My experience riding in the 2010 Jeep 24 Hour Mountain Bike Race in Victoria …
One of the things I have been doing recently to get fit is cycling. Not only good for general fitness, its really good for the legs which helps prepare for off-road riding.
Problem is I get really bored on roads… Luckily I think I have found the answer – cross country mountain biking. Last weekend a group of us entered the Jeep 24 hour mountain bike race in Forrest, in the Otways, 2.5 hours to the west of Melbourne. Six of us entered in a mixed team and one of my friends entered to do it solo (crazy bastard!). We headed up there on Friday night and set up camp ready for the start of the race at midday Saturday. I didn’t really know what to expect. I’d done a bit of downhill mountain biking before (all the guys I was with were in the Vic downhill race series) but I’d never really had a crack at going up hill too! To make things even more interesting the rain started a bit before the race and continued right throughout the race.
I won’t bore you with the details but it was a bloody hard slog through the mud and I take my hat off to my mate Rourkey and all the others that did it solo. The most I did was two laps in a row (about 32kms of hilly mud) and that was enough in one go for me! We all pulled through though and didn’t come last, which was a bonus. It was a great weekend and I am looking forward to doing more cross country riding to get fit for the trip.
