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