CORC 3hr Series – Team TLC Cycles - Pairs Male Winners

Paired Team Racing

I have a good friend named Hamish, he is 34yrs old, over 6ft, has a big chest, a big heart and only knows one way to race, absolutely flat out and at 100%. He is super aggressive in corners and will opt for logs and stumps in order to get passed a slower rider. Hamish showed me his HR monitor after one of the CORC club rounds and he averaged 175bpm for 70mins and maxed at 189bpm. Comparing to my stats, I go lactic at 175bpm and can only hold above this threshold for about 2mins, and I have never seen my HR above 185bpm. For MTB racing I nickname him “The Beast” and naturally we teamed up this year to race the final two rounds of the CORC 3hr Series.

Hamish dropping in to Old Duffy Descent at Stromlo

Team 3hr racing is an interesting concept and presents different challenges when compared to doing it solo. The laps are 15min-25min long, meaning there is just enough time between stints to hydrate, get some carbs on board, stretch warm down/up. If all these things are not perfectly balanced then you’re in trouble when your HR maxes out in the first 5mins of the next lap.

I'm hoping Dan McConnel & Bec Henderson rub off on me at the final rnd of the CORC 3hr series

Racing with a mate and for a mate, brings new found commitment to my performance on the track. As it turns out it also brings new found rewards. Hamish and I got 3rd and 2nd in the two races that we entered that was enough to give us the overall and the take home bright red "Top of Podium" jersey.

Massive thanks to Hamish for giving it everything on the track, and ongoing thanks to TLC Cycles in Phillip for maintaining my bike and wheels.

Stay tuned for some video of the race that Hamish captured on the GoPro.

Podium Jersey, better then a trophy!

CORC 

Everyone wants good value for money, there’s no argument about that. The time, effort and money put into any sport should be rewarded with ample time performing on the track or field. The CORC 3hr Series has the best fun to cost ratio I have ever come across. CORC races are very cheap to enter, usually $10 per rider if you’re organised with a licence, $20 if you need a day licence and juniors race for free making it viable for the entire family to join in on the fun. Again this outlines how fantastic the club mountain bike scene is and the great job CORC continues to do in maintaining the largest mountain bike club in Australia. In saying this there are thousands of people riding mountain bikes in the ACT, but we get 100 – 200 riders registered at any given club day. Either the club is set to boom or CORC needs to look closely at what we need to do in order to attract more of the casual riders into the race scene.

I have the following ideas:

- get coffee at the races
- provide prize money for podium finishers, King of Mountain etc.
- new race formats and race day activities for kids
- have novelty events with sponsor prizes, knock off’s or wheelie comps, stoppy comps, pogo comps, barrel racing comp etc
- include spectator sections in the course layout to attract families and friends (and sponsors). The section of trail at Stromlo, Double Dissolution is a prime example where some seating can be setup and presents plenty of action.
- get some local entertainment at the races, eg. a start-up band/DJ looking for exposure
- ask local clubs to provide demonstrations, eg Trials motor biking or the Uni cycle crew.
- present the lap times and placing on a large screen so people can keep track of the race progress

Some of these ideas will work at the club level, some of these will work at the National level. Either way I plan to join the CORC committee to try and execute at least one of these ideas in 2013.

Ride On

Dave

2012 Scott 24hr - Team "Thrown Together"

Catch up blog on the Scott 24hr that was held in October

A packed start line full of nerves and lycra

The trails at Stromlo are testing at the best of times but throw the odd 'axle deep' rut in there and you have some serious challenges. My favourite laps were my first lap and my last lap. I had a little traffic on the first red lap but got passed a couple of riders at the bridge on Skyline and was able to hook into the Luge with a free run, only to find more traffic on the DH section.

Me enjoying the conditions of the first 6 hours

The night laps were very tough, it was wet, it was cold and the challenge was keeping the rear derailleur out of the mud so you had some gears left by the end.

Entering the night

Back into the day light and my last run on the Blue lap was wild but being on the demo Scott Genius freshened things up for me, plenty of paddock bashing on the grass to get around those muddy sections, unlocked 200mm of travel on Party Line, passed my family cheering at the bottom of the 4 cross track and had a great clear run into transition.

On the Scott Genius demo bike

Simon - got us off to a brilliant start, the way he jumped on his bike after the lemans start, elbows out, looking very angry, showed nothing short of pure aggression and commitment. Even with 3km of riding on a flat in true hardcore downhiller style, Simon finished in under 49mins and had us in 25th place. There is no doubt this would have been the fastest lap of the team had luck been on his side.

Ed - Red lap Ed, obviously Ed loves the steep stuff and it was awesome to catch his style at the end of his first lap, loose, sideways and airborne, doesn't get much better. Ed kept it super consistent and obviously gave it everything on his last lap to keep his lap time nice and low. Massive thanks for entering us and setting up the tarp in the rain on Thursday, it was a great spot and proved to be a well organised site.

Jimmy - anyone that rides a Scott is cool with me. Jimmy showed some great riding, he closed some serious gaps including taking about 20mins out of 15th place on his night double lap. Massive effort and great lap times considering you're new to the Stromlo trails.

Sam - Quiet achiever Sam CAN ride an MTB, with a yellow bandanna flying, in trying conditions he stomped out the laps, in taking 7 places for the team he must have some good passing strats. Great effort in bringing us within less then a minute of doing a 30th lap. I know how much that last lap can hurt.

Pete - I've raced with Pete for a few years now and he always brings a great attitude and 100% commitment on the track , both of which rained true. Pete's first lap was a flyer and gained us a place, and having endured the rain on his night lap he mustered up the courage and stamina to punch out 2 great laps on the sunrise shift.

There was lots of this stuff on the track

All in all a great throw together and I don't think we could have arranged a team with closer lap times and better dynamics if we tried. We finished in a creditable 14th place in the hotly contended category Men’s Team of 6.

Tent city

CORC XCO Rnd 8 - 4th place

CORC XCO Rnd 7 - 3rd Place

Back in the day....

Here are some random old school photos of me in action when I was younger...

2005 Braidwood, NSW

1995 Australian BMX Titles Semi Final, #23

Duffy Pines, 1997

Lake Tuggernong, 1997

ACT BMX Titles, 1997

Southlake, NSW 1997

Yarralumla Woolshed, 1999

Training for Climbing

After racing now for just over 12 months, and with a little more knowledge about training, and the realisation of how little training I get to do. I think a re-evaluation of my goals is in order.

I'm going to change my focus from race performace to overall development as a rider. At least until such time that I'm comfortable with my base pace/fitness and then I can start fine tuning from there. Hopefully my performance will improve naturally as I work on furthering my development.

Break it...break..break it down

I reckon if I was assessed by a professional trainer the first thing they would say is that I'm a heavy weight but racing in the light weight class. Being 176cm and 85kg isn't too bad for your average BMX racer but for MTB racing, power to weight on climbs is everything. I know this from looking at and comparing my times on Strava. I'm solid on the downhills being consistantly in the top 2-5%, on the flats I'm ok but fall below the median, then on the climbs I'm way back in the bottom 25%. There's an imbalance in my rider profile and its really obvious. I credit my DH pace to plenty of experience in face planting and cart wheeling my bike down the track. It's not that I'm good at going fast, I'm just good at being fluid on the bike and getting out of trouble when close to the limit.

So a big part of my development has to be focussed on my climbing skills and fitness. But just as important I need to look at reducing my weight. I'm still carrying excess chubber blubber around my waist and its holding me back. I guess I'm coming to the realisation that I'm a massive emotional eater and it needs to stop, NOW.

For the rest, here goes some research hot off the press from the world wide web of internets.

Training for Climbing - Skills
- check seat height and seat position, knee should be almost but not quite straight when you put your heel on the pedal at its lowest point
- Select a low (but not too easy) gear and concentrate on a smooth pedal action thought to be most efficient is a “kick forward” and a “scrape back”
- spinners are winners
- I think I'm prone to burning my legs too early from standing on hills too much, so I'm going to try and save standing for really short pinches and the backside of a crest

Training for Climbing - Fitness (http://www.mtb-marathon.co.uk/training)

Long hill intervals - warm up for a good 10 mins. Find a long gradual hill that takes approximately 5 minutes to climb up. Ride the hill at a moderately hard pace (this should be an effort that you can maintain for the whole 5 mins). Concentrate on your smooth pedaling action and keep a high cadence. Ride back down the hill and rest at the bottom – this is your recovery period and should last 3 minutes in total. Repeat the hill effort and the recovery 3 times. Build up the number of repetitions each week 3, 4, then 5. Cool down for a good 10 mins. As you get fitter, you could try reducing your recovery time or ride for longer uphill.

Short hill intervals - warm up for a good 10 mins. Find a short steeper hill that takes approximately 30 seconds to climb up. Ride up the hill at a hard pace concentrating on smooth pedal action and high cadence. Ride back down the hill and rest at the bottom – this is your recovery period and should last 3 mins in total. Repeat the hill effort and recovery 5 times. Build up the number of repetitions each week 5, 6, 7, then 8. Cool down for a good 10 mins.

I'm going 2x10 gearing, stay tuned for my verdict

The 3 Ring Circus, Wingello State Forest, NSW (21-22 July)

I've heard a lot about this race and after racing the Highland Fling last year I wanted to get back in the area for another taste of native forest and beautiful fern gullies. Its called the 3 ring circus because the course layout loops back to staging twice and forms 3 laps. Basically there are a wide range of freaks that enter making the entire event a lot of fun.

I managed some preparation for this however didn't get on my bike in the two weeks preceding the race. I went on a family holiday in the tropics and had to bring myself to running to maintain the fitness. I don't mind running middle distances but it really doesn't compare to hitting up the trails on my bike. So with one short jog and 3x 10km runs under my belt I loaded up the car with my mate Pete Stott and headed to the Southern Highlands.

One of my runs - Palm Cove 4x hill effort

After spending some days in the tropics the weather that greeted us came as a shock. 8 degrees max, 30km/h southerly winds and drizzle with already wet ground. Brrrrrrr.

I lined up at the start about 8 rows back, with about 50 riders in front of me and about 400 behind. I had no idea what my legs were going to do, decided that the first 10km of wide open fire trail would probably be definitive as to how the rest of the race was going to go.

As expected my legs lacked that punchy feel they normally have when fresh, I held on to the bunch down the faster sections but it was difficult with constant rain and mud being splattered in my face from the bike in front. I guess you can either chose to wear glasses and see for the first 5mins but be blinded for the rest of the race. Or go without and cry tears of mud for the entire race (and a few hours after) but at least you get to see the track every now and then. I went with the latter.

The first 2 hours went ok, the energy gels were making me feel sick so I stuck to water and Endura mix. My drive train nearly gave up a couple of times but managed to self clean and came good again. But the final lap (18kms) was a massive struggle for me, my thighs felt close to cramping and I basically felt like I was going backwards. I held on and survived to finish the 52km course in 2hrs 44mins. 

The scenery was awesome as expected and riding over misty farm roads with rolling green pastures provided me with a fleeting happy place before turning the corner into a head wind of rain and mud. There didn't seem to be enough single track, but I will probably say that even if the course has 90% single track. I'll be back next year with more pedalling kilometres in the legs and hopefully a dry race.

My thoughts on using running as cross training for an MTB race:

Pros

- I had none of the usual niggles of pain in the knees, hips or lower back

- aerobic capacity was strong and I never ran out of breath

- a little weight loss has to be good for climbing

- no tight hamstrings, pre, during or after the race

Cons (maybe due to not riding rather then using running as training)

- leg strength suffered

- legs speed was lacking

- thighs felt like cramping for the first time ever

- zero strength in final 60mins

I'm going for a ride.

Chow for Now

Rubena Tyres 2012/13 XC Series - Round 2, Stromlo (15th of June)

Better late then never, hehe.

I missed the first round due to being crook with a chest infection, in thinking about it, the illness plus the threat of a wet race was too much for me to handle at the time.

But I managed to drag myself to round 2, considering the course is only 10min drive from my house it wouldn't be worth the flak from my riding mates for not turning up. But I was seriously keen to have a hit out after not competing for what seemed like a long time. After talking to a few of the guys we've decided to race Vets this year, seems like there is a little too much sand bagging (trophy hunting) in B grade so we've gone to Vets instead. Also with the riders being from the same age group it seems more reasonable considering we're not racing against kids in their gap year with tonnes of time to train.

The day was a fairly cool 15 degrees with a little drizzle but only enough rain to settle the dust. The course was set out on some of my favourite trails, and with names like Party Line, Willow Link, and Double Dissolution there's no wondering why they are so good. Especially Double Diss, which has had a tonne of work done lately and is super smooth with some new berms and jumps. It was a short course with each lap being completed in under 15mins and this suited me to the braking mark, I didn't have a great base fitness and could handle short pinchy climbs but would have been busted by anything long and steep.

I basically had a good race, the course was super rewarding and it was hard to conserve on the descents as there was just too much fun to be had. I managed to survive after the first lap fury and went on to over take a couple of riders on the last lap. Including my good friend Trent who I've never beaten before but it seemed like he was having a bad day on and off the track.

My best finish since moving up from C grade so hopefully I can continue with similar results in coming races.

Until next post

Ride on!!

May Day

Basically haven't trained for about a month :-(

Been sick with two different colds but will bounce back this weekend and get back into it.

I feel like I'm making new beginnings again so the first few hard hit outs are going to hurt.

Two races and a cramp

An awesome month of riding and racing has just gone by with two races and numerous rides and training sessions in between. I feel like I’m riding my MTB smoother and faster then ever and I’ve got a good eating plan to keep the metabolism cranking. The weather has cleared up now, the rain seems to have dried up and although the temps have dropped down close to 0 degrees overnight, the night riding season is upon us and is in full force.

CORC ACT Champs XC – 22nd April 2012

I entered this late and went in to the race viewing it as a hard training session. But after being involved with only ¼ of the racing going down for the weekend, I ended up being envious of the guys and girls who had signed up for the full deal. It seems the ACT Championships is an epic weekend of racing that eventually extrapolates the best all round riders in the nation’s capital and eventually crowns the overall champion. You can race all or some of the following events:

Gravity XC – 10mins of sprinting down XC trails
Dual Slalom – 1 on 1 knock out on a short DH course
Cross Country – Typical XC event, 90mins of thigh burning madness
Downhill – 3mins of pure downhill adrenalin

I only entered the cross country this time but hopefully next year I’ll be organised with enough bikes to give the whole mountain a smashing. It was awesome to see my good friend Brad Morton take-out the overall, only finishing off the podium in one event. Well done Morto! Brad took off down the dual slalom course and I heard a young downhiller dude say, “Oh, he goes ok for an XC dude” if only he knew the history of racing that Brad has going through his 30 something year old veins. Speed roller skating, BMX racing, Junior/Senior Motocross and now all things push bikes, just to name a few.

Awesome photo of Brad in the DS with me 'photo bombing' in the background

I raced the cross country event, frog leaped Trent (friend and rival) a few times swapping from 6th to 7th but he eventually got my measure, opened a gap and I finished up in 7th. I went way too hard on the first lap and never really recovered. I wasn’t that puffed, but my hips and thighs were yelling at me to stop after the 2nd lap. I was a little under prepared with lack of training as per usual. But it set me up well for the following weekend.

Tumut 3hr Enduro - 29th April 2012

I entered my 2nd year of XC MTB racing when I set off at the start of the Tumut 3hr. With 12 months of riding experience under my belt, I’m a little smarter on the bike, I’m a little more efficient with my riding, I’m humble in my surroundings with the realisation that speed comes from years of structured training and not months of sporadic hill efforts. I’m refreshed to see the masters still going hard and even showing me a few new lines and ideas to get over the technical stuff, and I’m stoked to have formed new friendships and connections in this demanding sport that requires all the help you can get.

My goal for this race was to be consistent on the lap times, ride clean lines, punish the track where I am stronger and survive in the sections where I’m weak. I started out by letting the fast and furious do their thing and watched as about 20 riders disappeared in a cloud of dust and humming tyres on the dirt. Curbing the adrenalin and not going on the chase is extremely difficult for me but I managed to hold back, got into a very steady pace and got round the 1st lap without busting myself. It wasn’t long before riders started to find the pain that I was avoiding, one by one I crept passed, saving myself for the pinches, conserving on the long slow climbs and getting out the saddle and stoping out the crests. I remember at about the 2hr mark, ripping down a single trail at 30-40km/h, and consciously opening my mouth and taking in some deep breaths. The fresh cool mountain air was bliss and made me feel refreshed and ready for the final hour ahead.

I rode a lonely race for about an hour, was passing some lappers but didn’t seem to find anyone who was about the same pace, until the last lap. Just as is started the last lap my right calf was beginning to cramp, I stopped and stretched it at transition and threw down half a red bull and a shot of honey. 10 minutes into the 6th lap I noticed a bright orange jersey appearing behind me, immediately I made the mistake of trying to work out who he was and where he might be in the standings, I probably should have just put my head down and nailed it. He caught me and I confirmed with him that were racing but I wasn’t sure if he was on the same lap. Regardless he was showing way more pace then me at the time, and my calf wasn’t getting any better. I tried nursing it but it eventually seized up, I made it to the top of descent and coasted home to complete the race in 6th place.

6th David Roberts
1 00:19:10 00:19:10
2 00:30:26 00:49:36
3 00:31:47 01:21:23
4 00:31:26 01:52:49
5 00:31:55 02:24:44
6 00:32:11 02:56:55

The lap times of 1st place...

1st Aaron Bashford 03:01:45
1 00:15:48 00:15:48
2 00:27:03 00:42:51
3 00:27:07 01:09:58
4 00:27:19 01:37:17
5 00:28:04 02:05:21
6 00:28:10 02:33:31
7 00:28:14 03:01:45

The only thing I would change for next year is my hydration, apparently Powerade doesn't quite have the electrolyte/salt content required and could have been the cause of my cramps. My lovely wife has ordered some Endura Powder through the pharmacy that she works at so I’m looking forward to trying it out over coming rides and races.

I didn’t have any Gel shots for the entire race, I took some big gulps of honey on every 2nd lap to the total of 180grams, consumed 2ltrs of water, and about 600mls of Powerade. I felt good on the way home, no headache, no gut ache, just a good feeling you get after a 100% effort.  I’m going to mix up a home Gel shot recipe with honey for the next race.

Next Race is the James Williamson 50km, 12 days time

Peace
Dave

Mont 24hr Analysis 2011/2012

Below is a little comparison between my 2011 and 2012 Mont laps. There are a number of variables between the two so its hard to draw solid conclusions however there are some good things to take from this table.

First here are a few differences between the years
- 2012 track was a little longer
- 2012 track had more single trail

2011
Lap #	Lap Time	Avg Speed
1	57:19:00	17.8 km/h
2	59:31:00	17.14 km/h
3	1:01:25:00	16.61 km/h
		17.183 km/h
2012
1	1:01:34	18.28 km/h
2	1:03:21	17.77 km/h
3	1:06:52	16.83 km/h
4	1:03:32	17.72 km/h
		17.65 km/h
Speed Difference 11-12
+0.466km/h

The obvious difference is the 0.5km/h speed increase that I managed to maintain over 4 laps in stead of 3. This doesn't sound like much but on the track I felt much more within my fitness limits. I wasn't pushing nearly are hard to get these times and the result was very little fade between the first and last lap. I was able to complete longer, faster laps and more of them and maintain consistant times. I think the main result that I can take away from this is that I've got a little faster, which is great, but even better is that my legs have got a little longer so to speak.

This has been interesting so I'll try and get a similiar comparison going with the Tumut 3hr that I'm racing in again on the 29th April.

Just came off Easter long weekend, eat a little too much chocolate with the kids but I managed to balance it out a little and ride every day. Had a mix of short hard ones and a long/easy social rides.

Fitness Plan for the next month or so

Mon - Stromlo Hill Efforts x4 in big ring
Tues - Lunch time jog
Wed - Race Sim at Stromlo
Thurs - Lunch time jog
Fri - V02 Intervals at Bruce Ridge
Sat - Social ride
Sun - Rest/Light trainer session

Until next post,
Eat less chocolate :-|

Flamin' Mont 24hr - East Kowen - March 24th/25th

Another couple of weeks have flown by and the Mont came and went with a bang. In the lead up the weather was threatening to make it a mud slinging festival, but the track dried out for about a week and we were blessed with perfect conditions.

Preparation for the event went quite well, it was good to get a couple of races and hard rides in before hand. In the lead up I managed to be consistent, with about 3 training sessions a week. The team was thrown together with a bunch of friends and combined with the track conditions made for one of the best Mont 24hr I've ever competed in. We called ourselves The Flaming Chains. I'd like to say a massive thankyou to Pete, Josh, Stotty, Jodie and Sam for joining me in the Mont and making it such a great weekend. Everyone was super relaxed (off the track) and put in a massive effort on the track.

Huge thanks to TLC Cycles for their ongoing support, especially the lads in the workshop for fixing my fork lock out problems in the weeks leading up to the race.

My goal for this Mont was to be consistent,  to resist the temptation to punch out that one hot lap (only to blow up and be lactic for the next 3 laps), and to last the entire event without losing too much speed by the final lap. I feel like I met my goals OK

Lap 1 - 1:30pm - 1:01:34 18.28km/h

Sam set the Flaming Chains up with a solid first lap. Typically the Mont is a Le Mans start, so after a good 500m jog to his bike Sam turned some good pace and then followed up with great sportsmanship in helping out a fellow dirt monkey with changing a tyre. I was up for the 2nd lap so after the delay this had me starting well back in the field. With the GoPro fired up, I tagged Sam and set out. All those pre race nerves and expectations fly out the window when the first pro jumps over your head and whistles at you as he goes by. All jokes a side it is just plain awesome being able to race with everyone from total new comers to highly trained Olympians, and to see the speed difference first hand is most definitely humbling.

I was feeling good out of the saddle and stomping it up the pinchey climbs, a few times I consciously backed it off and kept patient behind the slower riders. Still I think I must have passed 30+ riders on that lap, and only a few of them had me riding up and over rock gardens and hopping logs to stay on the bike. Managed to get a clear run for the downhill section into transition, 1st lap down and the Mont was in full motion.

Highs - Clean lap considering the amount of overtaking going down
Lows - Starting so far down the order held me a little.

Lap 2 - 10:30pm - 1:03:21 17.77km/h

Lights on and the first of two night laps for me. It was cool with the temps down to about 10 degrees by this time. I had a nice warm up in the tent with our gas heater and a bit of old school disco dancing, that's how the pros do it, right???

Highs - Nice open lap with hardly any hold ups
Lows - I knee'd the socket for my bar light and had to stop to fix it

Lap 3 - 3:45am - 1:06:52 16.83km/h

This was a tough one to wake up for, but once the legs got moving it is MTBing bless out on the track, minimal dust, clean crisp air and great attitudes. The odd guitarist and drummer playing in the forest did huge things for the spirit and motivation.

Highs - Had fun at 4am in the dark without being at the pub
Lows - None really

Lap 4 - 10:20am -1:03:32 17.72km/h

Back into the daylight, the track had changed a bit, a few corners had blown out and and some sections were now bypassed. The ground was starting to sink away in some patches, leaving axle deep ruts and speed sapping squashiness. My legs were sore now, every climb was a massive effort to keep cranking out any decent speed. There was time for another lap, I was hoping someone from the team would have been keen but no dice. I rode back to the tent and lure of a shower and beer was too much to handle.

Highs - Beautiful clear runs in the descents, track felt quicker, massive buzz
Lows - Not going for a double lap that would have bumped the team up about 10 places

Team Lap Times

Lap Split   Speed  Name
17 1:03:32 17.72  Dave Roberts
16 1:15:39 14.88  Peter Boreham
15 1:49:35 10.27  Jodie Stevenson
14 1:22:32 13.64  Joshua Lindenthaler
13 1:06:52 16.83  Dave Roberts
12 1:13:21 15.35  Peter Boreham
11 1:57:17 9.60  Peter Stott
10 1:37:53 11.50  Jodie Stevenson
9 1:18:30 14.34  Joshua Lindenthaler
8 1:03:21 17.77  Dave Roberts
7 1:35:24 11.80  Sam Beattie
6 1:06:52 16.83  Peter Boreham
5 1:35:26 11.79  Peter Stott
4 1:23:44 13.44 Jodie Stevenson
3 1:07:25 16.70 Joshua Lindenthaler
2 1:01:34 18.28 Dave Roberts
1 1:38:06 11.47 Sam Beattie

Mont 24hr - Mixed 6 team - this weekend

Last race at Wingello was cancelled due to rain, I read the organisers tried to access the site and got bogged on the way in so fair enough.

This weekend is the The Mont 24hr, prime conditions, can't wait.

Rocky Trail 66km @ Stromlo - Fail

Its been a long time between posts, no excuses, no surrender, this is it, back into it.

12 months have nearly rolled over since I started blogging about MTBing action so it will be good to get a few entries in before my first anniversary of MTB racing swings around. That will be an excuse for a party, no doubt, and The Mont 24hr (18 days away) will be no better time and place to celebrate.

Rocky Trail Cruise100 Race Report

I raced the Rocky Trail 66km at Stromlo a couple of weeks back on the 25^th February. In the month leading up to it I was doing alright with training, getting 3 rides a week, the odd one would be decent intervals but most were just social rides with mates. 2 weeks out something happened, I got super preoccupied with family and work commitments and only managed 3 rides in the two weeks before. I woke up on the Tuesday morning in the week of the race and I was genuinely depressed, I couldn’t put my finger on the exact reasons. But I woke up tired from a disturbed night from settling my son 4 times throughout the evening, pissed off that I’d eaten poorly over the last few days and had not had the chance to burn the carbs, and worried that I’d committed to a race that I was totally under prepared for. Still I’ve been through all this before so I couldn’t understand why I was so down.

After a couple of short rides during the week, I tried to feed the machine everything that my body required. I tried to get some good sleep and hydrated well in the 48hrs before. The morning of the race I packed an esky with 2 powerades, a honey sammo, two extra bottles of water and a handful of GU shots.

I had fun in the first 40km of the race, I was actually feeling ok, wasn’t getting overtaken by too many people, was feeling a good flow and hitting all the lines really well. But in getting any sort of a result, the race was a disaster for me.

Half way up the trunk trail, I got over taken by a guy carrying way more speed then me, and had that ‘pro’ look about him. I wondered what length of race he was doing, how could I be in front of him, maybe he got a puncture. He was going way too fast for the 100mile, probably a little to early to catch me if he was doing the 100km, and I was expecting to see Dylan Cooper fly past me calling race leader from that class. Damn that only leaves one category, the 66km, my category. I convinced myself I must be confused in the heat so I carried on. I caught a guy going about the same pace, and confirmed that he was doing the 66km, phew, that’s a relief, everything must be ok. Until he asked me what my bike computer (I don’t use one) was showing as he was only showing 36 km when it should have been showing a bit more then that based on 33km laps. Now I was getting worried, damn we must have cut the track somewhere. It wasn’t until late into the 2^nd lap that I knew for sure, when Michelle Ainsworth came up behind and asked, how did you get past me? We had frog leaped each other a few times on the first lap and then she left me behind with great prowess. I had frog leaped her again, but I had cheated. At this stage of the race I was getting goose bumps all over my body, I was starting to feel a little dizzy and was already going through some mental hurdles. Then to realise that the ‘official’ race was over was extremely de-motivating for me. I got to the section that I cut and started riding out two laps of the loop to get the distance back up to par with the other riders. I got around the 2^nd loop then gave up, threw in the towel and rode back to transition. I’d been out on track for about 3 ½ hours, felt like it was a good training session and with no result to get I packed it in.

Now I know exactly why I was depressed earlier in the week. As much as I couldn’t help that the track marking was down when I went around for my first lap, my body was not up for the 30 degrees temp, searing sun and technical track. I got punished from all sides but can take away from great lessons in enduro racing for next time.

A few things to remember…

- number one, probably need to ride more then 2 - 3 times a week in the month lead up to a race

- number 2, eating when riding also needs to be practiced, burped for 30mins after eating my banana and honey sammo at half way point, maybe just don't eat at all.

- number 3, fully memorise the track, bunting was down and I accidently cut the track.

50km Enduro this weekend at Wingello Forest, bring it on, I’m better prepared for this one and it’s more my distance.

Ride on,

Dave