My preparation for this race wasn’t bad, but there were plenty of areas for improvement. There was only 3 weeks between Rd 1 and Rd 2 so I really needed to get riding as soon I had had recovered from Rd 1. I didn’t get out for a few a days after the race, probably because of those competing priorities again, the state of origin, family dinners, spending time with wifey and the young fella, keeping warm. All beautiful priorities when it comes down to it. I only got two rides in that 1st week and 3 mediocre rides in the 2nd week, and then with 5 good sessions I smashed myself on catch-up in the 3rd week. I’m going to put it down to not committing to this blog with regular posts and updates I’ll look to improve on that in coming weeks.
Other things I need to improve on:
- earlier nights to get some morning rides in.
- my eating habits in the last few weeks would have got me on biggest loser if it wasn’t for the riding that I’ve been doing.
- more shed sessions on the trainer while watching Will Ferrell movies to shave those skin-folds, I view this as free speed so have to get down to a decent race weight ASAP. I’ve levelled out at about 85.5kgs, goal to be at around 80kg by the end of the year.
The Race
Before I knew it, race day had swung around and I loaded my freshly serviced bike into my cousins van. It was to be his first XC race and awesome that we’ve finally found common, competitive, and dusty ground that we can share. It was cold yesterday morning, very cold, probably zero in the sun and minus 2 in the shade with a slight breeze to chill things off even further. Is coffee good for pre-race preparation? Who cares its bloody cold and I need it.
We got to the track and with the car park over flowing, the excitement was starting to build. I had already made up my mind about what grade to enter, partly because of peer pressure, but mostly because I have me eyes set on racing A grade in the final round next year. “So you’ll be entering C grade today” the lovely volunteer asked. Nope, put me down for B Grade please. Game on Dirt Monkeys!
I did a little warm-up wheelie, said hello to my family who had come out to cheer me on and took my place behind the A graders and in the guts of B grade. Looking around it seems that B graders are all a little leaner, a little taller and have cleaner bikes then C grade. It’s the clean bike’s that worry me, that spells preparation and a switched on competitor. I entered the race with a totally different game plan to the last, my friend (Trent) and new rival was in the race so I planned to lock onto his back wheel for as long as possible and then see what happens in the last lap. An A grader friend said, just try and keep the front guys in view the whole time.
The plan worked for some of the first lap. Then I overtook Trent before a decent, it was all going ok, but I remember thinking, “oh I hope you didn’t follow me through that section because it was a massive hack”. Next thing I know my front wheel pushed through a sandy berm and I laid it over, price for not doing a practice lap I suppose. 5 riders went passed me before I was back up and running, but my rhythm was gone, skin on my left leg gone, my mate, gone. Crap this wasn’t in the plan. So I enacted plan B, get back on the wheel of Trent and get back to plan A. I managed to get back on the tail of the bunch in a few minutes and was back on Trent’s wheel as we went over the start/finish. Sweet, got my tow back!!!
Same section but on 2nd lap, I went for the same move, went passed Trent before the decent and made it through the sandy berm this time. He even let out a ‘yahoooo’ for my efforts. About 3 minutes later I hear a nasty chain noise and looked down, my front derailleur slipped and my chain was jammed up against it. Pulled over to try and force it back but needed some tools to do so. Rode as a single speeder for the rest of the lap and did a 2min pit stop at the start/finish. At this point I was having serious thoughts about quitting, I knew that any decent result was now out the question, but my nephews were there, my family cheering me on, and the young riders need to see commitment from the older guys. So I pressed on. New plan was to try and get myself off last place and put in a good fast lap on my last lap. I pushed through, found a good rhythm and with the help of some wind from Dylan Cooper screaming past me on single speeder with no suspension, I punched out my fastest lap on my last lap. Finished in 13th out of 17 starters and left with a few sneaky points on the board.
I learned a hard lesson from this race! Don’t smash the descents on the 1st lap if I don’t know the track. Otherwise it was a RACE and I got race conditions. I ended up a full 12 minutes behind 1st place so I still have a long way to climb before thinking about A grade. It was an eventful one that didn’t return a good result but I finished and I’m happy with my first B grade initiation.
Next race is this coming weekend, SCUM 7hr at Stromlo in a team of 3. I’ll have a well earned rest day today but will be back into the training by tomorrow night.
Until next post.
Skids and wheelies!!
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