My success continues (or luck) in the mountain bike races here.  Last Sunday I competed in a race near Cat Lai.  It was a “Fat Bike” feature race and also normal “skinny” mountain bikes.  The loop was 20km and it wasn’t technical but it had a bit of mud.  This is what a fat bike is:

The race was located in gum tree plantations and we were treated to goats and water buffalo.

The course was the type of one where you could get a good rhythm going and go crashing through the odd muddy puddle.  The men went off first and then we were grouped with the Fat bikes.

It is amazing what spans across cultures, some men do not like being passed by women and there are always riders that are looking for the free ride – drafting and not sharing the duties.  There was also cheating, some fat bikes got pushes from the motorbikes on the course, they were disqualified.  There were only 5 girls in the race, and there were 3 of us competing with each other and swapping the lead throughout the race.

I had a great day and loved the course, no hills and I managed to get second.  The prizes are amazing here.  I got a saddle, bike gloves, trophy and a silver chain ring.  Joost got second in the under 40 and James got third in the fat bikes.  So The Bike Shop had a great day out.

The Bike Shop had a tent set up and we had a prime location.

Here are all the competitors at the end of the race.