Training Log Archive: PdJ

My legs felt like jelly right from the start, by the end of the first hour I was no longer able to push hard when I needed to and it felt like I was just riding to get home; a sure symptom of too few kilometres in the legs over the past few months.

On the plus side, following further overnight modifications my map board was working perfectly and I am now satisfied that it performs at least as well as any commercially available alternative (while being close to half the weight).

Notable controls:
#5: Took the motorbike singletrack instead of going around on the road, it was dusty and rutted, and I was not riding very confidently so I doubt that this was the best decision.
#8: Went wide around the East via #6 and #11, seemed an okay route, also took a quick stop to have something to eat.
#12: was to tired to be bothered to do technical riding so suffered the indignity of being seen walking down a steep hill.

ACT MTBO Sprint

After some small modifications the map board was firmly fastened and no longer a major problem. There was still a little bit more vibration than I would have liked, but it was a massive improvement compared to the morning's experience.

This was by far my favourite course of the weekend, the short legs and quick decision making helped to remove much of the navigational boredom that I normally associate with MTBO.

Legs of interest:
#3: long and unnecessary hesitation trying to work out what was going on with the detail at the top of the hill.
#4: Came plunging down the hill only for the track to disappear into bushes ahead of me, took longer that it should have for me to spot the detour to the right.
#10: took the far northern route up the bike path and over the gate on the very northern edge of the control circle. The southern route looked far too long, and the middle was a no-go having been mapped (somewhat questionably) as rough open. I'm not sure if this was the right decision, looking at the map now the southern route does not seem as bad as I had assumed and it took a few seconds to get over the gate.
#15: I had planned this one out three controls prior, yet I still managed to take a wrong turn and descend the hill too early.

ACT MTBO Middle

Used a new carbon fibre map board that I had just finished making the morning of the event. Predictably, testing new equipment for the first time during a race proved to be a bad idea and the mounting bolt came loose through vibration. Consequently, I had to ride most the race without being able to get a good look at the map and with my right hand holing the board to the centre of the bars to prevent it from destroying itself on my front wheel. It was pleasantly surprising that it was undamaged at the end of the ride. Twice I gave up and tried to tighten it but neither was successful. Hard to speculate how much time this cost but thirty or more seconds per control would be a relatively conservative estimate.

Mistakes:
#2: I did not see the downhill singletrack exit from #1 and instead continued up the hill.
#11: bad route choice to go the long way round on the road instead of the direct singletrack.
#18: I rode the last 4 controls on map memory (thanks to aforementioned map board) but on this one my memory failed me and I made a wrong turn.

A fun course, seemed to be over before I had even started. It is a pity that MTBO never seems to be able to emulate the technical intensity of foot-O navigation, even the middle distance courses feel like green courses with too much opportunity to plan ahead. Perhaps I am just not riding fast enough.

Short MTB ride, 80% singletrack, no timed loops.

Stromlo (10:55), Cotter, Condor, end of tar, Uriarra, Coppins.
Feeling sluggish. Disappointing time for Stromlo.