22.03.09 - Oceanias Battle in Thredbo
I always look forward to heading to Thredbo (provided the weather forecast looks good). So despite a big week moving house, packing bags, and organising everything for a move to Japan 2 days after Oceanias, I was looking forward to getting there. To relax as well as race. It would be the Aussies, the Kiwis and a couple of Tahitian riders hitting up a new track. We were all eager to see what it was like and whether it compared to the normally great course there.
The weather was good, perfect in fact. The track ended up being very different too. It was one of those tracks that's hard and annoying to just ride, but great to race on. Challenging and interesting enough. And race day was also challenging and interesting. The first challenge was starting at the back again. I tried not to overdo it, moved up gradually, getting into the first singletrack section in 7th. My aim was to watch the favourite, McConnell. Maca was fired up and looking fast, so I just aimed to stay with him.
One of the Kiwis was acting as a roadblock for the first long (10mins) singletrack, letting another Kiwi and our own Lachlan Norris get away. I sat behind Maca and Henderson, all of use waiting to go around. By the time it opened up for the main climb and the second half of the lap, we were over a minute down on the first two. Maca and i chased hard, also keeping in mind there was a long way to go. After a while, we almost got across to Norris, dropping the Kiwis easily, but only just dropping Hendo and Cal Britton. Without knowing my form, I wanted to ride conservatively for the first half. But either way, I couldn't match Maca's climbing speed. He'd caught and passed Norris, and I just tried to keep them in sight.But Hendo was also on my heels.
I generally felt ok, but wasn't climbing well. But without any mishaps, I held my position and rode consistently the whole race. It was good to have a race without mechanicals or crashes. Especially no cramping for once. I just turned it up on the last lap and a half and finished in 3rd behind Maca and Norris, Hendo in 4th. Given the course is just like Japanese courses (lots of climbing on grass), I'm happy enough with my form. Now it's time to clean and pack my bike, then jet off to Osaka for more of the same next weekend.