I'm back! Ok, impressions....
Pretty much what I expected, a 10 ish mile loop based around the 10 under course, 4 timed sections one of which was new to me, the others had been in previous courses. Kaiser had done this section but not others. Section 1 was nice, fast rocky flowy, couple of small rises but apart from that you could keep you momentum. Looooong transition to stage 2 took us up a climb to the puggy line descent then along and up another climb to stage 2 start. I think they could easily have fitted another stage in there. The bottom of the dh course crossed the untimed descent we were on as did other natural singletrack bits. Missed opportunity or just plain lazy? Start of stage 2 was wet and blustery, I could have done with a break but it wasn't weather for hanging about so off we went. Start of the stage was steep uphill switchbacks then finally onto a flowing bermed descent used in the WC cross country course, very nice but over too quick. Back up an earlier climb took us to start of stage 3 just below stage 2. This took us down an old natural section called blue crane. I struggled here. It was sustained steep ,wet and slippery rocks and all I could think was don't go over the bars and hit your ribs again. So I got off and walked, which was just as bad and quickly got caught by Kaiser, who committed to it and made it look easy. Next part was natural rooty stuff and really nice, but someone had gone through the tapes and I missed a turn and had to go back up. This was a long stage with a pedally bit on fire road in the middle, which wasn't marshalled and left the wondering if I'd gone the right way. Eventually I saw a proper arrow which directed us into another steep natural bit that was a bit peaty and not very grippy, again I walked a bit of this. This lead to the end of stage 3. Stage 4 was a nice part of the WC course I knew from previous 10 utb races. It was always one I enjoyed, but again over too quick. That just left the return to the finish, but the course marking was rubbish here and us and other riders didn't see one of the tracks and just rode the fireroad to the finish. Only the stages were timed so it didn't affect anything and like I said we weren't the only ones left wondering which way to go.
So who came out on top of the Macretro race? Well Kaiser's stage times were quicker than mine by a minutes and a half thanks to my abysmal stage 3, but on stage wins we were equal at 2 each. Taking out stage 3, there were only a couple of seconds between us. He's graciously calling it a draw, but I know I got beat. Must work on getting over my fear of steep rocky stuff and also work on my fitness, and allow more recovery time before events ( a Munro day, and two hard 40k's in the week before an event aren't a good idea) but you live and learn. On the plus side those extra k's took me past him in the Strava Junedoggle challenge, although I made the mistake of telling him this and I can see him getting the road bike out tonight to do exactly enough to beat me. Still it was motivation to get me well over 400km this month, not bad as due to my ribs I didn't ride much the first week and a bit.
Overall I like the format, but think I'll wait for a proper full enduro next time.