The Hard Way
In celebrating 25yrs of the Canberra Off-road Cycling Club the event committee decided to give us all an extra hour of racing fun, making it a 13hr/25hr race. The 13hr was scheduled to run as 7hrs on Saturday, restarting on Sunday morning for another 6hrs. Introducing a 'one-off' format created some motivators for us, there will only ever be one 13hr/25hr event (as oppose to 12hr/24hr) so to succeed here riders will
go down in history as being the first and last to do so.
Luckily I've got a TLC Cycles (02) 6281 5538 who take care of race prepping my bike before these big events. Massive thanks to Cath my wife for looking after the family while I get to race.
http://corc24hour.com.au/
Some people will look at the 13hr as the soft option. Entering the 13hr avoids the use of lights and we were all able to head home for a normal nights sleep in our own cushy beds. Some people might even consider it 'sand bagging' for an award or podium finish. But I can assure you that the competitiveness within our team, and the willingness to get the job done, the way our team approached the preparation and the race itself, Team Smooth Transition screamed 'Semi-Pro'. Jokes aside there is no doubt that we got serious about this race.
The entries on the day made it an extremely fast category and I hope the pace in the 2013 7+6hr help to make it an even more popular category in years to come.
13hr Pro Teams
Rockstar Racing
Cannondale Sugoi Factory Racing
Target Trek MTB Racing Pairs
13hr Semi-Pro Teams
Coming up the rear
The Magellan Duo
SpearedAvanti GU
We started the race with 2 goals, ensure the category win, and shoot for the overall. Knowing that all the obviously fast teams were racing as duo's we were banking on some fatigue to set in for them. However the blistering pace, and little to no fade in lap times from the machines in front soon illustrated the overall was most likely out of reach for us.
In summary we had an early flat, lost 9mins. Got the lead back within about 6 laps. I crashed on my 3rd lap and was out for the rest of the race and the team was down to 3 riders. Early on the second day we lost the lead again however the boys pulled through, opened the gap to 5mins at one stage but The Magellan team pulled us back to about 2mins. We ended up winning our category by 2.5mins in the end. We finished 4th overall behind the pro teams listed above, so we're happy to finish as the best of the rest.
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We built a rocket ship.
Brad - bike boy from way back with a strong BMX background and recent marathon length MTB racing, Brad trains off the grid and manages to stay fit even though he has never uploaded his Garmin files to Strava.
Brad started us off and got the first runs on the board with a clean lap that had us in clear air, he was about 15th rider in, awesome effort out of about 300 starters. Super quick and consistent laps for the whole race. Going by the smile on his dial in every single one of his race photos he may have been enjoying it just a little too much.
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| Smiley Brad |
"Awesome weekend. Ninety percent of the riding I do these days is solo, so the Scott is a great way to get together with some mates and knock out some laps. Looking forward to next year." Brad D
Hamish - Our competitive advantage consultant. Hamish put together our race order and with much thought he also put together our risk strategies. He kept us focused and never let his eyes off the prize, he spoke about that medal 4 months ago, and now he has it in is trophy room. This man makes it happen.
Hamish had some bad luck on double dissolution, broke a spoke that ruptured his rim tape and he had to throw in a tube to get him home. He stayed composed for the rest of the race and stomped some great late laps within seconds of his first.
"I forgot to tell second place that our team's goal today was to "ride easy"" Hamish S
Gordo - The machine, the work horse, our gun rider. Nothing overstated. Gordo worked real hard in the lead up to this race, he was the standout performer in our team and most definitely gets the Most Valuable award for churning out the quickest and most consistent laps.
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| Gordo doing what he loves |
"To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect or how my body would cope with multiple max efforts over a 24hr period. Turned out to be a gruelling but highly motivating and rewarding weekend. With ups and downs, not just on the trails. Amongst it all, I still managed to create some good friendships with the newly assembled team. I will be back for more!" Gordo B
Dave (me) - Team Captain, now known as 100/80 man after introducing team orders, 100% effort on non technical sections, 80% effort on technical sections. Then forgetting his own orders, binning it on the same section that Hamish got a flattie, separating collar bone from shoulder and heading to hospital with suspected head injuries and shoulder dislocation. There by granting the remaining riders with an extra lap to complete on the second day. Encouragement award, Mates ball award?
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| My shoulder post crash, apparently fairly standard for a Grade 3 AC separation |
For me this race has been the most anticipated, most rewarding, most costly, most prepared for, most trained for, and ultimately the most competitive. As a consequence I probably can't race for about 3 months while my Grade 3 AC separation heals and recovers to full strength. But our team goes down in history as one of the winning teams to compete in the Scott 13hr. Not bad for semi-pro :-P
Our team suffered 3 casualties as a direct result of this race. Brad and Hamish both fell violently ill with a gastro virus in the days proceeding. In speaking with other competitors including James Downing (link to his blog on the right), it seems that at least 20 people also fell ill with similar symptoms. The cause of the outbreak is yet to be determined.
Until next post
Don't short cut rehab
Dave
