Sunday was the same venue as Saturday.
We got out there with no problems and had time for a practice before riders briefing.
At riders briefing it was decided that Intermediate, Presidents, & Clubman would do four laps of ten sections as we had had heaps of time left over on the previous day.
Expert and A Grade still only did three laps, as they tend to have harder and longer sections.
My first lap wasn’t anything to write home about, with a whole lot of silly points (12). It did have a bit of drama though. Section seven basically went over a rock, doubled back on itself, went over some loose rocks, a very tight right hander, and up a tricky little bank. At least that was how it was set up to be ridden. I saw that you could go over the loose rocks first, do a tight left-hander, double back on yourself, go over the rock, then up the bank – all without crossing my own line or missing any flags. It wasn’t a major change in overall difficulty but it made the bank slightly easier.
After I’d ridden it Karl Clark, who set the sections, came over and said that it wasn’t the way he’d meant it to be ridden and that I had to ride it again.
Then, on section eight, I broke a traffic light. I went to go over a rock but was off-line, too close, and in the wrong gear, so my back wheel skidded off the rock and caught and snapped the traffic light on the way down.
I only got two points on my second lap, which I was quite happy with. I got four points on my third lap which was OK.
On the fourth lap I had one point and it was all going good. That’s when I got to section seven. I’m not quite sure what haoppened but somehow when I went up the bank, I managed to flip the bike. It landed on the handlebars and bent them back and broke the front brake hose off.
Luckily, when I got back to the carpark, Nick Ball was there. He had a spare hose that I was able to borrow for the last three sections. I cleared these and ended with a round of six.
Over the weekend I came fourth out of seven Intermediate riders. Glen Smith (Intermediate winner) would have been hard to beat but I should/could have been challenging for second. Oh well.
I would have liked to have done better but I could have done worse. Despite all the little problems, and the sections being quite easy, even for the South Island, I had a great weekend. It had a great vibe to it.
