1st Trailseeker event for me. I have done a couple of the Nissan national events and I think the standard of rider ability is far better at the national series. Serious bottlenecks on Saturday at even the smallest of obstacles. The step down into the drainage ditch next to the R21, the short climb next to that conference centre, the corner onto the R21 cross over, the rocky downhills, and of course the single track towards the end with the bridge. I estimate I spent at least half an hour in bottlenecks. I was hoping for a sub-2 hour 40km, but not to be. The rocky downhills were great. On the one gnarly rocky downhill, I did stop and pick up someone's keys that were lying in the track after an what must have been a huge crash! Reckon 50 riders passed me during that short stop. I also witnessed a large group of riders taking a massive shortcut, after the long tar road section back along the R21. They missed a turn off the gravel road, and cut out a good 3-5 kms, which included a long uphill. They must have saved a good 5-10 minutes. Apart from the bottlenecks, I enjoyed the rest of the route, and it was a good way of getting back onto the bike after a bit of winter lay-off.
