otway odyssey

We came , we saw, we kicked butt! Well, we all finished in one piece! This weekend a group of friends from Topgear Cycles took on the Otway Odyssey 100km MTB Race. This mountain bike event starts in the coastal town of Apollo Bay and ends up at a small town called Forrest. For mountain bikers Forrest is the Meca of single track riding.
In a nut shell, the course climbs uphill for the first 40km on a mixture of dirt roads and bush tracks. Once you hit the high spot of 570 m you have some fast single track and very ruttered 4wd tracks. This year, the conditions were a far cry from last year’s mud, with dust being a big problem amongst the big pack of over a 1000 riders. With a few nasty spills and some broken bones the riders were greeted with some of the best single track riding you will find in Australia.The last 40km weaves it way around 3 different loops.As tired as you are its a dream track that just keeps on going…. The last loop is 13km and includes a killer of a climb. Once you think you have put all the up hill behind you , course designer John Jacoby puts in a hill he calls the “sledgehammer” Finally the last couple of k’s are fast and flowing and you can enjoy the moment of crossing the finish line knowing you have finish one of the toughest 100km races around.