The Return of the Performance Cookie!

As autumn comes to a close and winter will dawn tomorrow I look back at the past month or so. It has been a fortunate balance of dry and wet weather such that many of the trails within easy access have retained great condition as they dry out a little or suck in the moisture. 

I hadn't ridden at Lysterfield for a very long time. I made it out there for the first round of 2012 Chase The Sun. The week leading in had been mainly fine but the day before saw plenty of rain falling. Race day started cool and dry, and held to be a great day, with a capacity field of eager starters. Peter Hepworth had put together 5 Topgear teams for the day. I joined Chris Wallace to make a pair in the Just Good Friends category, along with John & Carsten back from their racing hiatus, Peter & Zeke out to push the staff limits, Gus & Rich bringing the day's required trash-talk, and one female team of Becs and Jackie, Jackie breaking her 10 year mountain biking drought.

Chris was only too happy to let me start. I certainly didn't mind, but was also happy to let him lead us off if he was keen enough. As everybody assembled and waited for the start I chatted with Gus, whilst elsewhere Becs, Carsten and Zeke had taken their preferred starting locations. The field was set out on an initial prologue loop to ease the congestion then passed back through the race village to start the course. I had a good start managing to avoid being boxed in at any narrow points, Gus sticking close by also. Soon after a fast vehicle track descent we dropped into some fast single track, part of a train of spirited riders belting down the run toward the next vehicle track section. The vehicle track levelled out for a while, then turned left and it was time for the first climb. I pushed on past a few riders that were settling into their pace and wound my way up the hill to find the next vehicle track descent. This soon spat us out at the bottom of the single track approach to the '06 Commonwealth Games track. It was great to be hitting these trails that I had ridden many times through the years but never before in a race. The fast, gently switchbacked approach to the rock garden kept everyone focussed as the gravel surface let a few tyre edges shift. Clearing through the rock garden it was onwards through the slight downhill run to the start of the more challenging single track climb to the highest point of the course. I had a clear run at it with several riders in front cresting the climb and leading to the fast, bermed descent. We followed the remainder of the Commonwealth Games course and its various realignments back to the race village. Chris was ready for the tag and launched off for his first lap.

Back at the Topgear tent there seemed to be a small party happening, and this continued on through the day. It was always a blast to return to the tent to get everyone's tales of the recent lap, or what part of the course they loved, and what part of the course was just a plain inconvenience.

I figured Chris would take about 30 minutes to return so I had a snack, caught my breath, watched the other teams change over and then got organised at about the 25 minute mark. Chris was back in just over 28 minutes, and so I was off for my second lap. We had 5 hours to post as many laps as possible, and it was now obvious that it was going to be a rapidly paced day. During a few laps I was able to use the wheel of riders in front on some of the open, flatter vehicle tracks and then was able to get some good approaches into and over the climbs. The descents were fast. Looking for berms wherever possible kept the bike attitude flowing and enabled solid commitment throughout the day. The trails were perfect. A few corners with some slightly marbled entries and exits soon cleared in the early laps to reveal some fantastic riding conditions. 

The biggest concern for any of us was letting our other rider down, and nobody wanted to be caught unprepared for their partner's lap return. But perhaps the greatest incentive to return was the ice-cream tub of Carsten's performance enhancing cookies! Yet to be added to the UCI's list of banned substances, everyone was keen to put them to the test. The Topgear Tent was the place to be, everybody making the most of the day on the magnificent trails.

Chris and I continued the 28, 29, 30 minute lap times and it seemed sooner than expected that Chris was out posting his 5th (and our 10th) lap. Not too sure on which side of the 5 hours he would return I rolled down to the timing point ready for a possible 6th lap. Sitting at transition I cheered Gus through, then John came through, soon after Peter was through, all burying themselves to make the hand over for Rich, Carsten and Zeke, respectively. Jackie and Becs piled on lap after lap, each keeping very consistent personal time splits.

The 5th hour arrived about a minute before Chris did meaning I would not be off to do a 6th lap. And with the times we had been lapping we were able to take out the category win! Gus and Rich were not far behind and bagged 3rd whilst Becs and Jackie were able to ride off with a victory in the Just Good Friends Female Pairs category. 

What a magnificent autumn day! Thanks everyone for a great day.