i will admit the last (or rather first) tas gravity enduro event nat and i attended was a bit of a shock to the system. in nsw similarly titled events are, shall we say: rather less exhausting and appear geared towards the not quite as ambitious crowd. the fact that one of our friends in canberra won a ‘gravity’ race at mount stromlo on her xc bike underscores that point.
after 1000 meters of climbing what little recklessness i may have had left in me had clearly evaporated and i was only trying to survive. i think nat had similar feelings. the fact that the trails in soho (south hobart) were nothing like what we are generally used to probably didn’t help either.
the next race, however, will be held in derby, which immediately eliminates a number of those lame excuses we might otherwise come up with. for starters the derby trails are famously machine built and meticulously maintained. these trails are also designed by the same guys that developed our local st helens network so we are fairly familiar with the level of difficulty and style of features.
while we weren’t able to spend too much time in hobart ahead of the race, derby is just down the road from us and we know most of the less homicidal trails pretty well. they are fun to ride, too, even the uphill parts. nat an i are certain this spot above, which we think will be one of the stage starting points, looks out all the way to bridport.
lastly it looks like we can again expect 1000 meters of uphill, but instead of the super steep fire road climb we were all pushing up last time derby offers nice and friendly switch-back lined climbs through tall ferns and even taller trees. except maybe the black dragon uphill, i’d definitely put that in the ‘painful’ category.
which leaves us with the task to prepare a bit more seriously, i.e. train a bit more and shuttle less. it hurts and frankly for nat and i no amount of ‘feel that pain leave the body’ can replace the satisfaction of a berm well railed or a double nicely doubled. but if that’s what enduro is like here in tassie then that’s what we’ll have to do, right?