I’m used to running races, so when I got into mountain biking I was really curious what racing on two wheels would feel like. In May I lined up for my first proper MTB race: Darling Brew Extreme in Darling, the 35 km Bone Crusher. I finished in 3:22:25 over 36.66 km and 682 m of climbing. I also learned something important about myself: I don’t like three hours of uphill. I want downhill and flow, like Bloemendal, not uphill after uphill after uphill.

DBX is endurance MTB, not short track XCO style racing. Mass start, gravel, farm roads, long climbs. It’s a great event and the vibe on the day was brilliant, but to be honest if climbs aren’t your joy it is a serious grind.

The plan

My goal was simple: finish strong. Calm start, survive the early climb without blowing up, and only really push in the last ~6 km if I still had legs in me.

Garmin dropped my custom course cues when I imported the route (super annoying on race morning) but fortunately I had a race card on my phone. Easy for the first 3 km, then the climb from 3 to 8 km at about 6.5 to 7/10 effort (spin, no heroes), settle from 8 to 30 km, then race the finish if I still felt composed. Fuel from around 6 km, gels every 20 to 30 min. The plan was solid. The execution on fuel? Not so much, but we’ll get to that.

Race day

Pacing wise, I’m really happy. I didn’t blow up early and I actually stuck to the plan when it mattered. My heart rate spiked to 182 bpm on the first big climb, which was a touch hot, but on the long Duckitt climb I was more patient (~178 bpm). The last 6.7 km were faster than the first 30 km (~11.8 km/h vs ~10.7 km/h), so finish strong was the win for me.

Then the fueling story. I left my gels in the car. Yes, in the car. I thought I had packed them in my swat compartment the previous night. The fact that I had to register on the morning of the race meant I didn’t have time to check everything just before the race. The middle kilometres felt brutal because they were brutal and I had no fuel. It was more climbing, no carbs, on a windy morning. Definitely a slog.

I ran my GoPro on my chest strap for the day. Most of my footage was ruined by the mud splutter on my camera lense. The main picture is from the rollout not long after the start. The clip below is from later on, where the road finally opened up and we could carry a bit more speed before the mud took over again. This was one of the few downhill sections of the race.

I’m glad I finished DBX. First MTB race in the bag, and proof that when I have a plan I can hold the line when it counts. That said, going forward I’ll probably stick to the parts of MTB I actually enjoy: flowy trails, bike park laps, and enduro style riding where the fun is in the descent and the tech, not another three hour climb fest.

Go One More, on the downhills next time.