Podium full of Bushlove

Like everyone (apart from really hard people) I wasn't looking forward that much to the Belmont round of the PNP series haven't pre-ridden the course on the Thursday and going down what we thought was Big Weta but in fact was a downhill shute called the slide, I thought a westpac rescue was on the cards.
Watching the heavy rain out the window on Saturday evening I just pictured all the clay downhills getting even more claye'er and the mud in Belmont sticks like glue nicely bound together with pine needles, I knew we would be in for some fun.


On arrival I went for a reccy up Danzig and down Big Weta, no dramas really slippy but nothing the mighty Anthem cant handle.

Lined up for race start next to Tony "the warrior" Teo (I just made that up) and gunned it off the start into the first pinch climb , only to see Pro Elite coming back down via Big Weta the marshals had pointed the wrong way, so now all the good riding lines had gone so nothing for it but to sprint up the 4wd track to the Danzig turn off. Davo loped past holding is bike on his back and was one of the first into Danzig and I thought Tony was behind me but apparently not he must have gotten in there pretty quick as well.
The first parts of Danzig where rideable but once past the rapists hut the track was very think and slippy so thankfully I had put in sprigs in the morning and there was nothing much to do but run most of it, I could see Ross Weston about 20 metres behind me and when I stalled with a wheelspin he past me.

After Danzig we headed out the the farmland, the grass was reasonably grippy so no dramas, but to my surprise I saw Tony and Davo miles ahead of me, I thought Tony was still behind so he must have hammered it up Danzig. Ross was about 100 metres ahead as I struggled to find a good rhythm, so I have concentrated on catching Ross.

Up to Sweetacres climb, now I actually liked this climb as its at about the limits of what you can actually ride, myself and Tony had ridden in all on the previous Thursday and its pretty steep but grippy, however after the rain I only managed to ride about 70-80%, I was slowly catching up to Ross though and saw him walking a section ahead so busted a gut and caught up to him and past him, now Ross is no slouch so he started to chase but I managed to eech out a small lead down to Old Coach road again.
Next was around to the Bridle downhill section via the funny little up/down section (which we had to do 3 times) off Old coach road,( Marco must have been in a funny mood that day thinking the rest of the course wasn't hard enough.). At one stage Ross was about 30 metres behind me going into the downhill sections which I knew where going to be tricky.

So into Big Weta I go, saw Scotty and Ben videoing and while trying to look smooth and controlled for the video lost it on the front wheel and went sideways into the trees.. ow, No damage done though so back on and down Big Weta my tyres where double the size packed with clay, mud and pine needles with absolutely no tread visible , I learnt a lot about when NOT to use your front brake down a clay chute.
On one of the final drops on Big Weta I saw a Dad with 2 young pre-school kids on a corner just off the riding line and I was thinking shit don't hit the kids.... and promptly wiped them all out, poor little fella was punted back a couple of feet and looked completely stunned (as you would). I profusely apologised and hopped back on as they all looked Ok apart from the screaming.

At the bottom we got to do Danzig all over again, joy... It was pretty chewed up the second time around, so had to walk/run most of it I could hear Ross behind me, so pushed on hard. Once at the top it was down the little up/down for the last time and into Chopper, Chopper is a great little track and had quite a bit of grip in areas , however having no visible tread on my tyres it made for exciting times. No crashes on the last couple of sections saw me down to the bottom to complete the lap through the creeks and out to the finish line.

Was stoked to get 3rd, my first podium in a PNP race I thought with the conditions I would have been quite a bit further back.

Time for another Dodzy skillz course I think, although I was pleased with my riding today given the conditions, last year a race like this would have been carnage for me.

Congratulations to Tony for coming in 1st and Davo for P2,
In fact Bushlove had a great weekend

Mono 1st in Senior men
Davo 2nd in M1
Angry 3rd in M1
Goldie 3rd in Pro-elite
Jacko 3rd in under 19
Kah - home drinking lattees found some fluff in his belly button.