with stones and obstacles - not only do you have to have fitness, you have to be able to focus for a long time, a hard ask with soaring temperatures.

[leximack]

its amazing how fast the elite guys and girls go. At most events the elites leave first so you dont see first hand how fast they go, at the fling they leave 30mins after the normal people, they usually catch me and pass em somewhere at the start of the 2nd stage (about 30-35km in), they go past quicker than you can say "f#ck that was fast", the girls are nearly as quick, i followed the first elite girl to go past for a few kms, not super fast but very consistent, i had to back it off of fear of blowing up, the others soon went past.
They average 25km/h on dirt going over rough terrain, technical climbing, boulders, tree logs etc and with generally 2000-2500m climbing. Most riders struggle to do 25km/h on a road bike with little hills. Amazing to see

Don