Next week it's the Bike Monkey organised Annadel 2010 race. 25 miles around our home turf. Details of the course are sketchy. We know there's a descent down Rough Go to the finish, but the rest will be revealed on the day. To prepare, me and Spangles took a trip up Santa Rosa way to hit the trails and get prepped for next week's fun.
We took the familiar climb up Canyon and then Marsh. I reckon this will form part of the race as it leads to the main trail heads... My guess is it'll be the first real climb. We then hit Lawndale. Unlikely to be on the race course as it dead ends, but its too much fun to miss. We looped back to the top of Marsh and then hit South Burma. I have a feeling we'll do both South and North Burma as part of a figure of 8 route.... We'll see. But I hope they have South Burma on there. Such great variety and some excellent rock garden goodies to test the mettle (and suspension.)
We finished the ride down Rough Go. Bike Monkey has pre-warned people about this finish and it's easy to see why as soon as you hit it. Technical doesn't quite do it justice. The singletrack is not steep - it'd be lethal if it were. But it's littered with so many boulders and rocks you have to make the route up on the fly. And fly you must. One small loss of momentum over those big rocks and you'll ruin your whole day. Great fun though. Threading through this weird, alien looking landscape, daring to keep looking ahead and ride faster, relying on latent skill to deal with the immediate terrain. This will certainly be a tough end to the race.... Not a trail I want to attempt riddled with cramp and carb crashes. Hopefully my prepping this week will offset that handicap. Watch this space for a race report!
We took the familiar climb up Canyon and then Marsh. I reckon this will form part of the race as it leads to the main trail heads... My guess is it'll be the first real climb. We then hit Lawndale. Unlikely to be on the race course as it dead ends, but its too much fun to miss. We looped back to the top of Marsh and then hit South Burma. I have a feeling we'll do both South and North Burma as part of a figure of 8 route.... We'll see. But I hope they have South Burma on there. Such great variety and some excellent rock garden goodies to test the mettle (and suspension.)
We finished the ride down Rough Go. Bike Monkey has pre-warned people about this finish and it's easy to see why as soon as you hit it. Technical doesn't quite do it justice. The singletrack is not steep - it'd be lethal if it were. But it's littered with so many boulders and rocks you have to make the route up on the fly. And fly you must. One small loss of momentum over those big rocks and you'll ruin your whole day. Great fun though. Threading through this weird, alien looking landscape, daring to keep looking ahead and ride faster, relying on latent skill to deal with the immediate terrain. This will certainly be a tough end to the race.... Not a trail I want to attempt riddled with cramp and carb crashes. Hopefully my prepping this week will offset that handicap. Watch this space for a race report!
Sounds frickin' intense, mate.
ReplyDeleteSuper sweet photos too.