It was a tough call which race to attend on the weekend. Option 1 was racing a mid-north coast 2hr round at the awesome Taree tracks. This would have meant getting a lift down, racing 2hrs and riding the 90km home giving me a solid 5hr day. The other option was riding 50km and return to Kempsey to race the next round of the State Gravity Round. I had never raced the Kempsey trails and an event run by Rockytrail Entertainment would always be a winner. I had managed to score some 2013 120mm 34mm sanchened X-Fusion forks for my Big 99 xc duallie which I was very keen to try out. I pumped my tyres up to 30 psi for the roadie up to Kempsey, threw on the baggies, Camelbak and it was time to race.
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The Kempsey enduro course consisted of two tracks. Riders have all morning to practice the tracks with timed runs starting in the afternoon. I had one practice of each track but went back to attempt A lines that I originally bulked on. The tracks were well balance having B lines that allowed riders of all skill level to race while A lines that provided spectator entertainment and a brief reward of speed. After a little bit of coxing I was hitting the big double on the first track and the big platform gap on the second track. I was impressed with how well the xc bike made the trails seem quite easy to ride. Riding the xc bike also gave me a little advantage on the pedaling sections. I'm very surprised to achieve third however, 2.4 tyres will be on next time. After my position in the first round, I have also managed to sneak up to second place in the Elite Men's Ranking. Should I do the third and final round?
Thanks Duncan from DIY for the Xfusion forks and Pat for showing me how to ride enduro!
Thanks also to Rockytrail for running such a fun event and the Kempsey club for keeping their trails in awesome condition.
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ReplyDeleteAlaina Marie Mathers