Returning to a tough event is just as mentally challenging as it is physically. One year ago, asking MarathonMTB.com Team rider Graeme Arnott if he would return to the 100 mile Fling in 2011 (after winning in 2010), he paused.
“No, I don’t think so. I know how hard it is now, and I can’t really improve on my result. We’ll see, but I just don’t think I would.”
I felt similar – except for the improving on my result part. There was room to move there – it’s just whether I could do the moving required.
As it turns out, we both ended up back on the start line for the 2011 Briar’s Highland Fling. After having completed the Crocodile Trophy just over two weeks earlier as part of the Subaru-MarathonMTB.com Team with Justin Morris, our recovery and subsequent performance were unknown.
Bundanoon is a great little town – especially with their patience at being over run by needy mountain bikers multiple times each year. The Briar’s Highland Fling is certainly the busiest event though, with 2000 mountain bikers taking the start across the various distances and categories. Basically, it’s a pretty big deal. The event is well run, the cash prizes are generous, the course is fun, and the field is impressive becuase of these three key factors. A win here is something to be pleased about.
The 100 mile race has only attracted about 30 racers in the past two years. It’s not a big field. Close friends have commented that the general Australian Mountain Bike Racing populace don’t like a hard race. Not too many big hills, not too long, not too hard to get to. The Fling is close, and does have consistent rolling hills. But the 100 mile option just scares people off – or perhaps it’s the strict time cut offs?
Regardless, the 100 mile bunch would put on a good showing. With Andy Fellows, Jason English, and an in form Andrew Hall lining up with defending champion Graeme Arnott – it would be a good race. Starting with the Full Fling Opens, Vets and Masters categories shapes the race. Anyone motivated to get a result will force the pace early, and agood group has formed in the past. This happenned again, with Andy Fellows, myself, Graeme Arnott, Ben Carmody, Rod McGee, Andrew Hall, Jason English, Tim ‘Pista Pins’ Bateman and a few others drilling it through the famrland trails the typify the early section.
Personally, I was mostly dagging off the back of the bunch, and getting back on whenever it settled. The pace wasn’t too much, but it was solid at times, with Hall, English and Fellows all happy to push pretty hard. We arrived at Wingello in about 58 minutes – which was pretty good going. I grabbed some fresh bottles from our brilliant MarathonMTB.com feeder Megs Binder, and rushed off with three Full Flingers – curious as to whether I’d be forgotten about. We had a good tempo, but by the first noticeable climb we had a group breathing down our necks. Rod McGee dropped the rest of us on his singlespeed on the climb, and soon after ‘The Wall’ we are all abck together, and I was reversing. I wasn’t too fazed. I was climbing like a bag of spanners, and Graeme was in the lead group. If I could hold on to fifth, that’d be alright.
Your memory is a wonderful thing. But I plain forgot at least 20km of the loop through the Wingello trails. And just because you don’t remember them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. And in the 100 mile Fling, they exist twice. Being in no mans land is pretty familiar ground. I just figured I would keep my (moderate) rhythm and get to the end.
Partway into the second lap of Wingello, I started to catch some Full Fling backmarkers. As terrible as it sounds, this is actually really good. Eevry rider is like a moving goal post, and a small step closer to finishing. Unfortunately, one of ther people pulled over at the side looked familiar – it was Graeme. His back was in agony, and he said he was pretty much done for the day. I wished him luck in getting back, and carried on.
The last ‘transition’ at Wingello came and went, as I heard Andy Fellows wasn’t far ahead. Regardless, he would have even more time on me as I rushed through Wingello the first time. And a few minutes is a pretty big gap. The last stage hurt as usual. I’d love to be able to ride some of that singletrack when not so fatigued. Those are some lucky property owners. After the Boundary Rider and Rollercoaster sections were done, I struggled home. Coming into the finish area I could see Andy Fellows finishing his post race interview. That was pretty close then.
Like any race, we hung around afterwards and watched the prize givings, ate food, and heard stories about all the races within races. This afterglow is some of the best time in mountain bike racing – as it offers a time to catch up with friends who you haven’t seen since… the last bike race.
2012 – will it be another 100 mile at the Fling? Perhaps.