Velo Espresso night racing series

The Hamilton Mountain Bike Club "Do It In The Dark" night racing series ran for about 12 weeks over winter.   10 races in total - held in some atrocious weather - plus the final "finale" event.  The final was held in the parking garage behind Velo Espresso in Garden Place.  Andrew and a team of helpers had laid out the most awesome and sketchy looking skills and obstacles course, utilising recycled timber, pallets and even a couple of trailers.  The wall ride was pretty impressive and quite tricky to actually get up onto to 'ride'.  It was tight, but speed was your friend.

 The course layout - L-R: wall ride, log garden, teeter-totter, trailer ramp.

I'd thrown the 29er on the car, but neglected to throw in my shoes. Riding in flat shoes on clip pedals was never going to be a good idea.  I don't think clips would have been the best option - the ability to quickly dab a foot down to stay upright was quite appealing.  I rode the course and nearly got shaken of my pedals going down the first set of steps after the start ramp. Not a good way to begin.  I was unnerved and couldn't face trying to balance on the teeter-totter whilst it dropped down to let me off.  The wall ride and log garden were okay, the skinny looked too intimidatingly tippy, and the slalom was somewhat of an anticlimax.  I pondered my options for a while, then grabbed a hot chocolate and took over the timing chair.  Easy choice.

Amid on the teeter-totter.

The guys threw themselves into it, with a great show of speed, skill and stupidity.  I forget who won (maybe Scott? The results are around somewhere), but that wasn't really the point of it.  It was a fun night and a great way to wrap up the series.

Matt hits the wall ride at speed

I took first place overall women for the night series - I think I did a total of 4 races out of 10.  We really need more women out there riding.  The summer series certainly has a lot more women, so maybe it was just winter hibernation getting in the way?  I had fun and was always pleased to have been out for a strop through the sandpit midweek.  Big thanks to Russ, Andrew, and Velo Espresso for putting together a great race series.  See you out there next winter.