quotes are a little napf in places but the footage is quality
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or is it more like training in a storm. either way some how in the worst weather i can ever remember i still seem to be able to smash out the right amount of hr’s & km’s for training. 9hrs was the plan and i ended up 26min over that – with additional time made up swimming and stretching it was a really good week 11hr week. i only missed the friday grind due to weather.
i smashed a full saturday session of 99.8km [so close LOL] but best of all i PB’d across to richmond from penrith with a KOM in 4th place and sitting in Z4 for a long time – at one point for almost 30min which is good LT improving not to mention a very solid avg of 31.9 for the ride. i did end up returning home in the pissing down rain. it was good as it made me pull my finger out today and give the roadie a really good once over clean. including the cassette and freewheel, small amounts of work on the pedals and a few other tweeks.
i dropped carbo down to blackmans as well. after visiting churchys and attempting to inflate the new race kings i/we realised the rear has rim tape sealing issues so i stuck a tube in it and took it down for a quick gear service before this weekends 4hr*. i picked up some stans 25mm rim tape as well so i can now re-tape it and get it all running smoothly before the MTB Cruise 100km week after next. this 100km race is going to be the real opener for my season and it will be the first race i should really be able to gauge my current form.
Last weeks monday night crits were again another example of my lack of form – although i did try to bridge a gap, i could have bridged, but 2 riders followed me which in tail bought the entire bunch with them and the gap was shut down to us crossing, then sequentially to the original break.
i lept early for the intermediate sprint and managed a 3rd but again my tactics are wacky. you’ve/i’ve got no hope of making an early or long sprint stick if your starting from the rear of the pack. i’m still riding without at brain. still love crits – good intensity goes down everytime.
*the yellomundee 4hr this weekend is looking like it will be called off. the amount of rain has destroyed all bridges and reeked major havoc throughout the trails and it’s looking like more rain this week. doesn’t look good at all for race start.
i also replaced the rear refuse [front will swap out after the crit tyre change]. i am going to try and document the amount of KM’s i can get from the one set of tires.
Read Morethis looks pretty amazing. i need to organise a road trip asap
RT MTB 8hr with chris as team boutique took us out to dargle farm near wisemans ferry. having never ridden there before i wasn’t really sure what to expect but had heard there would be a lot of fire trail, some climbs and a bit of single track and thats pretty much exactly what it was.
i chose to drive out saturday and camp overnight for the sunday race. chris was to arrive sunday as was brent and others. jason, sash, aub’s and big dog were riding the 12hr on the saturday then backing up the sunday for the 8hr. sash had secured a motor home from one of his clients and they guys were living it up in style!
saturday night the owner built a massive bon-fire and although it was super warm we were ok as sash had bought a mushroom style short gas heater. bloody perfect
i slept well that night and rose with plenty of time to sort out rego etc once chris had turned up. but… there’s always a but, i was reasonably sick. nothing too bad but i did have a very sore throat as well as sore lungs. i was averaging around 65-70% i reckon.
chris arrived, we registered then i set up ready to go out first as it was my turn. lap one was not to bad considering all riders were let off at the same time (both the 4hr and 8hr’s together). i sat really comfortably with the leading groups and crossed the line in a good position.
chris then took the reigns and we alternated like all rounds, for a total of 14 laps on the day. i somehow managed our team’s fastest lap on the first on but from then onwards it was a bit of a struggle to keep pace as the sickness made sure i knew it was present.
the course was pretty good and i did enjoy it. i liked the long firetrail areas, you could just head down and thrash it out in AT for as long as possible. there were two hills…. well one that had a short flat section in the middle. the first part i did clear twice on the day but the other i found no point in totalling myself for what would be such a little gain. with a fast decent back into transition that was fun i only really had one issue with the entire course. this one bloody tree i shoulder barged 3 times on the final 4 laps. the last lap i beat it and yelled at it as i passed by without driving my shoulder into it like a front rower from parra in an NRL game.
chris’s laps on the day were much more consistant than mine and coming into the last lap he had a chance of catching 5th and passing. it turned out he easily passed him on course only to have a chain break not long after the pass.
in another example of why i love MTBing the guy he passed for 5th place [the spin doctors] ended up giving him his tool kit to fix his mechanical. just pure sportsmanship. unfortunately it did mean chris lost his effort to pass 5th but we still finished in 6th place in elite males pairs and 8th overall on the day with 14 laps.
i was much better with my nutrition this time round – i entered the pain box every lap and pushed like a banshie on the last lap. i sat for 4 hours just 2-3% under AT which is nuts. sadly even though i took the goPro i didn’t find the time to run it on the course because i was so in need of rest between each lap.
stromlo next and i can’t wait. i’ve said it before but…
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this weekend was the fifth round of the WSMTB clubbie’s race calendar for 2011. even better was the fact it was at blue gum lodge. its normally once a year that we have the opportunity but its looking more and more like the next round will also be at BGL. i’ll bring the goPro for sure next race.
for me this round was just a roll around. next weeks RT – MTB 8 hour at dargle farm is the focus so i just wanted to get in some km’s, check all the boxes from a training/technical perspective and keep it upright and cross the line.
i went out very much conservatively. lap one there was a massive hold up because one of the guys had unfortunately dropped the bike a techy sections in the gorge. after this bunch up i just rode around at what i thought was a consistent pace. there’s no doubt i was a little tired from fridays track but by lap 2 i was feeling pretty good and comfortable and had found a comfortable pace.
lap 3 i was again just making my way around keeping out of trouble… this continued through lap 4. lap 5 was just a slow roll out to finish the day. i finished B grade in 12 place which in all honesty is shithouse really. my laps weren’t that consistent and my fitness is still so bad.
carbo didn’t “error” as such this time which was great but he does have some concerns. the front round thing – the wheel – is very out of whack and after today’s race i could see the front right fork seal is leaking. pretty pissed off about that. i am hoping to get the front [and rear] trued before sundays race, but the fork will have to wait [check the pic]
in all a good days racing proving how lazy i have been.
here’s a video i found online
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