Officer: 3 Creeks, 1 River?

And so the rain continued to fall over the weekend, turning some harmless puddles into raging creeks. Race organisers were left with some serious questions, would these "puddles" be even rideable? Would the juniors be swallowed up never to be seen again? The trusty stick was called upon measuring a depth gauge below BB and axle height. All fears were abeited, the race was still on for those brave souls.

The wet and the mud attract a committed lot, keen to ride in all conditions, or desperate for a few extra points to claim the series win. Whatever their motivation they took to a fun course with the proclaimed "longest flowing decent ever" for an Officer course. The track held up well for the first few laps, giving riders a chance to adapt to winter series racing. Off cambre descents became a fun challenge trying to keep the bike upright, the front wheel pointing forward, and enough brake pressure to pull the bike up without locking up the wheels. Other descents it was a case of lining up a tree knowing this was your only way of making the corner as your brake pads sung out their high tunes, or screeched away to that metal on metal sound. That was one way of wearing in/out a set of brake pads.

As the course detiorated the quandry arose: Should a MTB'er attempt to ride everything, or concede defeat and run because it is faster? I chose the former, dropping the chain into a small ring, content to spin the cranks over in a desperate attempt to find traction and negotiate a path up the slight incline. Inch by inch the bike moved forward, certainly not the fastest way up, but nonetheless I was not going to be defeated by this course.

The showers and bike wash at the end of event was a welcome relief, for those confused about what color of bike they thought they rode, or colours they proudly wore. Thanks to our local scouting group for use of their venue and facilities. Thanks also to Rob for helping out with timing today.

Check out photos from the day at:

http://mtb-images.com.au/  - thanks to Stephen Rowe.

Race results and 2009 winter series results can be found below.

Downloads:
· Officer 2009_09_27 (PDF - 20 Kb)
· 2009 Winter Series Results (PDF - 48 Kb)