Bikedock Belles

There were 52 starters on Sunday, and again an encouraging 8 females were included in this total. Conditions were so challenging that riders were taking about 1 min 30 secs longer per lap than the previous week.

To be honest, it was actually easier to run with your bike than cycle at certain points in the track. Andrea had a few tumbles and was constantly putting her feet to the ground, in a testing afternoon that was only made slightly enjoyable by good camaraderie and competition with Gill Smith, who managed to “get to grips” (pardon the pun!) with the course from lap 3 whereas Andrea seemed to lose her grip as the race went on!

Andrea finished 3^rd female, behind Gill in 2^nd and Claire Oakley in 1^st – positions that were the same for the entire 3-race series standings. Once again the support Andrea got during the race was much appreciated, particularly from the Young Guns / Carn Wheelers.

Unfortunately Andrea has put Gill off debuting in Adventure Races before she has even tried them. During the first 2 laps Andrea and Gill were playing cat and mouse, one leading them coming off the bike, the other taking over then coming off the bike etc etc etc. During one “foot section with the bike” episode Gill was cursing the conditions and being unable to cycle, and Andrea shouted ahead to her “sure, just look at it as Adventure Race training”. Gill later said that if that’s what Adventure Racing is like, she doesn’t like the sound of it!

On collecting their prizes and saying cheerio, Gill also said she didn’t want to see Andrea at another MTB race in Trail Shoes and multi-sport socks! At the next race she had to look like an MTB’er with SPDs!

Ding Dong!

Andrea