About this time last week I was on the starting line for the Woodford to Glenbrook Cycle Classic. It is a ride held to support the NRMA Careflight Helicopter Rescue service. I am always willing to support a good cause so I put my registration in and got the Single Speed which shall hence forth be known as the fearless gearless done.
Having said that I am not a mountain biker. I have never ridden the Oaks firetrail on which the ride was being held. But there is a first time for everything and Lindsay from Dulwich Hill Bicycle Club did a dirt works 100 km ride on a rigid single speed MTB. So 25 km would be easier – right?
Well yours truly was in for an interesting time from the begining. I got to Woodford by train. The railway station was right next to the starting line. There were plenty of Grey Ghosts on the platform and but the fearless gearless and I got through without issues. I got to the registration table and got my number. Earlier in the week when I got a 21 tooth cog fitted to the fearless gearless I had a suspicion that I would be the only loon on a single speed and I told this to the guys at Cheeky Monkey. They were right in saying I was giving myself too much credit.
I got talking to some guys on single speeds with 31-16 ratio (still 2-1). There was a race with in a race with some guys using cyclocross bikes to do the ride – some of these were basically road bikes with Hybrid bike tyres. There were some single speeds in this group as well. There were people with bikes that would cost more than all of my bikes put together and there were some bikes that made the fearless gearless look like a the Colnago of MTBs!
I wound up riding with the social riders where I got talking to a couple of girls in tutus, one was a lawyer from a community legal centre and the other was a radio announcer who did traffic for the Sydney radio stations. I sorted out a chain that got tangled up – it was sticky with grease and I urged the rider to get it lubed once the ride was over. Sue the lawyer in the tutu was quite interesting to talk she and her friend had never riden the trail before and had not done much riding. I assured them things would be ok.
When we registered we were given an electronic device that was to be strapped on the rider/walker/runners ankle. This was like an e-tag used on cars. We were started in waves much like runners in a race. Like the runners there was a starting gun. When it came our turn to take off we had the gun and a whole cacophany of trilling from the electronic tags.
The early stage of the ride was reasonable we went down a residential street and then rolled through to the fire trail. There were some hills on this section but I got up those with out trouble. We were told that the first 12 kilometers were newly graded. This meant that there were soft spots and quite a bit of loose dirt. The report of the changes were right on the money there was quite a bit of loose dirt and I took things slowly. It was ok to start off with. However the further I got the more problematic it was. I became aware that I really should have fitted knobbies (MTB tyres that have knobs that grip the ground) instead of the city country tyres that I was riding with.
The first rough stage came up at about the 4 Kilometer mark and I found myself looking for an easy way to ride down. There was an official photographer on this stage and he must have known how others got down because he pointed out the easy way down and asked for a smile as I rode down. Riders with suspension had an easier time on the rough sections, of which there were many. I got a case of shaken baby syndrome going down some of the easier rough sections. There were a couple of stages where I had to dismount and walk the fearless gearless down because the terrain was so rough.
Just before the halfway mark the back markers of the riders of which I was one were overtaken by the first runners. From then on I knew I would have to ride carefully because we were now joined by pedestrians. Eventually I got to some parts of the trail that were rough and hilly where I dismounted and either ran or pushed the bike to the top. By these sections we were joined by more runners.
I copped some flak from runners because I was wearing the polkadot jersey (Tour De France King of the Mountains). I probably should have worn something else but given the weather I was expecting I felt I needed something warm. The jersey was bought from ebay and I gather was a souvenier from a touring holiday in France or Switzerland. It is warm and keeps me warm in freezing weather. The Blue Mountains where the ride was held is particulary cold in winter (Southern Hemisphere winter is from June to August or there abouts). I wore a pair of long overnicks and had my yellow gillet over my jersey.
Unfortunatly I was wrong about the weather. It was an unseasonally sunny day and quite warm when we started I got stonkered as we went along and by the time I made the final rough stage, where I had to dismount my riding gear was soaked by sweat. If I do the ride again I will wear some arm and leg warmers which can be taken off as things get hot and put on again after the race.
I met Ray my brother in law at the end of final rough stage. He told me something I already knew – next time I do this ride or even ride this trail I should get suspension. I whole heartedly agreed although I will have retro fit a suspension fork to the Iguana (the fearless gearless has a 1inch headset and most modern bikes have a 1 and 1/4 inch headset – the Iguana may take it although I don’t know). As I left the drink station on that stage some one crashed. The St John member in me came out and I went to render assistance. Ray’s RFS crew got in and did the job. I got my bidon filled and got on my way.
Eventually toward the end the terrain got fairly good for riding with city country tread and I got moving. I had to be careful of the runners and I had to ride slowly. In some cases this was not a problem with a number of young female runners in their 20s wearing figure hugging lycra that highlighted all the right curves in all the right places! It wasn’t all a perv though. I had to get past idiots running with Ipods. I often wonder what would have happened if they had been running on the road and in the path of 4wds?
I got to the finish and got accross the finish just although I had to dismount and run/walk up an incline and then remount and ride accross the finish. When I got there I handed over the electronic tag and went and got a sausage sandwich from the Lions Club barbecue. I myself ready to get on my way when I ran into a friend of mine from Clyde days, who bought a house in Hazelbrook/Woodford. When he bought the house he bought a $3500 dual suspension Raceline MTB. He is still at Clyde and is doing well.
I found my placing from an officials desk. I came 470 out of 479, 4 of the riders behind me were unicyclists with huge knobby tyres. I don’t know weather I should be happy or cry. I informed people on the DHBC website and found some support there although someone did back up the point that I need suspension for the next time I do that ride.
I loaded the bike onto the trailer befor I found I had left my commorative shirt at the merch stand. I went and collected it and got back in time to get myself on to the line for the bus to Glenbrook. The bus took us from the finish at Euroka Clearing to Glenbrook Railway station. I had a return ticket from Lithgow to Glenbrook but I decided to ride to Ruth’s place in Warrimoo. After a bit of bungling around I found my way to the highway and rode up the highway and made it all the way to Ruth’s earlier than what I though I would when I rang her. I had some food there because I was famished. I went to Sarah and Ray’s place for dinner and caught up with Sarah and Ray and their former housemate Peter. As I missed the last train that would have got me home at a reasonable time, I got a lift home with Ray and Sarah.
In short a good day with some lessons namely should I do the ride again (and I will) I will need a bike with suspension forks and equip the bike with knobby tires. I will need to do some training and wear appropriate clothing to get through the ride. In short the fearless gearless will be a good commuter but we will see how it goes.
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