Well, I had a great weekend on and off the bike! I got in a good hard ride on Saturday, and it was the first time in a long time that I’ve ridden over 100k’s in one go. I felt a lot better than I thought I would, which served as a good little indication that my training seems to be on track and all the other little changes that I’ve made over the last three months or so seem to be paying off too. I’m hoping that the motivation stays with me.
On Sunday I sat down with a mate to watch the Road Nationals. What a race! Some really inspirational efforts from some very talented bike riders. Cam Meyers effort, riding off the front by himself for 3(? maybe 4?) laps just to set up his team mates for a strong finish was a fine display of team work, and the big finish from Gerrans, Loyd and Porte, after 165ish k’s was awesome.
What really got me excited though, as a Mountain Biker, was scanning through the break away bunch and seeing two of Australia’s top Mountain Bikers up there mixing it with 21 of Australia’s top Roadies, most of whom race professionally in Europe. Not to take anything away from their ability as bike riders, but to be up there with those guys in an event that’s not your specialty is bloody impressive.
I saw the purple and black of Dan McConnell’s kit first and started to get all excited, and then a few minutes later saw the Search to Retain kit of one of the Van Der Plogg’s (Neil I think?). I turned to my buddy, pointed to the tv and said ‘holy sh*$! They’re Mountain Bikers!!’. But, it wasn’t over yet! Shortly afterward the camera’s went back to the chasing bunch where there were about 5 Mountain Bikers in the mix, working to reel the leaders back. What was even more impressive here was that some of them are no longer professional riders!
It’s a bit funny considering I don’t know any of the guys involved personally, but I was a little bit proud to be a Mountain Biker and genuinely excited for those guys to see them doing so well.
Now, the excitement doesn’t stop there. A friend raced in the women’s race on Saturday, so while I was having a look to see how Heidi did (not to bad, incidentally!) I saw that not only had one of Australia’s top female Mountain Bikers taken it to the girls in the road race, she’d finished on the podium! Bec Henderson, who has been pretty much killing it on the dirt for a while now, rode away with silver in the Elite Womens Road Race. Outstanding stuff, and if that doesn’t help with Olympic selection I don’t know what will. Unfortunately all the telecast showed of the womens race was the winner coming across the line so I’m not entirely sure how it played out, but considering half the field DNF’d I’m guessing that it was a tough day on the bike.
Well, that’s it for Monday morning. I hope everyone found the nationals to be as inspirational as I did, for whatever reason.
So I’ve been sitting under the air conditioner having a look at the events calendar on Enduro Pulse reminding myself what I’ve committed too this year. It struck me as I was trying to piece my calendar together that the real challenge was going to be cutting races out so as not to over cook myself to early in the season. At this point it’s nearly possible to race at least once, almost every weekend of every month up until June, and if you’re lucky enough to live somewhere like Canberra in some instances you can race three times in one week!
What a year it’s shaping up to be then! In NSW/ACT alone we have two state enduro series’, and the Real Insurance XCM series as well as a host of other stand alone events like the Ginga Ninja 250. Admittedly I was focusing on those events as they’re the ones I’m most likely to get to, but I do have an interstate bucket list and scanning over some of those events it was pretty quickly apparent that those of us in NSW/ACT aren’t the only ones with a plethora of races to choose from. Both Victoria and Queensland offer state enduro series’, as well as a host of stand alone marathon and enduro events that sit enticingly on the calendar, trying to lure unsuspecting interstate riders into a cross border sojourn.
Having made the trek to a couple of races in both Vic and Qld I can vouch for the value in heading interstate to strap on a race number. One oft overlooked bonus of spending 12 hours in a car (and the extra money associated with travelling to race) is the extra motivation all the effort of getting there provides on race day. If you’re having a horrible day, say if conditions don’t suit you or you can’t seem to keep the rubber under the rider, knowing that an epic road trip was wasted if you pull out can certainly inspire you to struggle on. It’s also a fantastic opportunity to meet new people and get a guided look at new trails. The first marathon I did was the Otway Odessey and it was one hell of an effort for me to get there. I went alone, was completely disorganised and had to drag my bike all boxed up half way around Melbourne on public transport before I picked up the car I was borrowing. The race itself was a pretty epic journey for me too, typically I had chosen one of the hardest races of its type in the country as my first outing, but I had a fantastic time, met some excellent people and wouldn’t change anything about the experience.
So enjoy choosing! And while you’re scanning through the events calendar trying to make the difficult decision, try to throw at least one adventure in there this year, be it a multi day stage race somewhere or a weekend trip interstate to do a one day event. After all, it’s usually the sense of adventure that initially attracts us to Mountain Bike Endurance Racing and the people who keep us coming back for more.
Happy Trails!
It really was today. I didn’t get to take any photo’s but the weather has definitely turned it on. No wind, a little chilly but nothing five minutes of riding didn’t sort out and blue bird skies.
It was really one of those mornings where you feel glad to be alive, healthy and lucky enough to live in a country where we can freely enjoy outdoor pursuits. Having moments like that serve as a reminder to me that there are a lot of places where people can’t go where they want without some sort of serious threat to either themselves or their family. We all like to complain about getting razed by cars and having stuff thrown at us or abuse yelled, believe me I’m not excusing that sort of behaviour, but it could be a lot worse.
It’d be really nice if we could all remind ourselves of that the next time someone yells something stupid from a car and just shrug it off instead of letting it spoil our ride. It’d be even nicer if the motorists could remind themselves of it too!
Happy trails and happy New Year everyone.
Well, it was back into the mountains this morning for another day of sustained climbing. I adjusted the ride on the fly slightly to miss one climb as I was starting to run low on water BUT, at least I got another good day of climbing in. Much easier today though, I was alone and as such didn’t have anyone to push the pace against. I did need an easier day today and I really enjoyed taking the opportunity to enjoy the view:
Well, I didn’t get any photo’s but as ‘first’ rides back go that went pretty well. Slightly shorter than I had planned and we changed the route slightly at the top of the first climb, but I managed not to get too dropped (it turns out that several months ‘off’ affects your climbing… Who knew?!) and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.
That last point is probably the most important one. It was nice to go out with some good company and hit a bit of a hard ride up to shock the body a little. It’s been a long while since I’ve genuinely enjoyed riding, mostly it’s felt like a bit of a chore for about a year, so to go out and have fun while trying to hold a wheel on a 30+ minute climb was a real change. Amazing what few positive changes in your life can do!
I’ve come out and made some calls about being back on to riding a couple of times this year, so I’m reluctant to make a heap of noise about it now. What I will say is that I hope I’ve found the joy in it again and that I can sustain it this year coming.
Happy trails everyone!
Well, it’s early (ish), I’m sitting in the kitchen waiting for my wife to get home and I’m prepping mentally to go out for a few hours on the roadie. What is really entertaining is that the distance/length of ride I’m about to do I used to do once or twice a week! It’s been a long while since I’ve sat on my roadie for 4 hours… I’m glad I managed to find some company to come out with me.
I’ll post again in a few hours and report on how it went, possibly with some photo’s.
Back into it, hopefully for real real not for play play this time…
Posted: 20/12/2011 in Mountain bikeWell, I’ve got my new training plan all done up, and I’ve done my first ‘proper’ session today. Tired and a little sore, but I brought it on myself by being a slacker for the last few months. All I have to say is that I’m inspired to ride again.
I was pretty reluctant to hit the first session because I knew what was coming. I’ve been hitting hard training for a few years now (in my previous life I was a bit of a gym junky and loved my high intensity interval training) and have had a few periods away that I’ve had to build back up from before, so I had a fair idea it’d sting. What I’ve found, sitting on the couch a couple of hours later is that feeling of not realising how much I’d been missing hard, structured training.
I’ve missed that, heavy legged, slightly vague yet oddly satisfied feeling that comes from not just training, but training hard. What enhances the sense of satisfaction is knowing you had the discipline to stick to the session as prescribed, without giving into the temptation to back off the throttle when it was feeling a bit tough, or to ramp it up unnecessarily.
So, it’s short but sweet but, I finally feel like I’ve got the drive back. Wanting to be out there is 95% of the battle with training and I definitely want to be out there.
Merry Christmas everyone, hit it hard in the new year!
The Capitol Winter Sports Festival is an event organised by the ACT Triathlon club as a partner event to their Summer Sports Festival. The event consisted of several different races across Cycling and Running and makes for a great family weekend out. It’s a rare event for my family that an event offers the opportunity for us all to participate in something so we took full advantage of this event.
Saturday afternoon we found ourselves at Mt Stromlo so my wife Alicia could participate in the 5km fun run and I could do the MTB TT afterward. Having the events staggered like this meant that we could take turns looking after our daughter. The run was conducted around the Robert Decostella running track, near the Crit track at Stromlo. By all accounts the course was great for all levels, being not to hilly for the beginners and allowing the fast guys the opportunity to crack out some smoking times. The MTB TT was conducted about an hour after the runners finished and consisted of a 10 km course on the lower sections of Mt Stromlo. It took in some fun single track, however it missed a lot of the best stuff on the lower slopes of Stromlo and went up fire roads instead. This did make for some quick lap times though.
I probably went out a bit too hard on my lap, and managed to crash pretty early into it as well so by the time I got half way around I was starting to feel a little worse for wear. Fortunately there were some long descents in the back half of the course which my legs appreciated! Brad Morton won the day with a quick time (especially considering he had a mechanical on the last descent and had to run it home!) and I managed to get into second after my little spill.
Sunday morning I was rolling out the driveway on my roadie bound for a closed road course along the front of Lake Burley Griffin. The road race was run on a fairly flat 10.5 km course that was like a giant hotdog criterium circuit. The only significant climb was right before the turn at the far end of the course and was where most of the attacking happened. For all the attempts though, no one managed to break away with all the attacks brought back by the bunch so we rode home together and got to have a good go at a proper sprint finish. I was happy with where I was sitting out of the final turn and managed to get into third as we approached the line, however I’d gone a little early and ran out of legs to defend myself so got passed on the line and finished up riding away with fifth.
In all the weekend was quite fun and one I’d recommend as a family event. With events covering Running, kids fun runs, a Duathlon, Mountain Biking and Road Racing there really is something for all the family to get into.
So, I’m currently sitting in a bar in an airport thinking about having a beer and contemplating the trip I’m on my way home from. I’m both fortunate and unfortunate (in equal measures) to work in a job that sees me flitting about the country pretty regularly. Aside from the obvious pitfalls, like being away from family, being a cyclist/mountain biker throws some interesting factors into travelling for work.
Now, my boss is sympathetic to my cause and allows me to take a bike on trips. This has allowed me the opportunity to ride in every capital city in Australia so often that I can now easily plan my training around which cities i’m going to that week. This can help to keep training fresh and also allows the opportunity to hit some pretty varried terrain, ie: here’s no better hill training week for me than one spent in Hobart. I’ve also met some great people out on the road that I wouldn’t have otherwise. Something else that is highlighted by travelling WITH my bike so often is what a great way to discover a new town travelling BY bike is. I will often know a place pretty well on the second day I’m there while my colleagues will know how to get to the hotel bar! You also become very well versed in assembling/disassembling your bike and packing it, which in turn allows for frequent close up inspections and maintenance. Ok, not a bad list of positives, now how about the negatives?
The flip side: travelling a lot is tiring, which can affect training. It can also make it really tough to eat wel, especially if you’re travelling in a group and no-one else likes to eat healthily. I also found out the hard way last year that some airlines don’t take care of bike. I picked my old road bike up from Sydney airport to find it half out of it’s bag with a crushed rear triangle which the airline refused to pay for (needless to say I fly virgin now whenever possible). Also, being dragged in and out of a bike bag all the time eventually leaves a few marks on your beloved freedom machine.
So, it’s up to you which side of the argument outweighs the other. I know for myself, that I’ve missed my bike this trip (it stayed home because I’m sourcing a new bag) and will be reluctant to go without again. It’s worth it in my mind, and as summer approaches I’ll be looking to take advantage of as many mid week crits as I can find.
To race or not to race… That is the question! (Dilemma’s of an ominous looking sky)
Posted: 17/08/2011 in Mountain bikeSo… As I sit here, listening to the rain hammering down on my roof my thoughts are directed toward an interesting question: Where do most people sit with racing, or even riding for that matter, in bad weather? Are you the type of rider who adhere’s to rule 9 and rule 5 (http://www.velominati.com/blog/the-rules/), sees rain on race day and starts to laugh maniacally, knowing that while everyone else is in tears you’ll be in your element or do you open the curtains, see a cloud in the sky and hang the bike up just in case?
I’ve been on both sides of this situation over the past couple of years and found that there’s pro’s and con’s to both positions.
Racing in the wet (or how to feel hard and keep your LBS in business):
Pro’s:
1.You feel extremely hard. The wetter, more uncomfortable and dirty you get, the harder you feel.
2. If you’re strong, the mud will work for you by hurting the opposition.
3. Bad weather can have a devestating effect on peoples morale. If your opposition are not enjoying slipping all over the place in the mud then they probably aren’t racing to well either. If you are loving it and are having the time of your life you probably haven’t even noticed how bad the conditions really are.
Cons:
1. Your LBS will see the more of your next pay than you, or any of the utility companies will. It’s a fact. Mountain bikes hate mud. All the moving parts just get filled with grit and you can actually hear them destroying themselves.
2. Wet sand and mud can take forever to get out of riding gear. I had a couple of sets of knicks that I were still expunging sand from the chamois a year after a particularly horrible solo 24 hour. This means that inside the knicks all that precious padding is slowly being worn away as well.
3. No matter how hard you feel, you’re still cold and wet.
Piking.
Pro’s:
1. Your shiny, expensive bike will stay shiny. There’ll be no complete strip and rebuild for you! Oh no! All the grease will stay where it’s meant to and all your bearings will remain entact, not to mention brake pads, drive chain…
2.Your hard earned cash stays in your pocket and out of the bike shop owners kids college fund.
3. If it’s dry where you are, but wet at the race track, you can stay home and tear around bone dry trails for hours.
Cons:
1. You feel a bit soft. If you pike and you’re anything like me, you won’t be able to stop your mind from wandering to thoughts of the track, and whether it was really that bad.
2. You don’t get to race. Recreational riding is awesome fun, but if you love to race nothing else quite matches the excitement of race day, and you just missed out on all that because of a bit of water.
3. You miss out on the shared hardship. Riders who have just finished a race in horrible conditions share a camaraderie that can only be found by suffering through something generally crappy together.
So, there’s a couple of thoughts. I recently went with the pike option, and was pretty satisfied that I managed to preserve my bike. Having said that though, I have raced in horrid conditions and had a ball. I guess it’s always going to be a judgement call on the day based on how far you’ve travelled, how much importance you place on that particular race, whether you’re willing to sacrifice the entry fee and if you’ve got either the skills or the money to rebuild your bike
In closing, I have to say that I do feel for race promoters a bit. The decision on whether to go ahead with a race at all must be very tough and it seems to be one that a lot of them have had to make over the last 18 months. If they go ahead you risk serious injury and trail destruction, but if you can it you might have a couple of thousand angry mountain bikers to deal with and refund money to.
I’d be interested to see everyone’s thoughts so feel free to comment, and if you haven’t had a chance to see the rules yet I strongly recommend following the link I added. Make sure you’ve got a good 10 minutes though because there are a lot of them!
