Went for a ride in the forest today in near storm conditions with my friend Murray. A bit of a training ride for the race in two weeks and a chance to test out some of my new gear while riding a lot faster than I normally do. It was bucketing down the whole time and I have never seen the trails so waterlogged out at Woodhill. Large sections of singletrack were under 6 inches of water and it was fun blasting through that with 4 inch wide tyres. The base is sandy so you are doing no real damage.
Most welcome post ride warm-up dram.
Conclusions:
- The Camelbak was great today. I didn't even notice it on my back and I drank a lot more than if I was using bidons and ingested a lot less mud.
- It was not however waterproof and I'm glad I didn't take my camera. Everything inside got totally soaked.
- The carbohydrate "squeezy things" that I purchased for the race tasted like licking a cat's bum, but with a hint of lemon.
- They seemed to work however.
- My new Kool-Stop brake pads which have been noisy, grabby and annoying on the road worked great in the dirt.
- I still need to put on some more weight after the food poisoning as my baggy wet shorts kept slipping off my hips.
- My ankle died after 2 hours but I think with a bit of racing adrenaline I could ride through the pain and get 3 or more hours out of it.
- My new Ahearne Spaceman Flask Holster retained its contents over some pretty rough terrain.
- My riding glasses kept the mud out of my eyes but fogged-up quite badly. I have some anti-fog spray from my motorcycle riding days somewhere that I must dig out and use.
1 comment:
Nice flask!
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