Training Log Archive: gudeso

Summary Queensland MTBO championships - long distance (Day 2)


Arrived early to the assembly area, and therefore was not stressed as the day before. All settings including map board was ready from yesterday, so at least one less concern, though I would like to have a new map board, as this one is too old and scratching the stem. I am not an early morning cyclist, so was good to have 2.3 km warming to the start point.


1. (16:16 min) Point 1 was located relatively far from the start, so took some time to get there, had a small mistake by turning left one track earlier, but after 1.5 minute noticed it is not the right one (probably loss of 3 minutes overall);
2. (6:40 min) Relatively, close cycling to point 2 with some moderate climbing;
3. (7:36 min) Was standing on the junction near point 2, and decided to go straight and climb up, retrospectively I don’t think it was the right decision, as climbing was steep, and I must have lost there 4 minutes for sure. I could easily avoided this by following my first intuition to go left in that junction (maybe because Chris Firman left me to breath the dust at that point…).
4. (4:30 min), A quick cycling to number 4, no dramas;
5. (3:40 min) saw James Dougal in the way from 4 to 5 and raced with him head to head to number 5, was fun... dirty and quick ((-;
6. (7:46 min) Kept the high speed after Jammie, until we split at point 7 near the rocky area;
7. (6:57 min) Relatively fast cycling to grab point 7, nothing exciting;
8. (6:30 min) A bit of a climbing to number 8, was a bit slow after few fast segments;
9. (21:27 min) Headed from point 8 out and decided to take the way down through the bitumen road, yet from some reason I decided to climb up and then turn left, instead of turning left in the 1st main rd junction, that was probably my biggest mistake / bad route choices of the day, and I am confident it cost me at least 10-11 minutes or so…
10. (9:29 min) Horrible sand after taking point 9 including steep climbing to the nearest rd. I saw Dalton in this section, so decided to stick close to him;
11. (6:19 min) some tricky tracks after point 10, yet both Dalton, I and another rider went pretty smooth to take point 11;
12. (6:28) Pretty easy ride to point 12, got to the sharp curve to the left and noticed I did not see any turn left to the small track, fortunately, Tash suddenly went out from the single, so I quickly picked it up.
13. (24:22) Probably my less favorite part of the day, it started as nice ride along the edge of the race area up till the big rocks. Once I veered right, it turned into a big sandy, horrible path to cycle, I hated every minute of this part of the day, and had to walk in some occasions, this part has definitely finished my spare energy.
14. (15:50) After reaching point 13, we had another nasty climb for desert through this sandy track; I had to walk few bits, and was relieved when arrived to the T-junction (indication of the end of this terrible track). A slow and tiring cycling from the T-junction to point 14, as I felt my energy has dropped substantially.
15. (4:55) Managed to recover a bit, and cycled with Tash for few minutes until I had to turn sharply right to pick point 15;
16. (5:18) Solid climb to the Antenna and from there a quick ride to point 16, starting to smell the end of this long day.
17. (5:52) Huge downhill from 16 to 17 with slippery slope, at that stage I was very tired and did not want to take any risks (crashing in the way down) so took it a bit slow. Another short climb to point 17 meeting Tash and another rider coming down towards the junction.
18. (6:19) Went down from point 17, and suddenly decided that I am not sure where I came from (probably was a bit dehydrated and tired at this stage), after looking on the map for 1 minute I realized that I have another (last) climb towards point 18. I have made the last climb slowly but consistent and picked number 18.
19. (1:25) Short ride back to the finish line, Yay! (-:



Overall, no mechanic problems, no big navigation errors, only two bad route choices in my way to point 9 and point 3 which probably cost around 15 min overall, one horrible track (in the way to point 13) which we all hated, a slow last 4 points, as was already tired. Overall, very happy with the second day, I think, 2 hr and 30 minutes would have reflected my effort with more justice. Yet, still finished 9th overall, and made the second day much more focused than the 1st one.

Pretty happy with Tash winning the Women category, Ricky having a fantastic result with second overall, and Dalton being consistently solid in both days.

C • well done! 1

Event: Qld State MTBO Championships - National Series Rd 1