Victorian Enduro Series Round 2 - Mt Beauty

Only Cam, Ross, Mel and Will made the trip to Mt Beauty for round 2 of the Victorian 6 hour series. Quigley was instead clocking up 100 miles at the Golden Triangle Epic in Bendigo (he came 2nd), Ben was racing Downhill in Myrtleford (2nd in vets) Aleisha was at a wedding and Jade was spending her time recovering from shin splints by going shopping for runner’s and wetsuits.

Going to Mt Beauty would also give us a chance to catch up with teammate and former XC hardman turned All Mountain destroyer Matt Zagorski (Zigga). For those not in the know Zigga is the home town hero of Mt Beauty, sure you have the Van de Ploegs but they are only there for Summer whereas Zigga is there day in day out ripping up trails and setting hearts alight. Rumour had it that Zigga would be DJ’ing the after party.

The drive to Mt Beauty was long and only broken up with Cam mooning Ross & Mel then Cam & Ross once again proving they don’t care what shit they put in their bodies by eating McDonalds.

Friday afternoon was the eliminator race, everyone was racing except Will who is still haunted by memories of breaking his arm at Lysterfield the day before a race. Will spent most of the afternoon telling anyone who would listen that he was here for the big show the next day in order to make himself feel better.

Mel, Cam and Ross smashed their way through the qualifying rounds to make the finals. Mel easily took home the win in the women’s whilst smiling the whole time. The men’s final was a little different, Cam got the holeshot but then had Jack Lambshed overtake him with a dodgy passing move in the first corner. Cam decided to live up to the reputation of his hippy beard and simply let Jack past him. He would later keep Will up all night talking about what could have been. Coming into the last corner Ross was in 3^rd with 4^th right on his tail. Figuring that team iRide Rocky Mountain was owed some karma Ross intentionally stalled in the last corner causing 4^th place to stop allowing him to take him 3^rd while Cam got 2^nd.

The 6 hour the next day was a little different, the course had a lot of climbing, it was pretty much straight up then straight down. The ground was rough and hard, legs and arms were going to be copping a beating today. The course was genuinely hard.

On lap 1 Will was questioning what Zigga was smoking when he told him to bring his hardtail by lap 3 he was trying to find a mirror so he could take a good hard look at himself by lap 4 he was ready to pull the pin but a few words from Ross got him back on track. At the 3 hour 30 mark Will’s legs turned up and he picked up the pace. In the end he finished in 4^th, 3 minutes off 3^rd.  Cam was a little further back in 7^th.

Ross & Mel battled all day in mixed pairs with the Fitzroy revolution teams. A puncture in the last hour of the race meant Ross had to look deep inside for his inner hardman and do a double lap to which Mel then brought the team home to first place.

Thanks to Rocky Mountain bikes which performed flawlessly all weekend. Both Ross & Mel rode their Element 999’s and were able to destroy the descents all weekend yet weren’t paying a weight penalty on the climbs. Will & Cam rode their Vertex hardtails and due to the complaint nature of the frame had few complaints at the finish. The lightweight vertex frames certainly made the climbs easier.  As always Schwable Racing Ralphs were the tyre of choice for their ample grip yet little rolling resistance.  Will has been running a set of Racing Ralph Snakeskins recently and is pretty stoked with the tires strong sidewall’s yet light weight.

A Fitzroy Revolution Sandwhich with the best kind of filling.