Race 2. The Fling..
Rather than getting too involved with racing early on, we started somewhere in the middle of the field. A gentle roll out and cruise through the farms before getting held up in the single track by mountain bikers who can't apparently ride over a 3" log. Kim & the Bikeminded crew catch up at this point and start hurling abuse. Eventually back riding, pass a few people through the next grassy section and through the Roller Coaster. Up back on the forest roads the Bikeminded crew roll through, then McDuff. While chatting to McDuff on a descent and not paying attentions I hear the dreaded noise of the pinch flat. Wheel off tube in pumping furiously, the Elite field come hammering through, followed shortly by Kim (bugger).
Tyre inflated & I'm back on and chasing, it's a short distance to the creek crossing sharp at which point I discover I hadn't reconnected the brake which made getting around the sharp left handed and stopping before getting to the creek somewhat interesting. Through Boags drift I sight Kim again up ahead and chase on to her group, at which point though a little G-out my saddle adjusted itself, I tried to ride on but eventually had to stop to fix. Into transition & no sign of Kim, but I did run into my boss who must of come in just before me. Fill up and head back out.
At some point along here I caught and passed Kim again, as well as EHCW, McDuff & Gaz attending to an injured rider. Saw Helen at her marshal point, but she was on the phone organizing the evacuation of the injured rider. Into the single track and just cruised along, until tangles were the cramps hit. From here we rode together quite a bit with Kim bombing down the descents and me catching back on the flat section. We cruised into the Frequent Riders lounge refilled and rolled off again.
Not sure at what point along the next section I rode away from Kim but at Outerlimts I hear behind me "come on Rob let's get this over with" and she came flying through like it was the start of a 20km race. Bickchick also came through here having made up the 30 minute start the elite boys and girls had on the rest of us. Coming up to the road section back into Wingello Marcel catches me we ride together and at the road he offers a draft which I gladly accept 1 km up the road it's suddenly my turn. We catch Kim and she also sits in, after doing the big turn all the way into the wind I tell Marcel that it's about time it was his turn, he then rode to the front and promptly rode off!
In the Wingello I fill up and buy a Coke share it with Kim and we roll out together, the Angy Yeti is rolling down the road quicker than the Fireline and Kim yells at me to ride off and don't wait. I wasn't waiting but knew she'd catch me on the descent through the farm anyway. We rode together for quite a while and at about 15 km to go I asked if we were still racing, Kim said no, I replied good and no sneaky little attacks. Kim agreed... or so I thought.
At the last hill before the 10km to go mark Kim put in her sneaky attack, I had nothing and dropped right off. Gladly stopping to loan a pump to a couple of guys about halfway up the hill. The descent was fun but after the Free Bike wash I was creaping, with 7 km to go I was going a 7km/hr and getting increasingly depressed and disinterested about being out there for another hour at this pace. At Your Choice went the long way despite knowing that the short way would have suited me better. As I'm about to hit the tarmac the Van Terminator flies past after going the short way, a very brief attempt was made to get on his wheel (it was downhill & the Angry Yeti has a 48 dog) but I had nothing. At least I had nothing until the EHCW caught back up which gave me a little second wind and I dropped him like a stone. Rolled into the finish and straight to the Dirt Works trailer where I'd stashed my esky, very happy to find that Big Dog (the man is a legend) had filled it with ice so the beer was icy icy cold. Two very quickly Raddlers later I found Kim who had finished 10 or so minutes in front of me to be the first chick to complete the Fling SS.
Nice work Kim but next time...Pas de cadeaux, Pas plus de cadeaux