Race along the crit track, down the fire-trail, two wheel drifting around the first corner to the outside of the gate. Keeping the pace up along the open trail to the short section of bitumen (now known for the spew patch). The first section of single track is dry and hard packed can be pumped and weaves through the shrubbery. The next section caught me out with its additional lumps of soil, when attempting a high speed passing maneuver found me improvising over a mound of dirt and weeds.
The climbing at Stromlo comes with switchbacks, a great place to get familiar with the 180 turn (team Powered by Freddo calls them Bill-backs). You could join a couple of conga lines lead by a slower rider, courteously passing riders when the opportunity arises. The GT was stiff and turned on a dime, it was light and accelerated swiftly when making a break for it on the sections of fire trail. The track and Bill-backs open a little as the climb continues and it wasn’t till the traverse across the top of Stromlo that it narrowed and turned just a bit rocky.
Choosing the right line became important as maintaining momentum during the traverse. Reaching what seems like the highest point, check my watch to find almost 30 minutes on track. Now for the fun part, descending off the mountain. Squeezing between the two big rocks it is all burms, drops and tabletops. It was this terrain the Velvet R fork loves. Once again it was line choice and keeping loose, soaking up the rough stuff. It was here on top of Stromlo I passed a few familiar faces, one of the fast SCUM juniors and part of the winning schools teams. Yes it was a Binder and yes she tried to latch onto my rear wheel after a quick hello. Diane Perry was pondering life atop of the mountain, "Crummy why am I doing this?" she asked switching up the last climb. Over on the decent I came across Bill of Bill-back fame tensely making his way around a small bermed high speed corner. "Bill-back", I call as I follow another rider on the inside line, "Come on Bill!" The backside and downhill trail included a couple of A line choices in the way of drops and rollovers. Everyone must have seen someone or be involved in a over the bar incident while riding these sections, it seemed like everyone had a story.
Reaching the start of Skyline, during the night laps you would head straight through to Skyline and chomp on a bit of the main downhill track before linking onto fire trail then back onto single track somewhere before Wombat Junction. On a day lap we headed left before Skyline transitioning on to the relatively smooth tabletop section. Get enough speed you would clear and often pump the mounds, reaching even more serious speed. What a ball it was.
Now the course wound its way back to near the main area via Wombat Junction and all the rocks, to only tease every rider by winding back away and crossing over the track. It included enough climbing to punish a rider not leaving a little in the tank. From here it was relatively smooth sailing, with plenty of speed down the fire trail. Braking late into the right hand corner of a dog leg, pump a couple of bumps and head into what became a muddy mess. Virtually the only wet part on course lead under and around, then back onto the crit track.
So I ended up doing six laps for the team Raging Bull Racing. The team completed 19 laps and placed mid field in the mixed fours category. It was good to catch up with many people at the race and I was happy to be on the team side of the fence again.
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