Most of Team Canada is here in Australia now ... scoping out the course and prepping for the weekend ahead. The team meets today at 2pm for a team ride of the course ... and then we head out to dinner tonight as well! Team Canada will be in full swing by the end of day today :)
I got here on Tuesday, met my parents (who are here celebrating their 39th wedding anniversary as well as supporting me at Worlds) at the airport, and we slowly made our way to Canberra. My first outing on the course was yesterday and here is my first take ...
The race takes place in Stromlo Park, just outside of Canberra. The loop starts out with a short flat section and quickly turns into a series of singletrack switchbacks which lead you up a long 1000ft climb up to the top of Mount Stromlo. Once at the top the trail winds around a bit before heading back down, again all on single-track, a rocky twisty descent. The trail is pretty cool, very rocky (big rocks and baby head rocks) and the corners are bermed so you can 'ride the rails' onthe way down. It's very fun but because the corners are so sharp you can't really get up too much speed. About 3/4 of the way down Mount Stromlo the course starts winding back up again and takes you backup to the top of the mountain again, still on single-track. The course dumps you at the top, on the opposite side of the mountain, and because the course is so exposed (no trees, only bushes) you can see the other riders on the top as well. Kinda cool .... then down you go again, this time slightly more technical with a fun steep rocky descent. I plan to ride that section a few times today :) The course ends by taking you through a bmx type section where you can gain a lot of speed if you work your bike... a fun ending.
The course is mostly single-track, which I love ... but will make passing tricky. It's great that they made a seperate course just for the Solos, otherwise it would be mayhem :)
That's it from me for now, another outing on the course today and I'll come back and post the stats (climbing, distance, etc) from my garmin!
Monilee
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