Flying Ailuropoda melanoleuca

Question: What goes black, white, black, white, black, white?
Answer: a panda rolling down a hill.

Perhaps some context is required. The Ollo/Cox-Blackshaw team that has kindly taken me on board, that is covering my WEMBO race entry and all support has a weekly bunch road ride they have affectionately coined: "The Panda Run". The original kits were a schmick black and white, which I suppose is the source of the cute name. In any case, it has been a great week for the newest member of the "Pandas", despite a rocky start.

Panda and proud at STM race 3, Nowra (photo: Dave Bateman)

Question: What is black, white and red all over?
Answer: A panda learning how to ride a mountain bike.

The start of the week was looking grand: clear, sunny skies and the warmest start to Spring that Canberra has seen for a number of years, apparently. 'FINALLY!' has been the collective cry from the locals (well, from me at least), with the -3 degree mornings beginning to wear thin. Unfortunately, the beautiful and abrupt change in season has also morphed the local trails from hero-grip to dusty-slip. Washing out the front wheel on Tuesday brought that ride to a dusty, bruised and bloody end. Wednesday saw a repeat effort and a 'sad panda' limping home from Bruce. Any ego boost gained over the past weeks' riding efforts were squashed on Thursday morning with a lame topple, still clipped in whilst 'track-standing' at a set of traffic lights on Northbourne Ave.

Question: What did the panda say when she was forced out of her natural habitat?
Answer: This is un-BEAR-able.

The weekend was looming: and with it the final round of the Shimano MTB Grand Prix: Rocky Trail Entertainment's 7 hour series. Stromlo was the location and the course was a wicked fun loop taking in some techy, rocky climbing and loose, dusty descending. I know I've been riding pretty well on anything non-technical and flowy, but this course was going to suit somebody good at climbing, navigating rock-gardens, step-ups and with more than some skill with descents. Throw in a significant amount of traffic with around 300 competitors on the 8.5km course and slow-speed skills were going to be important too.

Question: What is black and white and goes round and round?
Answer: A panda caught in a revolving door racing a 7-hour XC at Stromlo.

Jokes aside, I will claim this race as one of my best.

The start was a complete schamozzle. A rolling down-hill start, straight into single-track meant a huge bottle-neck, and 'skating' the first 20m into Fenceline. I was able to lock onto Cath Kelaher's wheel and keep in contact throughout almost the entire first lap. Going up: no problems. Going down: she was gone. Through transition and into the first climb and I caught her again. We repeated that for a couple of laps before I decided that I needed to use my strengths: try to gain some time on her on the ups and hope like hell she didn't catch up too much on the downs. The original plan of racing 'conservatively' was well and truly out the proverbial window.

A couple of laps later and it seemed the little lead had stuck: looking over my shoulder I couldn't see her and I was hoping that being out of sight also meant being out of mind for any attempts to bridge. Now, was Liz (Smith) ahead or behind? I was fairly certain Cath and I were riding in position number 1 and 2 when I left her, but couldn't be sure there wasn't also a sneaky fast chick or two somewhere up ahead that I didn't know about. Also, I was cautiously navigating the descents, so was living in fear of being caught again. Onwards! A good tempo on the ups, power over the rocks, try to relax on the downs. Repeat.

Mid-race saw Andy Hall and new-comer Troy Herfoss cruise past up a fire-trail. Andy even friendly (!!) as he went past, asking how/where Ed was. Ed showed up a few laps later, having had some difficulties with limited passing and multiple stalling opportunities throughout the course. Having spent the last 2 weeks fighting the terrible flu that is making the rounds of the Canberra office-dwellers was not doing him any favours either.

8 laps in and I spied Liz heading up Wattle Happen as I was dropping into Old Duffy: I was at least half a lap up on her. And then the doubt creeps in: or was she half a lap up on me? Coming into my 12th lap, Belinda (Team Cox-Blackshaw manager, and enthusiastic supporter) and the entire Chamberlain family were there and able to tell me that I had a 20 minute lead on second place. Enough time for one more lap, two if I really pushed it. Having spent most of the race at threshold, I was happy to call it a day on 13 laps.

Presentations revealed a nice surprise: not only had I won the Elite female solo category, I'd also claimed the Tracey Robinson trophy for the fastest female lap time of the day and placed second in the series.

Question: How did the panda who mis-placed his dinner feel?
Answer: Bamboo-zled!

A surprising end to the week. Some confidence restored and a warm, tired, fuzzy (furry?) post-race glow to round-off a sunny Canberran Spring weekend.