Derby was a far away place to travel to for the 2nd round of the Enduro World Series… but since we were already in New Zealand, the jet lag and time to get there was not as significant as it would have been coming from the other side of the world. Mike and I were really excited to return to Australia and have a chance to experience a little bit of Tasmania.
Since it was only 8 days we had to spend there, renting a RV, although somewhat costly, was well worth the expense! We arrived into Hobart from Auckland without too much more than the usual hassle of bringing all the equipment we needed, stocked up on groceries and began driving north up the Great East Coast Drive to get to the race venue.
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| Driving out of Hobart, Tasmania |
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| Home for the week |
The roads were quiet, the climate was dry and it was nice to be self sufficient, rolling in our mobile home for the week. Our first stop for the night was Freycinet National Park - unfortunately there was not much time to explore the area, but we were stoked to see our first wallabies, enjoyed a quiet night’s rest and the beautiful coastal views of white sand beaches. It is the quiet moments and care we take to nourish ourselves in between the racing that help us rebuild our energy for the race weekend - these days leading up to the event were an important part of the cycle.
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| Freycinet National Park in the distance |
As we drove the small winding road inland to the race venue in Derby, the hills grew and the climate changed to a temperate rainforest. It was refreshing to see some native forests with old growth Myrtle and giant fern trees… and at the same time a little depressing to see how it could have been if mining, logging and agriculture were not the chosen practices for sustenance over the centuries. On the flip side, good can grow from these things… the old mining town of Derby has transformed itself into a mountain bike destination. The local MTB community in the area have worked hard to develop an amazing network of trails called the Blue Derby Trails ( https://www.ridebluederby.com.au/) Huge thanks to the crew for sharing these absolutely fantastic tracks in a perfect mtb landscape under a canopy of giant ferns and eucalyptus.
We rolled into town and stationed ourselves in between old and new friends in the municipal park which became a full on campground for the weekend. The vibe was great as we all went about our business preparing equipment, training, and getting ready for race day. We only had time and energy for one run on each stage, but we enjoyed the variety of challenging, smooth, fast, tight and technical trails and some really cool natural rock features throughout the long loop. It was a playground for riding and we were stoked to be there to race!
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| On the front porch, building up the bikes again! |
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Out training together ...
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| Some really unique sections... Mike riding the crack! |
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| Mike out early for race day |
The dry weather we got for training was replaced by a huge rainstorm that continued throughout the entire race day… The tracks became slick, dark, difficult to see and certain sections were somewhat scary for racing. The 45 km loop held 7 unique stages which morphed throughout the day as the riders gave their best efforts to race on the trails, slogging through the wet conditions covered in mud to finish…. (Check out the EWS web page for photos, videos and race coverage to get an idea of what we were riding!
http://www.enduroworldseries.com/) It was a slog and at certain points incredibly uncomfortable being so wet and muddy for so long (out for over 8 hours) but the camaraderie of the group and the radical trails kept us all motivated as we gave our best efforts to ride fast on the special stages. Both Mike and I were happy and relieved to managed solid safe races… and stoked to both finishing on the master’s podium!!
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| Yeah, made it through!!! |
Racing enduro is quite difficult, but SO satisfying when it goes in the right direction. There are so many logistics - being physically and mentally prepared to ride the tracks require skill, fitness, endurance and grit to accept conditions of DH tracks some might not believe rideable. The equipment we use is amazing and even though I am still learning what these bigger bikes can manage, I am coming along in my skills and truly enjoying the ride!
It is refreshing to try something new and so different from cross country! We are looking froward to keep pushing our limits as we aim to race the entire series this year.
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| Masters Men and Women Shared Podium |
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| Fun(ny) celebrating on the master's EWS podium |
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| Overall Enduro World Series Leaders after round 2... :-) |
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| Thankfully the next day was sunny...Serious post race explosion to clean up... |
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| Rinsing the mud out... before we pack the bags... |
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| Time to make the drive back south again... |
We had one extra day day to check out something other than Derby… and even though surfer Mike did not have any surf gear on hand - we wanted to check out the renown big wave surf spot at the southernmost tip of the island: Shipsterns. To get a closer look we got out on a late evening ride with our campground host who showed us the back way mtb route down to Shipsterns - an adventure we will never forget - It was amazing to behold the fresh air of the forest, the 1000 foot of towering rock cliffs and awe inspiring views of the Tasman Sea! The ride back, partly in the dark, added to the adventure...
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| Standing below the cliffs of Shipsterns |
The next morning we had time for a two hour adventure and the trail out to Cape Raul proved to be the perfect challenge - as we made our way through the forest, parrots screeched, the sun shone and the fresh air of the eucalyptus forest filled us with euphoria. As we neared the edge for another view, we felt incredibly lucky to just see Shipsterns as it was was actually breaking that day! It did not look like a good idea to me, but Mike was inspired…. by something that seemed impossible… Ah well, it will have to wait until next time!
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| Edge of the World - overlooking Shipsterns and the Tasman Sea enroute to Cape Raul. |
All too soon, we were into the frenzy of pack up and travel to finally go home for the first time in 3 months. Our minds were filled with thoughts of wild strange animals - wallabies, wombats, tasmanian devils, different birds and plants - as we gave thanks for this amazing travel experience that will stay with us forever.
Here’s to making the most of the adventure!
Mary and Mike
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| Wallaby! |
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