Monday, 12 August 2013

Dirty Deeds #2 : 11th of August 2013

It has been a while since my last entry here, so let’s visit the last event first, the Dirty Deeds Cyclocross round two on the eleventh of August. This event was held at Darebin Parklands in Alphington. This was held the day after the National Cyclocross Championships and would be the first event for the newly crowned 2013 National Cyclocross Champions, Lisa Jacobs and Allan Iacuone. 

Personal commitments and an accident that destroyed my Cyclocross bike kept me off my wheels for a month. I got my replacement bike built before race day but my first ride was actually at the National Championships on Saturday, (the less said about that event the better), so hardly an ideal preparation. 

Upon arrival at Darebin Parklands, I was struck with the usual sight of a massive line for registration followed by the not so usual sight of a fly over in the middle of the course.

Fly Over

Fly Over

This is a fairly regular addition to courses overseas but it is the first time I had seen one here in Australia. The course was the usual work of art that the crew at Dirty Deeds are now famous for, excellent use of the available elevation and great use of the existing track network.

Just after the start of the course we were sent through an increasingly soggy section of grass / mud that led into the one barrier on the lap. This section got to the point that I was sinking almost to my ankle as I got off to jump the barrier, tough. We  then ran over to climb the stairs up the fly over, remount at the top and fly down the ramp, Woo Hoo! After the fly over, we went around a couple of off-camber corners before dropping down a hard pack track full of rocks. Holding your speed through this section meant a great lead in to the next descent which led into the biggest mud pit on the course.

Probably the best place to spectate and heckle from, there was a huge crowd there and each lap I was going harder and faster into that mud pit. This seemed to keep the spectators happy; the bigger the splash, the bigger the cheer. This lead into an off-camber left hand bend that saw most riders drifting and/or crashing around, great fun! 

 Mud Pit

Left Hander after the Mud pit

After coming around that corner we went around a few hairpins on the flat before climbing our way back up away from the mud pit. This lead into a tight right hand turn on a climb that lead to a quite a few more interesting stalls and crashes and another hot spot for the crowd. A few more turns and we started heading up again past the pit area, a fairly gentle climb but on soggy grass that was very bumpy meant it was tougher to ride than it probably looked. Then we went along a nice hard pack section of dirt, ah relief, before coming back into the start finish area to go and do it all again, Yay!

This event marked the first Cyclocross event for a friend of mine and it was fantastic to see him racing with such a huge smile on his face.  

First Time Cyclocrosser

I have managed to convince a few people to try Cyclocross out now and am pleased to say that everyone who has tried it seems to agree with me about just how much fun this sport is. It is a very special type of pain that you go through in these events, you learn a lot about yourself and what your body is capable of.

You also remember why you ride your bike in the first place, to have fun! Slipping and sliding around in the mud and just generally doing all the things you have been told to never do on a bike you remember what it was like doing these things as a kid.

I think that anything that helps you connect with that side of your personality is a good thing. When you see the smiles on the faces of the other competitors even though you know that they are in pain, tells you something about just how much fun this sport is. 

Well that is it for now, until I write about the next event, get out there and try something new, something different just to see if you will enjoy it. As they say, don't knock it until you have tried it.

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