Training Log Archive: Craig

Longish easy run with Rachel on the rail trail from Carters Rd out to Burnside Rd and back. Detoured through some of the single tracks in the pines on the way back to add a bit of distance and fun. I was a bit surprised how few bikes we saw out there. I always imagined those single tracks would be super busy most of the time but we only saw a couple of bikes and never on the same track as us.

MTBO middle distance champs.
I found it really hard to read the map on a map board last time I tried MTBO so I decided to just carry it this time. Spent most of the minute before starting folding the map to put it in my A4 map bag then tried to look at the first leg and all I could see was Craig Dufty written on my map bag. Spent most of the next minute pulling it out and turning it around so I could read the first leg. Got heaps of air trapped in the bag this time. Didn't even realise the maps were waterproof until two days later but the map bag did help to keep it folded smaller.

First bit of single track was quite steep with lots of roots and I was worried that this was not going to be much fun for me but it was all pretty riding after that (except when I rode the same track again just to be different when mikedufty was in front of me and took my first choice route). Had a hairy moment when I turned down towards one and quickly picked up speed towards some unexpected sharp bends. I had my braking fingers caught up in my map and nearly went off into a tree. I was more careful how I held my map after that.

Saw mikedufty leaving 2 as I approached which surprised me as it was a pretty simple start. Turns out he decided to visit 5 on the way to 2 which slowed him down a bit. Ameko went flying past on the way to 3 and straight past the really obvious junction. He caught up again and the 3 of us were pretty much together to 4 and 5 only because Ameko kept riding past junctions. I was behind Mike when he turned up towards 6 so I decided to try going around the bottom. I came in just behind and followed out towards 7 where we watched Ameko ride right past another junction on an obvious bend. Mike was out of sight ahead by the time I got to 8 and I had kind of assumed Ameko had also gone back past but apparently he lost more time than I thought at 7 and even more at 8.

Going to 9 I couldn't see nay better way to get to it than taking the obvious route to get close and then doing a loop on the one way tracks. I tried to be careful but obviously missed a junction and ended up out on the main track to the East. Worked it out fairly quickly and headed back in but failed to see the other end of the same track and got confused when the track seemed to swing around and come into the control the wrong way. I ended up turning around and going back out the same way I came in because I couldn't make sense of the tracks which means I went the wrong way down a one way track anyway so I might as well have done the short bit everyone else did and saved myself 5 minutes. At the time I felt the tracks made no sense but I think it was really just one indistinct track and a couple of bends that were not quite right so mostly my mistake.

Kind of had enough by this time and lost a bit of interest so rolled around the rest without any urgency. Sounds as though that is about as good as MTBO gets in WA and I really didn't find it that much fun so I think that will probably be my last MTBO event.

Margaret river tennis club open day. Played 3 sets of doubles and a bit of hitting before and after with Liam, Rachel and Rusty.

Middle Distance Course 2 - Splits

Event: WA State MTBO Championships - National Series Rd 3
 

Headed North from Glenbourne towards Gracetown for 5km then turned around and came back the same way. Pretty much all uphill going out and downhill coming back. Legs really tired starting out so I had to turn it into a build run.

Sprint the SW Cowaramup.
Didn't really do any warm up and didn't feel at all like sprinting on the way to the first control so I just cruised around at a comfortable pace. Wasn't sure if you were allowed to go through the green so was looking at left/right options to go around it on 11. Eventually decided it was ok to go through but was only considering left/right at that stage and forgot to even look at the straight option so just cut through a little to go around to the right.

Sprint the SW Amazen Margaret River.
Felt more motivated this time so did a bit more warm up but it didn't really help. Don't think my route on 1-2 was great but I got all the early controls ok. Almost caught Juffy by 5 but didn't see him after that (probably because he decided to do the maze early). Enjoyed the garden section from 6-10 and then it was into the maze.

I found the maze a little too hard for my liking. The required routes were a bit too long so I always wondered if there was a better option and I had trouble remembering the planned route and keeping track of where I was up to at the same time. Lots of near collisions with other runners also made it much harder to maintain contact. Didn't ever get lost but didn't feel I was doing it very efficiently either.

Still good fun but I really preferred the gardens to the maze. Impressive run from Bruce.

Cowaramup Long - Splits

Ameze'n Long - Splits

Event: Sprint the South West