Rocky Mountain Element 950
As the weather closed in, the week before the Otway 300 mountain bike race, and with a forecast of rain for the event I was becoming increasingly nervous about riding a 1 x 11 speed bike in an event that tears at the legs for over 9 hours the first day and close to 8 hours the next! There are a few climbs that are too steep to ride no matter what gearing you’ve got but the majority of the 6000 meters of climbing is 5-10% gradient and 2-10 kilometers in length. The harder you do each climb the harder each climb becomes as you go past the 3-hour mark and you always have in the back of your mind that you need to face up again for Day 2!