Wagga 6 hour: This one is about flowers

The greatest thing about mountain-bike racing is that first and foremost, it is not about racing.

Friday night brought with it rain and an un-inspiring skyline to Saturday morning in Canberra. It was like a pesky cold: not enough to knock you out 100% so you have an excuse to wallow in bed. Just enough to make you feel incredibly reluctant to get out, with a heavy dose of guilt for not being more excited about riding your bike on the weekend.

Enter the Mountain-bike Wagga 6 hour enduro. Camping gear gathered, car loaded, a quick 2.5 hour road trip to Wagga where the skies were blue, the weather warm and the spring flowers were out. A couple of practice loops revealed a fantastic course with a little bit of everything: fun, pinchy climbs (go on: blow the legs!); tricky switchbacks between trees (watch the handle-bars!); a SUPER fun downhill section with Luge-esque berms and steep gullys to fly through (fingers off the brakes!!).

'heaven in a wild flower'
Wagga 6 hour: A perfect camp-ground

With such an amazing course and great atmosphere, it was a little surprising to feel the residual cloudy Canberra cold at the back of my mind on Sunday morning. What do you do when you just don't feel like 'racing'? Answer: you embrace the culture. You don't stop but you take the time to smell the flowers and ride for enjoyment. You ride with 150-odd other people who love riding single-track as much as you do. You chat with people up the fire-trail and try to follow the wheels of people much more skilled than you down. You say 'hi!' and 'thanks!' to the SES volunteers as you barrel past and you high-five the juniors who have just finished their race mid-way through yours.

At $40 an entry, organised by the most lovely and passionate club, with a plethora of spot prizes, electronic timing, overwhelming support from the LBS's with a demo bike available from pretty much every major brand and the best trails, I can't believe there weren't more people there.

Thank you Mountain-bike Wagga: for bringing together and sharing everything that a mountain-bike race should be.

'Happiness held is the seed. Happiness shared is the flower'