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. ;-)