I don't know officially yet, but somewhere around 5 hours 50 minutes (I don't have a watch and forgot to check the speedo). I'm pretty happy to break the 6 hours though.

 

One of the mates I ride with provided me with great motivation. I get him on the climbs and he has me on the flats and decents. We basically went neck a neck for over 70km before he had a chain suck hic up and I managed to get a lead and keep it - what else are mates for?

 

Cheers

 

Steve M

 

On 5/5/08, Mark Trotter <mtrotter@...> wrote:

Sounds excellent what sort of time did it take?

 

Mark Trotter

---

From: armidalemtb@yahoogroups.com [mailto:armidalemtb@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of smanything
Sent: Monday, 5 May 2008 2:26 PM
To: armidalemtb@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [armidalemtb] 2008 Dirtworks Report

 

For anyone who likes to ride because of the wilderness places it
takes you and the challenges those places can pose, this race is a
must. This race is not about finely planned and manicured single
track with nicely shaped burms, well spaced jumps and interesting
little bridges. It's a ride that follows tracks hewn up, around,
over and down some of the most beautiful and rugged sandstone
country around.

As well as the stunning country this race goes through, the tracks
are challenging, technical, highly varied and just a hell of a lot
of fun to ride. (And for the history buffs, sections of it follows
the original convict trail of the Great North Road – some of the old
sandstone bridges are still there).

Some sections run along smooth fire trail, others are rough fire
trail, and then there those sections that are simply trails of
sandstone rock ledges and boulders where three foot drops are the
norm. All draped over 100km's of awesome descents and some dam
challenging ascents. And just to keep the variation there is a
smattering of tar, one river crossing that is knee depth and one
across and interesting set of planks strapped to kayaks.

The atmosphere in the little village this race is staged is great as
is the race's organization, which caters for over 1200 riders.

Definitely not a ride to do on a hard tail, unless you are a hard
core masochist. Those on 5-6 inch all mountain bikes had the most
fun as they loved what it offered on the rough downs – so it's
definitely a dually race.

If you opt for the 50 km option you will be disappointed, because it
follows all the tar and smooth sections of the 100km option, leaving
most of the really fun stuff out. To really get the most out of this
one you have to do the 100.

Loved it and will most definitely try and keep it on the annual race
calendar.