Day one of racing done and dusted…well not that there was any dust it was pretty damn muddy!
What a humbling experience, with three huge stages with the first being over 10kms, taking me nearly 20 minutes! I managed to catch over 15 riders, making no new Italian friends, haha!
The track was pretty brutal after the whole womans field and 300+ riders in front of me had ripped their way down it. Getting to the start was hard enough with two chairlifts and a 40 minute climb in the rain! Stage two had us do a 45 minute climb plus a 20 minute hike-a-bike to the top of an amazing trail, with a mixture of taped open grass areas and steep singletrack.
Stage three ran pretty much from the top of the chairlifts which was nice and the track itself was pretty much a 15 minute full on downhill, so I was glad to see the finish line and a cold beer! Sitting in 90th, I just washed the bike and getting ready to do it all again tomorrow!
