Scott 24hr

Scott 24hr - Solo


3rd Open / 5th Overall


This weekend was the Scott 24hr at Mt Stromlo.

This race was going to be a change from the previous solo races, as we were back an hour glass / red / blue lap format, and we were sharing the track with the 2, 3, 4, 6, and 10 person teams.

Leading up to this race the Canberra weather was doing it's best to be miserable, and there was quite an amount of rain in the previous two weeks. Despite the rain, the track was held up pretty well.

The two lap format meant the red lap was through the lower sections of Stromlo (Holdens Creek), and then up the trunk trail to the top of the mountain, then a fast descent down Skyline, Berm, Luge etc and finishing via Little Rascals.

The blue lap was up through Blackberry, Slant 6, Willow Link, out into Deep Creek, back via Shadys & Missing Link, and finishing with the fast run down Party Line and the lower link trails back to the event center.

The blue lap was definitely the harder of the two - with a lot and lots of rocks. The Deep Creek area lacked flow, and required a lot of low cadence work. Lap times would start out in the low 40 minutes and blow out to an hour!

The race start was fast (as expected), with Ed McDonald setting the pace up the first red lap climb. Needless to say, with the start of race nerves and Ed's cracking pace, my heart rate was pegged at 180 bpm!

Ed pulled away from Jason English, and I hung with English for most of the first blue lap.

I had no intention of staying with Ed and Jase - I'd learnt my lesson at Easter Solo Nationals about going too hard in the first 8 hours, so I deliberately throttled it down and rode to a sustainable heart rate.

This was working well, and Ed and Jase were not getting too much time on me - and I was slipping away from Brett Bellchambers.

A few hours in and I came across Ed who had some mechanical issues. He had got about 5 minutes on English, and then lost it with tire issues. Once Ed caught me back up, we rode together for a few laps. Ed was obviously keep to go chase down English, and was clearly willing to give it everything to get there.

Letting Ed go, I settled back into my own pace of around 135 bpm which was working well for me.

A strategy I was using was to keep using the same gearing up the red lap, and really punch it on the descent. I knew that Brett would probably gain time on me on the climb, but I could get this back with a fast run down skyline. The same applied to the blue lap, with party line back being an area where I could gain time on him.

I did achieve a little personal goal in doing this, of hitting every red lap in my 3x10 big ring (44) ...

As the night came in, it was really nice to be doing nice laps in reasonably warm temperatures. Along with the super tacky trails, the night laps were really good fun. Only the odd Kangaroo jumped out onto the trails to keep me awake!

Somewhere out the back of the blue lap I had an encounter with a tree and had a little over the bars incident. I did not think anything of it, until I noticed that my knee was getting quite sore. Around 10pm it was very sore and I have myself one more lap to test it out. This of course turned into "I'll just get to midnight", which then was "I'll just get to dawn" .. etc

 Just before dawn an awesome fog rolled in over the mountain. With visibility down to just a few metres it was a real test of memory in descending. "I think I turn left .... now!"

By 8am I could no longer climb the red lap. My knee was just too painful to push the pedals. So, with much disappointment and emotion I stopped with 4 hours to go.

At this point, I was up about 27 minutes of Bellchambers, and behind a slowing Ed by 20-30 minutes.

That is the nature of these solo races. Despite me having great fitness, no nutrition problems, and having set a sustainable pace I got hit with the knee problem. Oh well.

A big congratulations to Ed McDonald and Jason English for their respective rides. Ed gave it everything to chase Jase, and Jase showed his World Champ form by keeping Ed at bay.

Congratulations also to Jase McAvoy for his Masters Solo win, Garry James for his Master's Team win, and James 'PRO' Downing for this Team's podium.

Nutrition


I ran my usual Torq bars, gels and energy drink. 1 gel / hour, 1/2 bar / hour, scoops energy / hour.

In addition, I substituted in some Cliff Shot Bloks, Muffins and the odd Sandwich.

I started my caffeine intake around 11pm.

Gear


My two Scott Spark 10's performed exceptionally well - with no mechanical issues at all. I had them set up nice and soft for the rough conditions - 50 PSI in the forks and 160 PSI in the rear shocks.

As always, the Twin-Loc was really useful. I would lock out the forks & shocks when hitting the fireroads and crit track.

Post race, no excessive muscle or joint soreness - a sign that the Spark was setup well and comfy for my 320km race.

For tires I ran a 2.0 UST Continental Race King on the rear, and a 2.2 UST Continental Race King on the front. During the start of the race when it was a little muddier, I ran a 2.2 Continental Protection X-King on the front.

With Stromlo being tacky from the rain, the Race Kings were perfect. Fast and strong. The low profile tread pattern is great for weaving down Skyline and maintaining full speed.

Thanks

• Robyn, Kylie &, Merryl for looking after me on track, keeping me going and helping me make the right call to stop when my knee was dead
• Brett for looking after my bike ( as well as McAvoy's & English's bikes) throughout the race. It was great swapping bikes every 3 hrs and having everything freshly cleaned and running smoothly
• ACT Bike Superstore for getting all my bikes ready to race. These guys really went out of their way to get all my last minute details sorted. They also hooked me up with some great new kit!
• Chris from Avanti Bikes / Scott for bring down some extra backup gear for me and helping the shop chase up my last minute items
• Mick and the boys for their late night cheering and encouragement up on luge/berm track. Hilarious!

Garry, Jase and me on the start line

Ed, English and I

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!