The Duo Classic 50km

Hamish and I raced the Duo Classic and it was another eventful and memorable race. Hamish turned up 10 minutes before the start and was a little frazzled , fumbling to get a water bottle cage on his bike only to find the bottle was incorrectly positioned and would hit the frame. The course was a 25km loop so we setup a feed station to restock supplies on the way around for the second lap. To his credit Hamish had warned me that he was under prepared for this race, both in training and bike prep so I was ready for a little chaos. I also set out with my own agenda to help Hamish pace as he very rarely races anything over 2hrs long. I carried 2 litres of a water in my camel back and had a drink bottle with an Endura electrolyte mix and two Endura gel shots for when it started to hurt.

On the charge on the 2nd lap, before the engine blew up.

The race started and it was only 10 seconds into it and there was already a guy cart wheeling down the gravel. His chain must have slipped while out the saddle because he went down hard. I thought about stopping to assist like many others I'm sure, but the guy basically crashed straight into the first aid tent so I knew he would get plenty of attention. We started very slowly in the effort to gauge our fitness and approached the first 25km with a negative pace, ie riding well within our limits in the effort to finish as strong if not faster. The theory went well, we spoke a lot about how are legs were feeling and 10mins into it Hamish started to build some serious pace as he warmed up. My challenge was to rein him in so we could finish strong and with some punch in our pedals. Keep it in check Hamish.

Our goal was to pass at least one other team at every fire trail which meant we fell out of the negative pace occasionally but I was feeling really strong and as we went passed team after team I was actually getting excited at how this might end. Everything about the first lap was clean, our bikes were running smooth, our lines were smooth and we had over taken about 30 riders.

At the feed station I swapped to a fresh bottle of Endura, had a squeeze of our home grown honey, a quick sip of Coke and then I filled Hamish's camel back with the contents of one of his bottles, turned out to be Endura mix as well. This is where the patch work quilt started to unravel. Hamish was left with no pure water, only Endura mix and a couple of gel shots. We pressed on and at the 30km mark we caught another group of riders. It was business time and we both knew it, I gave Hamish my wheel and we started to stomp out some strong pace. We caught and over took the entire group of about 10 riders, Hamish said "I love committing to overtaking before I've already committed!". Meaning as soon as he gets a glimpse of the rider in front he starts calling for the over take. I was starting to hurt, but only my left leg, which was strange. We held on to our positions until the 40km mark, there was only 4km of climbing then a massive descent down into the finish. Then I heard Hamish cough, but it was more then a cough, there might have been something in it, and then a few minutes later he blew a head gasket. Our pace dropped off, the teams that had fought earlier started passing us and one by one we fell back down the standings. Hamish pushed on and never gave up, he found the limit then went passed it by a long way. On the finishing straight a few more teams were about to go passed so Hamish was out of the saddle holding on. After crossing the line in 20th place he threw himself on the ground and proceeded to throw up for about 5 mins straight, heaving and contorting like a dying Kangaroo after being hit by a car. A guy came over and asked if we needed assistance but I turned it down knowing what he had just put himself through. I thought to myself, thats what 110% looks like, when Hamish is fit and puts in a similar effort there won't be many people left standing next to him, that is my warning.

Another great race down and we move into the final two XCO rounds and the kick off of the 2013 3hr series. Turns out I'm on holidays until the 18th of Feb so with a little spare time and some cool temps (20 degrees) I'm off for a ride.

Ride on.