2013 National Marathon Championships – Atherton QLD

Warning:  the following report contains self-indulgent whinging.  Excess consumption may be harmful

Sitting in my doctors office on Friday a had a decision to make.  After 3 weeks of being floored by a virus I also had a kidney infection and would need antibiotics.  A legacy of being in knicks for 14 hours during the OHV24 – such a glamour sport!  It was hard to imagine racing the toughest XCM National Champs when I couldn’t even wee properly. Should I even bother getting on the plane? The doctor gave me the all-clear to compete but I don’t think she really understood what I had signed up for – and in the end, neither did I.

Facebook revealed many riders had been in Atherton for days, scoping out the course.  With 3300m of ascent in 100kms I thought ignorance was bliss.  If I’d cut one lap I doubt I would have fronted on Sunday for three of them.  This is not a race I would wish on my worst enemy.  The climbing was relentless and steep.  There was no way to ride easy unless you were walking.  Even walking hurt.  The only flat ground was the kilometre of fire-road from the start line to the first singletrack.  Everything else was back-achingly up or bone-shuddering down.  Several long descents induced lactic forearms and hand cramp from braking whilst holding on for life. 

Despite my lousy lead up I was sitting comfortably in third just behind defending champ Peta Mullens and Jenny Fay at the end of the first lap.  My legs felt surprisingly fresh and I was making a strategy for the rest of the race when I heard the fateful sound of Stan’s liquid escaping from my rear tyre.  I spent a while determining if it would seal but eventually accepted that I would need to put a tube in.  It took several goes to get the bike going again after I watched Jenni King and Liv/giant team matesTerri Rhodes and Sarah Riley pass me.  I stopped again soon after for another CO2 cannister to avoid pinch flatting on the steep rock shutes of the last singletrack of the lap.  The 7 minutes I spent trackside were enough for my legs to shut down and I had lost all motivation as I knew any chance of a placing was gone.

So with my bottom lip firmly out I ventured out on the second lap, deciding I would enjoy the pretty amazing single track one more time then retire from the race.  Heading up the ridiculous fireroad climb I made a deal that I would not walk.  I did however stop at a few points, have a drink, admire the view and dry my princess eyes.  Imagine my surprise when the defending champion Peta Mullens came rolling back down the hill passed me.  We stopped and chatted for a few minutes and Peta explained that after feeling awesome on the first lap she was now quite ill and dropping out of the race.  I convinced her that I was just tapping around and it might be fun to finish the lap but after a minute of riding together she started vomiting trackside and called it a day.

It was at that moment I was encouraged to continue.  Not because I’d just moved up a spot, but because I realised I wasn’t the only one having some bad luck and feeling disappointed with my performance. People were dealing with the race brutality in their own ways – walking up climbs beside friends or dismounting, steadying themselves with their bikes by resting their heads on the top tube and quietly sobbing.   It really was a lot longer around the rest of the lap than I remembered though and descending felt like a knife being stabbed into the palm of my hands so I told the race commissaire I was out as I crossed the start/finish line.  This was when enduro stalwarts Pete Winfield, Ant Shippard and Meg Carrigan gave me the HTFU speech and after 5 minutes of self-debating, eating, drinking and hurling abuse at them I began my final lap.

Walking most of the climbs I was heartened to see other riders persevering in a battle for survival and for a reward no greater than the personal satisfaction of conquering the course.  DNFs always feel dirty and although I was cursing them at the time I am very grateful for those who pushed me back out there.  It was an exercise in mental toughness as the lap-based courses hold out the tempting option of retiring to the relative comfort of the pits.  My eating and drinking strategy went out the window the previous lap and I contented myself to groveling to the finish where, as a final insult, my right pedal seized 150 metres from the finish line forcing me to cross the line pedaling with one leg. 

Somehow I still ended up on the podium in 5^th place but merely staying the distance was a victory when I almost didn’t make the start line.  Everyone went to some dark places during this race and I am in absolute awe of all the finishers.  This will be a race memory to call on when I am next in the hurt box.  Now let us never speak of it again.

Thanks to my sponsors:  Giant Bikes, PCS Coaching, Ride Mechanic, For The Riders, NS Dynamics, Shotz, Schwalbe & Sram.

Hiddenvale 24 Hour

On Easter Sunday I kicked back with a cooling cider in my hand and thought “ I wouldn’t be anywhere else in the world”.  Yes, I could barely hold said cider after the pummeling my hands received in 150ks of the Hiddenvale trails.  Not to mention the tenderness in the saddle-area which meant I was ‘kicking back’ in a most awkward manner.  Dust was seeping out of my tear ducts and my apparent lack of kidney activity was slightly concerning.  But here I was surrounded by kindred spirits who had not just voluntarily submitted to the punishment of a 24 hour race, but invited their families along to camp over the long weekend and watch their beloved’s physical and mental decline.

After winning the 24 Solo at Hiddenvale a few years ago I accepted the invitation (read: dare) from Luke Lucas to partner him in a mixed pair.  Half the time, half the pain was the rationale which proved incorrect in the end.  I’d say there is a threshold around 7 riding hours when you are experiencing all the discomfort that is humanly possible and any further riding maintains the status quo rather than exacerbating it.  At least a solo effort keeps you occupied, whereas the alternate lap strategy we adopted left me with a whole hour to anticipate the agony…I mean look forward to the sweet trails.  The allure of a scalding, cleansing shower is there, which, once taken, discourages the replacement of chamois on swollen cheeks and sweaty helmet on tired head.

Doing the team-thing is a hell of a lot more social though and I was adopted by two 4-person teams, the MAMILS and Sleepless In The Saddle who had a very professional setup and a ‘never say die’ spirit which saw them send a rider back out on course with only 18 seconds left in regulation time.  Swapping stories, trash talking and fantasizing about post race food and beverage consumption – this is what 24 hour teams racing is about.  The rest of the time was spent hanging out at Luke’s Kona team tent near the start line, waiting for the timing-chip toss.  Our race plan was ‘fluid’ with our night laps going from 4-lap stints, to two, to three and finally to “I’ll see you sometime after 6am and good coffee”.  Grabbing a few hours kip in the back of my Honda Jazz I fashioned a bed out of a sleeping bag, yoga mat and some rolled up clothes for a pillow.  Possibly not a use the vehicle engineers considered when installing fold-flat seats.

We had accumulated a good lead meaning extra laps were unnecessary but it didn’t feel like a proper 24 hour without some laps in the morning.  I was surprised at how good the legs felt climbing up the Escalator trail and thought I might have more in me.  Unfortunately my hands, already feeling the hurt from a big week doling out massages, packed it in after 9 laps leaving Luke to smash out our final lap and claim victory. 

Highlights:

Rock Bottom trail

Jungle Bean double shot soy lattes

Fried egg sandwich breakfast and the food tent lady with the gluten-free bread

Luke Lucas’ genuine excitement at standing on the top step in his fluorescent yellow podium shoes

Lowlights:

Unforgiving XC grips

Running out of chamois cream at 7pm

The sighting of not one, but two snakes on track during the night laps

Just a fantastic event and am disappointed I didn’t bring my daughter as there were plenty of kids making use of the jumping castle, doing the kids race and just generally getting around the wide open spaces on their dirt bikes.  More of it!

Thanks to sponsors:  Giant Bikes, For The Riders, Ride Mechanic, Shotz, NS Dynamics, SRAM, Schwalbe & PCS Coaching.

National XCO Champs 2013 - Canberra

Reflection on the ‘race that was’ is always a mix of ‘could have; would have; should have’.  Fifth at National XCO Titles was not what I had hoped.  When I say something like that I am aware that for many people it is more than what they dream of so that always makes me cautious in expressing disappointment.  The racing, for me, has always been the reward for all the hurt and fatigue in training.  When I think of all the times I smashed out a massive ride in the morning and then spent the rest of the day massaging other people at work while my legs screamed at me to lie down – well, I’d hoped for a better result.

When I crunched the numbers though, it was still a solid ride.  In the measure of ‘time behind the winner’ it was similar to my bronze medal ride last year, but other riders have stepped up a gear and brought their best form to Nationals.  Like I tell my clients – you can’t control it when others are riding well, you only control what your legs can put out on the day.   Some more high intensity work for me wouldn’t have gone astray.  I lacked smoothness on the rhythm sections of the track but with the wild weather in QLD over the summer, time on the MTB had been scarce.  Could. Would. Should.

The course itself was a lot of fun and contained most of the 2009 World Championship sections.  Some more open climbing and passing opportunities would have been welcome but given that I didn’t make it up the pinch climb of ‘Cardiac Arrest’ one single time during the race, I can’t complain about the lack of vertical ascent.  Having to remount with fuzzy vision, gasping for breath and fumbling with my cleats at the top, split seconds before the infamous ‘Waterfall’ rock descent made for an interesting challenge, resulting in one roll down completely unclipped (mental note – heels down! Heels down!).

With no respite the technical climb then started with numerous rocky obstacles required a front wheel lift or huck, right when I was on my limit and really had no huck left in me.  It was here I was disappointed to lose time through stuffing up several sections I had ridden smooth during practice.  Cruising through it in training and hitting it at race speed are two different things.  I tell my clients this all the time and yet had neglected to follow my own advice (not for the first time) and do some race pace efforts.  Taking the B-line on Hammerhead seemed like the soft option, but given that I’m not racing World Cups anymore I don’t feel the pressure to risk life and limb in every race.  I was heartened to see that the top 2 elite women weren’t taking the A-line either, proving that if you’re fast enough on the ‘up’ you can be a bit more conservative on the ‘down’.  Finishing each lap with berm after berm in ‘The Luge’ brought a smile every time, and some serious arm pump.  Who thought riding downhill could be so physical?

People come to the National Titles to challenge themselves so I applaud the course designers for providing that challenge.  Organisers try to balance that with the objective of making the competition accessible for the masses, which often results in ‘dumbing down’ the technical level.  That might be acceptable in participation events, but the National Champs should be HARD, and it should force riders not up to that level to go away for 12 months, work on their deficiencies and arrive at the next Championships more prepared.  

I chose not to do the National (Read: Victorian/NSW) series and it may have cost me a little in race prep, but what it didn’t cost me was $4000 and time away from my family.  There may have been some noises made about 2013 being my last National XC titles.  It might be the case, but it depends on where the next champs are held and if that venue interests me.  What I am planning is to get off the roundabout of ‘having’ to do particular races to satisfy selection criteria.  I want to be a regular consumer of MTB sport and support the races that have appeal in terms of great trails, organisation and race format (hint: the eliminator will NOT feature in my program).

Thanks to all the Progressive Coaching Systems athletes who competed at Nationals.  Being involved in your journey was a highlight and added a new dimension to my race weekend.  Also to my sponsors:

For The Riders

Giant Bikes

Shotz

Schwalbe

Ride Mechanic

Monza

SRAM

An Athletes Christmas

With all the serious racing done and dusted by early December one would think the festive season would be a time we can let our hair down a little.  Well yes…and no.  The powers-that-be have deemed the first two months of the new year appropriate to hold the most important races on the domestic calendar – the National MTB and Road Race titles. 

This effectively kills any plans of a no-holds-barred assault on the liquor cabinet and for this I am thankful, eventually.  Having had, shall we say, an interesting relationship with booze in a previous life I’ve been super-sensitive to my drinking habits and the habits of those surrounding me.  The best on-bike performance of my career was preceded by 3 alcohol-free months.  In retrospect I can’t say if it was the physical effects of abstaining that improved performance or that I was obviously highly motivated to take such a vow and this was reflected in my training.  My attitude over the last couple of years has mellowed and I have adopted the maxim that if there are more alcohol-free days in my week than days of indulgence, I’m all good.  Health guidelines advise that any more than 4 standard drinks is officially a binge and let me tell you that’s not nearly as much red wine as you would think!  A recent article I read in a reputable newspaper (is there any such thing any more??) said doctors do not know of a more beneficial medicine than red wine in terms of antioxidants, but more importantly it is the social act of drinking with friends that also affords a benefit to a person’s mental health.  So don’t drink alone okay?  And no, the dog doesn’t count as company.

The upside to doing a bazillion training miles as part of my ‘base building’ phase is the inability to put on weight or to even maintain what I have.  In the last month I’ve watched the small suggestion of cleavage I had disappear to leave me with the chest of a 10 year old boy.  Nicely balanced with the fact my ass has gone the other way due to muscles accumulated from many mountain ascents and I am reminded that I don’t do this sport for the stunning physique it affords.  Suffering eating-fatigue I was relieved to see a notable absence of bananas, gluten free bread and spinach at the Christmas spread.  As my ex-husband and his brother are chefs I have never been expected to hold the festive banquet but am allowed to bring a salad which everyone pretends to enjoy.  This year involved the consumption of seven different animals: chicken, turkey, duck, beef, octopus, scallops and prawns.  Not bad for a former vegetarian.

For the first time in many years I gave myself Christmas Day off training.  I hope none of my coaching clients are reading this after my “it’s just another day” speech!  The reason for doing this is for the sake of my long-suffering family who put up with my fatigue and grumpiness for 364 days of the year.  I just wanted to wake up on Christmas Day and be able to spend every hour with family and friends and reflecting on how much they mean to me and how much less my life would be without them.  And I wanted to do this while NOT wearing lycra.  Sponsors are great and all, but it’s friends and family that really make all my adventures possible.

After turning it over in my mind I really couldn’t find a great reason to do Road Nationals in Ballarat so my next big race will be the Australian MTB Championships in Canberra, late February.  I also decided against the ‘new and improved – mark 2’ MTB National Series for many reasons which I won’t go in to here but if anyone would like my honest opinion I will certainly give it, as always.

Have a safe and happy New Year!

Cape To Cape - Margaret River

It’s took me until Day 3 to remember why I came to Margaret River.  Yes, this is a famous wine region.  But as elite riders we’re here to perform so it’s not like we’re out getting slaughtered after every stage (no matter what stories you hear!).  I came to see the countryside and to find out if there were any good MTB trails.  We’re talking single-track because, let’s face it, no one comes to the other side of the continent to ride fire-road, no matter how pretty the views are.

The good news is that Margaret River is on track to be an MTB Mecca.  Much work has been done since 2011 and the Pine Trail could be mistaken for NZ’s Rotorua, while others are typically WA with pea gravel at every corner.  The sheer height of the berms and number of table tops resulted in a lot of “woo hoo!!”s echoing through the forest on the penultimate state of www.capetocapemtb.com.au .  It had restored some faith in the riders after a shocking opening stage containing a 2km beach run/ride through the soft sand or Indian Ocean depending on how close you got to the ‘good’ sand (i.e. sand that didn’t swallow your wheel and stop you dead).  A few people were physically washed off their bikes by waves – not usually something you have to anticipate during a mountain bike race.  The 2.25 Racing Ralphs kept me afloat but my short legs were not optimal for the sand dune dash back to the trails.

Event organizers seem to have taken a ‘broccoli before dessert’ approach as each stage was better than the last.  The second day was when my legs completely died – a combination of being a little over-done when I arrived and picking up a virus on the flight over which caused my lymph glands to swell to the size of golf balls and my throat was struggling with all those razor blades I’d apparently swallowed.  Unfortunately this was the day of the dreaded ‘double stage’ with the Red Bull shoot out Super D at 5pm.  A full 12 hours in cycling knicks and I was feeling most unsocial, but grudgingly admitted that the mostly downhill trail at ‘The Pines’ was worth it.

With Jenny Fay running away with the lead and third place being a fair gap behind I settled in to defensive mode, hoping I wasn’t suffering from anything exotic that would have serious repercussions down the track.  It allowed me to have a little more fun with the event, riding with Kiwi adventure racer Nic Leary following her lines a little too closely as she overcooked a massive berm and we both catapulted into the forest, laughing.  Putting faces to the names of some www.pcscoaching.com.au  clients was also a highlight of the trip.

Trying to do this race without the support of a team with drivers and vans is a big mistake.  I was very lucky to call in a lot of favours and goodwill from the Rockstar team, Shimano and even the camera crew to get me to and from the racing points and accommodation.  In retrospect the plan would be to base in Margaret River, a town so cool I was window shopping in the real estate agency.  Urban Bean made the best coffee of the week and was open at 6.30am for a pre-race heart starter.  There are plenty of great places to eat in the main street and I am regretting passing up the steak at the Settlers Tavern in favour of the Thai beef salad (never order Thai beef salad unless you are actually IN a Thai restaurant!).  I love my Shotz but at the end of the day I was very grateful for something less sweet and ‘gel-like’.

The list of wineries we raced through reads like my favourite aisle at Dan Murphys’s but the most memorable sight was the ocean – I’ve never seen water so clear and perfect aquamarine in colour.  Due to my pathological fear of sharks I’m not much of a beach person but at the end of the racing I was straight into a bikini to wade in the still waters of Dunsborough beach to wash away the dirt and sand of the last 4 days and make some dent in the obligatory cycling-tan. 

It was a hectic race and would require some careful logistical planning but I will definitely be rushing back to the region.  In a word – breathtaking!

Many thanks to my sponsors:  Giant, Ride Mechanic, For The Riders, Shotz, Schwalbe & PCS.

Flight Centre Epic 2012

The aftermath of an MTB marathon is never pretty.  Human detritus in salt encrusted jerseys litter the grass just beyond the finish line, containing the vomiters, the crampers, the bleeders.  But overwhelmingly they are also the grinners and sometimes the criers, with sweet, sweet relief at finally making the finish line.  I generally fall into several of these categories, so I’m definitely getting the full ‘epic’ experience.

Road tripping with the MarathonMTB crew that morning we all knew what was coming.  Sure we were swapping war stories of previous adventures and full of pre-race taper energy but there was a general understanding that the next 4 or so hours were going to hurt.  Each of us were establishing the reasons we race and put ourselves through this unpleasantness:  personal satisfaction tinged with masochism; glory; cash to pay for the next race - but mainly to accumulate more war stories to tell on the next road trip.

After beginning its life as a point-to-point race the 10^th Flight Centre Epic is now run in a more participant friendly loop format, starting and finishing at Spicers Hiddenvale.  Even more friendly was the 50km checkpoint which was back at the start/finish so bottles could be left to pick up mid-race but there was also plenty of water, Shotz electrolyte and fruit at multiple spots which took away the usual anxiety of being stranded dry on a scorching QLD spring day.

My marathon races follow a predictable pattern now where I struggle for the first hour, when pace is too fast and attacks are going, and then suffer for the last hour when my legs are empty and seem to have quit negotiations with my brain.  And so it went yesterday with National XC champ Jenni King and 8 time Epic veteran Naomi Hansen gapping me in the 15km.  Being one of the few elite riders with a camelback my plan was to consume as much fluid as possible over the first 50km as drinking would be very difficult with 37km of predominantly singletrack remaining.

On only the 3^rd ride of my new Giant 29er hardtail I was very conservative on the technical sections, not knowing the limits of the bike.  That faded quickly though after several ‘eyes shut’ moments, sure I was headed for a crash only to have the big wheels roll out of it.  If I am ever going to suffer the roughness on a hardtail the FC Epic is the race I do it in, but with 20 psi in the tyres it was strangely forgiving and once we hit the major climb of the race 30ks in it was also very fast.  Feeling renewed on second-hour legs I rode away from King and Hansen on the climb and worked to extend the advantage for the next couple of hours.

Having raced a 24 hour solo out at Hiddenvale in 2010 it was comforting to be on familiar trails over the last half of the race.  The course looped over itself several times which was a bit confusing in the exhausted delirium of several hours of racing, leading to many moments of wondering if I’d missed a turn.  In fact this is the first Epic where I HAVEN’T gone off course and had to carefully hoist my lycra clad butt over a barbed wire fence so kudos to the course marking!  However at 70ks there was an oddly placed sign which read ‘8kms’ which caught many non GPS equipped riders out as they emptied the tanks thinking the finish line was nigh. 

Having drunk to the point of getting a stitch in the beginning I now had a pounding head as my dehydrated brain rock back and forth due to the difficulty of getting bottle to mouth on the trails.  I had regressed to merely riding, not racing, and was very grateful to be coming up through slower riders finishing the shorter 50km race as it gave me an excuse not be maxing out the pace – I was just being courteous, right?  With a few mere hundreds of metres to the finish line some riders lay spread-eagled beside the trail and it was encouraging to see people hurting more than I was.  EVERYONE hurts – some are just riding faster while they do it!

There were no tears crossing the finish line, just a desperate search for fluid and a few all-fours moments to relieve my aching back and my nauseous stomach simultaneously.  Apologies to the people I left mid-conversation throughout the day but my hasty exit probably saved your shoes.  As usual I didn’t get to speak to as many people as I would have liked to and need to book at Spicers one year so I can sit back on the lawn and relax with a glass of wine instead of beating a hasty retreat back to Brisbane and real life.

Thanks to Donna Dall from PCS for my race winning form, Liv/giant for the sweet new bike, the boys at For The Riders for another mechanical-free race (owner Tim did the 87ks on a singlespeed – pure madness), Darryl at Shotz nutrition for fueling not just me, but the entire event, Schwalbe tires – the Snakeskins are now Epic-proven, Owen from Ride Mechanic and his amazing Bike Milk chain lube and Moonshine chamois cream (no friction in either area, thankyou!), and the Fleur & Hayden Brooks in conjuction with Spicers for the great organisation and trails.  Also thanks to the 1600+ competitors who supported South-east Queensland’s iconic event.

New Season Bling

I was waiting for an opportunity to have a big ‘ta-dah’ with my new toys for the upcoming season.  But with the best plans going astray (and this plan not even being close to my best) the cat is out of the bag.  Yes, I am on a 29er hardtail this year, riding for Liv/Giant.  Despite being thought a 29er ‘hater’ I have never been – I have merely been bemoaning the lack of options for someone of my sub 165cm stature.  The strong demand for 29ers has resulted in basically all new imported bikes coming fitted with the big wheels and 26 inch wheels seemingly confined to European world cup courses.

Having accepted that 29ers are possibly faster, or at least no slower, than 26ers the choice which remained was choosing a brand.  Of course I wanted a super light bike with nice geometry and lots of carbon and titanium goodness but I am also focused on what I can do off the bike to promote the sport.  Liv/giant is the perfect fit with their commitment to womens’ participation in cycling for fun and a healthy lifestyle.  In my coaching role at Progressive Coaching Systems this is also a big goal for us and an area we hope to make inroads in the future.

With the Flight Centre Epic on this weekend it has been a bit of a rush to get used to the bigger wheels but also being back on a hardtail for the first time in 2 years.  I have become such a lazy rider and my butt is now paying the tax!  We are still awaiting the 2013 model so Giant have generously loaned me a bike until it arrives.  Being pretty keen to perform well in Queensland’s premier MTB Marathon a few modifications have been made…

• Enve carbon wheels, on loan from For The Riders.  Always nerve wracking riding borrowed wheels and I wish someone hadn’t mentioned how much they cost to replace!
• Bars straight from the 26er: not wanting to change too much at once I’m still running my narrow bars.  At 580mm I’m unlikely to get them stuck anywhere.
• Selle Italia SLR Carbon seat: again, straight from the old bike.  It looks like it should be uncomfortable but it is honestly the most comfy saddle to grace my rear end to date, and only 115g to boot.
•  The boys at NS Dynamics wound the forks in to 80mm to lower the front end.  In future I will be winding them back out when I get a seriously negative rise stem but due to the bigger steerer tube we couldn’t get our hands on one to fit by the weekend.

Schwalbe Racing Ralph Snake Skins which are the second lightest in the range with a slight weight penalty for the security of added puncture protection.  Good for 90% of trail conditions the RR model has been my go-to tyre for 3 years now – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

Also continuing their support are Shotz nutrition and Ride Mechanic keeping body and bike running like well-oiled machines.  I love both of these companies for making great products which perform, but also because they are Aussie businesses. 

I’ve heard there are a record 1600 riders entered for the Epic this year which shows that mountain biking is très popular in south-east Queensland.  I can’t wait to tow the line at the race which started it all!