iROC - inov-8 Run Orienteer Cycle
Donnelly and MacLeod Win iROC
Rob Howard / 19.04.2009
The mountain bike endurance event was to start with a 500m run to spread the riders out a little before they set off on their bikes and Bruce Duncan joked, “The way my legs feel that may be the hardest part of the day!� To make matters worse most chose to run in their bike shoes – not a comfortable experience to start the day, but one that would be quickly forgotten on the first climb of the bike course.
With the morning’s low cloud burning off and the sun coming out it was clearly going to be hot and most riders chose to leave drinks in the transition area, which they’d pass through regularly – though how regularly depended on the number of laps they completed in the 4 hours available.
The course was made up of alternate laps, the first a new route on the familiar hills up the valley side, and the second a repeat of last night’s time trial with its forest single track and the descent of the ‘wall of death’. Between these loops riders returned to base to check in at the spectator area and the competition was run like a mini-enduro, with the most laps scoring the highest.
Those with the energy still left and enough competitive spirit raced off uphill, others took it easy. “There’s no rush,� said one racer, “I’ve got 4 hours!� There were a few riders who did the first two laps and decided that was enough for the day, and at least one early injury, the result of crashing into a tree. The unlucky and disappointed rider commented, “I did well on the riding last night. It’s ironic, I could do it in the dark but not in the daylight!� Quite a few said the same thing – it seems a limited field of vision might be a good thing when mountain biking!
For those with the confidence the best part of the course was the second loop ... after the long drag up the quarry road. Once at the top of this the route lead out along the edge of the quarry on an exposed grassy ridge, then up to the high point on a grassed over spoil heap, and back down ‘the wall of death’ which in daylight was revealed as a steep and long drop off – one where the daylight view from the top was a joy to the confident riders and a nerve tester for those less sure of their skills. Then came the single track descent through the forest, with its railway girder bridges and several steep drop-offs that at least half the racers chose to walk down rather than take a risk. On later laps, with more fatigue in their legs, there was even more reason for caution.
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