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…as experienced from the lofty height of my trusty mountain bike

I was teamed up with Simon Tilley, a mate of mine from the Canberra Off Road Cycling club for a 6 hour cycle rogaine in Stromlo forest starting from the new Deeks Drive. It's been many years since I did my last rogaine and I'd never done one on the bike before so I was looking forward to the challenge. We were both pleasantly surprised to find out the event was to be held in Stromlo as we both had extensive knowledge of all the areas used, terrain etc. We decided to set a course that would allow us to get all 57 controls valued at 3250 points. The course set was to be used as a guide, with flexibility during the course of the event if other opportunities presented themselves, or in the case of us being too optimistic. We decided to tackle the Mt Stromlo section first as it looked the most difficult to ride and navigate. From there the most sensible place to go next was the Bluetts Forest section, then briefly back into the normal Stromlo forest around Deeks drive, through Pipe Flat and the forest leased by the farmers from hell, then onto Dairy Farmers over to the Cork Plantation followed by the final dash to the hash house picking up the last half dozen controls on the way. That was the plan.

With our course set we stocked up with various food bars, gels etc for the day ahead and got ready for the Le Mans start. We made sure we knew exactly where we had to go for the first few controls. The whistle went for the start and we were off. We had the first 4 controls virtually memorised and were first away from the hash house heading for Mt Stromlo. It's always good to get off to a good start and we had the first control (46) in about 3 minutes, the first 4 in 20 (controls 35, 53 and 62). I heard some horror stories before the start of past teams losing the control card after a long hard days rogaining so decided after the first control the best place for it was down the front of my cycling top.

We forged ahead at a pretty solid pace and were making really good time. While I was punching the control card Simon was setting us up for the next control with virtually no real stopping. The only real time for eating was done while retracing my steps after finding a control, power bar/clif bar in hand and camel back, so basically once we got back to the bikes we were off straight away. We also managed to save heaps of time by quite a lot of cross country riding heading directly to a control rather than taking a longer road route, and our combined knowledge of many of the lesser trails also helped. But what helped most is that we both knew the entire area extremely well so could look at the map and have a relatively accurate idea of where each control was and the best way to approach it.

Control 75 was next followed by a sweep of the back of Mt Stromlo collecting 64, 55, 56, 65, and 91. We then retraced our steps to get 57 but missed a fence marked on the map so lost about 10 minutes. This was quickly rectified and rather than worry about it, we used it to remind ourselves to take the extra few seconds to ensure we had our navigation worked out. Once over this minor mishap we continued on with 76, 66, 47, 54 and 101.

It was good to get the first of the 100 pointers and I can't recall exactly what time we got there but I remember a couple of teams taking it easy after the long climb enjoying the view. Lucky buggers. We simply charged in, I got verification from Simon were the control was, I had it in seconds and then we were out of there. Must have looked pretty serious for those enjoying the great weather and views.

Anyway the first couple of hours passed and we were going strong, no hint of tiredness and had nearly cleared the Mt Stromlo section. This was achieved at the 2hr 20 mark after we found 81, 36 and 79. We left control 34 to be collected on the return from Bluetts.

Next we headed into Bluetts and continued at the same constant pace. First we got the easy controls along Uriarra Road (37 and 82) then headed into the bush for 67, 58, 68, 49 and the second of the 100's 102. Simon's navigation was holding up to the test, and we were getting within 100m metres of all the controls pretty comfortably. It was about now that I realised it was getting hot and was feeling pretty fortunate that I managed to slop on a bit of sunny cream before the start. It was pretty obvious that many of the teams had opted for the Mt Stromlo/Bluetts areas first as it was here that we crossed paths with the most number of teams, but none appeared to be going as hard as we were,....or maybe they just had more sense.

The pace continued with controls 48, 92, 50, 78, 77, 59 and 69 all picked up with relative ease. With Bluetts cleared we headed back into the Mt Stromlo section and picked up the control 34 that we had left and then headed back into the main Stromlo area for 45. We had now been going for 3hr 40 and at this stage I still gave us a better than even chance of getting all the remaining controls. Unfortunately 45 was a bit of a doozy as we encountered a lady with a couple of semi uncontrollable dogs and rather than risk injury (dog bite) went the long way. Now that I look at the map it was really the long long way but at the time it didn't seem a problem.

Before the start we had discussed the possible option of crossing the river near 72 as there is a spot there that at times is passable but having headed straight for 72 this was not considered as we had to go back for 33. Next was 44, and at the 4 hour mark we had made it to control 90 at the top of a steep climb. It was pretty hot now and this was the first time I was starting to feel the pinch. Still we charged on but now I was starting to lag 30-40m behind Simon.

Next we nailed 42, 73 and 31 and Simon, realising I was starting to drop of the back, did most of the running around for the next few controls while I used the small amount of time to eat as much as possible and get fluid back into my system. At 73 I actually went in search of the 2 extra power gels I had put in my backpack before the start but to my horror failed to find them. Don't tell me I left them in the car, dummy! Next we headed for 51 and I had to do with a Clif bar instead. I hadn't paid much attention before the start to the location of the water points but now in a spot of bother consulted the map and much to my disbelief the closest was a mere 100m away. Talk about in luck, and it didn't even involve having to greatly change our course!

Next we headed for the Pipe Flat area which, for anyone who was involved in the National Mountain Bike Stage Race a couple of years ago, was where we were refused entry at gunpoint by the farmers who lease that area of forest from ACT Forests. There were also a couple of thoughts of caution as we crossed the fence, and if I remember correctly a sarcastic comment from Simon along the lines of "Where are the farmers now?"

We charged on, 30, down to 61, then 60 and 71. It was a long way out of our way for 70 points but we hadn't really conceded yet. This section was rather deceptive and took a lot longer than it looked from the map. We doubled back for 63 then rode the contours for 70.

This was the last of the Pipe Flat area controls, and much to my relief I was still able to push on although not as hard as I would have liked. My body was really stuffed, but there was no sign of cramping or the dreaded total body stop. With the last hour approaching we tackled what I feel was the toughest section of the whole event, the climb on foot to the top of Dairy Farmers from the south following the fence line. I swear some of this is at 45 degrees!

Well I made it to the top and to my disbelief the control was 40 metres down the other side. I suppose we can thank the honest public for David not being able to leave the controls in public sight. That made the last of the 100 pointers. Thankfully Simon had 2 power gels left so he offered one my way. Even if it only helps a little the mental knowledge that you've downed a gel on its own is enough to keep you going for another 20 minutes or so.

40 minutes to go and we still had a lot of ground to cover so we wasted no time in shooting down towards the Cork Plantation for the last of the 80 pointers. This sucker turned out to be a real pain to locate and probably cost us the time penalty at the end plus having to miss one or two others. The thickness of the young pines and my fatigue didn't help. Finally we found the control and the bottom row of our score card was completed and so with only 25 minutes before cutoff basically set a course for home aiming at picking up all the remaining controls of high value. At this stage I was really stuffed, but it's amazing just how hard you can push your body. Luckily my legs still hadn't packed it in. I could still ride hard, just couldn't push the big gears.

On the fast descent Simon narrowly missed being wiped out by a few fleeing wallabies but there was no time to waste pondering what may have been. Control 40 was right in front of us so it was a gimme at this stage. Unfortunately 41, although only a few hundred metres off, had to be left and we charged on for 74. The cutoff panic had cut in and I was riding flat out. We managed to ride right to 74 and then again had to leave 43 even though it was only a few hundred metres out of our way. We headed for 52, which was right on our path back. This sucker was worth 50 points but should have been worth more purely on blackberries alone. Out of all the controls, bush bashing and scratches from the whole day this was the one that left the most marks on me. We were both struggling to get into the forest here, let alone find the control. Fortunately Simon managed to get in far enough to locate it. Unfortunately I had the control card and knowing we were rapidly running out of time, had to also get in there. We both got stung! But given all the other scratches and scrapes for the day it was soon forgotten.

Back to the bikes with 8 minutes to go and about 4km to travel. No time to waste now. Simon set the quickest course to the hash house and I just followed his back wheel. The finish was cruel as the final km was uphill, not real steep but enough to really hurt. We got to about 50 metres from the finish and I could see all the other competitors standing around. Then the 3.30 cutoff went so we ended up losing 20 points. I blame the blackberries at 52 for that.

It was a little disappointing to get so close to getting all the controls when we both knew we lost 10-15 minutes in Mt Stromlo early on with a minor navigation mishap. But to our credit we regrouped from that really well and just kept thinking ahead and ensuring our navigation was on course. Since the event I have retraced our steps a number of times and talked to others about the courses they set. There were some areas we could have made easier but I'm sure this would have been caught up somewhere else if we’d tried to get all the controls in that area.

Simon's navigation was sensational and made my job of the final location of controls much easier. Also as a first time rogaine team we worked very well as a team unit of which added immensely to the enjoyment and satisfaction factor of the whole event, although for anyone who saw me afterwards looking half dead on the ground you wouldn't have believed it. Many people probably look on and say why, and I can't answer that. It's a challenge you set yourself and you have an inner drive that just keeps you going. I think the best way to sum up why we (I) push myself so far and hard is the following line from the Sri Chimnoy Triple Tri web site describing the Triple Tri:

"The event is as much an inner epic as it is an outer adventure, a day of human drama at its best - struggle, commitment, sacrifice, skill, close contests and personal triumph."

With all that in mind, and the fact that we slowed in the final 2 hours as I felt the pinch, leaves me confident that we were capable of getting all the controls.

I would like the personally thank Dave and his team of workers for putting on such a sensational event. Having not competed in one for many years I found it a very satisfying challenge. Thanks should also go to the providers of all the food at the finish. I hear the feast provided was awesome but thanks to me pushing my body to the max during the event, it got me back by not allowing me to eat for about a hour after the event so unfortunately I had to give a miss to most of it. I have managed to pull a copy of the results off the internet and am amazed that the majority of the teams stayed out for close to 6 hours. It must have been an awesome sight to see them all literally appearing out of the forest as the cutoff closed in.

Finally I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and look forward to next year’s event where hopefully we can have another attempt at clearing the course.

Rod Higgins

Cycle Rogaine Organiser's Report

The area for the cycle rogaine is always a subject of speculation and discussion in the months leading up to the event, so I was hoping to come up with something new. Since scoping around for last year's event, I had my eye on Stromlo Forest, but the big problem was the lack of a suitable map. The CMA Canberra 1:25000 sheet is almost completely useless - obvious at a glance if you track down a copy, however most parts of the area have been used for orienteering over many years. Last year's "Westward Ho'gaine" utilised the eastern part, which was also re-mapped for the '98 MBO champs. I tracked down ACT Orienteering Association mapping guru Bob Allison, who had already done a great job on the Kowen Forest Paddy Pallin 6 hour map and course in March. I put the proposition to him of stitching together the various pieces of the patchwork and filling in a few gaps. He was enthusiastic and would have the time to fit it in amongst the multitude of other projects he was working on. Things looked good.

Learning from last year I took things in the correct order and talked to ACT Forests and the other landholders before I started locating controls. There were some small areas of out-of-bounds and some past sensitivities to be aware of, but I had the broad canvas of Stromlo Forest including Dairy Farmer's Hill, Deek's Drive, Mt Stromlo and Bluett's on which to lay out the course. Bob had sent me a set of O maps covering the area which I used for course-setting. Also an overall master map, put together on the office photocopier by reducing the various maps to size and good old cut'n'paste with scissors and tape, to keep tabs on the overall course structure. My goal was to set a course with plenty of route choice for both foot and cycle competitors. Big enough for the top teams to be stretched but enjoyable for even the most recreational and novice teams.

Control taping proceeded smoothly with only minor modifications to my original plan to allow for areas of forest which had grown up or been torn down since the maps had been made. Ten years is a long time in a working pine forest! Even seedlings grow at nearly 1m per year. I was ably assisted in setting and vetting by Steph Maxwell and Dave Searle who had planned European holidays which would prevent them from competing - at least they got to see a fair bit of the course before they flew away. Needless to say at the MBO event at Deek's Drive at the beginning of August there were a few of us having to speak in very vague terms about the cycle rogaine, while sitting at the exact hash house site we planned to use! Fear of discovery meant I had left the last section through East Stromlo until last, and predictably I was sprung by a MTB group late on a Sunday afternoon with a mapcase around my neck!

We were hoping for a turnout over 200 for the event, and good publicity would be key in that. Duncan Kelly of Jesner and Kelly Printing, a regular competitor at the cycle rogaine, produced a very professional two colour entry form to go out with the CORC, ACTRA, NSWRA and Pedal Power newsletters with further info in e-mail bulletins and a website also set up. Most competitors were local, but a good number from the region including Boorowa, Sydney and beyond. The unfortunate clash with the ACT foot orienteering champs cut out a number of local teams who would otherwise have competed.

Canberra Cycles have been a great supporter of the cycle rogaine right from its inception. Ben Harvey coordinated administration, processing entries and money, and also provided water bottles for every competitor and prizes - vouchers for the winning teams and product from Raceline Bicycles. It would not have been possible to offer such great value without such an excellent sponsor - many thanks indeed! Catering was arranged with Alan Sargeant and his scouts who did a great job at the Paddy Pallin 6 hour in March. Simon Robinson at Red Belly Black Cafe on Mt Stromlo was keen to get involved and generously donated some vouchers. He also set up a food stall on the day with great coffee and a selection of food to go. With everything moving along smoothly, I spent an evening with Bob Allison finalizing map details and control placements, taking away an updated draft for control hanging and fine tuning. A family reunion and the NSW 24 hour rogaine champs took up the 2 weekends before the event, but the convenient location less than 20 minutes from work or home meant I should be able to hang controls piecemeal when the opportunity arose. Given the high use of the area I didn't want to hang controls too far in advance for fear of them being stolen. I arranged with Tom Walter to hang controls in the Mt Stromlo area on the Wednesday before the event. After a mild panic attack when we had a mixup with meeting that morning, he set off with about 15 flags. The following 2 days I hung another 25 before work and at lunchtime. Potential disaster averted! Saturday was spent getting final details arranged and the last few controls into position. The weather forecast had been steadily improving all week, and a perfect day was on the way! Entries had been flooding in and over 90 teams and 220 people were on the start list.

Sunday dawned clear, cool and fine as predicted. Tents were quickly erected and the first competitors started arriving about 7:45am. Amelia Witheridge and Allan Harding provided excellent admin support throughout the day. Maps and notes were handed out to teams who hustled off to plan their day. The control cards were hung out and after a short briefing the event was underway at 9:30am. The faster teams streamed off in all directions, but the last control card was not retrieved until some 15 minutes had passed! Allan and I headed off to place water drops, with me heading into East Stromlo in my trusty Subaru. Along the way I noticed several sets of bicycles in places beside the track, nowhere near controls - a few teams taking a bit of time to get familiar with the map! A pity one area they'd chosen to explore was so infested with blackberries.

At the water drop I spent a bit of time roaming around with my camera taking pictures of passing teams and chatting. One team gave a fine demonstration for the camera of crossing a gate, then a minute later decided they'd give another demo coming back the other way! Kevin Moore provided a fine display jumboing up to #51, hurdling the fence as he went. Tearing myself away from such antics, I headed back to the HH. Amelia was comfortably ensconced with a book, and the catering crew were starting to set up. Nothing for it but to head up Mt Stromlo on my bike with camera and some cash for a snack break at Red Belly Black. It was a beautiful day and the views over the course were sensational. I kicked back and chatted to Simon Robinson at the food stall - his first customer for the day. The steak pies were so good I had to have seconds - no surprise to anyone who knows me I'm sure! Michael Flood and Tony Nairn dropped in for an espresso and after a chat I headed on to #101 for more fine views. After a few more photos I steered my bike down the hill for Bluetts.

Passing over the hill above #67 I bumped into a few more teams and enjoyed riding down the steep hill which the triple tri course comes up - a much easier way to go! The northward straight heading to #102 was like Pitt St with bikes everywhere. I bumped into the Sri Chinmoy team near #58 - they were having a great day! Further down the road were Luke and Marie Wensing, Pedal Power stalwarts and organizers of the Great Canberra Bike Ride. Snapping away merrily at every opportunity, I headed across Coppins Crossing into my favourite part of the course around the back of Dairy Farmer's Hill, where I bumped into Jane Pulford, our newsletter editor. I was starting to run short of time by now, so hurried on back across the river and up to the HH.

With about 50 minutes to go there were already teams starting to return, and soon the trickle had turned to a flood. Geoff Mercer and David Singleton joined the admin team. Three of us stood out the front marking finish times, then teams added their score and handed in their cards for checking by Amelia and Allan. As the time ticked away to 3:30pm the favourites in the Men's category were nowhere to be seen. Finally, just after time had run out Simon Tilley and Rod Higgins appeared pedalling hard up the last hill. Rod looked a wreck, but they had found all but 3 controls, and missed those only by minutes. An awesome effort! Once we had posted everyone's score on the results board we re-checked the top place-getter's scores. Combined with the dry weather, the admin was much more streamlined than last year. There was heaps of tasty food to keep people busy, and lots of satisfied smiles.

After some barrel draws the prizes were presented. The category winners were a fairly familiar line up, with Mel McIntyre and Gaye Camm winning the women's, David Austin and Rachel Storey the mixed, and Simon and Rod the men's. This year all the veteran categories were combined, and Judy Jenkinson and Gary Caitcheon won, also placing 2nd in the open mixed. There was a very satisfying turnout of junior and family teams, with Steve Garlick, Rosemary Austen and Matthew Goonan winning the family category and Richard Dupe, Bruno Alduk and Nathan Moses the juniors. A strong effort from Adrian Sheppard and Hugh Jorgensen in the foot category placed them 3rd overall! Congratulations to everyone who participated, and many thanks to Canberra Cycles and Raceline Bicycles for generously donating prize vouchers.

Everyone pitched in with cleaning up, and we were away by dark. With the area so convenient, I had a good number of volunteers helping to bring in the controls. Many thanks to Paul Mason, Adrian Sheppard, Mel McIntyre, Gaye Camm, Judy Jenkinson, Jeremy Learmonth, Simon Tilley, Julia Graczyk, Luis Severino and Brian Evans and family. Unbelievably, one control was stolen - #64 hiding over the back of Mt Stromlo! A big thank you to everyone who helped with the event in whatever capacity. It would not have been such a great success without your help.

…David Baldwin

first rogaine by MacKillop College students

The day started at 6:15am when Mark and I got out of bed and had breakfast. We got dressed for a big day of riding. We put the trailer on the car, stacked the bikes in the back and tied them up. Then dad drove us out to Stromlo forest. At this stage Mark and I were very nervous because this was our first Rogaine event ever.

When we arrived at Stromlo we untied the bikes and checked we had everything. We went up to the main tent to grab the maps and other things (minus our drink bottles and mobile phone that mum wanted us to take). After we got the maps we went over to a tree stump and covered our maps with contact and started to make a plan of attack. Soon Jason Singleton came over to see if we were okay (he works at our school and he was the one who told me about the event). Mr Singleton and his brother helped us plan where we were going to go.

Soon it was time to start so I ran and grabbed the card and we jumped on our bikes and raced to checkpoint 32. We found it and the next ones easily until we got to checkpoint 90. At 90, I decided to let Mark go up to the top of the hill to get the checkpoint (because he needs the exercise!). I waited at the bottom for about 10 minutes then I started to worry because I called out Mark's name and he did not answer. I thought he had fallen down a hole or had been bitten by a snake so I started to go up the the hill but I could not find him so I waited at the bikes. About 5 minutes later Mark came around from the other side of the hill. When I asked what happened he said "I got disoriented and I came down the other side of the hill and I had to walk the whole way around".

The rest of the ride was fun and we found most of the checkpoints with ease. At 3:00pm, Mark and I decided to go back. At 3:12pm we got back to the start/finish and ate and ate and ate. Soon afterwards we found out that we had come second [in the juniors] with 840 points, only 130 points behind the first place people.

We this is a great achievement because we had never been Rogaining before.

…Daniel Riley and Mark Corrigan

[Congratulations guys, but you’re supposed to stick together! The rules of rogaining require teams to stay together (within earshot) at all times and for all team members to get within 10 metres of every control, mainly for the reasons that Daniel and Mark mentioned. – Ed.]

Beginning with Bluetts – 1999 Cyclegaine

12 September 1999

Stromlo Forest, Canberra.

Vital Statistics:

Team 62 - Roy Meuronen, Tony Core

1720 points - 25th outright

Control order: 45, 69, 78, 77, 59, 37, 82, 67, 58, 68, 49, 102, 48, 50, 92, 60, 71, 80, 100, 40, 41, 74, 43, 52, 51, 42, 90, 44, 33, 32.

38km in 2.5 hours of riding on the bike.

Total time 5:41

Sunday the 12 of September turned out to be a brilliant sunny day. This was to be my third Cyclegaine. After last year’s torrents, the clear sky had to be an indication of good things to come. My partner for this event was Tony Core, my regular Polaris companion. Things couldn’t go much worse after this year’s challenge, so things were also looking good on that front.

Preparation was pretty lack lustre. Training was pretty much non-existent, with just a couple of MTB Orienteering events to work on my fitness and navigation. The most recent of those events, just two weeks before the Cyclegaine, saw me pretty much knackered after 100 minutes of cycling, and my bike chain in a sorry state after coming apart on me at number 8. Not exactly a good lead up for six hours of fun in the bush. Finances dictated that I perform the remedial maintenance myself, so I cobbled the chain back together and randomly sprinkled a little tri-flow over the bike. A 30 minute ride the night before the Cyclegaine showed no obvious weaknesses. So it was with fingers crossed, and spirits high that we headed down to Deeks forest reserve for the start of this year’s event.

Registration went off without a hitch. We assembled all our gear and supplies, and headed up to the bunch of eager cyclists and runners at the start area. At 9:30 we were to head off, with 6 hours to collect as many controls as possible. The event area covered Mt Stromlo, Bluetts, and Greenhills forests. With neither of us being in fantastic shape, we decided to give the mountain a miss, despite the temptations of Pizzetta and coffee for lunch at the top. Oh well, power bars and jelly babies will have to do for the day. The plan was to do Bluetts, and then come back with selected highlights of Greenhills, depending on the time remaining.

The countdown completed, and 84 control cards were swept away in a rush of legs, maps, helmets and mountain bikes. First stop for us was the nearby 45, and then we cruised up the main road and into Bluetts pines, which would keep us occupied for the next couple of hours.

Bluetts, started off well, with some nice single-track through the trees to pick up 69 and 78. Our first navigational anomaly had us spending about 5 minutes trying to find our bikes again after picking up 77. We came back to the main road too high, and our practice of discretely positioning our bikes away from the tracks, made it difficult for us to regain our steeds. Just a wee bit embarrassed, we continued on to cash in on 59, 37, and 82 along Uriarra Road.

Our route choice to 67 uncharacteristically saw us climbing up the steep ridge. After seriously considering getting off to walk, I decided to persist, and surprisingly found myself at the top. This being early in the day, it was important to realise that there was only a limited (and low) number of climbs like that in the bag. We ducked off the road, down the steep slope to the control. I took the conservative approach and walked, while Tony chose to ride down on his duallie. Once punched, we found the single-track and followed it out around the ridge, to pop out at the top of the back straight. Good time to stop for a feed and water.

The Bluetts back straight sees top rally cars approaching 220 kph down the hill. We took it a little easier than that, picking off 58, 68 and 49 on the way down to the river. Unusual livestock sighting of the day occurred as we encountered a couple of deer across the road. Something you would not like to see as your WRX leaps off the humps at high speed.

The graders had been through this area recently, which had a couple of side effects. Firstly it made the high speed ride down the hill a bit skitchy through the loose stuff, but it had also concealed the entrance to the small track loop that was the location for 102. We spent a more than a few minutes here locating the marker to take our 100 points.

Three more controls, 48, 50, and 92 had the list completed for Bluetts. We took a few minutes down at Coppins Crossing to take a rest, have a feed, and plan the rest of our day. We had completed this area in a little less than 2 hours 40 minutes. Things were going pretty well, so we had lots of time to pick up some points on the other side of the river.

As we rested, there were an awful lot of riders coming the other way. We had seen very few people during the morning, and obviously everyone else had been over the river in Greenhills. Now they were all heading west while we were travelling the opposite way. This transition was the most riders we would see all day.

We crossed the river and climbed up and headed east along Pipeline Road, another classic piece of rally track. Another climb over the fence then up the hill found us at 60. Our ride into 71 was easier than expected, with a virtual super highway that had been ridden through the grass by the crowds that had preceded us.

From there it was a long haul up the hill to our furthest point from home for the day at point 80. Then it was back south towards 100 on Dairy Farmer’s Hill. The trick here was to score the 100 points without busting our respective guts. We chose to skirt around the bottom of the hill and approach the control from below. We walked up the steep and slippery single-track and made our way to the control at the edge of the pines. We didn’t stop to enjoy the view, and our quads began showing the first signs of strain as we walked back down to the bikes. Thankfully we had a very short and fast coast down to 40 by the Parkway. Then it was a short ride on roads and single-track up to 41 which was our next designated decision point.

Unfortunately our direction of attack to the control was not quite optimum. We walked in directly from the track junction. Making our way through the young pollen filled pines, visibility was less than 5 metres. The only way we would find the control is if we stumbled upon it. We spent about 7 or 8 minutes fighting our way through in all directions. It was not until we decided to bail back to the main track that we accidentally came across our 40 points, only to find that you could just about see the control from the road. Oh well bad luck.

Decision time. Do we head back up the hill to pick up 70, 63, and 30, or across to the aquarium. A quick sum of the available points, and an evaluation of the state of our legs found us heading down the single-track and under the Parkway to pick up 74, 43 and 52 to make another decision from there. We still had a little more than an hour to go from there, so we popped back up to 51 and then back down to 42 in the recently thinned pines. As we negotiated the fallen logs and branches back from the control, the first twinges of cramps began to show. Fun, fun, fun.

The climb up to the top of the hill at 90 proved painful. After a slow granny grind up the bottom part of the slope, I hopped off the bike to walk, only to find quad muscles in both my legs cramping simultaneously. I could barely walk, but with no other way to get home I had to continue. By the time we reached the top of the hill, the pain had settled down. Nevertheless, I was happy that this was the last big climb for the day.

From here it was straight down the hill and across the river again to pick up 44 then 33. With 35 minutes to go, we had plenty of time to pick up 32 on the way to the finish. While our bodies were weary, our spirits were high, so we chose to ride up the road to the east of the control and take the single-track in towards the control. Unfortunately we were sucked in by a piece of mock track and hung a premature right. The track disappeared within about 20 metres, but it was not until a few minutes of bush-bashing later that we realised we had turned off too soon. In the end, we cut right across to the western road and rode the 200 metres up the road to where we could see the control.

Kerching! The last 30 points of the day were a relief. It was but a short and very slow ride back up toward the finish. While I was grimacing my way through another painful cramp, Tony was getting caught in the soft stuff around the last gate. It wasn’t easy, but we made it to the finish with almost 20 minutes to spare.

While we could barely walk, we felt really good. We were very happy with how the day went. Apart from a few minor navigational anomalies, our overall plan for the day came together nicely. The route choice was pretty good, and our decision points worked well. No mechanicals, and only a couple of moments, it was just nice to have a day go by without something major happening to stuff up the master plan.

Thanks must go to the organisers and sponsors of the Cyclegaine. Once again we were faced with a unique challenge with excellent organisation. Well done. And well done to the scouts that fed the hungry hoards after the event.

…Roy Meuronen

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