Jayco National Series #3 - Thredbo

The start of the race (with Nick Both #13 about to have his race ending crash - bad luck mate)

Me back near the start/finish

Me and Paul Aubrey after the race

Davo (my dad) took some time out from his fly fishing to watch the race

Round #3 of the Jayco Australian National Series was held at Thredbo over the weekend. The ski resort was hit with constant rain from Thursday night and by the time Saturday came around, the ducks on the village green were happy, but the XC course was turning into mud. For me, it was a great opportunity to race on conditions similar to what we often get in Europe, and with the Maxxis Medusa mud tyres on, I was ready to slide around in the muck and have some fun. Of course the mud makes the climbs very energy sapping and it was clear from the first lap that I didn’t have the horse power on the day to go with Lachy as he took off from everyone on the first lap. I was trying to ride efficiently and smooth, saving energy were I could so that I had some power to get me out of trouble when I needed it; it is really important to keep your momentum in the mud, because getting off to run can be costly, so it is good to have few bursts of power up your sleeve. Considering the conditions, my race went very smoothly. The FRM 2x9 chain rings up front shifted perfectly all day without even a hint of chain suck, I don’t think I have ever used rings that performed so well in such mud. Also, the 2.1" Medusa’s were hooking up really well making the descents so much fun.

Lachy took out his second race in a row closely followed by Hendo and Paul VDP. Aido, Cal and I were 4th, 5th and 6th respectively. Not a bad race, but not a great one either. I never felt like I had good legs but nonetheless I was able to chalk up a few more valuable UCI points.