Inter-Winter Round 1 - Creswick 3 Hour Race

What an amazing day it turned out to be, even though the start was a bit less than average.  Once I'd dragged myself out of bed, leaving a very sad Beep still tucked under the doona, my day got better once I'd gotten to the start line, stumbled across Brett and Jo, finally found Roz, and decided that all Roz and myself were up for was a fun trail ride on a course that we'd never ridden.  And what a brilliant ride we had in the warm sunshine.  I have a feeling it was one of the last gorgeous days in Creswick until late Spring.  

Roz set the pace, which also set the pace of talking.  A puffing rider behind us kindly asked if we could stop talking, because he thought it very disheartening that we were talking non-stop while he was struggling to just ride.  He eventually passed us further on and had a laugh.  45 minutes later he kindly asked us again to stop rubbing it in that we could yabba non-stop and still ride up the climbs.  He passed us and when we stopped in transition for a bottle we heard 'Aahhh, they've finally stopped talking!' - the 3 of us had a chuckle and he announced he was done for the day.  Roz and I headed out for another 2 laps.  

The course was easy but with (what felt like) relentless climbing.  At the end of the first lap I mentioned to Roz that if her legs were feeling a bit used after only one lap (she was riding singlespeed!), she had good reason because each lap had 250m elevation gain - a fair amount for each 40 min lap.  The descents were fun and the entire course flowed beautifully.  

4 laps took me to 2hr 45min with 950m elevation gain, and I was happy to finish at that point.  I still had the 1.5hr drive home, pick up Toohey for a 2 night sleep over, do a long walk with Toohey and Beep, feed myself and the 'kids', and prepare for the next week.  

I am now contentedly tired (as are the dogs), having thoroughly enjoyed not just the race but the whole weekend.  I now have a very busy 2 weeks before the next race at Moama - let's hope I manage to get in some k's so that I can actually race a little bit rather than just ride.