Round 7 of the Victorian Enduro Series was set to be cracker. Held at Jubberland, a private track just outside Castlemaine, it seemed to pull a big crowd judging by how many people turned up Sunday morning.
A crisp bright morning bode well for the upcoming six hours plus in the saddle. As ever, Castlemaine Rocky Riders were great event hosts. The Castlemaine terrain is synonymous with rocks; loose ones, sharp ones and big ones, and always presents as a challenge of not only endurance, but technical ability to ride in its entirety.
With a packed racing calendar, injuries and honeymoons it was only going to be Jason Quigley, Will Geor and Llew Thomas contesting this round. Llew took what some may call the soft option and chose to race pairs with Russell Collet. Will made it pretty clear that he felt Llew was racing pairs because he was afraid to go head to head with Will after the previous weeks cyclocross race.
Will kept his usual smack talk to a bare minimum, after the last 2 rounds being disastrous for him even he knew it was best to keep a low profile in the lead up. Jason looked to be moving a little slowly at setup before the race, possibly due suffering a meat hangover after eating his own body weight in BBQ’d animals the day before. Good friend of iRide Bikes and all round good guy Ben Vlass was racing solo today and continues to impress all with his elite tent pitching abilities. He’s also pretty handy erecting a marquee. Life’s always a party when Vlass is around so the day was looking good. With a broken collarbone, Ross had to be content with downing coffees, being pit boss and breaking hearts all over the course helping young maidens with mechanicals. Ross’s injury also gave Vlass a chance to race a 6 hour without the pressure of going head to head with Ross. Vlass’ therapist just pre-payed his 2nd child’s Xavier College tuition fees off the back of Vlass’ meltdown at Dirty deeds CX round 2.
The race was going to be a le-mans start for something different, this wasn’t met with everyone’s approval. Will who is rubbish at any sport besides cycling seemed the most upset about having to run, he would later be seen reliving his under 13’s rugby days sprinting from the start line and proceeding to push anyone who got near him outta his way. All the guys got off to a good start, Will thought his start was particularly good until he was informed on the 3rd lap that everyone who he thought was behind him was actually in front of him.
The rocky and technical course would prove demanding on not only the legs but basically the whole body. Llew and Rusty were smashing out the laps, Llew having a little lay done in one of the easier corners on the course, just to prove he is indeed human. Meanwhile Will and Jason were both laying down solid laps in the solo category. After 4 laps Vlass would have to pull out due a faulty bottom bracket (not purchased from iRide).
At the halfway mark Jason was sitting about 6th but was starting to pay for his high pace earlier on in the race. Will was about 10 minutes behind in around 11th but was pacing himself hoping to come home strong. Llew and Russell were still smashing the laps out. By this point Vlass had cleaned up gotten changed and was last seen chatting to the ladies.
In the 2nd half of the race Jason had a few problems with cramps and was losing time, more than likely due to ‘Meatorama 2011’, the day before and a high pace early in the race. The course had many short sharp climbs that suited Will perfectly; the one man wolf pack was looking strong and storming home. Will’s plan of slowing things down in the first few hours was paying dividends that an accountant like him would get moist over. Llew and Russell were still smashing the laps out, all the way to 6th in Male pairs.
Will rolled through transition at the 5 hour 55 minutes, smashed a coke, said a few choice words and went out for what would be a painful last lap, made even more painful by having smashed the previous lap out in order to get back in time to do a 6th lap. Meatorama finally got the better of Jason when he rolled into transition at the 5 hour 53 minutes mark and had to pull the pin. Despite this Jason still managed an awesome 9th place. If he can keep away from the BBQ’s look for Jason to do big things come 24 hour race season. Will rolled through at the 6 hour 37 minutes mark having done 10 laps to finish 7th, stoked to get a good result on the board after the last 2 enduro races.
Big thanks to the organizer and volunteers for what was a great race. Shout out to Ross as well for the support and cheering over the day.
See here for full results
No comments:
Post a Comment