Santoft Sizzler

Leading up to race day I was a little apprehensive – although the Santoft course isn’t really technical (and unlikely to have wheel-grabbing alligators hiding in the sand) I was worried about how I’d go and  whether I would let myself down  after my last not-great outing at Pukeora.  First good point of the day was the weather – not raining!!  Even better, the track was pretty much dry.

I’d come down with a mild dose of germs during the week– just enough to notice when pushing really hard which, combined with a haze of pollen, meant my throat felt like it was closing up when I was breathing really hard. No problem, just make my legs work harder instead, right?  Being a short (relatively) event I planned to support myself while Shane sifted around, took photos and generally had a relaxing day out.

 

The first lap was pretty congested – I wasn’t willing to push hard enough to get a good spot on the start loop, so I mostly followed the train through the first single track.  The novelty of a track with no mud more than made up for my lack of top end pipes (probably made very little difference to be honest) and I thoroughly enjoyed the next few hours – passing, being passed, everyone on the track was polite, friendly and out for a good time.  I even won a spot prize because I was smiling going past the timing tent!  I also got to watch the Female Solo winner (Sasha) zoom past me, wheels hardly touching the ground – I guess flying is much faster than riding!

For some reason I had it in my head that the event ended at 5 hours, so when I came back around at 4 hrs 50 I thought I was finished.  Wait, what?  I can do another lap?  Surely not!  This was confirmed by the girls in the next-door pit.  I’d had enough, and was pretty sure I was done... until some friendly encouragement from Megan D to “finish it off”.  Oh, well, I’ve still got coke in my bottle, so best I head out again – and I’m so pleased that I did!  No, I couldn’t continue at the same intensity, but by backing it off a small amount I could keep going quite happily.  The extra lap made no difference to the results, but made a big difference to how I felt about the day!  Worn out, sweaty, smelly, dusty and smiling... success!