< 2 days to go

The cliffs above Ornans

Loue river & Ornans town centre

I have had a fun week in Ornans so far.  The course is great and I can’t wait to race it on Sunday, plus it is such a nice village that I would not have known about had it not been for this race and now being on a taper, I have a bit more time to enjoy it.  The Village sits in the Loue valley, which features the beautifully clear river of the same name as well as dramatic limestone cliffs and some really nice old chateaux and buildings. I’ve been staying in in an old “moulin” (millhouse) on the river Loue, which as I recently discovered, came complete with a hidden trapdoor under the kitchen that accesses a ladder that goes down to and old turbine shaft that sits idle under the house.  

Hans discovering the secret trap door

I had an experience the other day that kind of sums up the way of life here. I was at the local epicerie (corner store), chatting to the owner (who incidentally knew where I was staying and what country my hire car was registered in) and I asked if he had any fresh milk. When he said no, I asked why not, and he preceded to explain that they just go directly to the local dairy farm to buy it and he then gave me directions out of town and down a dirt track to a little farm house where I could take an empty container to get filled with milk. At first I thought he was taking the piss out of a gullible tourist, but not having anything better to do I thought I’d try and find it. Sure enough, I found the “laiterie” and the friendly farmer filled my container with 1 litre of fresh, warm, unpasteurised milk, straight out of the udder….all for the bargain price of 60 cents!

Monsieur le fermier

The "laiterie"

Anyway, I didn’t come here to drink milk. The race is now less than 2 days away so needless to say, I have been giving it a bit of thought. The weather and track conditions have been the talk of the town, and despite 24hrs of rain yesterday, the final days leading up to the race are forecast to be dry.  However around here, at this time of year, things don’t dry very quickly so I am still going into the race knowing it will be a very slippery and tough day.  I have a few things that I will do to help me and my bike cope with the conditions that I thought I would share with you:

    

       - Tyres: I will race on 29 x 2.0” Maxxis Beaver tyres. These are a kind of semi-mud tyre that have a deeper tread without being as slow as a full mud tyre (e.g., a Medusa) which are spaced out enough to allow the mud a better chance of clearing.  Being 2.0” wide, compared to the 2.2” I usually prefer to run (at home), will give me more clearance between the tyre and my frame to reduce the clogging of mud, particularly around the bottom bracket. The narrower width comes at a cost of tyre pressure or risk of flatting; I have been running as low as 20psi (much lower than at home) this week to help let the tyres deform and grip to the slippery roots, but with the 2.0 I will have to up that a little to minimise the risk of bottoming out the rim on a rock or root.

Tyre choice

      - Studs: There are a number of hike-a-bike sections up steep and greasy climbs. Normally grip in MTB shoes isn’t a huge concern for the infrequent nature of the dismounts, but I have literally been struggling to walk up these climbs and after a bit of traffic this will only get worse. When I was packing for this trip I actually couldn’t find a set of studs in my garage so I reluctantly left home without them. Then during my first ride on the course I realised I would them need some….typical!  Annoyed at having to buy something I already have, I went into the bike shop and I explained in French (not knowing the word for studs) that I wanted the little things that go into the bottom of your shoes to help you avoid slipping, and the mechanic replied: “Vous avez besoins des Crampons?”  Then when he pulled them out I understood why the French word for stud is crampon, they were the gnarliest spikes I have ever seen.  He then smiled and said something like: “Vous pouvez grimper les mures avec ca” (you could climb walls with these things). Quality!

Les crampons....oui!

      - Extra water: Keeping the bike rolling and the vision clear is super important in muddy conditions. I will ask my feeder to pass up extra bidons of plain water that I can use to hose my drivetrain in an attempt to remove any accumulating mud before it becomes a problem. I will also use it to squirt my glasses to clean any mud off; I find it best to never try to clean or remove my glasses during a race, Adidas eyewear is anti-fog and spraying them with water is enough to remove any mud or sweat and restore good vision.

      - No mud guards: I don’t mind using a mud guard for really wet races but assuming it is not actually raining on Sunday, the mud will be very claggy so I will sacrifice a bit of spatter on the eyewear in return for the lower weight and better reliability of a bike that isn’t caked with mud and grass matted together. 

      - Fresh drivetrain: It seems a waste to put on a new drivetrain for a muddy race but for the best reliability I have put a new chain, chain rings, cassette, bottom bracket and brake pads for race day.  Having had to travel light I needed to sweet talk that local bike shop into letting me use their workshop.  I was there for a couple of hours and was chatting to the owner for ages. We eventually worked out that we raced each other as juniors in the World Cup finals in Annecy back in 1997. We both started laughing, which was broken only by us asking in unison: “what did you get?!?!” Turns out he was 19^th and I was 25^th…..small world.

Other than that, I am expecting this to be a very hard and potentially long race. Should be good.

ciao

Chateau Cleron on the Loue

The view from my balcony

From Chamonix to Annecy & then Ornans - 5 days to go!

After arriving in Chamonix full of excitement and with an eagerness to ride everything on the first day, I tried to settle down and focus on the job at hand. The first priority was to rid the legs and body of the fatigue inflicted by 30hrs of travel and the 8hr time difference. This meant trying to be patient, sleep well and take things a bit easy on the bike. It was also an excuse to do some touristy things like visit the Mer de Glace and sip coffees while looking up at the Aiguille du Midi and the Mont Blanc, but I knew all along that it was the calm before the storm because I wanted to do a big day on Friday, which I was actually starting to get a bit nervous about.

Col de Montets above Argentiere

Brew stop in Argentiere

Friday dawned and it was time to test how well I had recovered.  I wanted to do a big ride, to in some way, simulate the kind of punishment that I would put myself through during a marathon. The plan was to do 5 hours pretty solid with the last hour as hard as I could.  I started off by climbing up the valley along the Petit Balcon Sud to Argentiere, before doing a U-turn to follow the same trail all the way down the valley past Chamonix to Les Houches. I had heard good things about this trail and it didn’t disappoint! For the most part it is benched into the hillside, but there are still some steep ups and downs as it winds its way down the valley. There are no shortage of slippery polished rocks and teflon roots that are so typical of European mountain biking, as well as some super exposed sections that had me questioning the consequence of a fall as well as my choice not to dismount. By the time I got to Les Houches a couple of hours in to the ride, I was having so much fun that it seemed that any trepidation of how hard this ride was going to be was unwarranted. Plus the weather was the clearest I had seen on this trip and the constant views of the needle-like peaks in the soft Autumn sun across the valley were another welcome distraction. After crossing the valley things started to get tough with quite few long steep climbs. I gradually made my way back to Chamonix and then picked up the Petit Balcon Nord trail for another ascent of the valley and my final hour. I was happy with how I was feeling and motivated to empty the tank by imagining that every climb was the last, as I made my way up to Le Tour before turning again for the return to Chamonix. An awesome ride: 83km covered, 2600m of ascension and 5h15m in the bank.

Typical Chamonix skyline

Mer de Glace

In the grotto at the Mer de Glace

Les Drus

Content with a solid ride and some good sensations, I now had a fun weekend to look forward with a visit from my good mate Matty Z who flew over from London.  We spent Saturday trail riding around Chamonix with my newly found trail knowledge valuable in being able to put together a 2.5hr single track loop.  Matty & I had shared many ski mountaineering trips in this very mountain range and it was great fun to explore it together on mountain bikes.  We then said goodbye to Seth & Jaymie (who had lodged me all week) and made the short drive to Annecy (possibly the most beautiful town in the world – I’m not being funny; if you have been there you know what I mean) to visit another friend Yohann. Annecy is the first place I ever went to outside Australia when I raced the finals of the MTB world cup in 1997 (as a junior); it always feels pretty special to be back. Unfortunately Sunday was rainy, so instead of riding the trails on Le Semnoz (where that WC was held), we decided to do a tour of the lake on the road. It was still nice but I was quite cold and wet towards the end; this was good news for Alberto Contador though, because it meant that his time for the Lac d’Annecy ITT from the 2010 Tour de France still has the record on Strava.  Luckily the weather cleared up for a touristy afternoon which included a visit to the Gorge du Fier (a 30m slot cut through the rock with a boardwalk cantilevered off the side) followed by a leisurely walk around the old town of Annecy which included a meal of moule mariniere overlooking the canal.

Jaymie, Seth and I with the Bosson Galcier in the back

Matty at the Chateau de Montrottier

La vielle ville, Annecy

That evening I received the bad news that Chris Jongewaard had crashed in China and broken some ribs, which meant that he wouldn’t be able to come to Ornans for Marathon Worlds. What a bummer, I hope you heal quickly mate. In a second curious bit of news, a French friend who had looked up the start list for the Marathon Champs informed me that she could not find my name, or any mention of any Australians for that matter! Hmmm? That could be a bit of a show-stopper, so I wrote a quick email to MTBA to hopefully get it sorted out.

On Monday morning dropped Matty at Geneva airport and continued on to Ornans. I got pretty excited when I passed through Metabief as I remember seeing video of Nico Voulliez shredding that place in a World Cup (or champs maybe?) back in the day. Ornans is a small town in the Loue valley in the department of Doubs in the France Comte region.  It is really pretty with a typical French charm, a beautiful river (the Loue) and dramatic cliffs overlooking the town. I found my accommodation for the week which was an old Moulin (mill house), which sits right in the river Loue and used to use its power to turn the old mill but has since been converted into a guesthouse. 

Crossing the Loue on the Worlds course

In the afternoon I headed out for my first reconnaissance on the Worlds course. I rode the first 20km and it was a bit of an eye opener. The opening 5km is pretty flat but fairly narrow and a bit slippery in places. I found myself thinking about the reality of starting from the back (thanks to not having any UCI marathon points)…..this will be hard!  The course then headed up for a solid climb and wound its way up to the top of one of the limestone cliffs before a super steep, muddy and slippery descent that lost all the height I’d gained in a matter of minutes. The weather wasn’t even been that bad, yet it was super muddy and caked my bike in gunk. It might be a job for the 29x2.0” Maxxis Beavers, also some studs in the shoes and an extra bidon of water in the feedzone to clean the drivetrain….ahhh Europe! :)

Anyway, that’s it for now. I’m off to ride some more of the course.

Marathon Worlds countdown continues - Chamonix

My trip to France started with a short stopover in Sydney for the King of Kincumber. The King of Kincumber is a charity bike ride/race run by Rocky Trail Entertainment over a 28km fire road course on the central coast near Gosford. This community event is in its second year and is a really fun way to support a worthwhile charity, the Westpac rescue helicopter.  Although short, the course was pretty tough with some sections up to a gradient of 29%!  It was worth it though, with everyone going down to the Kincumber Pub for relaxing lunch and some rehydration in the spring sunshine.  Well done to Martin and Juliane from Rocky Trail, hopefully this event continues to grow.

 Le Tour and col du Balme in background

My sojourn in Sydney felt a little like procrastination and sooner or later I need to get the big plane trip out of the way.  Thankfully it all went smoothly and I eventually arrived in Geneva in one piece ..…and my bike even arrived on the same plane!  My next challenge, and one that nearly got the better of me, was trying to fit a big bike box into a Ford Fiesta hire car. I got there eventually but it was at the expense of my leg room. It was far from ideal but I could still perform most of the important functions of driving a car, and at least it made me appreciate the ample leg room I had just had the privilege of enjoying for the past day in Qantas economy class.  I was very happy to arrive at my final destination for the day of Chamonix and be warmly welcomed by my friend Seth who has been living here for the past year with his partner Jaymie.  After a nice lunch I built my bike and headed out for a roll on the road to spin some of the flight out of my legs. It had been raining all day but I was lucky enough to catch a break in the weather by the time I was ready to go.  As I rolled up the valley towards Argentiere the enormity of the Chamonix Valley hit me.  Huge glaciers hang a couple of thousand metres above the valley floor and jagged mountains dominate the skyline, all of which are dwarfed by le Mont Blanc which for the time being was veiled in clouds.  I’ve been here several times before but I had somehow forgotten just how amazing it is. Despite feeling the fatigue setting in from the trip, I was now super excited about waking up tomorrow for a proper ride.

 Aiguille du midi and Mont Blanc in the clouds

If you have ever travelled much to race, you will have probably found that training while abroad can be quite tricky. At the race venue is usually fine because you have arrows and bunting to follow, but when you rock up to a town and have no idea where to ride, it can be hard to get that specific session that is on your program which you normally do on your local trails. I wanted to do a steady 3 hours today, and I spent half an hour trying to research trails on the internet before I gave up and decided to just wing it. 3 hours was long enough that it would matter if I took a few dead ends and I was excited about the prospect of exploring and hopefully finding something cool, plus even if I found a good route on a map, I knew that stopping continuously to check it would become very tiresome.  I headed up the valley and started to follow a few arrows for walking tracks and the odd MTB trail arrow.  Before long I was riding some spectacularly rooty and slippery trails (amaed particularly exciting by the previous day’s rain) and then stumbled across the Petit Balcon Nord which was a terrific swooping trail benched into the side of the valley. This spat me out at Le Tour where I began to climb a beautiful switchback climb up into the alpine meadows before topping out at a mountain refuge at the Col de Balme. It was a long and tough climb, made tougher by a growing impatience after having caught glimpses of a downhill track that would take me back down. On the way down it became clear that the MTB season was now over as the trail had some signs of erosion and evidence of goats grazing on it. Eventually I actually came across the said goats; there must have been hundreds of them parked right on the trail and nearby the farmer had even erected a yurt complete with a chimney. Imagine if farmers grazed livestock on the ski runs at Thredbo in the summer, it just would happen. On the way back to Chamonix I continued to follow my nose and I managed to stumble across more awesome trails. Steep, rooty and rocky in parts and then fast & flowing in others. When I got back I was grinning from ear to ear, 3hrs in the bank & sweet trails, I could not have asked for more and I can’t wait to get out again tomorrow.

Goats on the DH track at Le Tour

 

20 days to go – the countdown to Marathon Worlds continues

At three weeks out from the big race it was time for my last big test, and what better way to gauge the form than one of the most fun marathons in the country; the Act Belong Commit Dwellingup 100 in Western Australia. I first rode the D100 last year and was very impressed by the course, as well as the super friendly atmosphere. Although being the biggest state in Australia, WA has what is probably one of the closest MTB communities in the country.  Perhaps it is the relatively small population and its isolation, or maybe Western Australians are just friendly? Either way, every time I have been over there I have been warmly welcomed and had a great time; there’s never any shortage of riders keen to take you on a loop of their local trails and they definitely have a way of making you feel like one of the family. Being hosted by the Tucknott family from start to finish, this latest trip was no exception.

Reece & I at the start

  

Arriving in Dwellingup the day before the race, I meet up with local gun Reece Tucknott for a reconnaissance ride on the Turner Hill section of the course. If there is a trail that epitomises WA mountain biking, it is Turner Hill. It is pretty rocky and covered with the infamous pea gravel, which makes it super slippery. It was a bit scary at first trying to follow Reece’s pace around the first part loop, but after a while I started to feel a bit my comfortable and relaxed as we drifted around the corners on the loose surface.  It was a fun ride and I started to get very excited about the following day’s race.

Race day dawned and the 900 riders assembled at the Dwellingup Oval for the civilised 8:30 start.  I knew my main competition would be Peter Hatton, Craig Cooke and John Gregg but it was James Kennedy that lead the race out of town. When we hit the single track a lead group of five formed which included John, Hatto, Craig, David Hind and myself. I wanted to make the race as hard as possible so I tried to push the pace on all of the single track sections.  At about the 25km mark we hit the Marrinup section and I tried to put the group under pressure. I had bad memories of Marinup from last year because it came at the end of the race and I was in pieces but the time we got there, but this year the course was a bit different and it came much earlier on when I was still fresh and it was really fun! So much better than I had remembered. When we exited the single track the group was down to just myself and John Gregg so we pushed on together (I found out later that Craig and Hatto had suffered mechanicals). When we got to Turner Hill I thought I could attack John with the knowledge I had gained from my recon ride with Reece, who was I kidding?!  John, who has probably ridden pea gravel his whole life, was all over me and I was just wasting energy. I then made a mistake and he came past....suddenly the hunter became the prey! I was relieved to be still in touch when we left Turner Hill and then in the next single track section I was finally able to get away.  It was still probably 25km to the finish but I hoped that I had the legs to go on with it. It wasn’t long before I knew I was in trouble, I noticed my heart rate dropping and my pace was slowing. I was starting to blow. Soon I felt like I could barely point my bike on the trail and I knew it was a matter of time before John would catch me.  He joined me at 5km to go and luckily for me he was suffering a fair bit too.  He hit me with one attack and I knew I had to stay on his wheel which I did, JUST. After that he just sat on the front all the way into town and I was happy to follow. I knew the finish and I wanted to lead into the final corner, I opened my sprint just before that and managed to get to the corner first to take a narrow win. 

 Super close finish with John Gregg

I am very happy to have taken the win in WA’s premier mountain bike marathon, and pleased with my form 3 weeks out from the World Championships. The course was so much fun with a great mix of fast & loose single track and fire road. Tony Tucknott and his team did an awesome job of setting the 400-odd arrows out on the course and everyone seemed to be finishing with a smile.

The after the race Reece snuck in a bit of cross-training by taking the motorbikes out on a section of trail that we had used the day before. It was really fun to blast around with an engine on my bike for a while but it did take me awhile to get the hang of braking with my foot. We were back in Perth in time for a quick trip over to the Camel Farm MTB park for a blast on the Perth trails with Jim Lobegeiger (the man behind to course for last year’s AMC in Perth) plus Reece and Tony Tucknott....what a way to finish the weekend.

Thanks a lot to everyone that made the Dwellingup 100 happen, and the Tucknott family for looking after me so well and making me feel at home. Hopefully I’ll be back next year.

Marathon World Championships – Blog: T minus 32 days

The world marathon championships are 32 days away and I thought it might be a good time write a blog.  I plan to post regular entries here, so if you are interested in keeping track of my progress feel free to drop by again over the next month.

After the Husky100 I had a bit of a break off the bike; it was a little shorter than I would have liked after having a pretty busy season, but big objectives require some sacrifices so I had to hang up the skis and get back on the bike. I have been focusing a lot on volume rather than intensity over the past month in and effort to build slowly and resist the temptation to go too hard and peak too early. In theory, it sounded good but the reality of working as much as I do meant that I spent a lot of cold, solo hours in the dark in the hills and back roads West of Canberra. My only solace was that I convinced myself that it would make me tougher.

The first big test of my progress was last weekend in Wollombi NSW, Round #5 of the Real Insurance XCM Series.  In the bigger picture of my preparation for the World Champs this race wasn’t much more than in indication of my level, but sitting 2^nd in the series behind Shaun Lewis who has dominated the series so far, I couldn’t consider it as just another training ride.  It was a must-win for me in order to keep the increasingly prestigious series alive as well as my first opportunity to race in my national champion jersey. Trenton Day and I broke away from the field on the first climb at 10km and worked really well together to build a comfortable lead.  At the turn around we had over 2 minutes from what looked like a fragmented and disorganised chase and I was confident that we would stay away. With very few climbs in the second half of the course I was resigned to a 2-up sprint at the finish, however at the bottom of the last big descent I noticed that I had a small gap of around 30m. Without thinking too much, I attacked and to my surprise I had managed to catch Trenton off guard and soon built a small lead.  It was then a 15km individual pursuit to the finish which was very reminiscent of the Convict 100 and I managed to hold on for the win.  I was happy with my sensations and stoked to keep the series alive with only the Highland Fling remaining.  Unfortunately for Trenton it was another 2^nd place (he has 3 now for the year), but as a very young guy I know his time will come....very soon!

Now I will start to increase the training intensity through to my next big test which will be the Dwellingup 100 in Western Australia.  I am really looking forward to this event that I did last year for the first time; it is really well organised and has a great atmosphere, there are also some super strong lads over there like Peter Hatton and Craig Cooke that are always motivated to stop guys from the East coast coming over and burgling their races.

Enjoy the Spring weather!

Real Insurance XCM#2 - Capital Punishment, Canberra ACT

Only 6 days after round 1 of the Real Insurance XCM series all the usual suspects were lining up again, this time in Canberra for Capital Punishment. It was another early start with the gun going off at 7am out at Kowen Forest. The pace was fairly subdued early on as we rolled through sections of Kowen familiar from the Mont 24hr, some of which we rode in the opposite direction which was nice for a change. With a relatively flat course ahead of use, no one seemed confident enough to drive the fire road so the front group kept reforming after splits were formed in the single track. After a loop in Sparrow Hill and then over to Central Kowen there were still probably about 15 in the leading bunch, quite a lot for a marathon. When we hit the CORC club course at Sutton road and the racing finally started with Lewi and myself using some local knowledge to slip of the front and try to put everyone under pressure. Upon leaving the single track the group was definitely smaller, but the main players were still intact: Cooper, AJ, English, Fleming, Hatto, Lewi. Hatto was next to test his legs when he attacked going through the defence land. He held a small gap for quite while until Cooper hit the front in Majura and the pace was on again. Following Dylan around Majura is heaps of fun and Hatto was soon caught. We whizzed through the feedzone at Majura Winery but no one took a bottle; we were more concerned about the sprint to the KOM and start of the untimed section which in a race like this is just as important as the sprint to the finish line. About 2km before the KOM I made a mistake in a corner and managed to pretzel my front wheel. Luckily Cooper and Lewi didn't notice that I was momentarily missing or they would have made me pay dearly for it. Instead I was able to bridge back to the group despite my front wheel rubbing on the fork. Unfortunately the effort to close to gap took a bit out of me momentarily and I was only 5th at the top of the climb behind Lewi, AJ, Hatto and Cooper. In the transition the Rockstar boys went to Dylan's and AJ and I went to mine, perfect timing for an unscheduled wheel change!

As we approached the end of the roll across town to Black Mountain, the Rockstar crew converged onto our path from a side street and we all arrived at timing together. We left transition in roughly the same order that we finished at Majura and I held back a little bit to try and nullify any losses incurred on the KOM but was nervous not to wait too long as the guys could attack me. We regrouped and the pace across black mountain and past the Arboretum was really easy. With a climb to the top of Stromlo at the end, no one wanted to waste any energy on the flat fire roads. When Matt Fleming (who had left transition before us) waited for his Rockstar team mates and came back to our group, he went to the front and started working for Lewi and Cooper which lifted the pace considerably as we approached Mt Stromlo. Knowing that the final 10km to the top of Stromlo and back down was virtually all singletrack and passing would be limited, we all sprinted to get into the trail first. I managed to get in front and tried to hold a solid pace up the climb and whenever the trail got slightly wider and an overtake was at all possible, I gassed it to stay in front. I was gambling on being able to drop the others on the descent, which seemed more possible due to the thick traffic we were encountering from the 50km riders that we were passing. I took some risks on the downhill and gave it everything as I knew, not being a strong sprinter, that I only had one roll of the dice. I was able to unhitch everyone except for Lewi and Cooper, and as we entered the crit track on the front for the final 300m I knew the numbers were against me. With little choice I reluctantly opened up the sprint quite early, and right on queue both the Rockstar boys came around me with Lewi taking his 2nd win in two weeks.

I am pretty happy to have got on the podium after the disappointment of a week prior, and I am proud that I rode a smart race and had the confidence to take control in the last 10km.....it just didn’t quite work out on the day. This weekend is round #3 with the Convict 100 at St Albans. Due to the hillier course I think we will see the race split up a lot more than the first two rounds and I will be surprised if we don’t see a new winner (sorry Lewi).

Thanks to all my sponsors for the support!

Real Insurance XCM#1 - Wombat 100, Woodend VIC

I was looking forward to the Wombat 100 as a chance to test my form after having 7 weeks with no racing, and as round 1 of the Real Insurance XCM Series it was also a gauge of how the competition is going. Yesterday in Woodend, both of those questions were answered and were strong and very strong respectively. It was also a chance to debut my new kit which arrived late last week from 2XU. It looks really good and I love wearing it, thank you so much to everyone that help make it happen.

The race started off quite predictably with a big group riding together for the first 10km of fire road at which point we went in to the first section of the single track. I was holding good position in 2nd wheel behind AJ, but barely a few corners in, disaster struck.....puncture. I must have run over a sharp rock or some glass because I had a huge slash in my tyre. As I set about sleaving the tyre and installing a tube, it occurred to me that I was a bit rusty at having to fix flats in a race situation. I think 2009 was the last time this happened which certainly says something about how reliable Maxxis tyres are, so it’s not a bad thing to be out of practice I suppose. A few minutes later I started my chase to get back into the race. It was tempting to think about it as a 90km time trial and pace myself accordingly, but in order to stand any chance whatsoever of finishing high up I would have to rejoin the front group early enough to recover and be ready for the attacks that would inevitably come in the last third of the race. So I chased hard and gradually made my way through the field which was tricky because I flatted so early that virtually all of the race was between me and the leaders. I eventually caught my mate Peter Malcolm and knowing what had happened to me he did a huge turn on a 2km section of fire road. Thanks to Pete’s effort (which he subsequently paid for!) my heart rate, which had been red lining for over an hour, dropped by 15bpm for a few minutes giving me a bit of respite and allowing me to take a drink and compose myself a bit. However all good things must end and he soon swung off and I resumed the solo chase. I was getting time gaps from Theo (of cyclenation) at various points and the gap was slowly dropping but not as fast as I had hope. As I started passing more and more accomplished riders it became clear that the reason for this was that if pace at the front was fast enough to un-hitch these guys then it would be hard for me to catch up. I caught Ben Mather in some single track at about 40km and asked him what had happened up the front, he said that the lead group was down to AJ, Lewi and Cooper with AJ having caused most of the damage. Without any expectations I told Mather to hang on to me which he was able to do, and I stayed on the front through the feedzone at the halfway mark. We hit the next fireroad section then Mather came around me and said “I don’t know what I’ve got, but I’ll do what I can”. It turns out that despite having been dropped, he was starting to re-discover his legs and before long he had me under pressure! We work together and continued to swap the pace making duties until the 60km mark when we rejoined the front of the race. Pheww! Three leading trio all looked back to see who had caught up, they seem neither surprised or disappointed to see Ben and I. Lewi and AJ raised not so much as an eyebrow in acknowledgment, which is expected at this stage of a poker game. Dylan was the only one to say anything with simply: “nice one Blairy”. I sat in for the next 10km, trying desperately to recover as much as possible (and pretend to be fresh). The single track sections were fine, but on the climbs I was finding it harder and harder as the 50km chase was now taking its toll. Mather got dropped at about the 65km mark, then at 70km we hit a solid climb; one minute I was sitting fine & ticking over a high cadence, then all of a sudden, the lights went out. It isn’t pretty when this happens; it’s a pretty dark place, believe me. When I finally made it to the finish in 6th, I was greeted by the news that my good mate Lewi at got the win - a well deserved and much anticipated return to form, well done mate. AJ was 2nd and Cooper 3rd.

I’m not too disappointed with my race overall. In general I am very consistent, so one flat every 3 years is a tolerable rate in my opinion. The biggest positive is that I was able to rejoin the front of the race which is an indication that I am moving well and it gives me confidence leading into the subsequent rounds that I have the form to be up there at the pointy. Having missed out on a result will also relieve me of any pressure as the focus will be on Lewi, AJ and Dylan for next weekend’s race in Canberra. Who knows what would have happened if I didn’t flat? Who cares!....Capital Punishment (round #2) is a new race and I’ll be very motivated to make amends. Besides, if I had have won the Wombat I would have to wear the Real Insurance XCM series leaders jersey instead of my brand new kit. ;-)

National Series Wrap-up & National Champs

With so much going on and a huge block of racing, I haven't managed to do much blogging of late. My new job and new house have kept me busy between racing the National Series, Champs and Wildside, but now that I am on a little break I'll have a go at catching up. 

I haven't written a race report from Wildside because I am writing a story for Enduro magazine for that one, but shortly after that was the Canberra round of the National Series All Mountain Cup. Racing the AMC at home was fun, I even worked nearly a full day on the Friday which seemed to be appreciated by my boss and kept the nerves down. The field was probably the best we have seen all year with everyone there to test their legs before the national championships. Chris Jongeward took out the Super-D in a bit of an upset over Carlso, then was Pauly, Macca and me in 5^th. The course for the XCO was disappointingly easy and void of climbs or technical challenges, but the pace was super fast. I got caught up early and missed the split for the front bunch. Sid was caught out too but did an amazing job to bridge the gap, while I was destined to spend the whole race on my own :( Macca got the win and I was happy enough with 5^th. The point to point was only 1 hour long but it took us on a magical mystery tour of some of the Stromlo trails that we rarely race on. Macca once again dominated and I was 4^th and moved up to 4^th on GC. Not bad, but room for improvement before nationals!

Subaru Australian National Championship

As far as MTB racing in Australia goes, the National Championships is the big one.  All the best riders in the country come together to battle it out for the right the wear the converted green and gold jersey; a competition that takes on even more meaning in an Olympic year as the hopefuls are particularly focused on staking their claim on our single spot at the games.  The conditions that greeted us upon our arrival in Adelaide were ridiculous: temperatures in the high 30’s and a forecast for 38degC on race day.  As the week went on the forecast got worse and worse with the temperature eventually hitting 40degC for the Elite men’s race!  This is bad news for a fair & freckly guy like myself, but having had more than my fair share of heat stroke, I have learnt a thing or two about avoiding it.  I would have to pull out all the stops in my efforts to keep cool and hydrated if I was to get through this one; minimal warm-up, wet jersey, ice packs, water to tip on my head each lap, and lots and lots of Gu Brew electrolytes!

On the start line it was a pleasantly familiar atmosphere with the event centre alive with excitement and anticipation for the biggest race of the year.  Photographers, TV cameras, supporters and spectators were all buzzed around the place under the shadows of the giant TV screen the dominated the site. I didn't really feel nervous and was actually quite calm on the start line; I knew I had done the hard work & was in pretty good form and I was confident that I had the experience to handle whatever this race would through at me .....all I had to do was hurt for 1h30m and enjoy the experience.  When the gun fired I was a fraction slow to get clipped in and was soon boxed in, but in a complete reversal in fortune from last year a gap miraculously opened right in front of me and I rolled straight through up the first steep ramp to be in 2^nd wheel right next to my team mate Nick Both who dutifully let me go ahead into the first corner.  Chris Jongeward lead the race and pushed hard on the front, while I just kept him close and tried to limit my exertion.  At the end of the first lap Chris was a few seconds ahead of me with Dan McConnell, Lachlan Norris and Paul VDP just behind. At that moment Chris appeared to blow and found reverse gear and we were pretty much all together, Macca went straight around us both and I followed. Unfortunately I was got held up as I made my way around Chris and ended up having to dab, loosing valuable seconds while Macca disappeared up the trail.  Pauly and I chased together for the next 2 laps, but having been so focused on drinking and keeping cool I soon found myself in a spot of bother and I realised that I had forgotten to eat!  Paul then got away from me and I took the opportunity to eat a couple of GUs and regain my composure and control.  Lachy Norris caught me and disappeared out of site as I waited for the effects of the GU to kick in, but it didn’t take me long to get going again. I knew my slight easing of the pace wouldn’t have cost me too dearly and I was focused on regaining Lachy’s wheel.  I caught a glimpse of him with just over one lap to go and could see that the gap was diminishing on the downhill sections.  As we went through he start finish for the bell, I could see him up ahead and I knew I could catch him, however with very few opportunities to pass I had to be smart about how I timed the catch.  I took my time and tried not to burn all my matches, gradually bridging the gap with half a lap to go.  I knew I had only one opportunity left to pass before the finishing straight so I rode behind him patiently and waited for the short uphill fire road crossing.  Just as I knew exactly what I had to do, Lachy did also; he accelerated as soon as the trail widened and did everything he could to stop me coming around...he succeeded.  Back on the single track I could not pass and he could recover.  I wanted to be going faster, but he had the luxury of dictating the pace.  He also started to employ a few other tricks of the trade and as we approached some rising switchback he would back me off to upset my momentum and then accelerate away causing me to have to chase back on.  Knowing exactly what he was doing helped me to stay calm and patient and I just gave him a bit of breathing space knowing that I had only one chance left and I needed to make that one count.  I resisted the temptation to try anything dangerous to get around on the loose descent of “Sunset Boulevard” and I knew that it was now coming down to a sprint.  I watched his body language carefully and I knew he was tiring (at least that’s what I told myself), up the final climb to the finish straight I tried to stay close enough to pounce, and as soon as we hit the straight I made my move. Neither of us are really renowned for our sprinting prowess, and after 1:30 of racing in 40degrees I’m sure it looked like it was in slow motion, but I had just enough to get around him and score my best ever nationals result and realise my dream of winning a national championship medal.  Meanwhile, 2 minutes earlier Macca had taken his 2^nd national title and Paul VPD had claimed the silver medal 1 minute back.  The podium ceremony was a bit of a highlight for me and a really buzz to share the champagne with four athletes that are all gunning for the Olympics.  

AMC National Series Finals, Awaba

On a high from the National Champs, I tried to settle back to earth and focus on the 4^th and final round of the Real Insurance All Mountain Cup National Series finals which was less than a week later.  The All Mountain Cup format sees riders competing in various discipline over course of a weekend stage race with the cumulative time over the 3 stages forming the final placings and the awarding of series points.  I had led the series from the beginning after taking out the first round in Perth and then following that with consistent performances to finish 2^nd and 4^th and Mt Buller and Canberra respectively, and the pressure was on me to hold off the challenge from Athens Olympian Sid Taberlay who trailed be 33 points and was coming off a disappointing 10^th place at Nationals.  I was motivated by my strong race at Adelaide and when I hit the start line for the 1^st stage of the Newcastle AMC I had hopes of finishing the series the way I started it...with a win!  Unfortunately my body had other ideas and I had nothing, I felt really fatigued and struggled around the short 2km circuit in the horrifically wet conditions to finish 4^th on the stage.  On to the Cross Country event and I knew that it would be tough, the conditions were still muddy and wet and despite trying my best to rest up I knew that I didn’t have the same legs that had propelled me to the podium a week earlier.  Sid attacked early on and had me under pressure, I followed for as long as I could but eventually dropped back and was passed by Josh Carlson.  The wet and muddy conditions usually suit me, but I was struggling to put out enough power to maintain a smooth speed.  I just tried to focus on the basics and use all my experience to grunt through a race that was just as demanding on the bike as on the body with the sand and grit cutting though brake pads quicker than I have ever seen.  I managed to hang on to 3^rd place but it wasn’t pretty.  It was also enough for me to move up into 3^rd on GC, which would be just enough to retain the series lead if I could hold it for one more stage.  Sunday’s point to point was only 12kms so I was relatively confident, but with such muddy conditions and tired legs, anything could happen.  I tried to go with Sid early, but he was again too strong.  I was forced to limit my losses and focus on staying upright, eventually coming on 4^th on the stage and retaining 3^rd for the round, but retaining the series lead to become the 2011-12 Australian National Series Champion! I'm pretty chuffed with that, it is such a relief after leading from the beginning, I'm also glad that I was able to win a round and have a great national champs on the way. Looking back it is also interesting to note that I rode every round (and the champs) on my dual suspension Felt Edict. For someone that is an old school hardtail-lover from way back, that is amazing....the Edict is just too much fun. Having said that though, I'm pretty keen to rip out the Felt Nine for some of the marathons that are coming up. Also note-worthy is that in 12 individual stages of the national series I didn't have a single mechanical or flat tyre, which I have Sram and Maxxis to thank for. Thanks also to all my other great sponsors that have helped to make my national series so successful.

For now though, I am having a short break, which have recently been made slightly longer by the postponement of Capital Punishment. My calendar will now revolve around doing some of the Real Insurance XCM races and hopefully Alice Springs stage race before the next big target which will be the national marathon championships....so plenty of things coming up to get excited about. As well as the upcoming races, Swell Design have just finalised my new race kit and it is off at 2XU getting made at the moment. Good luck to all the guys heading over the Rotorua this weekend!

Finish at Nationals (photo by Mick Ross)

Nationals Podium (photo by Mick Ross)