Epic 8 - Mansfield

I wasn't planning on participating in this event.

I was there to watch some friend participate in the Epic 8 Hour mountain bike race over at Mansfield.

I thought it was at the ski place, but nothing happening there.

This is across the street and north about 300m.

I had gone to visit my sister to drop off some stuff and for Kieran to hang out.  And I then went to ride Mono Cliffs.

And afterwards planned to go to Mansfield.

And saw a bunch of my cycling friends set up and talking about why they do this.  And it sounding like they were ready to pack it in.  They were lucky the weather held off.  It was perfect.  They had some rain but really it's nothing when it's in the trees.

I've done a MTB 36K condo in rain and it was fine.  Riding road in the rain.  Well that's different.  Disc brakes are weather resistant.  Roads get slick, dirt drains, also the canopy of trees takes up a lot of the water.

I'm standing at the finish and I see my neighbour roaring in to finish his lap.
That last downhill section of switchbacks to the finish looks like a lot of fun.

Raoul and his other tag team Daffyd still had time to ride at least 1 or maybe 2 laps.  But they were cooked and fried.  Having done 6 laps.  So they asked if I wanted to do a lap.  I was lucky i had my bike and gear and ready to go!  Unexpectedly, so I went.

I didn't have my gloves and i was wearing my glasses, i had no water.  So i went out to have fun and get back to the finish before the cutoff for last lap. This park is pretty fun!
Lots of single track, double track, technical down hills and uphills.  One really sandy uphill that i just didn't have enough speed to get up.

And that finish is at the end of a 1km up hill.
And it's a set of tight switchbacks with deep ruts from all the riders trying hard not to fall down the side of the hill.  But it was interesting for sure.

And I made it with 4mins to go before the cutoff.  I probably coulda squeezed in another lap, but i needed water and i wiped out in the middle of the course on a tight sandy speedy turn so i could feel the crunch of sandy dirt grit in my mouth.

It looked like fun.
Lucky the weather was great.
I had hail at Mono Cliffs.
But it was only for a short while.

Looking forward to the 24Hrs of Summer Solstice!