Comments on: Sleepless in the Saddle 2009

By: Rob Northcott

Rob Northcott — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:21:13 +0000

I couldn’t stay on in some of the sticky mud at the start of the lap (but it was MUCH better than last year’s quagmire), and on some of the short but very steep banks we had to go up I just ran out of speed, but the rest of it was all rideable for me this year. Quite a few crashes in the slippery sections though, and on the last fast singletrack just before going through the campsite/water splash bit.

And I did walk some of the climbs when my energy started to flag.

I’ll ride more _technical_ trails than you usually get in an xc race – it’s the mud that kills me most at Sleepless/Mayhem (back and abs suffering from all the twisting to catch slides). All good fun though – very different feeling from riding a bike. If you get a chance, give it a go!

BTW, hope you get rid of the germs quickly.

Rob

By: Alan

Alan — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:12:24 +0000

Nice one Rob… I’ve never ridden a unicyle so have no idea just how tough it is, but also don’t have a clue how you actually ride over some of that stuff.

Do you have to walk some of the more technical sections?

By: Rob Northcott

Rob Northcott — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:03:33 +0000

Thanks for the mention 🙂
I actually found it physically harder this year even though I did more laps (I actually did 8 but the timing gate seems to have missed one of them in the middle – grrr…). The long draggy sections of grass really drained the energy. The singletrack on the second half of the lap really made up for it though.

Rob (“crazy fool”, still hurting)