Grafton to Inverell
The race was on last week. Congrats to friends who competed and all did awesome rides:
From the results page, here are my highlights:
- Craig Dickson, 10th in B grade, in 7:03:22.20
- Craig Briant, 23rd in B grade in 7:05:56.36
- Liam McCarthy, 44th in B grade in 7:34:03
- Aaron Pickett-Heaps, 28th in C grade, in 7:28:01
- Dean Winchester, 46th in C grade, in 7:40:16.02
Legends.
2009 Cycle Epic: in the heat and dust
Lots of stories (not just mine) out of this year’s Cycle Epic.
Are we having fun yet? Me & Em at checkpoint 1
Update: The results are included now at the end. And a new pic from the official photogapher.
Epic enduro pleasure pain 6hr 100k mtb thingggg
So this Sunday I’ve got my last mountain bike event for 2009.
The Flight Centre Epic is the biggest, snazziest, longest-established mountain bike event on the calendar. It has the numbers, the names, the reputation.
It’s not necessarily the best event. But it’s the one that seems to matter.
I’ve been quietly pleased with myself this year with how each event has gone.
The Mt Perry 6-hour was super hard because I made some mistakes in preparation. I finished 17th in the 40+ category, riding only 6 laps in 6 hours.
The Noosa Enduro was super hard because its a super hard event. 27th veteran ( out of 40), 110th out of 137 finishers. It took me 7 hrs 54 minutes, 48 mins faster than in 2008 when it was wet.
At the recent Coffs Harbour ‘Pleasure & Pain’ Enduro I finally did an event where I was happy start to finish with how I handled it, which probably means that I didn’t really go hard enough! 7th out of 20 in my category, 40th overall out of 82. 6 hrs 21 mins for 100km.
So all the work comes down to this. And quite frankly, I don’t feel the best this week. My time last year in the Epic was 6 hrs 56 mins in dry conditions. This Sunday looks like dry and hot again, so no excuses if I’m no faster than last year.
Everybody loves Jens, part II
Saxo Bank – Taking The Lead » Archive » a message from jens.
This is why.
“I am better than expected. I’m a bit beat up, and hurting a bit, but nothing that’s going to kill me.”
Everybody loves Jens
“It was horrifying to see Voigt crash out of this Tour de France on Tuesday, not only because he is smart and honest and loyal and funny and tireless, but also because it happened in a place where he is usually in his element, flying down a mountainside on a mission.”
Bonnie Ford, ESPN, who is an excellent writer on cycling, in a piece called Jens Voigt is the conscience of cycling.
Di Luca was on the juice, sorry ’bout that
The International Cycling Union (UCI) announced Wednesday that it has suspended Italian Danilo Di Luca for two positive tests for the EPO derivative CERA. The LPR-Brakes rider’s doping control samples showed evidence of the banned blood booster on two occasions – on May 20 and 28th during the 2009 Giro d’Italia.
via Di Luca Positive For CERA In Giro | Cyclingnews.com.
Hmm, I’m just so sorry to have predicted this.
Don’t over-tighten it, it might snap
“I’m not necessarily aiming for yellow, I’m just looking to do my best ride I can and consolidate where I am. I’m not stupid enough to think I can beat Contador. I think he’s proven he’s by far the best bike rider in this race and you never really know how hard to tighten stuff before it breaks and I don’t want to over-tighten things.”
via Wiggins Ready To Seize The Day | Cyclingnews.com.
Great quote. Brad Wiggins in Cyclingnews today.
UPDATE (23/07/09): I think he might have snapped it last night. We’ll see if it really is broken in tonight’s time trial.
Heinrich, Alberto, & Brad Wiggins
Winter in Brisbane … can’t beat it.
- Getting up before dawn for a bike ride.
- Staying up to watch le Tour.
- And trying to keep it all in balance with the rest of your life & work.
The heroes of the last week, from my p.o.v.
Heinrich Haussler. What a ride from Aussie HH to win on a cold & rainy day near the German border. As many have pointed out, he took advantage of weather conditions similar to a Belgian spring day to firstly get in the breakaway, and secondly demolish his breakaway companions with a show of strength and daring rarely seen on any stage of the Tour. The most impressive ride of any breakaway in this year’s event.
Alberto Contador. All along I have been saying that he is the top favourite for the Tour. Last night was the decisive stage, and he smashed them. Game over. He is now the undisputed leader of the undisputed strongest team in the race. The only interest now is what shape Astana will take for 2010, and which team Alberto will ride for in the future. Because there’s no earthly reason why he shouldn’t win at least the next three or four Tours. He is that good.
Bradley Wiggins. Now that is a transformation, from pursuiter to Grand Tour contender. Put it this way, the two best pursuiters of all time, Chris Boardman and Bradley McGee, were never able to make the transition into becoming top riders in the mountains. Wiggins seems at the moment to have done it with about six months work. Astounding. If he can keep it up, he looms as Contador’s only real rival, which is a sentence I did not think I would ever write.
All this, and mountain biking on a Sunday afternoon in Karawatha Forest. Life is good.
Cadel’s free to fly … if he can
So Astana’s in total control of the Tour now.
I think it’s a real possibility to think about: Can Astana fill all three podium spots? Contador’s still the heavy favourite in my book … in the Giro Lance showed that he just doesn’t have the jump on climbs that he used to have, and I think Contador will show on Friday night that he does rule the roost.
But a podium of Alberto, Lance and Levi (or Andreas Kloden for that matter) doesn’t seem at all far-fetched at this stage. Put it this way: in the last few years, who are the riders who have attacked Astana and made it stick? That’s right, no one. Once you’ve lost time on Contador/Armstrong, it’s very very very very hard to get it back.
So, Cadel, this is freedom. Nobody who understands bike racing thinks you can win. But you might gain some fans with some attacking riding! I reckon that his best bet … not silly Pantani-style attacks, but just seize the moment when it occurs. Counter attack when the Astana boys have reduced the bunch to the last five or six. Go for it on the second-last col of the day … go for it whenever there’s half a chance. More Vino than Pantani is the style I’m looking for. Cadel (and Menchov for that matter, and even Sastre) has nothing to lose. So why not?
Mt Perry 6-hour: that was good, damn that hurt
Climbing on the first lap of the six-hour
The Queens Birthday long weekend was the time and Mt Perry, about an hour’s drive west of Bundaberg, was the place.
This was a new experience for me, and one of my planned highlights for the year: The Mt Perry Six-Hour ‘Gold Rush’. I was entered as a solo competitor. This is the fourth year the event has been run, and it is steadily gaining the reputation as one of the highlights of the competitive mountain biking calendar in Queensland.
Last year, a couple of my friends (Jody & Graeme) did this race in the mens’ pairs. When I originally pencilled it in, I was hoping to convince someone (Dean or Emma were my prime candidates) to join me to share the pain. But both my candidates turned out to have other commitments. Dean went road racing at the Battle on the Border, and Emma jetted off to South Australia to go to the Melrose Fat Tyre Festival.
So I took a deep breath and entered solo. As it turns out, I did not pay close enough attention, and missed the fact that I could have entered as a solo 40+ male. No matter, I wasn’t going to be racing for prizes. I would be racing against myself and the course.
In the lead-up to the event, my training was going OK, I thought. A couple of off-road rides to Mt Nebo and I felt fine. I was still going with the fast bunch most Saturdays in the South Bank ride, and during the week at Donuts, I would win the sprint up the hill as long as Dean wasn’t there (n which case I would be second!).
So I felt my fitness would be adequate for the six-hour event. I had no illusions that I would be “racing” for the whole six hours. I was sure that at some point I would be just cruising around in survival mode.
About a month before the event, I also began negotiations to buy a new mountain bike frame. I was sure that I would have the biike built up in plenty of time for the event. One delay after another, and a sequence of incredibly damp weather around Brisbane meant that I finally picked up the new bike (it’s a Haro Sonix) only three days before the race, and rode it off-road for the first time on the morning of the race.
Really, in retrospect, that wasn’t very smart.
On Saturday morning, I thought I could still get in my usual road ride with the South Bank bunch. Then I would come home and finish packing and hit the road around 11am.
So I eventually got going around 11.30. Still within tolerances, I suppose.
But the drive to Mt Perry took about an hour longer than I had guesstimated. So by the time I got there I had missed the start of the Saturday afternoon Dirt Dash, the short course “dirt crit”. My camping pals Graeme and Jody were all set up, so I found a spot for my tent on the fringes of their camp. Jody had brought along with wife Jo and their delightful little daughter Lily.
So I watched Jody and Graeme take their turns in the dirt crits. Jody got through to the semi-final, but said afterwards that he probably went too hard for the evening before a big ride.
Anyway I had also missed the chance to do a practice lap of the famous Mt Perry cross-country course. So the next morning I was up and ready bright & early. With the race not due to start until 9.30am I had plenty of time for a practice lap. I had looked at the profile which said 235 metres of vertical ascent per lap, but had not reallt taken in what that meant.
What it means is that just about the whole course is either climbing or descending. The course is a cracker, which scenery and awesome single track and great descents, but it is tough tough tough.
So I got around my practice lap just going steady in around 45 minutes.
And my first lap in the race proper was about the same pace. My seat came a bit loose, so at the end of the first lap I stopped in transition and borrowed an allen key at the For The Riders tent and tightened up the seat clamp.
I was feeling like I wasn’t yet comfortable on my new dual-suspension bike. The bike itself was performing superbly, soaking up the big hits, and I was really enjoying the downhill sections and the excellent brakes.
But going uphills I felt like I didn’t have a comfortable climbing position. It felt all wrong.
Then on the second lap, on a steep section, I felt a twinge of cramp. I had already decided that as I wasn’t feeling strong on the climbs that I would walk some of the steep sections, to save energy.
But the cramps began to dictact how my race would run. Straight away I abandoned my ambitious plans for doing 8 laps. I would just try to keep ahead of the schedule for one lap per hour, and do six laps.
So I struggled around the third lap, with the cramps getting worse, and then stopped for a rest. The fourth and fifth laps I was hurting as I pedalled, hurting as I walked the steep bits, trying to enjoy the scary downhill sections while riding as smoothly as I could, and locking up in agony on the flat sections after the downhill. I tried everything I could think to eat or drink: Gatorade, Nuun, muffins, coffee, bananas, muesli bars, gels.
The cramps were still there. I headed out for my sixth and last lap with about 40 minutes left of the six hours. Regardless of what happened on my last lap, I would get around it and finish. Six laps was pretty respectable, I thought.
As I was coming into the last couple of kilometres of my last lap, I saw a friend up ahead, Aaron. I gave it everything I had left in me to catch and pass Aaron and stay ahead of him through to the finish. We crossed the line, and stopped to chat, with another couple of MTB Dirt forum members. It turned out that Aaaron had done 7 laps.
Jody and Graeme, racing as a pair, had done 9 laps.
But six laps would have to do for me this time. I must confess to being slightly disappointed, not in my effort, but in the mistakes made in preparation. Riding a new bike for the first time in a six-hour event, with a new set-up, just was a boneheaded move, and I paid the price.
Had I raced on my old hardtail, it is quite possible I might have done seven or even eight laps. It would have hurt even more, however, as the course was rough enough to be very tricky on a hardtail.
So, onwards. I have the Noosa Enduro, the Coffs Harbour 100 and the FLight Centre Epic still to go this year. Hopefully I can get the Haro set-up so that I am comfortable for a long-haul ride.
Coming over the bridge. This was halfway through the highly challenging but superfun downhill section.