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Mountains to Beach: Following Jo Battersby

Today I awoke to a light fog and no rain. Good news for our first race day. We caught the Kosciousko chair lift up to the top station as the sun rose over the mountains and bathed us in it’s warm rays.

We went off at 30sec intervals for the first stage of the race, a12km downhill time trial. There was plenty of climbing for a supposedly down hill stage. Grassy switchbacks, off camber, plenty of mud, sets of stairs, and some really fun roll overs on the four cross track. It certainly kept my concentration levels switched on until I reached the bottom safely.

After a leisurely 16km cruise to Lake Crackenback resort, we were treated to lunch by the lake in the beautiful surrounds as we shared some more laughs with fellow racers.

This afternoon’s 31km stage race was a mass start. I placed myself near the front of the field so I was free to ride my own pace. I was soon overtaken by faster guys as we rode the fast singletrack round the edge of the lake. Plenty of pinch climbs and muddy grassy sections to challenge those technical skills.

Meg, my mate, rode smashingly well today and placed third in womens – so proud of her – and on a niner hard tail, ouch! All in all a fun first day of racing.

Jo and scoot2 🙂

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