The Compendium Mountain Bike Derby

Having not been on our bikes in over 6 months we spent Friday evening cleaning, oiling and setting them up for Saturday morning’s race. Other than that it was a chilled evening and thankfully everything was a go for the ride.

Saturday morning started with us riding 5kms to the start of the Compendium Mountain Bike Derby (Sharon was somewhat upset by this, but having not yet found a vehicle it was our only option). We met Nick at the venue and once again managed to miss our start amongst some chaos (this seems to be becoming a habit).

The route itself seemed fast but it was difficult to judge since I spent a fair amount of time waiting for both Nick and Sharon. Clearly Nick is a somewhat casual rider as he spent around 10 minutes at the one watering table buggering around. I’m sure it was a race?

We had a couple of good photos taken of the three of us yet they never appeared on ROAG? What’s up with that? I had to laugh at Nick as he popped a wheelie in a river crossing to impress a photographer. While on his back wheel he dropped into a hole and I was half expecting him to come off. Thankfully (for him, not me) he managed to stay on his bike and rode out of the water dry.

Clearly they had a few spare shirts and as such I managed to claim another one at the finish. They had however run out of mediums, so I now have both a medium and a large. Guess I’m fully kitted for any potential weight gain due to post race beers.

Sharon and I then climbed back onto our bikes and rode the very uphill 5kms back home. Oh ye, we’re tough!

The riding was followed by a quick shower before we headed down to Westville for a little squash. I managed to play a decent hour and a half before deciding that my legs had had enough for the day and that I’d finally earned a large number of beers.

We chilled in the bar, watched the Sharks kick some serious ass, and drank that hard earned beer while eating the usual chicken burger with curry gravy. Post burger we met up with Graham and Robyn for a quick beer in the Twisted Lemon and a long overdue (short) catch up.

But wait, the day was not yet over. Sharon and I jumped back into the car and headed for the Hillcrest Library hall where we were meeting Nick and Tazz for a ballroom dance. Another couple from our class joined us and we rummed it up while working on our Rhumba! All in all a very good evening.