Odyssey – a word that summons thoughts of an epic voyage of discovery, challenge and triumph. Wow, that’s quite a lot to live up to; is a mountain bike race worthy of such a title? Well last Saturday’s running of the Kona Odyssey was far from an ordinary outing and I’m going to go out on a not-too-flimsy limb here and say that this year’s event confirmed the race as the best mountain bike marathon in Australia. It has all the elements of a great race: seamless organisation, a point-to-point format with a variety of excellent terrain and tracks; hosted in a beautiful region, and above all it’s a truly hard and testing race. There’s simply no other one-day race that has all these elements so well covered.
The course from Apollo Bay to Forrest, via single track bliss, is astounding. It is hard to imagine 100km of race track that doesn’t double up and that keeps you totally engrossed in riding for the entire duration of the race. All the chatter post race in Forrest on Saturday from riders was “how good was such-and-such” and “what about that part”. Certainly some of the tougher sections were acknowledged as “brutal” but I didn’t hear one comment criticising any aspect of the course.
The race passes through the town of Forrest in the Otway ranges three times and it’s these three encounters with the mountains that in broad terms mark three distinct sectors of the race. The first sector is all about climbing. All true marathons need hard climbing to be worthy of the title of marathon, let alone odyssey. Riding up a little mound in a round about fashion to keep the gradient down just doesn’t cut it. This race has the Otway range to climb – a true Berg – with pinches requiring granny rings and Thomas-the-tank-engine resolve. The second sector is single track. The purpose built trails around Forrest are magic. From hidden smooth flowing bermed sections to tight twisty treed sections, all requiring concentration and controlled power to come out ahead of the clock. The last sector is a super sting in the tail and no odyssey would be complete without a real mental test. Said test starts with a fire road climb that seems to go higher than the actual mountain it ascends and ends with a pinch climb known as The Sledgehammer. If you keep you wits about you and body and bike together through all three sections you will conquer the Odyssey.
This year’s seventh edition started under beautiful clear skies. The legendary, or perhaps mythical, Otway quagmire was no where to be seen. I have been to this neck of the woods three times and am yet to see the following materialise – nothing but warm summer sun. After the roll out, the left hand turn onto Wild Dog Road starts the race proper and the ever increasing gradient typically sees the field fracturing into its rightful order. Powering over the top first this year was Australian mountain bike champion Chris Jongewaard followed closely by Lachie Norris with the other contenders either hurting too much to keep up or just content to follow the battle.
Once off road and into the forest, the riders are on their own and it’s difficult to say exactly what happens from here. You have to piece the story together from tales told on the other side and what you see on the way through yourself, usually wreckage by the side of the track. My Subaru-MarathonMTB.com teammate Mike Blewitt charged over the top in 10th with a mighty effort but was seen shortly thereafter on a steep pinch with a chain wedged between chainring and frame.
Adrian Jackson was next by the wayside in a sombre mood. Again, it was chain problems, this time a broken one. He must have fixed it smartly as he passed by the walking conga line on the race’s steepest section like he was late for school. Third place well deserved.
Shawn Lewis was next to encounter trouble. Broken body. First aid kit out, sewing himself back together after a stick went through the front wheel on a flat out downhill. Result: an impromptu superman over the bars in front of me. Perhaps it was worth it to hear the lovely Frenchwoman Mimi (Myriam Guillot – 3rd overall in the women’s race) ask if he was OK. Perhaps not.
Peta Mullens, the winner of the women’s race, seems to have no problems at all. Through the feed zone at Forrest she went, not stopping, while I grovelled for nourishment in my bag. We kept company with one another for a while through the single track but I had to press on. I could only ride on alone, atop my chain driven chariot, to the finish and the spoils of a modern day odyssey completed – shower, baked potato and ice cream.
Victorious under the blow up arch on Forrest oval was Norris, followed by Jongewaard, Jackson, Jason English and Paul Redenbach, with 800 other weary warriors following in their wake. Fastest time about four and a half hours, with the last across the line doing so in about 11 hours. A solid start to 2012 for everyone and an awesome weekend away for the Subaru-Marathon MTB team.