number 2 in the 7 race series was held in thredbo. i was really rather looking forward to this event: i do like the flow trail. it is quick, long and has a few features that i generally don’t get to practice too often, like (really deep) berms and non-threatening jumps.
i had of course been on the flow trail before, last year in january with aldo and guy and then in march with the new nomad. last year i found it really hard work down the mountain: towards the end of each complete run i would really struggle with my arms, legs and back muscles. you find that hard to imagine: well, try to squat leaning forward for 10 minutes and see how you like it. and no, we don’t sit.
we got to thredbo on friday afternoon and i had one hour left before the lift closed. i knew they had made a few changes to the track and did not want to find out at the last minute, so while the girls sorted out the accommodation i got three runs in.
i do admit that my legs felt a bit wobbly after that but i actually did not feel tired. it was a good thing, too, that i did these recon runs. the guys had built in a few more turns, berms and some tabletops in rather unexpected places. the last part towards the valley terminal had been turned into a veritable labyrinth, arguably to slow people down a bit in some critical spots.
i was also slightly demotivated. last year my best time last year was 10:42 (for the strava section thredbo dh – flow trail which starts broadly where the flow trail exits from the gravel road and ends at the valley terminal).
always the optimist i had set my target for this year to be under 10 minutes. disappointingly my 3 runs were 10:58, 10:56 and 10:34. a long way off and unfortunately pretty consistent. not a great setup for race day.