I love Adelaide

Adelaide was a blast - I just love going there!! I love being in adelaide, it's so cycling friendly and you can ride whatever you want. There's inner city jumps, endless road rides you can go on, and Eagle on the Hill is a great location for racing. Add to that they run a really good race every year. I hope that it continues to be on the calendar because they are one of the stand-outs in the past two years! Everything is just organised so well... and the trophies are to die for ... I hope they keep the 'Eagles' (trophy) because I aiming for one even if it takes me till I'm 30 to get one... he he!!

It was great to catch up with the usual suspects at the first MTB national race of the series. I always enjoy talking crap with everyone (: The canberra tribe were out in force; James (of course), the Hendos (John, Bec & Benny) and all their tribe (Trekky and Joel), Louie (Shaun Lewis), Charlton Durie, The Bakers, Andy Blair, Bianca, Nikki Fisher etc.

The XC track was the same as last years and luckily it didn't rain. I really enjoy the course at Eagle on the Hill. Lot's of single track but not much fireroad which makes for interesting positioning and overtaking (and drinking). I did suffer a little from the heat on the final two laps as I haven't quite got the whole waterbottle drinking thing down pat yet... mmm! I also had a massive crash at Stromlo on the sunday before leaving for Adelaide - I like to ensure that I am always in the best condition for big races...lol... so I ensured that I had a huge crash just in time for the race. It was one of my bigger ones... and I've had a few to compare (:

I ended up coming 10th in Elite and 5th in short track. I really enjoyed the short track - again, super fun little course. It was really humid as it had tried to rain and at the top of the pinchy little hill in the short-track it felt really oppressive. The Torq girls were in fine form and controlled the race effectively. Becky the biscuit was fourth - she (and the other hendos) is the most fun to talk crap with when I am away racing. She spent the weekend paying me out about my new race gear... being orange and black she told me that I wanted to be a "wannabe mongoose". Speaking of little furry animals - I had a pet mongoose when I lived in India (believe it or not). They're runty, fast, furry and have really, really sharp teeth - what does that say about Team Mongoose (:

After the short track I rode back with the BMC pleasure boys (Joel Donney and Charlton Durie) and Benny H. Joel was super fresh and rode like a crazed mtb-er down the dirt road through the on-coming cars and spectators watching the DH. Benny & I rode a little more moderately. Benny because he had had an awesome weekend so he had probably expended everything he had - 2nd in the Elite XC and 4th in Short track (by a whisker) - me because I didn't want to be the hood ornament on someones car!! We got sidetracked along the way and found a random trail and by the time we got to the main road at the top of the hill, miraculously a van whose driver and tribe will remain anonymous motorpaced Ben, Joel and Charlton down the hill and down the freeway to town.

So much more to write about Adelaide and why I love it... I will add some photos and hope to add some more soon. I have to go because I am racing the Tour de Femme tomorrow. zzzzzzzzzzzz x Kylie