Monday, July 19, 2010

Shark Attack - 6hr - Nowra

http://www.diymtb.com.au/6hour/

3rd place

12 laps @ 6 hrs : 23 min :13 secs

Stats
* 122.5 km
* 19.1 km/h avg speed
* 2337 m ascent
* 155 bmp avg hr

Lap times;

* 12  31:55
* 11  31:52   
* 10  33:19   
* 9    33:45
* 8    32:56   
* 7    33:01  
* 6    32:11 
* 5    32:31   
* 4    32:09   
* 3    31:41   
* 2    30:57
* 1    26:56

A really nice day at the races.

This week I was really just approaching this as a training exercise.

I'd managed to get my mind into shape around the idea of just taking it easy, setting a constant pace and not getting carried away and pushing myself.

All, this race saw me get the very lucky race number 69!

Off the line, I let the few fast guys disappear around the corner and I jumped in behind one of the guys I usually race against, and was happy just sitting on his wheel for the first lap.

After the first lap, I just tried to keep the same pace - never feeling that I was pushing it - and focused on smooth cornering and good cadence.

I noticed I was picking up a few riders on the way, but was specially on the look out for Ed - super strong Mals SS rider. He got me a few times early in the year in the late stages, and I was super keep to catch him. To my surprise I came across Ed at the start of lap 11 and had a quick chat. Hooray - finally getting in front of one of these crazy Mals SS guys!!

I also tried a few different things with food this week.

Drinks where alternating bottles of Hammer HEED and Hammer Perpetuem - which seemed to work well.

Food was basically 1 x Hammer Gel per hour (+ 2 in last hour), substituted with 1 x banana, and 2 x Hammer Bars

This seemed to work well, with no stomach upsets and ensured my 70g carb/hour intake.

Robyn and Stella did a great job of keeping the food going, and ensuring I got some super fast transitions. I think I only had 2 or 3 foot down transitions!

The Coondoo Road XC track is really great stuff. Really fast flowing single track, and a little fireroad.

A few small climbs, but they are well worth it for the fast flowing descents through well cut sandy berms. There is nothing like feeling that your handlebars are just a few feet from touch the ground going through a corner!

Coondoo Rd is also known for all its log roll-overs, and as usual they do not disappoint. Some were certainly more of a challenge, and can sap the energy out - other were just great to fly over. They also always make for good entertainment with people going every which way over and off these.

So all in all, a great sunday ride!



Monday, July 5, 2010

Rockytrail - 8hr - Awaba

Sunday 3rd July

http://www.rockytrailentertainment.com

8 hr XC (shortened to 7.5 due to light).

3rd in open mens / 4th overall - 17 laps @ 7hrs:44mins:13sec



Lap times;
1   26:11
2   25:10
3   25:13
4   26:20
5   26:41
6   26:34
7   26:03
8   26:48
9   28:02
10 29:17
11 28:53
12 30:11
13 30:07
14 30:15
15 26:39
16 26:22
17 25:27

First 4 hours was pretty good - maybe pushed a tiny bit too hard. Next 2.5 hours were pretty crappy.

Throttled it right back - this was meant to be a training race and not push myself too hard.

Decided to put the foot back down for last 3 laps - needed to warm back up anyway, as it was getting pretty cold my now. 

Food was;

* Hammer Gel - 1x15 mins before starts, then 1 per hour
* Bananas - 1x30 mins before start, then 1 each 2 hours
* Vege sandwich - Just 1 mid way through

Drink was;
* HEED - 1 bottle per 2 -3 laps for first 5 hours
* Coke/RedBull - 1 bottle around 5 hr mark
* Hammer Perpetuem - 2 bottles @ 6 & 7 hour mark

Overall, no stomach problems - just felt crappy around 4 - 5 hour mark.  Deliberately did not  use iPod as practice for Worlds.

Traffic on course was pretty bad at times - some big slow trains of riders made it difficult to pull away from other riders. Easy to lose multiple minutes waiting for a passing opportunity.

Track was pretty good fun. Fast flow, fast little descents, tacky - just not too many passing opportunities.

Front shifter (new X0 shifters!) broke whilst doing my warm up! Did not seem to be grabbing the cable. Grrr ... lucky this track had no firetrail or areas where big ring would be much use. So it was a 1x9 ride all day :)

Stats;

* 7hrs:44 mins
* 130km
* 155bmp (avg)
* 16.7km/h (avg)
* 3063m ascent