It was sunny. Its was hot. It was epic. A short 6km loop that had pretty much everything. Long fast sections, a couple jumps, rock gardens, grass track, tight and flowing single track, sandy sections, sweeping corners, you name it. Oh, and the hill climbs.
A rough single track section that lead to a sharp left hand turn down into the hill. There was no real run up, so you just had to hope the baby-head sized rocks at the bottom didn't chuck around too much so you could get enough drive to get to the top. Once you made it to the top there was another pleasant surprise, another smaller climb that was off to the right. Short but steep, hopefully you downshifted after the first half of the hill. If you managed to get up that without looping out or getting stuck, there was no time to catch your breath because going down the backside was just as demanding. A fairly vertical drop lead down into an off-camber section that was deceptively tricky because it was slick and had a very sharp rock strategically placed at the bottom ready to cause havoc. A nasty Cord-like tight trail lead further down the hill and it opened up a little so you figured you could now catch your breath. Nope. The big rock garden was just ahead. It doesn't look like much, but it was full of surprises and it was tough to keep momentum though it. And then another hill climb, which while not as difficult as the first one, still it was no cake walk.
It was a very physically demanding course. The heat really took it toll on the riders, me included. When I got to the scoring barrels at 1:55, I debated skipping the last lap, but decided to do one more to complete the full 2 hours. One thing was for certain, this would be my last lap, there was nothing left in the tank (me not the bike).
A tough, challenging but very fun course it took what ever you had to give. And then it took some more.
