Naturally Hamish had a chaotic preparation in the hours leading up to the race. Including 600kms of driving, picking up a brand new 29er Specialized S-works from Sydney, purchasing a new pram and capsule from Sydney and the replacement of press fit bottom bracket bearings in his 26er s-works so it can be raced in the 3hr. Conversely but also fairly naturally I had a relaxed prep with the morning spent lubing my chain, pumping up my brand new Kenda Small Block 8s, sleeping for about an hour during the day and ensuring all the right fuel had entered my body by 3pm.
This is how it unfolded.
5:15pm - I arrived trackside and entered us as a team in the Open Male Pair category. Hamish busily throwing bike and gear in the ute at his home.
5:30pm - I was geared up and prepping my lights for the 2nd half of the race. Hamish calls and is on his way.
5:45pm - 15mins to race start, I hit the criterium track for some warm ups, legs are feeling ok but that wind is cold, so cold that I cut half the track and only ride with the wind to stay warm.
5:50pm - Hamish arrives, "Scissors paper rock for first lap or do you want me to do it", I was warm and prepped so it was always going to me, had to make the option available.
6:00pm - Race start, I self seeded 2nd row behind the A graders, but still side by side with so many fast riders. The depth of riders in Canberra is extraordinarily deep, to say the least. I'll list the results at the recent Australian National Championships at the end of this blog. I live for this moment, on the start line, heart rates already maxing out on many riders. Time for the bullshit to stop and the gun to go off. My attitude to the first lap was 100% on the way up, 95% on the way down.
I stuffed up my seeding, I put myself right on the outside of the first left hander so I found that 30 or so riders were in front of me within the first 100m. Then I noticed a Trek team rider take a creative line off the fire trail and up a single track that meanders along the side of the 4 cross course. Time for a little high risk/high gain and I followed him. It was a bit more effort and I wasn't sure how it would play out, or how legal it was, but by the time the single track re-joined the main trail, I saw the Trek rider go straight into the lead, I smiled and zoomed back into about 15th place.
I felt good on the climb and my legs responded well after a good warm up. I'll eat my words now because I used to bag the riders who did a serious warm up, I now know that it is essential to a good start. I was basically the first of the rest by the end of the climb, meaning I was bringing up the front of the bunch behind the A graders. I hit the decent and repeated to myself, "smooth and fast, right on line" and kept the hammer down. I soon caught a guy and got passed quickly just before the skyline single trail, milking the new ramps for every bit of free speed, I caught two more chaps, Dave Medlock from Nitelights and another random. I called for the overtake at the start of the Luge and the typical response from a reluctant competitor, "Oh its a bit hard here mate", I've said the same thing so can totally understand. So I prepped my fellow racers and said "On this berm coming up, you go high and I'll go low". To my surprise they both took my advice, only Crafty Dave Medlock took the inside as well and we both scooted passed the inside of the slower rider. I've been on Dave's wheel before, and he's got game, so was happy to chase him down without pushing the pass. It was interesting to note how his 2 niner responded in the switchbacks compared to my 2 sixer. As expected, every mid corner I was scrubbing his back wheel.
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| On my way down Old Duffy Descent |
The last few kms were fairly uneventful last as I was riding smooth and hitting all my lines. Rode through transition in 9th place overall and 2nd in our category and handed the reigns over to Hamish.
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| Chasing Dave Medlock |
6:30pm - I threw on a hoodie and tried to stay warm while downing half a bottle of Endura. We were required to have lights on after 7pm so I setup one of my lights as I knew I would be back before sunset.
6:50pm - Started to warm up a bit and put my helmet on ready for another hot lap
6:58pm - Expected Hamish to come in at close to the 29min mark or a little quicker
7:00pm - Heard some riders coming in reporting that a rider was badly hurt half way down the descent.
7:05pm - No Hamish at transition, starting to have bad thoughts.
7:10pm - Trent comes through and tells me Hamish is down and is pretty bad. Our race is over and my thoughts are now straight to Hamish's health. Preying that he doesn't have severe injuries.
7:20pm - I rode up the fire trails to meet Hamish at the crash site and nearly got there but he was already on his way down the hill in the first aid car.
GoPro Vid of Stack - http://youtu.be/sTyPf5OLHW0
Hamish looked liked a corpse, was severely concussed and disorientated but had his sense of humour in tact. No time for chit chat the Ambulance was on its way. I rode behind the car back down the hill. I felt like a old loyal dog following his owner, thinking about what injuries he might have and what long term effect this will have his attitude towards riding.
Hamish has no broken bones but he went under a general anesthetic to have plastic surgery done on his upper lip/nose to make sure that it all heals up correctly. They underestimated his fitness and he stopped breathing while being operated on and the doctors had to pump Narcan into his blood to get him going again. Besides feeling like he has been mauled by a dog, he is generally fine and is already putting together his race calendar for the rest of the year.
Here are some quotes from Hamish just after the crash...
"I'm good to go for a couple more laps!"
"Well there goes my modelling career"
"Is my bike ok?"
"Dude, don't worry. We are going to win the series"
"Is my bike ok?"
"I seriously had no idea what was going on until 5mins ago"
"I just remembered that I bought a new bike. Sick. Glad I didn't crash that one"
On finding out he needs plastic surgery under a general
"I will enquire about getting my nostrils drilled out a little bigger to get a VO2 advantage"
"Is my bike ok?"
"Dude, I can't ride my new 29er. That's pain!"
"I've now had to clean both blood and spew from my 26er during its racing career"
Hamish has been told he can't ride or train for two weeks so that rules him out of the up coming Mont 24hr team race. The search begins for a replacement rider, it will be nearly impossible to find another rider who will attack the track like Hamish does every time he heads out.
ACT rider results from the Australian National Championships XCO
Dylan Cooper - 5th in Elite
James Downing - 19th in Elite
Bec Henderson - 1st in U23
John Henderson - 1st in Super Masters Men
Bradley Morton (Mort0) - 1st Masters Men
Hamish Scanlain - 3rd in Expert
Charlie Brodie - 2nd in U15 Men
Zoe Cuthbert - 3rd in U15 Women
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