Sharon and I did the Pickles Hill mountain bike enduro today. The event was held at the back of the Craigbourne Dam at Colebrook on private property. Sharon did 2 laps for a total of 30km and I did the full 60km – 4 laps.

There was a LOT of hill climbing and a lot of very technical track in this event so it was pretty tough for Sharon but she came second in Master Women, she was pretty shattered afterwards though. I passed her on my 3rd lap and when  I asked how she was I just got a few expletives back!

I crashed no less than 9 times during the event! I was a bit rusty on the mountain bike after quite a while on the road bike. Only a few bruises and some bark off my elbow and both knees. It was an interesting course all over and around Pickles Hill. I came home 20th overall and was he 6th male master home in the 60km event. My Garmin told me I climbed 1,568M, Ben Lomond is only 1,070M so it was a big day out for the legs. I wanted to do it in under 4hrs but just missed that by 6 minutes. Take all the crashes out and I would have done it easy and maybe finished a bit higher up as well.

After we finished I went down to the dam to wash off my legs and arms and gave them the ice water treatment for 20 minutes. The ice water worked a treat to remove all the soreness out of the legs. The water was so cold it was like somebody pricking you with needles all over. After  everything went numb it was Ok.

results for Pickles Hill.