Dirt Crit 1

Brand new concept for Perth and for me. Dirt Crit's in Garvey Park, Belmont in Perth.I had no idea what to expect or how to approach it.

On arrival Chris was giggling like a schoolgirl in an all boys dormitory, suggesting that the tricky bits of the course would provide some carnage. An attempt at a lap provided more confusion than anything else as the course was unclear. At Rego TT was attempting to get us to ride A Grade, but I was nervous at even B Grade. Nigel decided he would Ride C Grade for reasons unknown. A guided sighting lap provided a little more clarity of the just over 3km course with a surprising amount of fun single track, and some were a bit unhappy with the technical sections maybe a "B Line" for the less confident might have been a good idea, but I think the guys did a pretty good job with the course right in the city. Was A thru D grade with self seeding. A grade doing 6 laps, and each other grade doing 1 less lap.

A grade went first and we B Graders lined up, I was a bit shocked that we were doing 5 laps, I didn't think we'd get 5 in in the allotted time of 35'ish min. After A Grade came through on their 1st lap we were off. After the first adrenalin rush I was surprised to find myself in about 4th position. I thought I'd put in to hold it to get a good run at the single track. This worked well and a held my own for the first lap. I was on front of a group and lost my way only to slot back into the middle of the group on the right track.  The next couple of laps were a bit of a blur, keeping a bit of space over the technical lumps worked well so I could ride the whole course. A battle with a single speeder who sat on my wheel for a couple of laps kept me pushing.

On the 3rd lap my front wheel dropped away when I went a bit further left than there was dirt on a narrow ridge. I got it back and was off and maintained my tactic of pushing to get ahead before each section of singletrack. This too worked well and I didn't get held up much at all.

A guy passed me at the end of the 4th lap, and I was hoping there would be no-one heading out again on another lap.......DOH! C'mon legs...........Pushed hard and took a few and was pretty happy. Found David and Chris at the finish. Nigel came in a little later.

Hung around for the presentation, and thought I'd placed 8th-10th. I was super chuffed to see the guy in front of me collect 3rd place! Holy crap I think I got 4th! Nigel did well but was pipped by a 10yr old girl complaining about stacking and getting lost.

Everyone seemed to have fun, positive comments on the PMBC website, look forward to round 2 next week......motivated to push harder now!