6 hour Dirty Nocka MTB Race, 19 Mar 2023

I went into this race with a couple of things I wanted to improve on from the Hammers 8 hour race I did at the end of last year. The goals for this race would limit the number of times I would have to stop. Ideally, I didn’t want to have to stop at all and just take all my fluids and food on the move, however after completing the first lap I knew this wasn’t going to be possible and my bike would need a quick clean due to the very muddy conditions.

The start of the race was a mass start with the 3-hour riders, 6-hour riders and all the pairs setting off together. Luckily, I managed to start fairly close to the front which meant I could have a much steadier start rather than trying to move up before the first single track section. The start of the race for me was pretty smooth sailing until it neared the half way point and my chain started getting stuck when changing gear on the front chainrings, so it was at the 3 hour point I decided was a good point to stop and have a bike clean. Luckily I had my parents there to help so whilst my dad was cleaning my bike I had the opportunity to eat even more food handed to me by my mum and sister.

I then got back on my newly cleaned bike to carry on getting in as many laps as I could within the 6 hour time limit. At the halfway point I was in the lead by roughly 10 minutes but still on the same number of laps as 2nd and 3rd. The next couple of hours seemed to pass really quickly, the trails had become more clear as everyone doing the 3 hour was now finished so I managed to settle into a nice steady rhythm and before I knew it I was coming up to lap 2nd and 3rd place. At this point there was just over one hour left of racing and I was close to fitting in 2 extra laps, however the conditions had begun to change and the once sloppy mud was becoming very sticky making it much slower so I only managed one extra lap. In total I completed 9 laps, a lap ahead of 2nd and 3rd.

One stand out for me was when looking at the results and seeing my consistent time laps up until I stopped at the halfway point all my laps times were within a minute of each other.

Kim Baptista