Trail Bike Adventure Magazine

AORC Murray Bridge - Saturday

Saturday, 27 June 2009 19:45

The short story is an overall win to Stefan Merriman, with Toby Price in second and Peter Boyle third.

It's an amazing result, because after a puncture and some problems with his goggle roll-offs, Merriman was 46 seconds behind with more than half the laps gone. Somehow, he clawed the time back in the remaining few laps.

Awesome. 

The day dawned with lots of fog and heavy dewy mist which hung around until early afternoon. The loamy sand held its moisture and although it was physically demanding ride, it was brilliant. The sand sapped everything from the bikes. The front ends washed out and the rears had no traction, and the whole thing whooped out something tragic.

It was the type of track where a little good technique could make a huge difference. That was a bonus for me, because I have very little good technique. I stalled and crashed my way around the first two laps, had a clean run on the third, then flapped off the bike for the fourth and fifth, so buggered I could hardly hold on.

I was doing laps around the 15-minute mark. Geoff Ballard was lapping in around 10 minutes. (Show off).

It was tough going, but I loved it. It was like a natural terrain motocross track with a monster lap. Lots of gullies and dry creek crossings and heaps of power-sucking sand.

The other Team Dynamiters all rode in the Pro/Experts and they reckon their loop (my loop for tomorrow) is so bad that I'll be desperate for an excuse to get out of riding, so maybe I'll get some good pics if it's sunny.

And while I'm at it, I'll blog live from the track tomorrow, just for something different, so log on and see how things are going.

Here's a taste of today...