Round 2 – SRAM Singletrack Mind Series – Protected by Brave Soldier

Coondoo Road in Nowra, home to some sweet flowing single trails, sandy berms and brief little climbs, hosted round 2 of the Single Trackmind Series. A good turn out was expected after a faultless performance by Chocolate Foot at round one.
Deciding that 8 hours solo isn’t what I need right now, I teamed up with Mike Blewett to have a solid crack in the men’s pairs category. Stiff competition was on hand with the likes of Rockstar Racing, Team Yeti/Gu and the Spearmans/Giant team, all ready to thrash it out.
The start was a little heated but I found myself entering the single track with the front runners. Carlso put the hammer down as we wound our way through the Coondoo rd circuit. Small punchy climbs, linked by flowy single track and a few fire road sections, all made for a quality 10km loop. Shortly into the second lap my trusty hardtail prepared by City Bike Depot was feeling a little too loose in the rear end. Many thought’s racing through my mind, I decided to cut straight back to the pits and sent mike out for his laps. This lost us a couple of minutes but made the fight much sweeter in the long run. The track dried out and the corners claimed their fair share of riders pushing to hard in the soft stuff. Feeling a little “in the box” by mid afternoon, I gobbled down a Hammer Gel to see me through. Mike and I battled right till the end coming back from 11th all the way to 5th.
A solid day in the saddle for both of us. Brave Soldier ensured we were there till the end with Friction Zone keeping us at ease. Thanks very much to Mike for riding with me, he certainly kept the laps clocking up a rapid rate. Thanks to Fiona for keeping me topped of with all the Hammer I needed and of course the team at Chocolate Foot and SCUM for putting together a great event.
This weekend I have four cross and dual slalom on at Homebush and the following weekend the much anticipated Capital Punishment in Canberra. Look out for some further updates soon.