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(photo courtesy of Alan @ Imagewerx)
Theres something undeniably attractive about endurance mountain biking. Race two of Tailwind Promotions Super Series was a 4 hour event that saw me riding 4hrs:20 something minutes.
My Koiled single speed.
(photo courtesy of Alan @ Imagewerx)
It is all the small things at these races that make it a great event for me. Let me share some.- The sound of dirt crunching under my tires
- The simplicity of pedalling my single speed
- Zipping through the single track
- That painful feeling in my legs when attacking a climb
- Watching other riders suffer - with a smile/grimace
- Asking another rider "hows your ride going?"
- Overcoming discomfort, hunger, thirst, tiredness...
- Hearing my friends in the transition giving me a "cmon dog, smash em!"
Just a little insight. There are more. Feel free to visit this FB page and share what you like and dont like about endurance mountain bike races.
Shannon at Koiled has designed and built a beautiful bike
(photo courtesy of Alan @ Imagewerx)
(photos courtesy of Alan @ Imagewerx)
Single Speeding was the perfect bike for this race. I saw 4 of the top riders of the day walking back to the transition area with broken derailleurs, all at the same time on the same part of the track!
A pressure blaster cleaned it. 1/2 a can of water displacing spray lubed it. All I needed to replace was a chain. It was on its last race anyway.
How did my race go? I had a tiny regret that I could have pedalled harder in a previous 8 hour race. So this time I hit the pedals hard. I tested out my legs and the legs of the other single speeders. There was absolutely n o t h i n g left in the tank. Thats exactly how I like it too ;-)
I came across lots of tough-arsed solo riders for this shorter race. Often looking back at their race number, seeing theyre solo, then yelling, "SOLO-MAN/SOLO-WOMAN!" giving them a little something to temporarily pull their heads out of the hurt locker.
Ride of the day goes to....drum roll.....
(photos courtesy of Alan @ Imagewerx)
Shannon and his very pretty and very tough daughter! She was a pleasure to share pre-race banter with in the Koiled transition tent. She was visibly tired at the end of the race but still in great spirits.
Darn, shell be kicking our butts in the solo category soon!
(photo courtesy of Alan @ Imagewerx)
Until next time, dont stop pedalling and moving forward or youll fall off.
dog
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What a totally awesome day. It was a warm day, with the potential to be a lot hotter. Low to mid 30s I think. There was a lot of dust. The course was fast.
