Sunday Apr 8 |
 | MTB race (Australian Solo 24hr MTB) 12:03:00 [3]163 km (4:26 / km) +2400m 4:08 / km | |
| slept:0.0 shoes: Cannondale Rush |
| 7th overall, 2nd in 25-29yrs Age class. 43laps- 353km.
I've now done 5 races of at least 24hrs in the last 12mths, but I consider this the hardest.
I started pretty conservatively, riding with Katrin for the first 3hrs. When i got lapped by the leaders, I decided it was time to push it a bit. I sat on Craig Gordon's (current World Champion) for a lap just to see how it was done. The pace sustainable, but not for 24hrs. I dropped off when we caught up to a bit of traffic. Now the first problem came when we couldn't find my helmet with 9W LED headlight already attached. Glenn made two trips back to Dave's to see if it were there but couldn't find it. I had to make do with the 3W already on the bike, and a spare 1W on my head. Then finally after 3hrs of darkness the helmet was found (nearby someone elses tent after we moved all our gear). I felt like good from 5-10pm, without getting very tired. From 10pm to 3am it started getting harder and was struggling really badly with indigestion and heartburn. The course was so technical that eating while riding was almost impossible.The only thing i felt like eating was bread and jam. Between each lap now i needed to be infused with caffeine in the form of coffee, coke, redbull or nodoze. At 3.30am i was really battling mentally- struggling to find any reason to keep going. Sat down for a bit and let the support crew build my moral. Then Katrin caught up to me. I thought I must have lapped her somewhere, but no, she'd been pushing on and now we were together again.
Finally the night was over, and i got rid of the lights about 6am. Now with 6hrs to go there was only 5mins separating places 6-9, amazingly close. The single speed rider started cranking out some fast laps and held onto 6th. I opened up a bit of a gap, but really hurt for the with 2hrs to go. I took it easy on the more physical first half of the lap, and tried to push the more flowy technical 2nd half. I was bloody happy to get to the finish line and even happier with my placing.
Many thanks to Glenn, Dave, Mounty and Searlo for their great support. Well done to Katrin who won the womens class, and was 9th overall. An amazing effort. |
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| C • Gutsy effort 4 |
Saturday Apr 7 |
| MTB race (Australian Solo 24hr MTB) 12:00:00 [3]190 km (3:47 / km) +2600m 3:33 / km | |
| slept:8.0 shoes: Cannondale Rush |
| I heard about this race about 2months ago. The Aus 24hr champs changed from the Mont/Scott 24hr in October to the Solo only 24hr at Majura. Katrin put the idea in my head a few weeks ago. I thought I'd wait and see how the Keen AR went, and I felt so good on the bike I was still considering it but wanted to see how I recovered. Since I wasn't keen to go to Burra I wanted to do something useful with my weekend anyway. |
Friday Apr 6 |
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| Event: Australian Easter Orienteering Carnival
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| Note | |
| (sick) (rest day) |
| After a late night on the juice with Andy I really struggled today. Actually it was the worst hangover i've had in a long long time. Basically I was negative carbo loading and dehydrating for the whole day since i couldn't hold down any solids until about 6pm. A few times in the arvo i thought about pulling out of the 24hr race but eventually made it to Glenn's before driving to Canberra. |
Thursday Apr 5 |
| Run (Two Creeks) 40:00 [3]7 km (5:43 / km) | |
| slept:8.0 shoes: red Salomon 3D Pro |
| Got a call from Glenn at 4pm saying he wasn't going to Burra anymore because of car troubles. Bad news. However he offered to come and support me at the Australian Solo 24hr MTB champs at Majura Canberra. Good news. Looks like I've got no excuses now.
Went for a run and felt ok. Two creeks track is closed, not sure why. |
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| C • Two Creeks 1 |
Wednesday Apr 4 |
| MTB (Rotary Oval return) 1:00:00 [3] | |
| slept:10.0 shoes: Cannondale Rush |
| Down to the oval and back, with a few runs over the small technical bits for a bit of practice. |
Tuesday Apr 3 |
| MTB 5:00 [3] | |
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| Got 5mins into my ride and realised my rear tyre was quite flat. Tried to pump it up but still went flat. Must have had low pressure when i started and punctured when i rode down the station steps. I've been told pinch flatting a tubeless tyre is impossible, but this is the 2nd time i've done it. Found 2 holes right on the rim, one of them wouldn't seal with the latex. |
Monday Apr 2 |
| Run (Fairyland Loop) 52:00 [3] | |
| slept:7.0 shoes: old Asics 2100 |
| Had a real spring in my step so i made the most of it. Not often i feel that good. |
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| C • must be the snakebite - take n... 2 |
| Strength work (Neighbours) 30:00 [3] | |
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