Forrest 6hr Mountain Bike Race

The 2012 Forrest 6hr Mountain Bike race began with a light drizzle but this soon turned for the better as the rain held up and the racing was underway. The course at Forrest is always fun to ride and today was no exception. Fast and flowing single track gave many riders lots of thrills and spills and the organising committee should be very pleased with their efforts. I was racing with my teammate Katherine O’Shea in the mixed pairs category. Although racing in the mixed pairs category, we were on a mission to win overall honours, but with 200 Teams & 600+ riders, we had our work cut out for us. Lap times were expected to be around 25minutes so when I came through in a time of 21:30, I was quite surprised. Kat and I had decided to complete 2 double lap stints at a time so we could have some form of recovery in between our laps. At the mid-way point, Kat and I were riding well and keeping upright. We were in the mix with the leaders in the male pairs category making it a close battle for overall honours. Throughout the day, both Kat and I maintained our speed with the lap times on paper looking very good. With an hour to go, the other teams faded and we had control of the overall lead by some minutes. I completed my last double lap stint and finished on a high by knocking out another couple of consistent 21:30’s which I was very pleased about. Kat completed her last double lap stint by holding onto her very consistent times of 24minutes (a time that was faster than 95% of the guys). To finish with an overall win, a category win and to have all our skin still intact left us both with smiles on our faces in what was a very successful day on the bike. I was pleased with my performance, completing 8 laps, all of which were recorded in the time of 21 minutes. I would like to thank my sponsors, Torq nutrition, Monza Imports, SRAM, Continental, Rudy Project and Zoot Recovery. Also to all the marshals on course for making our racing environment a safe one. To my coach Matt Wallace for his hard work behind the scenes developing my programs, my parents and family for their amazing support and to Kat O’Shea for being an awesome teammate today. I wish Kat good luck for her overseas trip to race the World Cups in Europe and follow her dream to represent Australia in the Olympics for the second time. Hope you enjoyed the read, Thanks Brenton