Wildside 2010 travel and preparation

The 15 hours of flying across the massive blue pacific allowed me to read the competitors handbook.  First impression is this is a well organized, well documented event.  Reading a race package like this is pure soul food for BikingBakke, I can't even describe the run of emotions and anticipation I go through. 

Their descriptions foreshadow fording rivers, leg burning climbs, slippery rocky and rooty technical sections, ferocious headwinds on beaches, and plenty of diverse scenery along the way.  Sounds like "bicycle infrastructure" is light out on the west coast, not surprising given it's not very populated.  That brings useful tidbits as well, like don't worry about drinking surface water, the amount of rain and lack of people/animals mean it's all fine.

People have been asking me what the race was going to be like, and frankly I had little clue other than it is 4 days long - now I can elaborate.  Each day is a mix of "cruise" and "competition" stages.  I'm unsure if this is for the social aspect, an Australian focus on faster/shorter racing, local geography conditions, or all of the above.  By distances/times, it seems the cruises are good warmups and cool downs, and that the competition stages are, on average, 60-90 minutes (they quote record stage times, most of which are set by names I recognize - Australian Olympians - so needless to say I'm adding some cushion), approximating  xc racing I'd be used to at home.  I haven't done one like this, but to be honest the cruise parts sound great, expecially since I'm here on my own and I presume the majority are english speaking, will be fun just to chat.

Their style of signage works for me.  The official signs to keep an eye out for are left and right arrow markers that say Wildside MTB, one color of ribbon to mark the track and another to block off joining tracks, and a skull and crossbones with danger written above.  I guess that's about all that's needed.

They seem to talk a lot about support crews and such, not sure exactly how that works out with short stages.  Maybe people want to race the sections without bottles and just have them handed over after.  Regardless I'll be in the self sufficient category so we'll see if that's a non event or actually matters - my preferred riding style last few years means I'm not short on knowledge of how to bike for a full day with proper provisions.

I think I'll pay the local photographer guy for a picture set, I have great intentions to snap a few of my own, but puddles and racing don't exactly mix with cameras... plus the photos from the cat skiing trip are a good reminder of what a real photographer with real equipment adds!  Not so much for vanity, but it looks like he does a lot of great scenery and wildlife stuff too... Tasmania seems to offer up great material to work with on both fronts.

After sleeping on the plane forever, my bags were basically first off the carousel.  The dirt on my bike passed quarantine inspection, so it was off to a $5, 2 minute train ride to the domestic terminal.  Lunch of a mixed lentil and ravioli salad plus water was $18.  A coffee while waiting for the flight to Launceston was $3.50.  I don't think this trip is going to be cheap.

Norm, his friend Mike Murray and I decided to take a taxi to Cradle Mountain and I'm rooming with them, instead of me staying in Launceston (Lonny as the airport girl said) as planned... deplaned straight onto a runway walk, then 2 hours of beautiful winding roads and $280 later for the taxi we're putting our bikes together 8 feet away from some wallabies looking at us while munching on bushes - yeah!  We biked down to get a pizza dinner which is basically right next to where they have a Tasmanian Devil preserve/park thing... for sure I'm gonna check that out tomorrow morning.
Temperature is nice racing weather, warm but not hot.