Floyd...WTF?

I read somewhat with dismay that Floyd Landis is in the process of tranferring to Rock Racing....
Now I used to be a big fan of his, and ride he put in during that mountain stage a few years back still rates as one of the greatest displays of athletisim I have ever seen! But signing for Rock Racing is scrapping the bottle of the barrel.
So see what a sh!thouse team they are just read this from Mike Creed about the way they treat their riders.

I can just see it ending in tears for someone

Merry Xmas

Well better late then never I guess.

So I got the family away on xmas eve alright with a 1.30am wake up so they could catch their 7.00am flight from Sydney to Auckland. So before 8.00am I had 6hrs of driving behind me. I then made the mistake I make every year and headed to a mall to pick up a couple of last minute things...I swear every year I'm not going to a go to a shopping centre but somehow always end up in one however briefly. And like normal it was absolutley nuts.

With this over I headed out for a short ride...and this would be the second mistake for the day. By 11am the SRM was reading 40°C(104°F) and I was only halfway through. What was left in the drink bottles was now luke warm and almost undrinkable and I had a headwind for the rest of the ride. By the time I got home and jumped on the scales I had lost 2.5kgs in fluids through dehydration!

So how did I spent Xmas day? Like this?


No 'fraid not, my xmas day was spent with this.... the pain machine



See it decided to rain here xmas eve and didn't stop till sometime on boxing day. So I was left with little choice but to head down to the garage for some 20min threshold intervals...yay for me!

Boxing day was more intervals and I when out for a short 2.5hr MTB ride in the PM.

So now I have a couple more interval sessions planned before Friday and a longish MTB ride set down for tomorrow. At the moment the hardest part is getting out of bed early to beat the heat. You really don't want to be riding past about 10.30am as the temps are really starting to get up at that point.

Anonymous Posting

I have changed the blog settings so that anonymous posting may happen....might generate a bit more discussion from the lurkers out there

Word on the Street is....

Anyone thinking about buying a Garmin 500 might want to hold off, there maybe a number of issues with this unit.
Will post more later.......

How cool would it be to have one of these next door!

Ray's Bike Park

Cycling Videos on CyclingDirt

Down with the sickness

And not the Disturbed song either.

It seems I have managed to pick up a cold either from wee man's playmates at daycare or because we now have ducted air conditioning at home. I haven't decided which and it probably doesn't matter much.
The easing back into training is coming along well with a large block planned over xmas as I'm flying solo. Wifey and wee man are off to visit the outlaws back in NZ and I have opted to stay home alone.

One the training front I have been haunting Stromlo over the last 3 weeks and laps have been going well. The only problem is by riding early I miss running into any snakes however, I seem to catch the Kangaroos having their morning latte mid trail.
There have been a couple of times where I have ripped through a corner to find a couple just standing there not wanting to move. This morning there was one huge brown male(?) that just wasn't going to budge. He just stood there eyeing me up and I really didn't want to get within striking distance of his legs so we had a 20 second stand off before he got bored and casually hopped off the trail....point made I guess.

As I mentioned last time there is no racing over the xmas period so it's going to be all 4-6hr endurance rides scoping out the Brindies. I haven't been on the hardtail recently so I'll be getting reacquainted with that.

Suspension
Have been playing around with the suspension on the El Salt, and have the rear tuned but I cracked it with the Fox forks. I have been trying to get these things running properly for the last couple of months and it just hasn't happened. So I ripped them of the bike last Thursday and threw on a set of Rockshox Reba's I had sitting there. The tuning setup is just night and day between the two. In two rides I have nailed down the settings and am finally happy!!!


WKO

Other news, TrainingPeaks have released version 3.0 of WKO. And they have added a couple of very cool features. The first is quadrant analysis and second is range analysis. Now that the boundaries of training load management have been pushed out, the guys on the bleeding edge of power analysis are starting to look at the neuro-muscular demands of training/ racing. So expect over the next few months to see some posts from me showing exactly what it takes from an endurance MTB POV.

The rumors of my demise are.....

Haven't posted up in the last couple of weeks so here is a quick update.
Things since probably the Fling back in early November have been a bit downhill. I had reached my final goal race for the year, but hadn't really programmed in a break so I have kept plugging along and the training just kept getting more sporadic till I finally pulled the pin two weeks ago and had a full week off with no riding.

It's been a long while now since I had a proper break and having a full week of no training was great for the head and the body. I'm now back at it slowly building up for next year. I did the WSMTB 4hr a couple of weeks ago which was my first night race. Great fun, good course, and I have to admit I really like riding at night!

Last weekend I didn't do either the club XC or SCUM's end of year race as my head still wasn't quite back in it yet, but that's it for the year...no more races.

Looking to next year, the first race up will be the next WSMTB 4hr in mid-January, then the gut-busting Alpine Classic down in Victoria.

Share the Love...

From SMH published under the heading "Bike Rage"

"Wear bright clothing. Leave MP3 players and mobile phones at home. Never ride more than two abreast. And never travel in packs of more than 20.

That's the basic message for cyclists riding in groups contained in new government guidelines aimed at reducing the increasing number of road injuries and deaths."

Bike rage? I wonder when we will look more carefully at road rage against bikes? When has 'bike rage' caused death or even real injury to car uses? Perhaps less laws and more driver training?

Badass...

CORC XC @Stromlo

Pre-Race
It's always great getting to race close to home, no early starts, no having to sleep in a dodgy motel/ tent/ cardboard box/ underpass. So I got up at the leisurely hour of 6.00am to roll out the door by 7.30. Quick breakfast, make up a hydrapak to ride to the race with, a bottle for during the race, find my license, money and out the door on time.

It was a great morning with a very slight breeze for some cooling and not too warm at that stage. Riding the shared path all the way to Stromlo, dodging walkers who think it's OK to take the whole path 3 abreast with their stupid little dogs....one day I'm not going to move and just ride into someone just to teach them a lesson

70kg rider + 10kg bike @ 35kph vs walker and dog who do you think will win?

Hooking into Stromlo at the Crit track I made my way up and over the top before a bit off fun on Pork Barrel down the other side. By this stage I had a real sweat up, and you could feel the humidity in the air so the sweat wasn't really evaporating.
A run down double dissolution and into the rego area.

I lined up like everyone else for about 10 minutes and drained the rest of the hydrapak while waiting in line (1.5l). So feeling well hydrated I set off on a lap to scope the course to see what wrinkles Paul had thrown in to catch people off guard. There was only one on the climb back up to the top of double dissolution where instead of taking the single track we short cut up a rough trail before hooking back in.

Given that I had ridden pretty much these trails all week in practice leading up to the race I was confident knowing the conditions but it always helps to get a lap in so as not to get caught out. Also riding against guys who probably have 100’s of laps around Stromlo in training and 24hr racing it helps to try to get a bit more on a level footing.


Stromlo Loop

Race Start
After we had the pre-race briefing and were pointed in the general direction of where we were starting, it all came to a screaming halt as 200+ riders tried to scramble over a gate and fence. The smart ones took the inside line and skirted the fence/ gate…everyone else stood around like sheep.

Everyone slowly made their way through the throng of riders to where they thought they were starting with Elite Men at the front. I pushed my way through and stood about 4 rows back and off to the side to allow people through. Elite Men, Sport A, Vets, and finally Sport B got our call up.

We got the 20 second call then all hell broke loose on go. I got a pretty average start and entered the single track in about 6 wheel. Past timing and into the first part of the course proper, things were stringing out a bit but the elastic was still holding. We all emerged onto the first long fire trail section and everyone eases up, not me I keep on the gas passing the riders in front and put the hurt on up the climb.

Just before the next single track section a rider jumps me to enter first, but I’m not too concerned about this, as it’s the next section that’s key to get a smooth run through due to the technical nature.

Out onto the fire trail and punch past the other rider to enter first and pick my lines.

About half way through this section there is a piece of trail that crosses a small dry creek, I that the long way across the wooden bridge not spotting the short cut about 5m back. At this point two rider cut through and charge up the hill, I’m thinking to myself “How’d they do that there must be a short cut back there, have a look next lap!”.

One of the riders that charge past is Rob Cooper, not that I know it at that point and also not knowing that, that is the last I will see of him all race as he steadily put 30second a lap into me.

So back to my own little battle, there is a group of about 5 riders spread across 10 metres of the track, and it remains like this till we hit the next climbing section of single track where 3 of us pull away.

Down double dissolution and through timing the three of us are still together with me in second wheel. Through the first section of single track and rider in third wheel gets impatient and touches my rear wheel going down in a heap.
Out onto the fire road and pass and pull away from the rider in front and begin trying to open up a bit more of a gap on the others.

It’s on this lap that we start striking traffic, so things start getting held up letting riders catch back and others slip past. This where things got a bit fussy trying to keep track of everything remembering that I still had no idea Rob was somewhere up the road. Coming down double dissolution for the second lap there was about 4 slow riders ahead with a rider who had pasted me earlier entering first (turned out to be a vet). He managed to slip past a couple of the riders while I was caught up behind.

Two down- Half way

Coming through timing my heads spinning trying to work out exactly where I am in the race, I figure top 3 so just keep plugging at it, I catch back up to the Vet rider and start trading off turns. On the fire road on this lap I drink half of my 500ml bottle and throw down a couple of Clif Blocs.

The lap passes pretty uneventfully till the last climb back up to the top before the descent to the finish where I get passed by “a midget on a 29er” Now I have nothing against midgets or 29er’s but when you put the two together it really is comical. I have seen this guy at a couple of races before and it just always looks like he’s riding his older brother’s bike….

Down to the final lap and time to empty the tank, I’m still swapping off with the Vet rider, through the first single track section again and a bit of a break up the fire road to empty the rest of my drink bottle before the middle technical section. I’m still really conscious of only having a slender leader back to the chasers.
Long climb up to Double Dissolution before the final run down to cross the finish.
After crossing the line I didn’t really have any idea where I had gotten, I knew it was going to be good enough for a top three but because it’s just so hard sometimes to keep track I wasn’t sure.
I watched the elite finish about 5 minutes back with some pretty small gaps for the first four places.

The Numbers



I can say that I really didn’t have a flash day, feeling flat for the majority of the race.
The average power for the race was down a bit with only 258w normalized.

Avg Power 214w
Normalised Power 258w
VI 1.2
Dist 24km (Total 73.6km)
Time 1.13hr (Total 3.23hrs)
Speed 19.4kph
Avg Hr: 166bpm
Avg Cad: 101rpm
Cals: 942cals (total 2100cals)
Metres climbed: 735m (Total 1735m)

Fluids: 2ltrs of Clif Electrolyte

Food: 1 bags of Clif Blocs

So as you can see the powermeter doesn't lie I was feeling sh!tty because the power was down. I ended up with 2nd place, but I think that was only because I kept it together for the four laps and blocked out the more "rational part of my brain" that was screaming "Ease up, you're riding like a sack of a$$ and going to get caught soon!"

Could have done with one of these Sunday...

Every "Double Angry Angus Burger" contains 5.6 grams of salt - that's nearly one and a half times the 4g daily salt target for adults set by the nation's health authority

Cause there was a fair bit of sweating done. Race Report to follow.....

By Popular Request

I got asked about what races I'm thinking of doing in '10
Here is the short list for the time being.
(Note I haven't looked at any of the Road Races yet?

Nov-09

CORC XC

Dec-09
Alpine Assault
SCUM 60k
Corc XC

Jan-09
WSMTB 4hr
Bermagui Dirtsurfers twilight
Alpine Challenge (road)

Feb-09
National enduro 4hr
Husky 100
RTE 4hr
Otway Odyssey
WWS Lithgow


Mar-09
National 4hr Stromlo
Wagga 6+6hr
RTE 4hr
WWS Yellowmundi
Scody high country challenge (road)
MTB 101

Apr-09
Australian Marathon Champs
Brindi Epic (?)
Tumut 3hr
BMC Classic

May-09
Dirtworks 100k

Roadies Skill Anyone?

From La Ruta de los Conquistadores
Who said roadie skills don't pay?

New Software for the GPS

TopoFusion Software.

Allows 3d display of power data as shown by colours

Restin'

Haven't done to much since my attempt at the Thursday Crit.
Wetn for a cruise around Majura yeaterday at about 2pm...might have been a bit of a mistake killed a 1.5l camelbak in an hour with temps in the low 30's.

Given the weather I'm glad I wasn't one of the poor souls who signed up for the RTE 4hr @ Stromlo....from all accounts it was brutal with no shade, dust and sun.

With the lack of riding over the past three days I'm thinking I might need to invest in some of this to keep up appearances....

Put the gun down Son.....You're out of bullets!

Now if this were the movies, I'd probably be the character that tries to reload and gets shot to death

So whats the relevance? Well yesterday was the weekly CORC Dirt Crit and I finally got around to going to one but I really shouldn't have bothered.
Riding to the race I felt flat and tired, which isn't surprising given the amount of racing over the last two weeks. Including the mornings riding, I already had 60k in my legs....again not real smart on my part.
Even a 500ml can of V and a bag of caffine Shot Blocs didn't pick me up.

But being who I am, I still signed up to race.

Sitting on the start line looking around everyone else is pumped, me? I just feel sleepy tired. We get the call to start, I jump on the pedals and I knew then the gun was empty....nothing left. For the first lap, I try my hardest to keep on the gas but people who any other day shouldn't are just pulling away.
About then I decided to pull out of the way where possible to let people past (no point f^&king the others day, just because I'm creeping)coming out back onto the main fire road two riders ahead collide and eat sh!t. I skirt around them and continue on, riders stream past. During the second lap I look down at the Garmin....HR 130bpm. At that point I just decide to pull the pin at the end of the lap. There is no point pushing, because I'm not going to get any benefit from another 3 laps.

I finish the lap and roll over to Jases wife, Kylie and start chatting to her and her friend. It's funny as they are going on about how badly they killed themselves in their race...I'm not even breathing hard and had an average HR in the mid 120's for the 2 laps. Not good and a sure sign that the body is tired and needs some lovin'

So I go grab my bag and start the long ride home to try and beat the sun setting.

Coming down Erindale Drive looking out into the hills I'm treated to a display of this,



Stats for the day.
Dist: 90.6km
Time: 4:10hr

What it takes to win one of these suckers

Surfing around over on the Saris website I came across this info for Jeremiah Bishop from the Mohican 100 this year.

Ride stats:

Distance 102.35 miles
Duration 7:06:46
Work 5759 kJ
Avg Speed 14.38 mph
Avg Cadence 65 rpm
Avg HR 150 bpm
Avg Power 225 watts (3.28 watts/kg)
Max Power 1502 watts (21.93 watts/kg)


Peak power:


Power Watts/kg
5 sec 736 10.74
30 sec 552 8.05
1 min 517 7.55
5 min 359 5.24
10 min 335 4.9
30 min 293 4.28
60 min 278 4.06
120 min 262 3.82



What was really surprising was this comment from Hunter Allen his coach "Jeremiah’s power in this race was incredible. It really shows just exactly how hard one of these 100 mile MTB races are. This file rivals many of the winning Tour de France power files that I have seen."

Highland Fling 100 Miler

Well it's done and dusted, another race to scratch off the To-Do list for the year...and everything went really well.

Pre-Race
Because I wasn't staying local for the race start I had an early wake-up, like 3AM early. A bit of toast, some coffee, and hit the road with my Mother who was over for the week from New Zealand. The drive was going smoothly till we got just past Goulburn and into some ow lying fog...then I almost ran into a couple of my friends...again.



The first one I came across was just standing in the middle of the road and really, really didn't want to move. So I got to test the ABS out, 120kph to 10kph in about 100 metres before it got the hint and jumped off the road.

The second one took a flier out of the bush on the side of the road straight in front of the car, again the ABS got a hammer pulling up in time. I'm sure by this stage the B-Double truck that I had passed earlier was wondering what the hell I was doing!

Arriving in Bundanoon at about 5.45am we found our way to the oval and parked up. I started throwing food down my throat, two cans of chocolate creamed rice washed down with a Gatorade. Big Jase had done my registration the day before so I didn't have to stress about that, other then trying to located him in the car park. A quick trip to the toilet, turned into a 15 minute ordeal after lining up, and I threw in another lap of the car park trying to spot Jase. Still no sign of him and the heart rates starting to creep up. Check the mobile...no coverage, great can't ring him!

So I start getting ready, into shorts and top, go to jamb my foot into my shoe and get a painful reminder of where I left my CO2 cartridge! I run through the feeding procedure with my Mother explaining when I will need bottles and a fresh hydrapac.
I jamb my bag of shot blocs into the back pocket, and gel flask as backup in the centre, CO2 inflator left hand side.

Helmet, glasses and we're set to rock! But I still don't have my transponder, and race number. So I just have to chill and watch the cars come in. Eventually Jase arrives with about 10 minutes to the race briefing, so I roll over give a quick thanks and got back to the car to fit everything up (I even remembered cable cutters this time).

The Start


Google Earth Perspective of Course

Over to the start and climb the fence and squeeze into about the fourth row back. The 100 milers are supposed to get the front two rows but arriving a bit late with the start area already packed fourth row it is.

Sitting through the briefing and more and more people are jumping the fence and trying to squeeze into the front, and I'm standing there thinking "Great someone is going to screw this up and we're just all going to go down in a big heap" We get the count and down and surprisingly enough everyone makes it off the line without incident.

It strings out almost immediately and legs are giving me the big two fingers at the effort off the line. Thankfully my brain starts to kick in at this point and I slow things up a bit before over doing it. Riders start slowly streaming past as I'm regulating my effort.
The first loop is direct to previous years with some farm paddock riding thrown in to break things up well this turns to custard when after 20 minutes everyone is standing on to of small hill because the front riders missed some arrows and no one has any idea which way to go.

After about 90 seconds someone works it out and we're back rolling, except now the entire field is bunched up again so when we reach the start of the technical single track it's walking pace/ hike a bike.

A couple of guys on cyclo-cross bikes go running past on the outside of the track, but everyone seems resigned to waiting their turn till the track opens up again. Out through on the other side the trail starts opening up and it's time to start making to ground up again.
Smoothish fire trail, and I latch onto a 100k rider and get towed along for a while.

Through "Early Bath" and I stop and introduce myself to Spoonie out the other side before continuing to make my way forward. I catch a group of 10 riders before resting up and continuing to keep riding forward. The Rhino is at the front of the bunch driving it and he latches on as I ride past. We start up a conversation going into the transition at Wingello.

Forest Loop 1

In transition, I jump off the bike and run some lube on the chain before setting off solo. I latch onto a group of 100k riders heading up the fire road and we set about a pace line for a while till we make it into the forest proper.

Single track, more fire road, then we're at Did You? a wall of a climb with a bit of loose stuff just to add to the challenge. Point to the seat time to get the balance right, then grind it up the climb to the top. More fire road, more single track, then it's onto the fire lot of descending with water bars.

From this point on I start to exercise a bit of caution (which was probably well founded, more on that later) so as not to launch too hard off any of the slopes.

Through Tangles and I'm caught by the first of the elite 100k riders so its a short pull over to let first a group 2, then another 2, then a group of 10 through. This is pretty much all I see of the lead 100k riders, another 2-3 trickle through on the fire roads but over all there wasn't alot of interaction.

Half way Hill, The Kick, then it's the long drag out of the forest area back to transition. This drag turns out to be worse then any of the other hills during the race including "Did You?"

On the gravel road I have a couple of rabbits to chase back to transition at Wingello. I check the Garmin at this point and its about the 4:20hr mark. This is slower then I had hoped but, it was what it was.

Forest Loop 2

Into transition, I change bottles, hydrapac, lube the chain again. I head across the timing mat and just on the other side realise I haven't grabbed the second bag of Shot Blocs. So I turn around call my Mother over explain what I didn't grab, get it and get going again.

Heading back into the Forest, I spot two 100 milers chasing. One is PDog, the other is Jase. At this point I decide not to get into a drag race with them and ride my own pace through the initial single track until "Did You". Jase gets past me at this point, but bobbles the climb and has to start legging it. PDog is just behind and is riding the climb too. He passes me halfway up, and I keep it steady.

Across the top Jase jumps ahead again, muttering something about cramps. I figure that we're only at the 90k point, so no need to do anything stupid. Unfortunately this is the last of I'll see till the transition at the end of the stage.

About halfway through the loop and I see a SES vehicle with it's lights on at one of the fire road intersections. Looks as though someones, overcooked it. Heading down the next descent and just before the corner I hear a horn and here is one of the SES vehicles heading up the road. The driver shouts out that there is an accident at the bottom of the descent and be careful as there are people on the track.

Down the bottom curled up under s space blanket is the injured rider being tended to, turns out they over cooked the waterbar causing a 6 rider pile up. The rider also broke both wrists. Further on I hear a chopper overhead, as it's coming into land to evac the injured rider out.

Further on and I start catch the slow 100k riders, some are still on their bikes but the majority are either pushing or sitting on the side of the trail in the shade. I always try to give a bit of encouragement to these riders especially the ones that really look like they are struggling.

Up halfway hill and into the feed area, I stop the other side as I need a p!ss just as I start to get the flow going I hear a 100 mile rider shouting out to the officials if they have a spare bottle as they lost one of theirs. Well that gets the adrenaline flowing again, as I know that the trail ahead suits my strengths... climbing. So is off and racing again, The Kick and the final drag out of the forest.

I don't see or hear the other rider again.

Final Stage

I had been trying to work out in my head whether this stage was 17 or 27k....when I pull into the transition I ask and yup it's 25k. Jases's wife Kylie and a mate are there and help get me ready for the final stage. I skull a bottle of V, pull off the hydrapak, change bottles as it's off.

The first 5k fly by, I'm thinking it's going to be great if it's all like this... But no the terrain changes again and we're back into the fire road climbs. Still picking off 100k riders so it's giving me visual targets to aim for. A final stream crossing which feels like heaven on the legs and I'm at "You choose". Now I didn't have much info on this climb other then the short steep option is to the left, so I opt for that and the climb turns out to be a series of steps and is actually pretty easy to ride. I was imagining something like the Sledgehammer at the Otway earlier in the year. At the top it's a 3k downhill run to cross the finish line in an official time of 8:14hrs.




Post-Race

Well with not having a powertap I only have info from the Garmin (I'll give a full review in a couple of days of this) for the race,



Dist 166.0km
Time 8.20hr
Speed 19.9kph
Avg Hr: 147bpm
Avg Cad: 91rpm
Cals: 6500cals
Metres climbed: 4600m

Fluids: 4ltrs of Clif Electrolyte
2 bottles of Nuun Electrolytes
1 bottle of V

Food: 6 bags of Clif Blocs

Well today's Tuesday, and I'm quite surprised how the body has pulled up after the race. I'm actually feeling better then what I did after the Angry Doctor, and I have to say I enjoyed the course a bit more.

On a side note my Powertap arrived back from the US yesterday, not sure what the problem was but I have a complete new rear hub so I'm figuring something pretty catastrophic must have gone wrong with the hub. I won't have the wheel for this weeks Dirt Crit, but should have it for the Rocky Trail 4hr on Saturday.

Fitz Challenge

Today was Fitz's Epic a nice 207K jaunt around every steep bit of road the organisers can find out the back of Canberra.
This required a 4.00am start...which didn't happen, it was more like 4.30. Threw down a couple of slices of raisin toast and out the door by 5.00 to make my way over Stromlo.
This year the organisers got well, organised and sent out all the brevet cards in the two weeks prior to the start. Only problem was they seemed to screw up about half the riders cards who were doing the epic. So the outcome was on the day rego.

Briefing then, Off
We got the riders briefing and had a minutes silence for the rider killed on the descent off Fitz's a couple of years back.
There was a record field of 90 entrants in the epic, and I even spotted another 2 SRM's on riders bikes.

All calm on the Front
Like last year, it was steady tempo riding on the front till Pierces Creek. Now I might have mentioned before I really hate this climb! One of the riders I had marked as a good climber started riding off the front so I decided to join him and lead up the climb for a peak of 400w for 5 minutes.

Everyone regrouped over the top and it was tempo again and remained like this all the way to the 60k mark at the base of Fitz.

It's On
Now for those that haven't ridden this climb it's one that just requires you to ride as hard as you can to maintain momentum. So I went to the front and started doing my best monkey impression...swinging on the bars.
I was joined by the rider from before and we made our way up the climb slowly, painfully opening the gap to the other riders.
I always find it interesting with other riders on climbs to listen to their breathing to judge how hard they are working. I'm lucky in that I can deep breath even when in the VO2 zones and don't start shallow breathing. The rider today sounded like he was hyperventilating.
We crested the top of the climb and started the drag to the turn around with only a couple of kicks before the descent down to the turn. I beat the wife there this year and she turned up 3 minutes later with fresh bottles of wet, cold, goodness.


Clif Bar Salty Lemonade

We were soon joined by the other lead riders, but I had done my form, changed bottles, had a leak and was off. The rider I had been with decided to wait for the other riders but, I wasn't starting off at a reasonable pace back over the hills I had just ridden down. I figured they would catch me before the climb up Apollo Road or part of the way up (hopefully after the wall at 4k).

So Much for Planning
I made the left turn into Apollo Road still solo, and started the slow crawl up the climb. I was using PE rather then power at this point, riding just at the point where I was breathing deeply but not starting to go into VO2.
I managed to make it up the wall though I was really thinking that a 26t would have made things a bit easier. Cresting the top of the main climb there is a 4.5k false flat to the upper car park where the old tracking station used to be located.
I reached the car park handed over the my card to be marked off then refilled my bottle, sculled that in one hit, refilled again and pointed the bike back downhill for the 15min run back to the main road.

In the Dog
On the way back down I saw that the chase bunch had splintered and there were only two chasers behind at about 4 minutes. So I decided to get on the gas and open the gap up so that I could cruise the Corin climb. Again just like last year the wind had turned and I was faced with a head/ cross wind all the way to Corin.
Reaching Tharwa I started to strike the slower riders from the 100k event. By this stage the heat was out in full force and starting to take it's toll on everyone. A large number of the 100ker's were walking the hills.
Reaching Corin, I spotted a rider just after the turn off from the main road who was starting to make their way up the climb. I was thinking that either this was a punter out for a bit of hill work or a 100/160k rider who had mis-read the sign and were going to do a few extra k's.....which I thought was funny at that point. I closed the gap to them to about 20 metres and just used them for pacing up the climb which was great mentally. What was also funny was watching this person tipping water over themselves to keep cool while I was on conservation mode.
The rider stopped once cresting the top of the hill and pointed back down the road, and as I suspected they were just out for a bit of a punt around.
I reached the checkpoint at the top and refilled my bottle again. At this point I would have given my left nut for a cold can of coke but nothing, plain old water. At least I knew Heather had dropped 2 fresh bottles at the bottom of the climb to see me through to the finish. The drop back down gave me a chance to check the gap to the chasers and by my estimate it had blown out to 15 minutes at this stage. I stopped at the bottom grabbed the two fresh bottles and set off on the haul back to the finish via a Urriara loop.

Cars...Lots of Cars
I made the drag back to the next check point at the bottom of Mt McDonald and started the climb up, when coming down the mountain was a car rally. I couldn't quite work out the theme as there were various makes and models. The funniest thing was some bogan chick leaning out the passenger window giving me the finger, Gee 'cause I have never had some dirty slapper lean out a sh!tbox car and give me the finger before? Love I used to live out west in Sydney, I got that ever day riding to work!

Finish
I started cramping abit across the top of Mt McDonald but no where near what happened a month ago, I managed to ride through it and keep going. Unfortunately I missed my goal for this year which was to break 7hrs, I reached this mark at the bottom of the three sisters climb. From here I just went into conservation mode to reach the finish figuring that there was no point pushing harder then needed.
I eventually crossed the line in 7.5hrs.

Stats for the day

Km's 208.7km
Energy 5624kj
TSS 543
Climbing 3550 meters
P(avg) 206w
P(norm) 260w

Food & Water
clif bar mix: 6 bottles (3 litres)
water: 5 bottles: (2.5 litres)
cliff blocs: 5 bags (Margarita are still the best)

Overall I surprised myself, I didn't think I had the form to do as well as I did. In fact I thought I was in for a hammering. After the ride, the legs were tired and sore but no worse then the Angry Doctor. I think this might bode well for next weekend...well maybe.

Pic of the Day

Even though I don't like him, this is a great pic of Sven

Ugly

Specialized new Ant+ head unit for SRM/ Powertap. Cheap....yes, good looking...hell no
To be released early next year

The ultimate in lightweight

From those insane guys over at fibrelyte.
Supposed to be good for 500kms

I cracked..

I swore I wasn't going to buy one of these and hold out for the new Powertap Joule which is available to the public in January. But I found one on ebay for less than $400 and thought it was too good of a deal to pass up.
With not having the powertap for the Fling and contemplating riding with a polar HR monitor again, it kinda pushed me over the edge....well thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it ;)


Garmin 705

Time to write something....

Sorry all for the lack of updates, but it's been a bit of a slow period with not much racing and not alot to write about.

A Change of Scenery
First a month back I changed companies, and as most of you know when that happens everything gets turned upside down for a few weeks till you sort yourself out again. For me, this mean't less riding, more work (yes I now do a full 8hrs+ each day), and a new route to work.
My new route to work in the mornings is out the back of Tuggeranong, Tidbinbilla, Pierces Creek, Stromlo, then work in Deakin. This is giving me a solid 2hrs a day...and multiple smacks in the head because it's magpie season!

Sick, then not, then sick....
Well the long weekends been and gone. While most were riding at the Scott 24hr, I had a big weekend planned then the wheels fell off on the Friday night. I caught something, the beginnings of a cold. I was so smashed on the Saturday morning I killed the alarm at 5.00am went back to sleep, woke up again at 11.00am had breakfast, then went back to bed again till 3.30pm before re-surfacing. My head throbbed and had a hacking cough...and just generally unwell. Sunday was a little better, I got out on the MTB for about an hour and the same again on the Monday. So all up a bit of a waste of a good weekend. Then to top things off I started to get conjunctivitis again on the Friday (Filthy diseased kids at daycare!), a course of eye drops and luckily this time it didn't turn into a full blown bout.

Death of the Powertap
My MTB powertap died about a week and half ago so it's now on it's way back to the US to be repaired. The power readings have always been about 30w lower on the MTB then the SRM but it's been livable. Then it finally crapped itself telling me I was only doing 150w up Mt Stromlo....and I know my form may not be fantastic but I know I can still put out more then that. So running the diagnostic on it when I got home and found that something had happened to the torque tube in the hub and it was sending the wrong correction. Now unlike an SRM you can't adjust this and it's only fixable by replacing the torque tube.

So after trying to deal with TBA the importers of Powertap into Australia, I contacted Saris in the US directly and had the return sorted out inside of 2 days. I recommendation to anyone looking to purchase a powertap in Australia is don't. Buy from overseas! TBA charge 2x the price, have no one staff that know anything about Powertap, have no customer service....in general they're are just a bunch of pirates!

So it looks like I'm racing the Fling naked with no data...should be interesting.

Building up for the 100miler
So after all the sickness I have been trying to re-build some form for the 100 mile fling which is now only a week and a half away.
I have been tuning the hard tail, so far I have managed to drop 1.5kg off it by swapping parts out from the spares I have in the garage. I currently have it down to 9.5kg without doing anything silly. I could probably drop another 400gms off if I wanted to run ghetto tubeless, but given I don't know the course for the Fling I'm opting for safety over weight for the tires.

Fitz Epic

So this weekend Big Jase and I have Fitz epic, a 210k ramble through the hills out the back of Canberra as a warm up for the fling. I'm going to try to aim for under 7hrs riding time this year, but it's going to depend on the day.

Too Funny

So true...

Trying to get one of these, says it all really....

Techy bit of kit

For those occasions when you have to wear a hydrapak in a race, CamelBak have introduced the Flow Meter, a digital water gauge that measures how much water you drink and how much is left in your reservoir. Now, you’ll never have to wonder, “how much water do I have left in there?” And you won’t need to take your pack off to find out.

The Flow Meter is programmable to monitor fluid consumption for your personal hydration needs. It calculates the estimated time until your reservoir will be empty, so you can plan future water refills. It can be integrated with any CamelBak hydration reservoir.

Mulbrooks Madness- Report

Where to begin... as you can guess the whole day turned into a complete disaster. I have never had so many thing go wrong in a single race before, the only thing I didn't do was puncture!

Pre-Race
The drive over from Canberra was good I always enjoy the last 30k to the coast seeing how hard I push the car through the corners...it always brings a smile to my face and much yelling from the wife to slow down if she's in the car!
The directions were kinda straight forward but also a bit vague...2k out of Mogo turn into Mulbrook Road then another 6k. I found the right into Mulbrooks Road then started counting the 6k. It's always a bit disconcerting when the road goes from seal to gravel to single lane.... and you know that there is no way you can move over if another car comes flying around one of the downhill corners.
About 1/2 way a couple of signs started appearing so I didn't shot off down one of the side tracks. About 1k on the gravel and I was thinking "I've ridden this road before....oh shit it's that bitch of a hill at the 65k mark on the course!!"
Nearing the top of the hill I spotted the start area, a small clearing to the right. Looking around I was surprised at how few cars there seemed to be...oh well should be some good riding at least if not much racing.
Rego, put the bike together, can of creamed rice, powerbar, throw the kit on and it’s time to line up.

The Race
We get told we are starting down the fire road about halfway…..get there and there is no flat. So uphill start, no flat, out of the Dog and onto the middle-ring.
We get the go and it’s all very chill up the fire road, hard left through timing and onto the single track. I’m sitting fourth at this stage, just following wheels waiting to see when one of the lead riders lays the lead down….nothing.

Me...about as good as it got all day copyright Russell Baker


So we cruise through the first couple of single track sections and into the third. Over one of the small jumps and my saddle bag goes flying off the back of the seat. Shit have to stop, it’s got the car keys, multi-tool, tube, and CO2 inflator. I’m think it’s just come off the clip, and easy fix. Oh no the clips come off with the bag! So undo the
zip and the whole mess spills out as I’m trying to fish the multi-tool out to reattach the clip.
Riders are streaming past as I’m standing there fiddling trying to get this thing back under the seat. Finally it’s back on, and I make sure it’s tight this time. Mentally it feels like I have been standing there forever but it’s probably only 3 minutes. Off and going again trying to smash it but keep a steady tempo to try and make time back up.
I catch up to a slower rider and try to flick out to get past through what seemed like a reasonably open section of track and the front wheel slips/ grabs on the wheel track and I’m suddenly being flung sideways at …..The trees I didn’t notice before. Shit! The way I’m going over it’s going to be face first into the trunk, I manage to get my left arm up to protect my face as I go in.
Normally I try to keep my hands on the bars when I can but in this case I figured protecting the face was a good idea which I did. However I managed to run the forearm right across the face of the tree taking skin off my forearm, upper arm, shoulder, left side and back…but hey my face is alright ;)
Picking myself up cursing at how stupid that was, I jump back on the bike and start the chase all over again. The arms stinging and I can see blood slowly leaking from under the sleeve but I just ignore it and concentrate on riding and mentally accessing the rest of the body… seems as OK as it’s likely to be after a close encounter with a tree.
I roll through timing for a 47min lap, not much I can do about it but keep going and keep pushing. I make the second lap in 45min, halfway I picked off about 5-6 riders through the lap. Coming into lap 3 and my back starts to go, initially it’s a slight pain and I think I’ve probably tweaked it going into tree…but it steadily get’s worse. So I’m in and go of the seat trying to stretch it, then up the long fire road climb I start getting cramping. So I try backing off the pedals, but the twinges keep coming then at the top of the climb my right leg locks. I haven’t cramped in ages, but when it happens I know it’s bad. I get it through the tendon running down the inside of my leg and it just goes into total lock.
Now on a road bike you can kind of coast and try and stretch it out, unclip but at least keep some momentum. On a MTB doesn’t work like that, so I jump off and start walking. Slowly the leg unlocks and back on the bike again. Another lock up and I’m off. After doing this 4 times I know that there is no way I’m going to make another lap. Combined with my back going into spasm every few minutes its game over for the day. Rolling the granny up the remaining climbs before the rundown to timing, I keep going straight instead of hooking hard left for another lap.
So all up for the day 2.25hrs riding and a fair bit of fun. I’m a bit gutted about not being able to do the final lap, but I have a feeling if I tried things would have gone really pear-shaped.

Other News
I was supposed to be doing the national Masters Champs this weekend but someone screwed up the dates…I’m blaming Cycling Australia, as I know when I registered the road race was the Saturday. But when I got the information this week it’s now the Friday.
Given that Friday is my last day with my current company before I start my new job Tuesday I’ve been put in the position where I just can’t race so I’m a bit bummed about that.

But something to cheer me up
But on the bright side I got a couple of boxes from overseas yesterday including a new front wheel from hope built up with their Pro 3 hub. Notice the funky rotor.
Also an order of new tires from Schwalbe.

Box of goodies

Mulbrooks Madness

This sums up the race today....

Report to follow....

Angry Doctor

So the Angry Doctor...how angry? I think mildly annoyed to tell you the true.
Well it's over and done with for the year and I can cross it off my list of things.

Pre-race
Having never done the race before or ridden in the area I was expecting something like the Oteway Odyssey course, a sh!t load of climb and little respite but what I got once out there was a lot easier and dare I say it...enjoyable.
Prior to the race I made the decision to race the hardtail rather then El Salt due to the amount of climbing. Word also came out 2 days prior that there had been some rain and trails had packed down....to who said that you were WRONG! I made my choice to swap the tires over to a Raven/ Crow combo.
I was also keeping an eye on the weather forecasts, with the temps predicted to hit about 30ish I decided to use 3x 500ml bottles figuring that worse case I would be taking 3hrs to complete each 50k loop.

Race Day
A nice early 3am wake up and choking down some breakfast to get on the road saw me out the door about 3.30ish. Only saw 2 lots of Kangaroos on the road so was pretty happy about that. Arriving at Mogo about 5.30 and with enough time to stuff down my first can of creamed rice before rolling over to rego and signing in and getting my numberplate and back to the car. Time for a 20min kip, more creamed rice and change into my gear load the pockets up.

-500ml bottle with Clif salty lemonade mix
-3x packs of Clif shot blok margaritta
-1x Clif Bar
-2x 500ml bottles on the bike

ready to rock

Start Time
I got over to the start area early sat down and watched people roll in. There was kind of a subdued buzz about the place as the weight of what was about to happen became a reality. I also like bike watching to spot the latest toys, though was a bit disappointed as there was nothing really flash that jumped out on the day.
At this stage I still hadn't made up my mind as to whether to start in Group 1 or 2, with Group 1 being under 5.45hrs. My mind was made up after I saw Big Jase and Kevin lining up in the front group.
We line up and get the kind of a race briefing and then we're off! Left on the seal, left again then onto the forestry road and into the first hill. At this stage it's a swarm with people going left, right, and centre. I try to just the keep the pace high and start moving up through the other riders. Out onto the main fire road, and I can see the front group about 150m up the road it's looking like about 20 riders at this stage. An I make the decision to not try and jump across and just ride my own pace. Up up up down and into the first single track section and it's here that I realise how badly I have stuffed up my tire selection for the day. The tracks are all loose over hardpack, with probably about 5-7mms of loose through the corners. Immediately my sense of being competitive goes out the window and starts to become OK how can I do this without dealing myself?

Loop 1
Surprisingly I'm not getting passed my many people through this section, but I have turned into an annoying yo-yo. Anytime the trail points up or it's a fire trail I'm on the gas clawing back time and positions I loose through the single track. At this stage the climbs we're hitting aren't that long or hard so I'm quiet happy, I also have no idea where I am as I didn't bother to look at the map before the start. Glancing down at the powertap occasionally to check how I'm going for time against the kilometre markers I figure I'll have done the first 50 in about 2.30hrs.
And round and round we go, up, down, left, right it all becomes a bit of a blur at this stage...it's still fun and effort hasn't kicked in yet.
Into transition right on 2.27hrs, drain the last bottle. 3 off 3 on empty out the pockets fill 'em up again and out. I don't give myself time to think in and out again.

Second Loop
Some where about the 60k mark is where the body started to feel the full effects of my efforts so far. My back started killing me, I go from being able to stamp the pedals to turning them, all the flow goes out of my riding and it feels like I am hitting every bump on the trail. Out through the single track on the long fire road climb, and this is the part of the course where everyone is feeling it. The sun is finally out in full effect. Surviving the long grind to the top, followed by more single track and it's about now that I start looking at the distance on the powertap, comparing it to the course markers and just generally playing mindgames to keep myself amused. The final aid station takes forever to come into view. I stop and scull down a bottle of gu mix on offer refill again then back on the bike for the final 20k.

Are we there yet?
Title says it all another 3k and I'm just wanting it to be over. Even though there is some wicked singletrack through here the care value is 0. So I keep it together over the last few k's and roll in for a time of 5.33hrs.

Post-Race
Results are up now, the time was good enough for 50th place and 25th for the open category. Looking back over the decisions I made, I'm happy with the use of bottles rather then a hydra-pack. Food, maybe could have eaten a bt more, but didn't blow up. The hardtail I'm OK with as well, I got pretty beat up towards the end but thats to be expected. I think the tires were probably the biggie, lack of grip was just plain embarrassing at times....so anyway there is another race in a weeks time back at Mogo using the last 14k of the course so I can make so equipment changes and test my theories.

Energy burnt: 3685kJ
TSS:427
Np:241w
VI:1.31
HR:154bpm

Signing up to do dumb $hit

Signed up for a couple of "rides" for later this year and early next year.
First up is Fitz Challenge. I rode this last year and managed to finish in 7:15hr for the 207k so the goal this year is to crack the 7hr mark.

Course Profile- Fitz Challenge

The second ride I'm still not sure what I was thinking....it's the Alpine Challenge in Bright Victoria. And not only did I exceed my normal level of biting off more than I can chew but I signed up for the 260k loop which is new for next year.
If looking at that profile does scare you...you probably only weigh 63kg!



Powertap Joule Update
The cat escaped the bag a day early. The full pdf for the new headunit can be viewed here including all the new features....attitude, customizable, TSS, IF.
Though the price is sure to shock $US549 or $AU665...ouch

More Power options

SRM have just released to their sponsored pro's the PC VII. Details are that it will be smaller (62 mm x 65 mm x 20mm) with a glassfibre-reinforced case, built-in motion sensor start feature. It's also mini-USB rather than the proprietary SRM socket for downloading and charging. 120-hour battery and 130-hour memory at 1 second and only weigh 58g! Release date is spring of 2010...
Unfortunately it is wireless compatible only



Saris have also been busy...but very tight lipped about their new head unit. Pictures escaped last week but the full list of features is unknown till it's official release at inter-bike in the USA on Wednesday.





Onto the riding...
After attending a funeral in New Zealand and flying back on Friday I still haven't gotten back into the riding groove yet. I thought about riding the 8hr at Sparrow on Sunday but the head just wasn't in it. It's been a good month overall with 60hrs all up despite the interruptions and a couple of PB's posted two weeks back.

This weekend it'll be the Bakery Bunch on Saturday then weather dependent the family may cruise along for the Men's XC race at Stromlo. The weather forecast for this week is pretty rata$$, infact they couldn't have chosen a worse week if they tried.

New Lights from Exposure

The complete family, something for everyone


Full range of optics

Exposure has unveiled a couple of new lights for the coming new season. The Toro and Diablo are all-new lights, dispatching with multiple small LEDs in favour of a single P7 emitter. Well, we say "single", the P7 actually contains four emitters but on a single chip. That leads to some interesting optical challenges to throw an even, useable beam, and Exposure has custom optics that combine diffusers, reflectors and lenses to produce what it reckons is the most even spread of light out there.

While the Toro and Diablo use the same 700 lumen emitter, the Toro has a three-cell battery while the Diablo uses just the one. That gives the Toro three hours runtime on full power, 10 on the middle setting and 24 on low, with the Diablo having one, three (and a bit) and eight respectively. The Diablo's dumbbell design gives the central section the same diameter as the existing Joystick despite having almost three times the output, and its low weight makes it eminently suitable for helmet mounting. The Toro is designed with handlebars in mind. One of each, then...


Diablo


Toro

All of these lights have Exposure's Smart Port socket at the back, which can be used to connect an array of piggyback lights, tail lights, aft-pointing flashers, remote switches, extra batteries and so on, as well as being where you plug the charger in.

Highs and Lows

Well Saturday didn't go according to plan. I posted a DNF for the race, but new PB's for 1min and 5min. The race was held from Tharwa to Apollo Road and return with four laps in total. The first time over Mt Tennant I hit 664w for 1 minute

and 389w (481w normalised) for 5 minutes.

I managed to get off the front once back on the flat with a bike shed rider... we worked to stayaway for about 18k, before being reeling back in just after the top of Mt Tennant for the second time. I drifted to the back and tried to recover before we went back over Mt Tennant again.
The third time up, my legs exploded and I called it a day with nothing on the line (My still registered with a Sydney club). Initally I was a bit bummed till I looked at the file and saw the number and magnitude of the efforts I made during the race.
I didn't end up racing the TT on the Sunday due to lack of motivation, with this week being about training.

The Unexpected
Got the call today from my Mum, seems my Nana is on deaths door so I may be making a trip back to NZ for the funeral.