I’d been looking forward to the Foster enduro for quite some time now, seeing that Chilli Cycles had done an amazing job on the Cannondale and that I was keen to improve my lap times from last year. I was a bit worried when it started to rain on the way to the event but that was short lived as the sun came out upon my arrival.

While preparing for the race I met up with Sean Holden, (manager of Chilli Cycles and also the man responsible for the fancy bike and racing kit) which was a bit of a surprise for me but it was good to see him out on the trails.

Come race start the track had dried up a bit and all was looking well. I took off with the faster pack of riders and took up the first climb. The bike was running well and the new tyres that had been fitted were doing the trick. I’d seen a lot of riders spin out on the roots and the steep climbs but I wasn’t having any of those problems. The only problem I had at this stage was that the roots where making the bike bounce all over the place but that was not hard to deal with.

Until the third lap, I had been keeping good pace by keeping in 2nd position in the juniors, but half way through the lap fellow junior rider Jared Lane took ahead and I struggled to keep at his pace. For the rest of the race I kept an even pace staying in 3rd position which was quite hard to do on the rough and technical terrain.

It was good to get a bit of motivation by some of the other racers cheering me on and telling me that I was doing a good job (which has got to be one of the highlights of the sport!) By the end of the race I finished in 3rd position, beaten by Jared Lane (2nd place) and Jack Walk (1st place.) I finished with a total of 7 laps getting one more lap in than last year and I ended up having a great day.

My thanks go to the people who spend their time maintaining the trails at Foster. The tracks were awesome and I had great fun! Also to Gippsland MTB for the effort they put into holding these races and my sponsors Chilli Cycles for the great work that they put into the Cannondale in preparation for the race.

I also congratulate Jack Walk for his impressive 1st place position with a total of 8 laps. I think he’s got the stuff to take 1st place in the juniors for the 2012 championship so I’ll be lucky to get a 2nd in the overall.