Thursday, 12 November 2015
Thursday, 27 August 2015
CORC Clubbie A Grade standings
My experiement of turning up to all the races and giving my best at each is paying dividends. Going to be hard to catch with only a few rounds to go.
Wednesday, 26 August 2015
2015 Mitas Ruben Tathra Enduro 50km - 30-39 - 3rd place
Everyone I have spoken to who rides have at least heard of the Tathra mtb trails. Sweet flowing single track in humble settings of a small coastal town. Not to mention access to the trails only a few hundred metres from the local pub and golf club. People who have ridden the trails always speak of them highly. I heard about relentless gully runs, trees so close together you have to wheelie through them with your bars sideways, sweet berms that flow perfectly. Rocks, roots and jumps. With a little hype in the pipe, it was easy for me to enter the Tathra enduro when it came online. I managed to plan and train for this race with a good amount of time. Actually I think its the most prepared I have ever been for a race. I even had my good friend Duncan there with me to hand out a water bottle or two #semipro.
Short video of the race, filmed by Duncan, edited by me:
https://youtu.be/7b8UTAUxu4M
Ed was heading down to same race and a had a new cvar that needed a run so the three of us piled in and drove down the highway for a typical race day trip. I would just like say that I am now a massive fan of heated leather seats fo the trip to a race. I felt like my hamstrings were ready to go before I even got on the bike.
I still feel very new to 120min+ races so I had the usual plan. Get a strong start, stay in touch with the lead group, push hard on the climbs, recover on the descents, keep momentum and stay smooth. As with any plan the world usual has a chaotic way of changing things pretty fast.
Chaos 1 - 5mins into the race, Ben Henderson nearly decapitates a poor little wallaby and flies over the bars in the process. Bike upside down in a bush and wallaby twicthing by the edge of the track.
Chaos 2 - Shortly after Ben passes me after an awesome comeback from a massive off. The lead group hits a steep uphill gully and someone unclipped on the way out, one guy fell back into the gully and I was left high and dry, stopped waiting for everyone to get going again.
Back on the grind and into the first climb. I was already going lactic and my SenseCore app was telling me to slow down but I wanted to get back in touch with the leaders. On a long straight down a fencline I could see the tail end of them but they were 300m down the road. I thought I beter get back to a good pace and slowly draw them back.
The next period of the race I settled into a groove and repeated my mantra, smooth is fast, breath, recover, push. It was a tad lonely for awhile but it wasn't long before I was being blown away by awesome technical trails, bar brushing trees and generally just loving the variety of the trails.
Chaos 3 - Managed to turn left out of a gully when the trail went right, got caught by the rider behind as I was hugging a tree like its life depended on it.
The final 1/3 of the race got interesting I starting catching a few riders and it gave me new motivation to push hard to the end. I was feeling strong and my simple hydration plan of moderatly mixed Hammertime Heed and elctrolyte capsules was paying. There was a long slow 4WD track so I got up and smashed it, still didnt catch the next guy but I could see I was closing the gap. Slowly but surely I closed it up and finally I overtook him and shortly after 2 more riders fell back. "Ferrk what a powerhouse" one dude said as I tried to make it look like I was fresh and wanting more. But I was in the zone now, everything hurting, but still feeling like I had some power.
5kms to go, I get stopped at a road crossing, 1, 2, 3 cars, oh man that rocked me and mad me angry, I told Mr Lollipop to do the same to the rider behind me. Sure enough a few mins down the track a new rider had closed up on me. He was charging and I was hurting. With no idea what the final trail looked like I just had to focus and smash everything, brake late, out of the saddle, spin, smash, stomp, no brakes, focus.
He was right there and I was riding these trails as fast as my tyres would allow. I sensed we were in the final 1km, keep it clean, lay down the power, be ready for a sprint finish.
I just managed to hold him at bay by a few bike lengths. But it wasn't him I needed to worry about, the 2 guys I had caught a few kms earlier were in my category and I just managed to climb onto the podium. With 60+ riders in the field, totally new trails and no practice lap, I was stoked to finish where I did.
This felt like a personal best effort, although with some practice of the trails and a few less mishaps I think I can get a better result next year. I want to some social rides down there between now and then to dial in the trails a bit better.
Short video of the race, filmed by Duncan, edited by me:
https://youtu.be/7b8UTAUxu4M
Ed was heading down to same race and a had a new cvar that needed a run so the three of us piled in and drove down the highway for a typical race day trip. I would just like say that I am now a massive fan of heated leather seats fo the trip to a race. I felt like my hamstrings were ready to go before I even got on the bike.
I still feel very new to 120min+ races so I had the usual plan. Get a strong start, stay in touch with the lead group, push hard on the climbs, recover on the descents, keep momentum and stay smooth. As with any plan the world usual has a chaotic way of changing things pretty fast.
Chaos 1 - 5mins into the race, Ben Henderson nearly decapitates a poor little wallaby and flies over the bars in the process. Bike upside down in a bush and wallaby twicthing by the edge of the track.
Chaos 2 - Shortly after Ben passes me after an awesome comeback from a massive off. The lead group hits a steep uphill gully and someone unclipped on the way out, one guy fell back into the gully and I was left high and dry, stopped waiting for everyone to get going again.
Back on the grind and into the first climb. I was already going lactic and my SenseCore app was telling me to slow down but I wanted to get back in touch with the leaders. On a long straight down a fencline I could see the tail end of them but they were 300m down the road. I thought I beter get back to a good pace and slowly draw them back.
The next period of the race I settled into a groove and repeated my mantra, smooth is fast, breath, recover, push. It was a tad lonely for awhile but it wasn't long before I was being blown away by awesome technical trails, bar brushing trees and generally just loving the variety of the trails.
Chaos 3 - Managed to turn left out of a gully when the trail went right, got caught by the rider behind as I was hugging a tree like its life depended on it.
The final 1/3 of the race got interesting I starting catching a few riders and it gave me new motivation to push hard to the end. I was feeling strong and my simple hydration plan of moderatly mixed Hammertime Heed and elctrolyte capsules was paying. There was a long slow 4WD track so I got up and smashed it, still didnt catch the next guy but I could see I was closing the gap. Slowly but surely I closed it up and finally I overtook him and shortly after 2 more riders fell back. "Ferrk what a powerhouse" one dude said as I tried to make it look like I was fresh and wanting more. But I was in the zone now, everything hurting, but still feeling like I had some power.
5kms to go, I get stopped at a road crossing, 1, 2, 3 cars, oh man that rocked me and mad me angry, I told Mr Lollipop to do the same to the rider behind me. Sure enough a few mins down the track a new rider had closed up on me. He was charging and I was hurting. With no idea what the final trail looked like I just had to focus and smash everything, brake late, out of the saddle, spin, smash, stomp, no brakes, focus.
He was right there and I was riding these trails as fast as my tyres would allow. I sensed we were in the final 1km, keep it clean, lay down the power, be ready for a sprint finish.
I just managed to hold him at bay by a few bike lengths. But it wasn't him I needed to worry about, the 2 guys I had caught a few kms earlier were in my category and I just managed to climb onto the podium. With 60+ riders in the field, totally new trails and no practice lap, I was stoked to finish where I did.
This felt like a personal best effort, although with some practice of the trails and a few less mishaps I think I can get a better result next year. I want to some social rides down there between now and then to dial in the trails a bit better.
Wednesday, 15 April 2015
Monday, 13 April 2015
Tuesday, 7 April 2015
Mont 24hr - SenseCore Racing - 1st place
This years Mont 24hr marks my 8th attempt and it was as exciting as ever. SenseCore came to the party and provided fresh support for the team. SPE provided a magical new track layout that was longer with more climbing than last year but somehow felt like it was flatter and faster. Maybe I am a bit stronger, hehe. Our team was super strong and reliable and the new comer, Cosi Hofman blended into the campsite with ease. TLC Cycles tried extremly hard to get me back on my Scott. But unfortunately with my frame waylaid in transit from the USA I had to borrow a Niner Air 9 Carbon from the gentleman himself, Brad Dalton. This bike proved to be a suitable weapon for carving up the flowing trails of Kowen Forest.
From a captains perpesctive there were plenty of highs and lows and the race did not go as smoothly as we hoped. Our attrition began on the Friday before the race when Gordo had an OTB and was banged up badly. Worried that he wouldn't be able to recover and race he asked me to find a reserve. With some negotiating around night laps I found a replacement. Gordo spent friday evening bathing himself and chomping down on anti inflammatory and pain killers. By 730pm his groin and lower back were numbed enough that he felt good to go. So we took the gamble and Gordo recommitted. Alright, the team is back together let's focus.
Gordo started us out with a spectacular lap that not only had him posted all over the media but also had the team running inside the top 10. John and Cosi both put down blazingly quick times with John grabbing a top 5 fastest day lap for the weekend. Brad came in on time and as expected fast lap in the low 51mins. 3 mins into my lap I looked down at my SenseCore app and I chuckled as the HR was reading 178 and I was breathing hard, but everything felt lubricated and the legs were turning with ease. 25mins into the lap and I felt like I had dropped off the power, I got out of the saddle and soon realized my rear tire was losing pressure. I pushed on for another 5mins but decided to cut my loses and grabbed a shady spot under a tree to do a tyre change. The tube went in smoothly and within 5mins I was back on the chase. I was shattered for losing so much time but stomped as hard as I could to bring my 1st lap home in about 57mins. How some guys like Dylan Cooper change their tyre in less then 2mins is still a mystery. I tagged in Trent and when he returned in under 52mins we had completed our first revolution. By this time we were already in 1st place for the category but Synergy Synners were only minutes behind us. Today's Plan had galloped away to a 15min lead in the unclassified overall.
The rest of the afternoon and night went very smoothly for us, slowly creeping away from Synergy and slowly gaining on TP. It was exciting watching the times come in as we knew TP were going to be hard to beat. Great times were had hanging out in between laps. Everyone keeping busy upgrading the campsite to keep the cold and dampness out.
Eventually the early morning fog rolled in and riders were coming back with legs and frames caked with a thick layer of dust. It seemed that the later and darker it got, the faster Cosi was going. Obviously he didn't admit to us that he was an offspring of Bruce Wayne, this young blood batman laid down sneaky fast laps all night long and even on his last lap had very little fade.
My 4th lap at 730am was to be my last but it was special. The sun was just coming up, the event center was smothered in fog but half way through the lap, the top of the course took us up above the cloud and gave a beautiful warm boost of motivation. I channeled it and punched out my fastest lap of the race. Coming down beer garden track through the fog and into transition to meet Trent completed my Mont contribution and left me with a huge smile.
With the sun breaking through the mist and 3hrs to go the gap from Synergy was over a lap and the gap to TP was down to 2mins. It was looking likely that we could take the double. In a champion effort Andrew Hall from TP threw down a 50min flat on the 2nd last lap of the race. This proved to be the nail in the coffin for us. Now it should be mentioned that I'm talking about competing with TP but they were running with a team of 4 and we were in a team of 6. So for Mr Hall to lay down one of the fastests laps of the race on his last lap is nothing short of awe inspiring. Brad went out as our last rider with an near impossible gap to close, only a puncture or crash from TP would give us a chance. But none of us knew this at the time and Brad literally sent himself cross eyed trying to catch up. In doing so Brad clipped a tree on the final descent and had a spectacular crash in the pines. Brad rolled straight through transition and I knew something wasn't right as he pulled up in the crowd. With a crokey voice from looming bronchitis, spent body from 24hrs of racing and a rattled head from a helmet smashing crash, the only thing the gentleman could repeat was "how do you bonk at the 40min mark".
Race over. I was worried about our man Brad, he was scattered and seemed concussed. It was a sour note to finish on and made me review all the circumstances that lead to it. But after a good sit down and chin wag with us all he came good and bounced up on the podium to receive our 1st place trophy.
Massive shout out to our families (and Cosi's mum) for holding the fort while we are out on the bikes. This cycling business can be all consuming and can take its toll but be assured that it makes us extremely happy.
So lads, who is up for the Mont 2016? Who is going to step up to the mens 6 category in 2016? Will Onya return to retake the title? What happened to Specialized, I saw the Mont in their racing calendar but they were no show. This is the best MTB 24hr in Australia, let's keep it that way with plenty of sharp competition.
Ride on.
Dave
Wrap Up Vid from SPE
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=780788718695860&permPage=1
From a captains perpesctive there were plenty of highs and lows and the race did not go as smoothly as we hoped. Our attrition began on the Friday before the race when Gordo had an OTB and was banged up badly. Worried that he wouldn't be able to recover and race he asked me to find a reserve. With some negotiating around night laps I found a replacement. Gordo spent friday evening bathing himself and chomping down on anti inflammatory and pain killers. By 730pm his groin and lower back were numbed enough that he felt good to go. So we took the gamble and Gordo recommitted. Alright, the team is back together let's focus.
 |
| Cosi after another solid lap. Me on the right. |
 |
| Gordo on the start lap and loving it |
 |
| White men can jump! Trent letting it go. |
My 4th lap at 730am was to be my last but it was special. The sun was just coming up, the event center was smothered in fog but half way through the lap, the top of the course took us up above the cloud and gave a beautiful warm boost of motivation. I channeled it and punched out my fastest lap of the race. Coming down beer garden track through the fog and into transition to meet Trent completed my Mont contribution and left me with a huge smile.
With the sun breaking through the mist and 3hrs to go the gap from Synergy was over a lap and the gap to TP was down to 2mins. It was looking likely that we could take the double. In a champion effort Andrew Hall from TP threw down a 50min flat on the 2nd last lap of the race. This proved to be the nail in the coffin for us. Now it should be mentioned that I'm talking about competing with TP but they were running with a team of 4 and we were in a team of 6. So for Mr Hall to lay down one of the fastests laps of the race on his last lap is nothing short of awe inspiring. Brad went out as our last rider with an near impossible gap to close, only a puncture or crash from TP would give us a chance. But none of us knew this at the time and Brad literally sent himself cross eyed trying to catch up. In doing so Brad clipped a tree on the final descent and had a spectacular crash in the pines. Brad rolled straight through transition and I knew something wasn't right as he pulled up in the crowd. With a crokey voice from looming bronchitis, spent body from 24hrs of racing and a rattled head from a helmet smashing crash, the only thing the gentleman could repeat was "how do you bonk at the 40min mark".
 |
| Brad dusted and done. Champion effort! |
Race over. I was worried about our man Brad, he was scattered and seemed concussed. It was a sour note to finish on and made me review all the circumstances that lead to it. But after a good sit down and chin wag with us all he came good and bounced up on the podium to receive our 1st place trophy.
Massive shout out to our families (and Cosi's mum) for holding the fort while we are out on the bikes. This cycling business can be all consuming and can take its toll but be assured that it makes us extremely happy.
So lads, who is up for the Mont 2016? Who is going to step up to the mens 6 category in 2016? Will Onya return to retake the title? What happened to Specialized, I saw the Mont in their racing calendar but they were no show. This is the best MTB 24hr in Australia, let's keep it that way with plenty of sharp competition.
Ride on.
Dave
Wrap Up Vid from SPE
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=780788718695860&permPage=1
Wednesday, 25 March 2015
Introducing the Mont 24hr SenseCore Race Team
5 of us are young Dads and we have one young gun. All riding as amateurs in local and interstate race’s. We all ride with a great passion for performance.
Here is my take on the team...
John Bridge
John has an amazing passion for riding and views training as a dirty word, his motto is "Ride 7 days and have fun". During the week he commutes on his road bike and enters a few road races to mix it up. However John has a strict rule for weekends and will only be found playing in the dirt on either his downhill or XCO bike.
Hero Ability: Subtle, seated, crank ripping climbing. You better listen for a gear change otherwise that rubber band you have been holding between your teeth will snap before you know it.
Gordo Brewster
Gordo has the work life balance planned to the carb/kg. With a body sculpting background Gordo knows the importance of nutrition and sleep and keeps his training entirely scientific. This allows him to crank out huge kms during the week while maintaining a great family balance.
Hero Ability: Extra lap nullify-er. While Gordo is a true all-rounder, he is proven in 200km+ and mulit-stage road races and he will be chomping at the bit for extra laps should the opportunity arise.
Trent Smyth
Trent is a baller turned cyclist. With trash talk skills learned from playing street ball in the late 90s, he loves working the hype and channeling the energy directly into his drivetrain. Trent has made huge gains in the last 18 months and is looking forward to continue the climb over the cooler months.
Hero Ability: Goes deeper than you! Trent is so team focused that he has no regard for his body when it comes to training and racing. He will go deeper than anyone to keep the machine on song. Trent is also our Image Consultant Marketing director and designs our kits and choses our hipster campsite tunes.
Brad Dalton
Brad has recently started attending a support group for people with tendencies to build and collect bikes. With a man space closely reassembling a finely kitted out pro shop, Brad loves a good build. He is currently rebuilding a GT BMX from the early 90s.
Hero Ability: BMXer from way back!!! Don't hold him up in a decent, manz gotz skillz!!!
Cosi Hofman
Cosi races U19s National XCO but prefers to be out on his BMX or DH bike. While still experimenting with his bike-uality, he is showing maturity beyond his years when it comes to commitment to endurance races and training.
Hero Ability: Can back flip a bike (dirt jump)!
Dave Roberts
Riding is my thing. Full stop.
Hero Ability: Team player, whatever it takes!!!
Special Mention
Hamish Scanlain
Hamish has raced with us many times before however broke his femur in January this year. He is well and truly on the comeback and our thoughts are with him. Will be hard on the guy this weekend as he wishes he was there racing with us. Next year mate!!
Here is my take on the team...
John Bridge
John has an amazing passion for riding and views training as a dirty word, his motto is "Ride 7 days and have fun". During the week he commutes on his road bike and enters a few road races to mix it up. However John has a strict rule for weekends and will only be found playing in the dirt on either his downhill or XCO bike.
Hero Ability: Subtle, seated, crank ripping climbing. You better listen for a gear change otherwise that rubber band you have been holding between your teeth will snap before you know it.
Gordo Brewster
Gordo has the work life balance planned to the carb/kg. With a body sculpting background Gordo knows the importance of nutrition and sleep and keeps his training entirely scientific. This allows him to crank out huge kms during the week while maintaining a great family balance.
Hero Ability: Extra lap nullify-er. While Gordo is a true all-rounder, he is proven in 200km+ and mulit-stage road races and he will be chomping at the bit for extra laps should the opportunity arise.
Trent Smyth
Trent is a baller turned cyclist. With trash talk skills learned from playing street ball in the late 90s, he loves working the hype and channeling the energy directly into his drivetrain. Trent has made huge gains in the last 18 months and is looking forward to continue the climb over the cooler months.
Hero Ability: Goes deeper than you! Trent is so team focused that he has no regard for his body when it comes to training and racing. He will go deeper than anyone to keep the machine on song. Trent is also our Image Consultant Marketing director and designs our kits and choses our hipster campsite tunes.
Brad Dalton
Brad has recently started attending a support group for people with tendencies to build and collect bikes. With a man space closely reassembling a finely kitted out pro shop, Brad loves a good build. He is currently rebuilding a GT BMX from the early 90s.
Hero Ability: BMXer from way back!!! Don't hold him up in a decent, manz gotz skillz!!!
Cosi Hofman
Cosi races U19s National XCO but prefers to be out on his BMX or DH bike. While still experimenting with his bike-uality, he is showing maturity beyond his years when it comes to commitment to endurance races and training.
Hero Ability: Can back flip a bike (dirt jump)!
Dave Roberts
Riding is my thing. Full stop.
Hero Ability: Team player, whatever it takes!!!
Special Mention
Hamish Scanlain
Hamish has raced with us many times before however broke his femur in January this year. He is well and truly on the comeback and our thoughts are with him. Will be hard on the guy this weekend as he wishes he was there racing with us. Next year mate!!
Friday, 6 March 2015
CORC XCO Rnd 2 Stromlo – A Grade – 15th place - SenseCore
This race went well until I slashed a sidewall on my rear tyre on the last lap. That's racing. I was lining up to make some moves on the last lap and was hoping to finish in 7th or 8th but wasn't to be.
Another great day in the forest doing what we love.
Another great day in the forest doing what we love.
 |
| I was chasing John Bride on last lap, wasn't to be |
 |
| Callum McNamara setting the pace |
 |
| Dylan Cooper finished 2nd behind Andy Blair |
 |
| Me on song before it all went wrong |
Wednesday, 25 February 2015
CORC XCO Rnd 1 Stromlo – A Grade – 8th place - SenseCore
Loving the enduring support from SenseCore and TLC Cycles.
With many of ACTs top riders attending the Snowies MTB Festival I was sure this was a good chance to bag some sneaky points towards the local XCO series. So I prepared well but reminded myself that even with the hotshots out of town CORC A grade will still bring the hurt.
With my bike in the shop getting repairs I had to beg borrow and steal something to race. My friend Brad Dalton gave me the chance to ride his Scott Spark 700 RC weapon. I will review this bike in a later blog when I start up a side thread. To put in simply, this Spark is setup and dialed in.
With no time for practice or setup before the morning of the race, I set the saddle height and rolled a few kilometers down the road to registration at my home track, Stromlo Forest Park. I got to rego nearly an hour before start time so I could do a practice lap to get myself dialed in on this new bike. It was immediately evident that there was going to be a great turn out for this race. Conditions were supreme with a storm hitting the track the night before and giving the trails a natural hose down for endless hero dirt. Low and behold, half the guns were in Thredbo, but they left the other half here in Canberra. Team Torq, Trek Australia, Onya Bike,a token Canadian and even the odd National Road Series rider all entered and frothing on the A grade start line.
The track was perfectly planned to allow riders to capitalise on their strengths. A fairly flat start, into a meandering climb, over some technical rocky outcrops, a short pinch fire trail climb then a super rad decent to the finish, including the 4 cross track. To me this resembles the ideal XCO layout.
90% of MTB races start on an uphill section. This race was to start in a decent at the bottom of the 4 cross track. I knew this would catch a few off guard, so I got a little crafty with my gear selection. Basically I clicked a few extra gears to start in as I knew we would pick up pace in seconds. Sure enough we started and many riders fell back fumbling through gear changes that weren’t quick enough to keep up with the hectic pace. A big flat wide open loose right hander saw me up the inside and into 3rd place behind two Trek riders, Jack Lavis and Ben Henderson. I have to admit I was smiling, the plan worked and I was in awesome position. Young Josh Battye made a couple of moves towards the front and it would stay that way until the final decent into the finish. When we dropped into the 4 cross track something happened to me, I gate snapped into BMX mode and took a couple of riders over the final jumps. Jack Lavis thought he was out in front alone and did a mad whip right in front of me. I gave him the royal tyre tap in mid-air then smashed it past him and went through start/finish in 1st. Ah if only the race went for 17mins, that would have been a good result. But reality soon set in and I remember that I have 4 more of those laps to come. Soon into the 2nd lap I let the pros go and settled into my own groove.
3 riders caught up to me including my friend and team mate John Bridge, Callum McNamara and Marc Williams. We would all ride together for the rest of the race, changing position when it suited, John powering the flats, Callum turning it on up the pinches and Marc prowling behind, waiting for his chance to pounce. I had one last moment of glory when I over took Bridge and Callum while we got caught up with a lapped rider. But on the last lap I started to really feel the exuberance of the 1st, self-doubt set in and I let the 3 guys go past me, to finish in a lonely 8th place. I was happy with the way it had all panned out. In thinking back if I put my head down and went for it I don’t think it would have been enough to hold off the strength of those guys. But I do feel bad that I didn’t at least try to maintain the gap. Next time I will go until I explode.
That was the most fun I've had in a race in a long time. Hope there is heaps more of the same in coming months. 8th out of 18 in A grade isn’t bad at all. Congrats to Ben Henderson on taking out the win. Special mention goes out to Paul Smith and Andrew Bryant for stepping up to the 5 lapper category.
With many of ACTs top riders attending the Snowies MTB Festival I was sure this was a good chance to bag some sneaky points towards the local XCO series. So I prepared well but reminded myself that even with the hotshots out of town CORC A grade will still bring the hurt.
With my bike in the shop getting repairs I had to beg borrow and steal something to race. My friend Brad Dalton gave me the chance to ride his Scott Spark 700 RC weapon. I will review this bike in a later blog when I start up a side thread. To put in simply, this Spark is setup and dialed in.
 |
| Taking a breather on the Luge |
With no time for practice or setup before the morning of the race, I set the saddle height and rolled a few kilometers down the road to registration at my home track, Stromlo Forest Park. I got to rego nearly an hour before start time so I could do a practice lap to get myself dialed in on this new bike. It was immediately evident that there was going to be a great turn out for this race. Conditions were supreme with a storm hitting the track the night before and giving the trails a natural hose down for endless hero dirt. Low and behold, half the guns were in Thredbo, but they left the other half here in Canberra. Team Torq, Trek Australia, Onya Bike,a token Canadian and even the odd National Road Series rider all entered and frothing on the A grade start line.
 |
| John Bridge chasing me down the 4x track |
The track was perfectly planned to allow riders to capitalise on their strengths. A fairly flat start, into a meandering climb, over some technical rocky outcrops, a short pinch fire trail climb then a super rad decent to the finish, including the 4 cross track. To me this resembles the ideal XCO layout.
90% of MTB races start on an uphill section. This race was to start in a decent at the bottom of the 4 cross track. I knew this would catch a few off guard, so I got a little crafty with my gear selection. Basically I clicked a few extra gears to start in as I knew we would pick up pace in seconds. Sure enough we started and many riders fell back fumbling through gear changes that weren’t quick enough to keep up with the hectic pace. A big flat wide open loose right hander saw me up the inside and into 3rd place behind two Trek riders, Jack Lavis and Ben Henderson. I have to admit I was smiling, the plan worked and I was in awesome position. Young Josh Battye made a couple of moves towards the front and it would stay that way until the final decent into the finish. When we dropped into the 4 cross track something happened to me, I gate snapped into BMX mode and took a couple of riders over the final jumps. Jack Lavis thought he was out in front alone and did a mad whip right in front of me. I gave him the royal tyre tap in mid-air then smashed it past him and went through start/finish in 1st. Ah if only the race went for 17mins, that would have been a good result. But reality soon set in and I remember that I have 4 more of those laps to come. Soon into the 2nd lap I let the pros go and settled into my own groove.
 |
| My last hoorah before those 3 guys behind dropped the hammer |
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| Large A Grade field, good to see |
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| 2nd fastest lap of the day |
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| Ben Henderson on his way to a strong win |
Sunday, 8 February 2015
AMB100 66km Elite Men - 7th place
Tough race man. I started on 2nd row between Downing and Henderson and behind Blaire. I had to make it to the top in good position so I wouldn't lose my advantage down pork barrel. First lap execution was perfect, stayed with the fast guys for about 10mins which was enough to gap the main field. Finished 1st lap only a couple of mins behind the hot shots. I died in deep creek on 2nd lap, then casurina climb nailed the coffin. 2 guys went passed me and kicked me off the podium. Great race, Grantley set a brutal course that took every dynamic to even survive. So many crashes and punctures and DNFs.
Wednesday, 4 February 2015
Tuesday, 3 February 2015
Monday - Race Sim Vary Cadence - SenseCore
Race sim complete on road bike
In summary
- warm up to 10mins at threshold
- 15mins waiting for bunch to turn up
- then it was about 2 hours of holding on and doing a bit of work off the front
Duration: 2:30mins
Max HR: 198
Avg HR: 152
Max EPOC: 188
In summary
- warm up to 10mins at threshold
- 15mins waiting for bunch to turn up
- then it was about 2 hours of holding on and doing a bit of work off the front
Duration: 2:30mins
Max HR: 198
Avg HR: 152
Max EPOC: 188
Sunday, 1 February 2015
Spoilt for choice - National Rnd or AMB100
After much consideration, I've decided not to do Rnd 2 of the National Series, which is on this weekend at Stromlo Forest Park. The riding and training I've been doing hasn't really been high intensity so I would suffer more than usual. My bike isn't setup with the right gearing for a 25% gradient climb, and there is an alternative. The AMB 100 Marathon is on this weekend and there is a 66km category that should suite me better. I attempted this race a few years ago and failed to finish. So with some more experience and fitness under the hood it will be good to have another crack.
This is my plan for the week.
MON 90min Race Sim Vary Cadence
TUE Rest
WED 90min 65%-50% High Cadence
THUR 90min 65%-50% High Cadence
FRI Rest
SAT 60min 65%-50% with 3x3min Sprint
SUN AMB 66km Race Stromlo Forest Park
Let me know what you think of my taper week @DaveRoberts44
I'm going to use my SenseCore monitoring to make sure that I hit the mark for each session without getting any fatigue in the recovery sessions. First ride is tonight, I'll post up my SenseCore results after each session. I'll also monitor my sleep on the rest days to make sure I'm not over doing it.
Ride On
Thursday, 15 January 2015
Sponsorship contracts for 2015
Coming from a purely amateur racing background, to be talking about sponsorship contracts is so exciting. It also gives hope to us mere mortals that if you train consistently, stay loyal to you LBS, race fair and tell a few people about it all, you can count on some really fun opportunities presenting themselves (if you can catch the swinging door before it closes on you).
I am extremely pleased to announce that I have been afforded the role of Product Ambassador for an exciting new company. SenseCore specialise in human performance monitoring technology. While the concept of keeping a close eye on how the body is performing during training, competition and recovery is not a new concept. SenseCore sets a new benchmark for athletes to assess and monitor human performance that previously has only been accessible in sports science labs, specialist surgeries and hospitals. SenseCore was exclusively available to F1 drivers, however this rad new tech is now available to anyone.
SenseCore have been developing a market in the northern hemisphere however the company need to get their name out at the ground roots here in Australia and I have been chosen as one of the people to help them. I will be discussing my journey with SenseCore here on this blog.
TLC Cycles and Scott
Over the last 10yrs I have relied on the great service and bikes that TLC Cycles offer. The family owned business have formalised our relationship and I am now an official Scott Sponsored rider through TLC Cycles. Brad and Bianca were already looking after me extremely well so nothing really changes apart from having access to cheaper bikes through Sheppard Cycles, Victoria who are head office for Scott Bikes in Australia. May our relationship continue to prosper into the future.
Ride on!
The 2015 season - just stay loose bro!
I was out riding my MTB last year, clipped a rock with my pedal and went straight over the bars. A dude with long hair wearing baggies road past on his 5inch travel fun machine and with a big grin gave me some sound advice “Man, you just gotta stay loose bro”.
At the time I was tempted to pick up my bike and throw it at him but I thought about what he said and he is on the money. I can’t think of one situation in cycling (or life for that matter) where being tight and constrained will give you an advantage. In fact it is generally quite the opposite. A race can present any number of challenges and if you are tight in either mind or body you are bound to end up making bad tactical decisions or making a bad riding decision resulting in a trip to the first aid tent. If you plan to ride smart during a race, conserve on the flats and nail the hills, then find that you are burning your fuel too fast, you need to change your plan very quickly before it gets away from you. Stick to your original plan and by half way through the race your world of pain will be making the finish line seem a very long way off.
What the banana is all this about… Well I’m going to take the dudes advice and apply to it to my goals. I’m going to look at setting achievable long term goals but allow for enough wriggle room in the short term so I can stay loose and be poised to react to environmental factors that will influence how I can train and which races I can commit to throughout the year.
In 2015 I plan to race the entire CORC XCO 10 round series and my goal is to place in the top 3 of A grade. This is a huge challenge considering on any given Sunday riders such Daniel McConnell, Dylan Cooper, James Downing, Ed McDonald and Andrew Blair can turn up. All of whom race at National and International level events. I also plan to race at least two National XCO rounds during the year. Ideally I would like to race the Rocky Trail enduro series and a few rounds of the Chocolate Foot solo enduro series. I will race the Rocky Trail series in pairs and will aim to take out the series in 4hr Elite men’s category. However my racing partner and best mate Hamish recently broke his femur so I may need to find someone to replace him for the first couple of rounds. I will also captain the SenseCore team in the upcoming 2015 Mont 24 hour race, in which we aim to place in the top 3.
Subaru National Championship Series
http://mtb.subaru.com.au/
http://mtb.subaru.com.au/
Scott 24 hour
http://corc24hour.com.au/
http://corc24hour.com.au/
Rocky Trail Shimano MTB GPseries
Chocolate Foot Single Track Mind series
http://www.chocolatefoot.com.
http://www.chocolatefoot.com.
Beyond 2020
Remember that science TV series, Beyond 2000, it ran in the late 80s to late 90s. To a boy in his early to late teens it was an exciting show that illustrated current scientific research projects and took aim at what the future might look like if these research projects were ever to come to effect. I might even look back at some of the old shows to see which of the featured futurists were on the money. I bet there were quite a few. I know this because cycling has taught me that you can directly influence your future based your actions today. I cannot give this sport enough credit for illustrating how a struggle today can lead to exciting levels of personal achievement, tomorrow.
On a bad day on the bike, you can be in so much pain that breaking a bone would give you some relief. But on a good day, you can be floating above the trail, smashing the pedals with ease and linking corners and jumps together without even thinking about it, all the while your competition disappears in the dust behind you. This is the elusive feeling of being in The Zone, Being on Fire or Feeling Good, there are many names for it.
To me it is more satisfying feeling then beating a rival, winning an award or stepping up on a podium, because it is actually the ultimate win. This feeling means that you have done everything perfectly, trained hard and smart, recovered sufficiently, eaten correctly, found the right pre-race zen and then executed the performance perfectly. If this eventuates the results should come but even if they don’t, you know you have performed at your peak. The complexities that go into this feeling of euphoria on the race track are so vast it is no wonder it is difficult to find and repeat. But I have faith I will one day find it again, because the elements that feed into a great performance are well known and documented. So in theory, if you control the elements that feed into high performance, and you can control your future, your destiny, your performance and ultimately your happiness and wellbeing. Now to focus on the elements that equate to high performance.
To be continued...
Ride on
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