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After convincing the better half that a road trip to Orange was a good idea I entered the Choccie Foot 7hr as a solo rider. I had a pretty decent training the weeks before the race including riding the Canberra Centenary Trail.

The race started up a nice fire trail hill but I just settled in at the back and cruised up. There was no congestion to speak of and everyone was really good at passing and being passed. Good vibes all round!

It was a bit of a late decision to enter as I was speaking with @dicko and mentioned I have been riding heaps but have done bugger all racing this year and he mentioned how damn good the track is at Orange. I entered the 4hr solo then checked interest levels of the family. Liz was keen, Qualia was keen but Lach gave me the "dad I'd love to come but my cold isn't too good..." speech. Oh well, 3 out of 4 is good so on Friday I did a quick search of accomm and found Turners Vineyard met our needs.

I rocked up an hour late this morning due to a need to reschedule an appointment with the real estate agent, but that turned out well.

I arrived about the same time as a bunch of guys from Parkes who know their way around.

So while I didn't quite get the kilometres in I was hoping for (only 17) I had a great time following the wheels of some guys who knew their way around instead of having to fluff around with a map and a compass.

I wasn't going to write up after this event because I was a bit disappointed but thought I would, just for my own future reference; looking back, I'm glad I kept going and didn't pull the pin.

This would be my first 100km race. I've done plenty of 50km's, 4hr's, a solo 6+6 and a heap of team enduro's but I'd never stepped up to the 100km. I go OK over short races, like club rounds and 50km's, but I don't have the endurance to go the full distance.

Had another blast racing around the dry and dusty tracks of Back Yamma Forest this year.

From the start we were off in a cloud of dust, with a bit of jockeying for positions prior to the first bit of single track. I’d been a bit casual about the start, so was in a large bunch and settled down to about 10th place in a train once the single track started. Must have been a few dozen on ahead as well.

Yee-haa. My first mtb race in just over five months is done and dusted.

What a Cold morning, I think my ears froze as soon as I stepped out of the car at Woodford.

My only goal was to break the hour mark, last year my time was 1:00:11 so I knew I could do it.
I started at the very back of the 30-39 (Wave D). As soon as I crossed the starting line I started moving up the pack and continued to do so along the firetrail. I rode every climb at a slow and steady pace to not burn myself out and used that reserve of energy to pick my pace up at the top of each climb.

Well what a day. I set myself 3 goals for this event, 1. Start the race incident free, 2. Finish the race unbroken and bike in good shape and 3. Don't come last.

This was my first official race since starting up MTBing in Mar 2014, and last time I did something like this was on motocross bike a decade or so ago. I tookup MTBing to get some fitness and to clean/clear the lungs of 38yrs of smoking and more than happy with the result. If nothing else this will give me a basis to start with.

http://www.multisportaustralia.com.au/Home/Indiv...

Only ~2 minutes better than last year. I guess I really need to work on my DH skills.
Slow and steady improvement
54% overall / 66% by age / 60% by gender

http://www.multisportaustralia.com.au/Home/Indiv...
== Edit ==
Added the finishing certificate.
It shows a few seconds less then my cylemeter or the official timer counted. Oh well. Maybe the more in the past the faster I get. Must be.