STM2012 #2 Kowen Forest

These races come up awful quick and after some indifferent weather in Sydney, the last two weeks have been all about recovery and carb loading, ie. I've done not alot of training since the Nationals. As Joe Ward said in his post interview race with Jason McAvoy, Masters is super competitive and this time I think I took the approach to just enjoy this ride (well yeah still compete!) without the repeat of the soul destroying last couple of laps at Orange last round. I mean where is the fun in riding a bike if you are just going to flog yourself every time? It was great having a cohort of TORC riders make the journey to the land of milk and honey for MTBer's, here is a selection of some of our finest. Martine doesn't appear here because she was taking all the pics! Thanks Martine

Brad, Marco, Farkas and Mike. Note Simey has made a sport out of riding his comfy chair and esky

On the start line it was a little cool, the Garmin was reading 1 degC but I wasn't shivering (probably because I had the oncomings of hypothermia!) and once we hit the gas, I was pretty comfortable all day with just a base layer and arm warmers. I was quite amused to see a couple of little streams of runoff water had frozen overnight so the ice and frost on the ground made it feel like something out of Narnia. Riding through pine forest is just beautiful, it's so quiet with the little shards of sunlight that find there way onto the track. There was also a brisk westerly blowing that made for a tough head wind in some sections.

A typical chilly Canberra morning but the promise of a gorgeous day once the sun rises

A couple of hours in, I was sorry to see a rider down at the 4km mark. He had come a cropper on a berm and apparently head planted into a stump. It was a couple of laps later before he was moved out with suspected spinal injuries so we all certainly hope and pray the injuries aren't permanent and he has a good recovery. It made me ponder the fine line we balance as I was trying to ride as fast and as smooth as possible, which means braking as little as possible. It doesn't bear thinking about the damage that one tiny mistake can bring about as you speed downhill past jagged rocks. Nup don't think about it.

The good news is my lap times were much more consistent this round. I started to lose a little time towards the end but I figured it was all pretty manageable and knowing I haven't got the legs to challenge the Radical Lights boys, I'd be happy to fill in 3rd place again on the podium. Little did I know there was a new kid on the block who'd been smashing it up all day. He certainly slipped in under the radar and it wasn't until the end of Lap 7 I found out I still had some work to do. I casually asked Cindy on the way out what was the gap to 4th and she says ONE MINUTE TEN! What? did I hear you right.

OK Euston we have a race on here. I gritted my teeth and pushed a bit harder in lap nine cutting 45 secs off and kept it going for the last lap to beat Chris by 6 minutes. Phew that was close, it felt great to know I had someone hot on my heals and to push me all the way. By that stage I was taking more risks on the descents and I had Ed, Andy and Antony fly past me who gave me a fast wheel to hold if only for a few seconds but it all counts. Checking the results post race, I realised I had been cruising in 4th all day and had only just crept into 3rd place after 7 laps.

This chart shows the gap to Jason McAvoy. Note Chris and Garry fighting out for 1st in the first few laps. Chris blows up on Lap 7 and I sneak into 3rd place

Once again the race had a great vibe and although I've said it before I'll say it again, it is awesome to see so many girls getting out there and racing. The chicks are friendly and very cooperative, they give you track within about 3 seconds of you asking and they tell you which side to pass on. There are definitely a few grumpy blokes who could learn a thing or two about track etiquette from the girls!

Thanks to Chocolate Foot for another stellar event, the Kowalski Brothers and Co. for an awesome track, Turramurra Cyclery for your continued support along with all the TORCIES who turned up and special thanks to Cindy Farkas who took on a cameo role as bottle lady and kept me going to the end. Without your help I'd be feeling pretty rotten about finishing 4th and racking my brain to work out why I didn't ride just that little bit harder!

As a postscript, the whole race prep was very enjoyable, Brad, Mike Blewitt and I shared a lovely bottle of red in the Royal Hotel Queanbeyan followed by the biggest bowl of Penne Carbonara I have ever seen courtesy of the The Central Cafe. Now I know that probably sounds weird, but life is good and I am grateful to the One who provides all the goodness.

Keep riding
Mike

What I ate
1 600ml Optimiser
3 600ml Hammer HEED (mixed a little stronger)
10 gels
2 bars
2 bananas

I would normally drink twice this amount of fluid and I hardly broke out a sweat all day, yep it was cool.

Single Track Mind - Round 6

It's hard to describe just how ideal conditions were for this race, so I'll just resort to bullet points
- perfect weather
- virgin single track carved through pristine native eucalypt forest
- a great bike and great company
- a team mate you'd give your right arm for
- all within 2 hours of home

My training has been a bit hot and cold lately, so I figured it couldnt hurt to head out for a gentle road ride on Saturday. Of course there is really no such thing as a gentle road ride when you tackle West Head and McCarrs creek in the company of other Peloton Sports members, so by the time I got home I was worried I'd overcooked it and would be fatigued for Sunday, but as soon as the gun went I felt totally primed. The Ellsworth motored almost effortlessly up the first climb with the leaders and together she and I held a solid pace for the first lap to return to transition in 1st place for Masters pairs. The laps continued on this gorgeous track, with barely 30m of vertical over a 10km loop. Later on a few riders were almost critical of the off camber corners, tight meandering and lack of a climb, but personally I loved it. It was the sort of track that rewarded smooth, controlled, smart riding, and as I was to learn on lap 3, punished those with poor timing or technique. It was a relatively straight forward double that I had already cleared twice, but 3rd time was to be unlicky as I dumped the launch and buried the bike into the front side of the landing ramp, therby ejecting myself over the bars in superman style. As I got back to my feet, I was amazed to see such little damage to the body, but both wrists were damn sore, and it was with a little concern that I rolled back to transition. A quick clean up thanks to St John's and a pair of socks from SRAM for my war story and it was time for another lap.

Dave looked worried for me (and himself!) and told me "Take it easy, dont do anything stupid!" Too late mate, but on I rolled just a minute behind Dan and Gav. And that's pretty much the way it stayed all day. In the end we just couldnt bridge the gap and my last lap was one of resignation as realised today we'd have to settle for 2nd.

Special thanks to Hugh at CBD who spent atleast a total of 60 mins fixing my brakes, it's a long story that I wont bore you with, but it's all good now. Also special mention to all the guys from TORC who made the effort to come and race, it's always such a great vibe in the tent when you have a few more riding buddies to share it with; Danielle and Daniel, Theo and Arainer, Simey, Jeff and Mick, and of course Farkas who brought the tent. Big props to CTMBC who cut this track in record time, especially to the guy in charge of the track who went on to claim the Merida gift voucher, a worthy winner for sure! Thanks to the organisers Chocolate Foot who always run a faultless event, to the sponsors for my prizes SRAM, James Estate Wines, Aussie Butt Cream (anyone need butt cream I'm your man!!!) And finally to my mates from that other bike club HORCC, an awesome bunch of guys who really know that MTB spells fun.

That's probably my shortest blog of all time, it sums up another memorable day on the bike. There was a moment on the track, when the XPT train slowed quite nearby and I pictured myself sitting on the train watching the riders and thinking "Wow look at those lucky people out there being active, riding bikes through the bush, how good would that be?" and then coming back to the present and realising how blessed I was to be actually doing it. I love it!

Keep riding
Mike

PS thanks again to Dave Bateman for a great photo

Single Track Mind Nowra

Picture from the recent TORC Skills Session with Mick Ross

It’s been a long time between drinks, but what was planned to be a full on racing season has morphed into a busy life off the bike with many different demands tapping into my training time. Put that together with a trip to Brazil and some unsettled weather and the year is shaping up more as one to enjoy rather than to achieve and maybe that’s OK.

I loved the STM series last year and had some success running solo, so I thought it would be cool to form a team and take some time to actually enjoy the event instead of just thrashing my body for 8 hours straight. Gary and I have known each other for years but it wasn’t until we nearly ran each other over at the 80km drink stop in the 2009 Doctor that we became good friends. We both suffered through a wet Sydney 24 and then Gary was my mechanic at the 24HoA last year plus we’ve worked together “spreading the word” about JesusMTB. So I was stoked when I floated the idea with him about forming a Masters Pair for this one and he accepted. He was typically humble and warned he might not quite be at his peak for lack of training, but I had a feeling we’d be pretty close in form and as it turned out our lap times couldn’t have gotten much closer.

I drew the “short straw” for the first lap, but truth be told I love the start. That first drag race up a stretch of fire trail to spread the field is a pure adrenalin rush and I entered the single track right on Gary James wheel which is good and bad. Good coz you know you are lucky to be there, but bad because you know you aren’t going to be there for long. Sure enough he slowly pulled away on the first little climb but there was plenty of traffic and I soon fell in with a train that suited my pace. My only mistake all day was on this first lap when I ran a little wide on a corner and the front washed out on the soft sandy edge. No real damage and I dusted myself off and got rolling again as Farkas went past in a blur. By the end of the day that corner had shaped into a beautiful berm. The next challenge was the fireroad and coming out of the sequence of six switchbacks I hooked onto a fast wheel and had a good chew on the handlebars. I was soon pushing over 90% but I got a great tow and passed a good many riders and the HR pretty much stayed there right to transition where I handed off to Gary.

With Gary James and Rich Peil setting a blistering pace to control the race and Dan and Gavatron matching them in a battle for 1st, we were happy to settle into 3rd place but by early afternoon the Yeti Gu team had cut our 8 minute lead down to just 3 minutes and it was game on in a battle for 3rd. We realised our plan of pulling double laps was slowing us down so it was back to single’s where you get a shorter recovery but you can atleast give it all you’ve got for just one lap. With 5 mins to go Gary put in a great effort to log a 28min lap and I finished with a solid 27 to hold 3rd by nearly 6 minutes.

Thanks to everyone for a fantastic day, the track by SCUM was simply awesome, fast and well prepared, the organisation by Chocolate Foot was terrific and what an advantage to have Castech doing the timing! Thanks also to the sponsors who were generous with their support especially SRAM, Lezyne, Aussie Butt Cream, James Estate Wines and Hammer Nutrition who provided some nice little tidbits to take home for our efforts! and of course my LBS Turramurra Cyclery who always look after me with whatever I need.

10 laps – 93km, 3225Cal

Avg HR – 81% (150bpm), Max 94% (174bpm)

WHAT Gatorade 3 bidon x TORQ Organic with a Shotz tablet 2 bidon x Optimiser 1 serve dutch pancakes 1 TORQ bar 2 Shot Bloks 2 Gu gel 2 Endura gel TOTAL

ENERGY (Cal) 191 573 612 100 (?) 220 400 200 212 2508

CHO (g) 46 143 120 30(?) 47 96 50 52 584 (73g/hour)

STM3 and Husky100

A big couple of weekends have just blown by, first with the STM3 7 hour at Yellowmundee and today the long awaited Husky100. The training is starting to pay dividends with two very satisfying results,
Yellowmundee was the race that might have been and after a good start, riding my Giant XTC 29 1 for the first time it was eating up the rocky trails and it certainly wasn’t slowing me down after setting the fastest lap in my category. The dual for 2nd and 3rd continued for a few laps between Jeff Rooney and myself, but about the same time that Jeff put a gap between us I realised my back tyre was steadily losing pressure, not good when riding a tubed wheel on a hard tail at speed over a rocky trail! I stopped a couple of times to pump it up but sure enough on lap 7 the tube gave up the ghost and I was left to run back along the trail to the event centre to find a replacement. Now there is a story here. The bike is an ex-demo, apparently straight from the guys at AMB. When I inspected the blown tube there were no less than 4 patches on it! Thanks AMB! I must write to thank you for this learning experience! The guys at Lifecycles were great and swap out the dilapidated thong for a brand spanker and I was rolling again, but down to 6th place. I fought my way back to 5th, and finished feeling pretty happy with my effort and glad to still be in the series points. One other thing, Giant can you please put some decent brakes on what is otherwise a brilliant bike? This bike deserves better than Avid 3’s!!!
The Husky today was an awesome race and starting just behind the Elite’s the pace was furious to start with but I soon settled into a nice steady rhythm and again the 29er was rolling beautifully. This trail was made for a 29er and having ridden all these trails over the last few summer’s I knew this would be a fast race. There were a few mud puddles to contend with but basically the track was in great shape until about the 85k mark and then the mud really started to bite. Our dear organiser Amanda who did a fantastic job today quipped that it can’t be a MTB race without some mud, but let’s be clear. It is one thing to jump off for a few impassable pools, but wading through 4-5 thigh high slop traps is not what we want. MTB’s are not cheap to run at the best of times and it is about time MTB event organisers realised that replacing multiple drive train and suspension components after every race is not sustainable. Please guys show some consideration for the people who support your events and avoid running on really wet muddy trails. There are still folks out there that crumble into a sobbing mess at the mere mention of Capital Punishment
OK so having got that off my chest, let me repeat this was by and large a fantastic course, with plenty of fun single track and fast flowing fire trail often over hard baked clay, nice and fast. I had the nutrition dialled and felt pretty fresh at the end, perhaps I should have gone a little harder? I achieved a PB today, finishing a solid 4th just 2 minutes behind 3rd place. A podium would have been nice but
It’s been great racing this last two weeks, but even better chatting, riding and recovering (eating!) with top people I have met through this sport, there are too many to name! Also congrats to the other TORC riders, Larri Brittan winning her category and Kelly Mapleston 2nd. Peter Cheesman and Sandy Logie also completed the 50km and 100km races respectively
Keep riding
Mike