Singletrack Mind - 8 hr - Mt Annan

1st place - Male Solo

16 laps / 8 hrs 26 mins 55 secs


This weekend was the 5th Round of the Singletrack Mind series - an 8 hour race on the XC track built within the Mt Annan botanic gardens.

This round was going to be a real unknown. This track has only been raced a handful of times, and no one had much track knowledge. Added to which, there was a new section of track that had never been raced.

Due to some late shock and linkage issues, both of my Scott Sparks were out of action. Luckily, Jase was kind enough to let me use his Giant Anthem X for the race.A few hours of measuring and adjusting and I managed to get it setup for me.

Even with all the fine tuning I was pretty worried about going into an 8 hr race on a bike I'd never ridden!

Robyn and I traveled up with Aaron Thompson (Tommo), and we got a practice lap in on the saturday arvo.

The track was nothing like what we have in Canberra. It seems to have been purpose built to stop you getting up much speed, or keeping speed. Each time you got a bit of flow going and obstacle would appear. Obstacles such as log roll overs, tight switch backs, up hill rock gardens, and other random features.

In the first half of the course there was also two pinch climbs, which had tight switch backs and soft soil. These were certainly going to take their toll as the day progressed.

Our pre-race dinner turned into an epic adventure - trying to find some good race food in Campbelltown. In the block surrounding the hotel there was a McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Sizzler, Outback Steak House and a Crispy Creme! We settled for the Sizzler salad bar, but it was a scary experience!

Race morning arrived, and we could tell it was going to be a hot one. 31 degrees predicted - which is well up from the -5C we are still riding in Canberra.

Looking at the solo field, it was a shame to see Ed McDonald could not make it. However, Rod McGee (2nd at Wingello) was here to race and someone I would have to keep an eye on.

The race start was the usual "self seeded" chaos. Guys in baggy shorts lining up next to Matt Fleming ... hmmm. Thankfully 500 odd metres of fireroad sorted the field out a little bit. Even still, Rod was about 6 bikes in front of me heading into the single track.

With the tight singletrack, and various A lines and obstacles this first lap was slow.  As the track opened up more in the later half of the lap I was able to get back on Rod's wheel, and got by him just before the timing mats to take the first lap.

Rod must have stopped for a drink or the like as I did not see him behind me until well into the lap. He seemed to be working very hard in the pinch climbs on his SS - so I knew he would not last too long once the heat of the day hit.

3rd lap and Rod was a few minutes back, and by the 4th lap I had a solid lead.

Soon enough, I was somehow gaining 3 - 5 minutes per lap on the solo field. This was a great feeling, as it meant I did not have to push too hard and just rode a solid tempo.

I took the time to stop and take in extra water each lap- which was essential as the temp on track got up to 32 C.

Around the 6 hr mark I lapped the field, and had fun riding with Tommo for a while. He was cramping pretty badly, and was battling with (then) 3rd place Martin S.

It was great to race and feel well in control and well in my comfort zone.

Scott Spark vs Giant Anthem


It's not often that you get to ride two top of the line bikes next to each other. Here are some comparisons;

* Anthem is very stiff in the frame and bottom bracket
* Anthem climbs well on seated climbs - with the rear gripping well
* Anthem is skittish under brakes on descents - it is easy to lose the rear
* Fox terralogic forks work really well. I still prefer the Scott Twin-Lock, but the Terralogics are a lot better then the old Specialized Futureshocks
* XTR brakes don't have the same stopping power as the Avid X0s
* XTR triggers have a lot more travel then the SRAM X0s ... gear changes and rapid changes are a lot easier with the SRAM gear
* Anthem has a more upright seating position - it feels less "race" then the Scott


Food & Nutrition


Food for this race was 1/2 Torq Bar / hour, 1 Torq Gel / hour, 2 scoops Torq Energy / hour and and extra Clif-shot block for good measure.

Drink wise I took in 2 bottles / hour.

Gear


On the Anthem was a 2.2 Rocket Ron (evo) up front, and a 2.2 Conti Race King (protection) in the rear. Both worked well in the terrain.

This course needs a big bag tire, and the extra grip from the Rocket Ron in the lose (new) single track was an advantage.

UST tires were not needed.

The tight corners and lack of flow also benefited the 26" bikes over the 29ers.


Thanks


A big thanks to Robyn for coming up and looking after Tommo and I.

Thanks to Jase for the bike loan, and Tommo for hanging out and keeping me company on track.

Well done to Tommo for getting 3rd place.

Thanks to ACT Bike Superstore for sorting out the Sparks, and for getting me a demo Spark for this week whilst my other bikes are out of action.

Next race is the Scott 24 hr in just under 3 weeks!! A hot and brutal weekend coming up ...

Thanks to the Singletrack Mind guys and girls for putting on another well organized and super fun race!

Singletrack Mind Rd 4 - 7 hr @ Wingello

1st Solo Men
13 laps in 7 hrs : 11 mins : 50 secs

This weekend it was off to Wingello for the 4th round of the Chocolate Foot Singletrack Mind series.

This weekend was also the 4th consecutive weekend of out of town racing, and after the 12 hr last weekend I was feeling pretty fried all week.

Driving up on Saturday afternoon, it was clear that there had been a lot of rain up there during the week. Getting to event central was a little 4-wheel drive adventure, and the relocated event area was very muddy indeed.

Garry, McAvoy and I headed out for a look of the track, sure enough it was off into light rain!


Saturday night our spirits were all down, no one was keen to slog it out in the cold rain for another weekend. That said, some light humour was made from the Thai dinner menu which included an entrée of "Poo Jar". Almost as good as the Thai dinner menu from Nowra which included "Pad Pet".


Sunday morning was brisk and very wet. But it would be the same for everyone so time to suck it up.


The race start headed out into around 2-3km of fireroad. It had a gentle up hill gradient to it, and later a nasty head wind.  The pace was fast but not too crazy. I was happy to let the fast team riders (such as Benny Henderson) go, knowing that Ed McDonald was sitting behind on my wheel.


The 8km of single track that followed was sloppy. Very wet and slippery. Extra caution had to be taken on the slippery tree roots and log roll overs.

Coming out of the single track there was another 2km or so of fireroad. Most of this was in a fast flat descent back to the transition area. Ed was still on my wheel as we hit this single track, but when he saw the long descent I could see the disappointment in his eyes.  Ed was of course riding a single speed, and had no chance of keeping up as I dropped into the smallest ring of the cassette and powered away.

Not having support for this race I had no idea of my time gaps. My strategy was to just keep riding at a solid tempo and keep pushing it on the fireroads.

Around the 5 hour mark I got news from McAvoy that I was 5 minutes or so up on Rod McGee and that Ed had fallen back some more. This was good news and I set about keeping up a similar pace.

By this time the track had dried out pretty well. It was really tacky and fast. A great reward for slogging it out earlier in the cold muck.

In the end, I got Rod by 8.5 minutes and Ed by 14.  It was then 40 minutes back to 4th place Enduro Pulse rider Michael Crummy.

After 4 solid weeks of training and racing, this was a great way to finish this block!

McAvoy and Bree won the mixed pairs, and Garry and Old-man (John) Henderson got 2nd in Masters pairs. So it was a good weekend all around for us Canberra boys!

Food

• Torq gel 1 / hour, 2 in the last hour. Caffeine from 8am - midday
• 2 x Torq bars (1/2 per hour)
• 1 x Cliff Shot Block
• 5 x bottles of Torq energy (2 scoops / bottle)

Equipment

To deal with the mud, I ran Continental X-King Protection 2.2s on front and rear. These were perfect for the conditions.

These tires were light, and very grippy both in the mud and on the hard pack. These conti tires have a very sticky rubber compound which really grips any surface. The knob spacing was also amble to allow the mud to clear, with no build up on either wheel.

My chain of choice lately has been the SRAM PC-1091-R. This is a lightweight version of the 1091, and has extra slits in the links to reduce weight. The upside of this is that it also helps in mud shedding. I lubed my chain once in the morning before the race (Rock-N-Roll blue), and despite huge amounts of mud my chain had no issues at all. Very impressive.

Finally, the good old Scott Twin-Lock was again invaluable.  I used the full lock out on all the fireroads and also in some of the single track pinches. It really makes a huge difference to be able to make the bike fully ridged with a flick of the switch on the bar.

Thanks

A big thanks to ACT Bike Superstore for getting my bike prepped for this weekend. A special thanks to mechanic Brett for making sure the TwinLock was perfectly tuned.

Although Robyn was not there to support, she was following the results online - so a big thanks for her too!


Next?

Next weekend is back to normal training. So probably heading out to Stromlo to start dialing in the bikes in preparation for the Scott 24 hr!

I'll update with some podium and other pics once they come out!