It was to be a solo road trip for me, not that I mind, actually I was excited about spending some time on the road to just chill out and think about the race ahead. Driving into Bundanoon at 9:30pm I couldn't help but think of the back packer murders, as the bodies were found in 1992 only 20kms away from where the race was to unfold. The community would be moving on by now but man it must have rocked the surrounding area for a long time. Camping in any of the surrounding forests would have the makings for another edition of Blair Witch but I was lucky this time because there were at least 1000 other people camping next to me that night.
I didn't get much training in so I thought I would at least try and eat and drink the right things in the lead up to the race..I dropped as many fats and sugars from my diet as I could, I took some advice and loaded the magnesium pills into my system for about a week, apparently this helps with cramping and general muscle performance. I had some good Italian carbs the night before and eat 4 pancakes on the morning of the race. After a Mark Webber dash for the porta loo I was ready to race. Expecting to be finished up in something over 2hrs I loaded my bike shorts with 4 GU's (energy gel shot things). A handful of people rocked up to the startline with about 30mins to spare, at first I laughed, but then thought about the 6 A4 pages of rider entries and 5 minutes later I was on the start line too. Sure enough the start line was packed and it was super long, I reckon I had about 80 people in front and around me and there were another 900 or so behind me lined up down into the bush.
Being my first 58km, I kept my plan for the race nice and simple. Start out cruisey, get into a groove, ride smooth and efficient and leave nothing left over in the last 10km. Oh yeah I also had to do this eating on bike thing, a new concept but seems to work and makes racing for 2hrs+ a lot less painful. Every 30mins I downed a GU shot, disgustingly sweet, but rewarding a short while later when some of your energy comes back.
The first few km's were tarmac and fire road but it wasn't long and we were hitting up farm tracks and green pastures. Wasn't a bad warm up for me and I was only passed by a handful of riders in the first 15kms. Then it was into the usual routine, everyone stops pedalling on the down hills, I blast past any way I can find and then most of the riders I just over took, get me again on the climb. This cycle went on a few times and you get to know some of the riders who are keeping a similar average pace.
The descents were mostly on farm tracks, fire roads and 4x4 tracks so there wasn't much technical stuff. But the wide open roads made passing possible in the faster sections and I rarely got held up by people riding out their anchors. On your right, on your right, ooooop, up the middle lads, thanks for that. There were a few sand traps in corners and at the end of fast sections of fire trail. So many riders were getting caught out and running wide but I managed to find some sneaky lines around the inside where the grass was hanging onto some grip. A highlight was taking 4 riders in one turn, holding the big ring up a small pinch to keep flowing on through the traffic into the next rocky section of MTBing heaven. I had a few big rear wheel wash outs but my front was hanging in there and I was really enjoying the riding.
Probably the highlight of the race for me was in the last 10km, the track opened up to hard packed fire trail, and there were about 6 of us all in a bunch and pushing hard. Well I was getting a free ride, tucked in low and getting dragged along by a grey hound on a 29er. After a few mins I thought it was time to get to the front and pull me weight, I pulled out and started stomping it out. Had a quick look and 2 of the riders had dropped off. In about 500m there was track marshal ahead and we were directed the the driveway of another farm, still with plenty of pace, I looked up to try and see where the track was going, right, left through a gate, hard right down a fence line and back into the paddock. I looked back with a smile on my dial ready to acknowledge the nice flowing corners with my fellow race dudes but not one of them was in sight. They must have thought I was a local and timed the move to the front perfectly. Nope!! Hack from Canberra gets lucky again.
For the first time this year I actually paced myself to finish stronger then I started so I'm happy with that. My result was just inside the top 10%, that sounds ok doesn't it?!?!. But It was an awesome race, no crashes for once and no mechanical problems, I'll be back again next year for sure so all in all I'm stoked :-)
Ground Effect Stage - 1:08:42.9 (48th)
Gu Stage - 1:41:05.4 (35th)
Finish - 2:49:48.3 (35th)
Check out Dylan Cooper's and James Downing's blogs for a view point from the pointy end of the field. Links on the right.
Until next post.
Ride on!
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