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!"