2016 Evocities Round 1 - Bathurst

My memories of last years Evocities round at Bathurst weren't very fond. A sleepless night due to some nasty water and freezing conditions were two things I was pretty keen to avoid. Luckily this time both things were avoided and I had a great trip. 

My logistics were fun with a bit of a car and train trip to make the journey to Bathurst possible. On Saturday afternoon I had a quick Q & A with a few juniors and other keen riders before an easy lap. I showered at the amazing shared club facilities before participating in the $5 pasta feed. The Bathurst Club did a great job of creating a social atmosphere and being billeted out made me feel very welcome. 

With a 9.30am start I got to sample the barista skills of my hosts before a casual ride out. While I thought 40mins would have been enough time to ride out, I was almost cutting it a little fine when my ride took almost one hour. 

Looking at the other riders on the start line, I knew there was going to be a pretty solid battle. I was tipping Shaun Lewis to be the biggest threat beating me easily last year on the same track and finishing 5-6 minutes ahead of me a week earlier at the Marathon National Champs. 

My plan was to try and stay with Shaun for as long as possible. I knew he would push me harder than I could maintain for the 6hr however, I didn't want to give him any lead on this track. The track was quite twisty and there weren't many place that it was worth putting in extra power. It was a track that was really easy to ride efficiently however, the more you pedaled, the more you had to brake.

The race started with a lap around the velodrome which allowed riders to sort positions before the mostly single track course began. The track surface was quite sandy and the rain during the early morning made conditions perfect. It didn't take long however, for the sun to dry the track again which had me cautious when cornering. I was quite enjoying the pace Shaun was setting however, I wasn't keen to hit all the downhills at the same speed he was. On two sections each lap he was able to make around 15-20 meters which at times seemed to take ages to catch up. Knowing I was working harder to play catch up I knew the end of the race would get interesting. I was sure I would have had the stronger legs at the end of 6hrs. A change of nutrition during the last 3 laps and with tired legs Shaun was easily able to ride away on the last lap.

I rode across the line not concerned at all with position as I felt I went pretty solid for the whole 6hrs and had completely emptied the tank!

A big thanks to Sam for the lift, the Porters for the B&B, Robbie from Drift Bikes for tweaking my bike, Duncan from DIY for the new ceramic bearings and Jason and Ian for passing bottles. 

2016 xcm champs derby

I had originally dismissed the idea of being able to do the marathon champs this year as there were too many logistical issues to battle through. With Percival Property once again assisting with the costs, Sam and Thomas Vidler helping me with accommodation and Ed Mcdonald offering a car share, my final arrangements were all sorted Friday before a Saturday flight!

My race prep wasn't ideal in the lead up week. Along with most of the other riders from the Otway 300 I managed to get the sniffles mid week and by Thursday and Friday I was struggling to crawl into work. I wasn't sure how I would pull up in time for the race but flights were booked and logistics sorted.

The trails at Derby in Tasmania are my favourites. I have ridden in quite a few places around the globe, but I rate them as the best. They are just well designed and, even in fairly wet conditions, hold up quite well. The downhill sections feel endless at times and I enjoy the multiple line options where it is worth checking out the fastest option. Even feeling crook, I was keen to have some fun on the trails and to also check out some properties for sale!

After a lift to Sydney, a night in Dan Baker's room and a Uber to the airport I was on the way to Launceston. Here I met Ed and we made it to Derby in time for a bike build (at the mtb friendly Cascade Cottage) and a sweep lap. After this lap I actually returned back to the event village clean. This was a contrast to the athletes who raced early in the day during rainy conditions who were challenged just to stay upright in slippery conditions. This is true indication of well designed trails. Having trails that can be ridden after a few hours of the rain stopping is quite an important element when designing trails in Tasmania and a reflection of the quality work Glen Jacobs and his team produce.

After a little rain during the night and patches of drizzle before the race start I was starting to question how challenging the downhill sections of this race would be. I was more concerned with the ability of my lungs to function as I completed a light warm up and mocked Ed for playing with his rear through axle as the race was about to start. As the whistle sounded the pace from the start felt manageable. As the 18km climb progressed my ventilation increased to a rate that was not proportional to my heart rate. My heart rate during the first climb was sitting in a comfortable 170-175bpm however, I couldn't puff any harder! I decided to take a conservative approach to the climb as I raced for the last position. Around the 8km mark I started to get a little deja vu as my gears stopped tracking correctly. I immediately started to fear a freehub coming loose however, I found it amusing that it was my rear through axle coming loose!

Half way up the first climb I managed to move into top 20 and by the top I managed to sneak into the downhill single track within the top 15. As I didn't have very grippy tyres on the front and feeling like I was holding up a local gun rider I conceded a couple of positions down the hill as I tried to stay upright and took a safe approach to the race. 

Around 1km from the start/finish I managed to wrap my chain and spent the best part of a minute trying to re-route the chain on a path that it should be on. Heading up the climb for the second lap the course follows single track for the first 5km. By the end of this section I had managed to catch back a couple more riders that had snuck away while I was playing mechanics. By the top of the climb this time I was sitting around 12-13th. I challenged myself to ride a little harder downhill this time and at times had to make a deliberate decision to hold back to ensure I stayed on the bike. The downhill was great fun. There were section of track that clogged up wheels front and back which meant the following few corners got very interesting. There were sections that were wet and rooty and if you weren't thinking right, would throw a rider off the track. But there were also sections of the same downhill that were loose, sandy and couldn't be hit too hard. Overall a wide range of trails which made things a whole lot of fun. I recall wishing I could ride these trails more as with practice the downhill run would be a great time saver. 

pic: Russ Baker

Heading out on my last lap I was sitting in 11th and I was pretty keen for a top 10. I started to feel really good and just aimed to try and negative split my last lap as I became more familiar with the single tracks and felt a lot more comfortable with my bike. By the top of the climb I had gone past 3 riders which I managed to hold off to the end to sneak an 8th position. I was pretty stoked to hit top ten without being 100% and actually felt I could have raced just as hard for a few more laps!

I have heaps of people to thank for helping my weekend come together.

Firstly Jen for once again staying at home to look after the kids, Justin for the lift to Sydney, Dan for giving me your room for Friday night, Ed for car sharing, Sam and Tom Vidler for a place to stay, Geoff and Dan for passing bottles, Percival Property for helping out with flights and JetBlack and Shimano Australia for keeping my Pivot running like new.

2016 Otway 300

I haven't had the chance to ride around Forest for quite a few years so, with Norm and Jess Douglas putting on a race with a distance I am suited to, I jumped at the chance. Knowing that there was 6000vm and 300km to be covered I did some last minute cram training with a 17hr Everesting session the weekend before! With Shane Roberts as my partner for a 2 man race I was quite confident we would finish the race in a respectful time. Shane has raced to a high level in several 24hr events and has had further success in the Victorian 6hr series. Shane was also my pickup from the airport which occurred at 9.30 pm Friday night. With a 2hr drive to Forest for the race I was well and truly asleep by 1am after building my bike and getting bottles etc sorted for the following day.

Day 1 - 178km started at 7.15am as a light rain began to fall and most riders started in their compulsory rain jackets. The shivering on the start line didn't last long as the course soon headed upwards. At the first feed zone I was with another 3 teams. The group I was with made the most of the amazing feed zones and allowed the chasing group to catch back on. The typical feed zones were separated by 20-30km and had bags or bottles that could have been dropped at the start of the day. Even though most riders have their own products it seemed everyone felt compelled to try the various fruit, buns, sandwiches, bars, gels, lollies, pastries etc that were on offer. I'm pretty sure I wasn't quite burning off the amount of energy I was consuming!

During this same stage, there were times when a few teams would get off the front for a small period of time. After 50km there were still 8 or 9 teams riding together. Just before Apollo Bay one team managed to get a small gap however, with a few gun roadies in the mix a little bit of swapping turns at 45km/hr soon kept the group together. Just out from Apollo Bay I stopped to reattach a cleat and spent the next 30km with Shane riding harder than we wanted to catch back to the group. After having fun riding with a well paced group the fun stopped. At the 110km mark the boys started to wind up the pace on the climbs. I was getting a little bit excited and ready to race, but Shane wasn't up for matching it on the climbs so we had to watch the first 3 teams ride away. Once the gradient changed and we hit the rail trails I sat on the front and tried to keep the pace on, even with gates and going off course we averaged around 35km/hr before catching the 2nd and 3rd placed teams. We rode together back through Forest before the last climb split the 3 of us. Sitting in 4th with around 20km to go I turned the pace up on all the flats and downhills and we managed to eventually get a gap and hold onto 3rd place and gain a 4 minute buffer through the final 5km of single track before the last rail trail home. 

Coming across the line I was pretty stoked with the sense of achievement from completing the day's ride. It was such an adventure to be riding at such a good pace being surrounded by quality riders and getting to check out a wide variety of trails. It was interesting to see the different riders abilities come out to play at different stages during this stage. Once I was told to move away from the finish line feed zone, Shane I headed straight to the Corner Store Cafe for a MTB Surprise Milkshake. These things are great and I highly recommend!

Day 2 started at 6.15am. The morning once again was quite chilly and I opted to start in the rain jacket again. It was much sooner during this stage that I took the jacket off as the climbing started early and there was no rain this time. There were sections of track that I'm sure I had ridden before as part of Otway marathons however, I generally wasn't sure what to expect. One of the things I learned early on was it was far more fun on the front downhill. The amount of dust that we were generating was at times crazy. There were occasions where I almost had to come to a complete stop to wait for the dust to clear when descending. This stage had quite a few really fun downhills. I am glad I packed the Mach 429SL as with the dually I could just let it go and enjoy the speed. At the 45km feed I made an effort to ride ahead of Shane to try and get him a bottle and get on the way ASAP. The plan was to gain a 20 second advantage where we could just take it easy for a couple of minutes until the boys caught up. This seemed to work OK from my perspective and we got a small rest window however, it seemed to upset at least one of the elite riders who couldn't find his bottle as quickly. He made me feel so bad I had the plan to ride ahead of him at the next feed, find his bottle and pass it to him. I don't plan on upsetting people when I race, I was just trying to buy some more time that we could stay with the top few guys. The next hill was the last time I saw top 3 teams. I wasn't really noticing the hill at the 55km mark however, Shane and a couple of other teams were. A group of 6 of us reached the top of the last significant climb at the 74km mark and we swapped turns until the last single track to try and achieve a good race time. Riding through the last single track we started to concede some more time to the group that we were with and with a final rail trail and hill sprint we managed to finish in 5th place for the day. Far enough behind the other riders that we moved back into 4th overall. Day 2 ended up being closer to 110km which was significantly shorter. While it didn't have the ocean views it had some really fun downhill fire trails.

The 2 man team event is a new thing for me. I haven't done anything like it before. It is a great way to share some memories but I can image some frustration occurring between unequally matched riders who have performance goals. I can highly recommend this event to anyone that wants a good challenge. It's not a technically demanding race as there was barely any single track. While there are some steepish descents, they are mostly fire road and can be ridden slowly. With the amazing feed zones and the option to have bag drops the logistics are really taken care of to ensure all riders have the opportunity to finish. Next year when I head back, it will either be with someone that is going to rip my legs off each day and provide me with a serious training weekend or I will pair up with my wife to just enjoy the journey. Either way, this event is such an adventure I would really like to come back again.

Thanks Norm and Jess for putting on such a great event. I really appreciate the opportunity to attend this event.  

Thanks Shane for being a great team mate and working the logistics to make this all happen for me :)