Chase the Sun Round 3

I think the sun may have made a brief appearance during the day, but round 3 of the Chase the Sun series at Lysterfield was pretty much a cold and muddy affair.  Weather aside the race was a blast with over 400 entries the series is getting bigger and bigger every year.

The Fitzroy revolution had a good set up going with Cam having managed to score the Marquee for the race, and what a good day to have it. With Cam racing in the Male three’s and me (Scott) attempting to go solo it was going to be along 7hrs ahead of us.

Racing begun under almost sunny sky’s with Cam and I lining up next to each other, both standing out a bit in the pack on our bigger wheels. The start was pretty hectic with riders going all over the place trying to find a line that would avoid some of the mud. The course for the day was probably a good 60 percent fire-road so was looking like it might become a bit more like a road race than a mtb.
With the clear sky quickly disappearing before one lap was even completed the course soon became a slick muddy surface with even some of the fire roads becoming bit sketchy to descend on. None the less racing continued, with me coming past transition every 50 minutes or so eying off the nice warm spots  beneath the marquee every lap.

The next few hours went by relatively quickly until i the faint feeling of back brake that I had completely disappeared. It was about this point in time that I was having the debate with myself, do I keep riding with no pads on the hard-tail, swap to the dually and wear it out, or was it all just a sign that i should pull the pin. Whilst given the the conditions pulling the pin was fairly appealing option, i decided i should try to improve the view’s of many that I am just a fair weather rider, and continue on.

With the bike swap done the remaining 4 or so hrs continued almost uneventfully, with the exception of one of the one small puddle, being a fair bit deeper than i remembered and my front wheel disappearing down it sending me sliding along in the mud on my stomach for a couple of meters.

In the end it was successful day for The Fitzroy revolution with me, just beating my cousin Sam for the win in Solo, and Cam and his team the ‘Lemondloveslandis” coming in 18th in the triples.
Lets hope the next one is a bit drier.