The 2009 Australian Solo 24hr Championships

All I can say is wheeeeee.
What fun was had,

I started this race with the plan of go out fast for 6 hours, relax during the night time then once dawn broke, go out and put the hammer down again.
I had all my food from Hammer Nutrition HEED and Hammer Gels.
These combined with a Honey Banana sandwich would give me the right amount of carbs and calories per hour I was after


I ended up getting the lucky number 20, which also meant I got the "call up" to the race start
I decided to take it a little easier to start with and this worked out good for me for a while as I had a bit of a crash the month before.
I managed to hold a steady pace, but was disappointed the amount of people who would passed me.
The track was in the best form I had seen it in, it was also run backwards compared to the last 2 years and was also 1.5 km longer at 9.5km, I gave myself approx 35mins to get around each lap at a pleasant pace to last the day.

5:30pm came around and it was time to put on lights, I got to camp where my crew asked how I was going and I told them I felt a great but sluggish, we then discovered that my rear brake had closed up a little and was creating some very serious brake drag, to the extent you could only really get one rotation spinning the wheel by hand.
So off to the free bike shop mechanic who fixed my brake and also put on a new rear deurailleur for me as the old one was toast.

I also had some new bulbs to test from AY-UP which are super bright.
These are still in testing mode so I cant tell you about them.....yet

With myself all sorted for the night time, fresh jersey, Ipod in one ear, fresh painkillers, I hit the track with a renewed energy,.
Wow this is fun I was thinking to myself, I kept catching people left, right and centre, I eventually caught up with a few mates and rode a couple of social laps with them. Come 2 hours later it was time for a battery change and maybe some arm warmers.
It does make such a difference to actually stop for 5 minutes before getting back out on track, it somehow makes you feel refreshed.
I headed out again to hear the MC tell everybody there was big front coming in which was carrying a-lot of rain.
3 laps later the rain started coming down, I pulled in to grab my "waterproof" nylon jersey which mainly keeps you warm rather than dry.

The rain then really started to come down hard, I don't think I could have timed my transition any better. Out again I was feeling good in the legs and most importantly in the head, It was now 10pm the track was wet and slippery , mud was everywhere, I was having the time of my life. This was fun VERY fun.

Come 1:30am, having been on the bike for close to 13hours with as short as breaks as possible my back started playing up, I had had the recommended amount of painkillers for a 24hr period in 12hrs. This is where i decided to stop and sit down, enjoy a cold beer and have a nap/ rest until dawn.

zzzzzzzzzzzzz.


Dawn. The alarm goes off nearly scaring me awake where i turn over and switch it off only to wake up an hour later.
Dry clothes go on, I lube my chain then I hop on a dry but caked in dry mud bike.
wheee with the rain gone and a few hundred laps done on the trail, the course was in a perfect condition for bike riding. I kept catching mates until the 2nd last lap where I put the hammer down to get back to transition where i grabbed my single speed and waited for the boys to come in for the last lap of fun.
Here we rode together encouraging the other riders who were going for the money prize.

We crossed the line in unison to the cheers of the crowd.

All of us are waiting for next years event.

2 weeks and counting

So, I have 2 weeks to go until the Australian 24hr solo Championships.

My training hasn't exactly gone to plan. A recent tree hugging incident left me with a twisted back and a sore neck so I had a whole week off the bike which also meant weddings, buck nights and a whole lot of party. I'm pretty sure this is the best way to taper for a race.

My race plan looks like the following, Race the 6 hrs, come night time it will be a case of lap my mates and then continue throughout the night with them and then in the morning hopefully I'll still be on the bike, with the help of a hot coffee and some breakfast (real food), come in to the finish in the top 10.

I'm planning to go through a-lot of Heed, Gels and Powerbars.

New Sponsor!!!

I'm proud to announce that I have Hammer Nutrition www.hammernutrition.com.au on board as a sponsor.
I love their HEED electrolyte drink and have been using it for the past 2 years, it's so much better than Endura, I also use their Hammer Gel, the combination of the both keep on the bike all day and all night.

Training wise I've been mixing it up a bit with a bit of swimming and some time in the gym.

We have the first round of the Working Week series this weekend, which will fairly hot out at Lithgow, I'll remember to use the redbull for the last couple of laps.

Bloody weather

I've tried and tried to get out on the bike.
But going for a "fun" ride in 35 Degree heat, is, just, plain, silly.
I've wanted to do my 25hrs a week and I haven't come close.

Monday was just a day off as I went SingleSpeeding down in the nations capital (Canberra).
Saturday was wake up at be ready to leave for 7AM for the 3+ hours drive to Sparrow hill.
Sparrow Hill has become my favourite trail, it is very SS friendly with fast flowing singletrack to boot. I think i rode just about every single peice of trail there in one lap which is 30+km I think.
A quick stop in Dixon for lunch and we bump into Josh from CBD/ Wannaride.
He was very, very keen to go for a blast around Majura, why wouldn't you be?
Geez keeping up with him was a mission, I felt bad if I slowed down as I know he's a pretty fast rider.
We did a lap of what would be the 24hr solo course at what seemed to be full speed.
Josh left us to go around again and again, at what seemed to be a more gentlemanly pace.

Sunday was Mt Stromlo day, After waking at 9:30ish (the latest sleep in I've had for ages.)
Mt Stromlo is pretty vicious trail when your still tired from the day before especially when your on a Singlespeed, and a heavy one at that.
It was hot,very it was exposed, very exposed and my favourite trail got logged!!!
The world cup climb was almost impossible for me, and after the fun lap before, i was soft. But will i be back?
Of course I will!

Tuesday I was commuting home and broke a spoke, and it was hell windy, then when i pumped up the tyre on the SS i blew a patch off, so I go to put in a new tube and it had a hole in it too! Funny that as it was the tube I flatted at Stromlo, arrgghh
I find another one put it in and lo and behold....it also has a hole.
It felt like a comedy of errors, I patch them up with the remainder of my glue.
Then I realise I am now missing a chainring bolt.
Screw this I say to myself.
I put on my boardies cross the road then go for a 500m swim across the road...


Finally I can relax........unless there is a shark nearby.

It's been a while

I totally forgot I had this going,

Anyway the Christmas break is over (Happy New Year one and all) and I should get back to "training".
So far I've only commuted to work and gone on fun rides with mates.

Let's see I have the Solo 8hr series, the Sydney 8hr, and the Easter Solo 24hr Champs.
I really want to do well at the Easter champs this year round, as I've been plagued by injury and more injury.

So at the moment it goes a little like this.
Morning Commute = 40min Fixie ride uphill from Manly to St Leonards
Afternoon commute = 30min fixie commute St Leonards to Manly
Mon: morning commute / weights.gym / Afternoon commute / 2hr mtb ride
Tue: morning commute / weights.gym / Afternoon commute / 2hr mtb ride
Wed: morning commute / Relaxing Swim / Afternoon commute / 2hr mtb ride
Thu: morning commute / weights.gym / Afternoon commute / Indoor rock climbing 2 hrs
Fri: morning commute / weights.gym / Afternoon commute / 2hr mtb ride
Sat: 150km Fixie ride @ 3:1 ratio
Sun: chillout or race or social ride with mates.


sooooo hopefully doing this I'll get stronger and a little faster.

I also finally got some new forks
Manitou MRD Minute 100mm travel
these have improved my fatigue level 200%
anyway thats all for now
see you on the track!!!

And here we go again

So I've decided to enter another 24hr solo race,
This time the race is in it's 10 year anniversary at the famous Mt Stromlo.
I really really really want to get a top 10 finish this time.
Last year I stopped for a while and ended 23rd
I really need to do some core work, I'll have to pull out that copy of 8 Minute Abs,
Trust me this does really work! I just get embarresed doing it in front of my flatmates.

I have been lazy of recent times and have been catching the ferry.
I just have to bight the bullet and ride,
Actually it's home time so I better ride home as I'm all out of credit for the ferry.....

11 out of 24 is pretty bad

Normally I'm very nervous come race day, for some reason I was relaxed, maybe to relaxed for this one, drawing number 17, I didn't think i was going to be seeded, from memory it was the top 15 who got a seeded place, then I get the call up, geez this is alright.
We line up and talk anxiously between us with a little bit of sledging with best wishes thrown in for good measure.
The countdown says 30 seconds, 15 seconds, bang goes the start gun, I take off in a valiant effort only to have the guy in front of me stall, meaning I come to a complete stop as the rest of the field passes me by. I try not to let it worry me as we are 10 seconds into a 24hour race I have all day to make up for lost time.

Being so used to other races and their mass starts, it pays to get a good start before the single track, especially when there's 400 people on track.
This time around however there are 120 of us and almost 10km of sweet flowing single track.

I didn't have a look at the track the day before the race, I didn't think I would really have to, then talking to some of the guys I normally ride with, it was the opposite way to the previous year so those long gruelling climbs were now fun bits of down.
The track, honestly I didn't like it, I didn't like it at all, And I don't know why.
Maybe I just had to get used to it. There were no pinch climbs, in fact I liked the fire road sections. Maybe I just wasn't used to it or I had spent too much time on the road.

How did I go?
Well, It took me 2 laps to warm up as I didn't want to push myself to hard to early,
I decided to put it into a gear I knew I could pedal comfortably and basically enjoy myself for the day, then push at night, then keep on turning the pedals over come dawn,
It didn't happen or I didn't happen. So casually riding around being overtaken by only the really fast guys I'm having fun, A mate of mine B-Rad on the rigid single-speed catches me so I decide to ride with him for a while, we talk and laugh to each other as we are actually having a-lot of fun out there, eventually we part ways as having gears sometimes has it advantages.

Come to the 6.5 hour mark I was feeling great,
I had just taken and lost 3rd place in my division (35-39),I had already been lapped by 1st and 2nd in my class, (these guys also came 4th and 5th over all.)
My achillies tendon on both legs were aching along with the balls of my foot, so the next time I come past transition I make the call for painkillers, I bust out another few laps and pull into the pits where Big Dog and Ray apply some neurofen gel and massage my achilles (many thanks guys)
OK, give that 5 minutes to sink in then get told by Big Dog that I cant have any more painkillers for another 8 hours.(or i will die!!!)
I set out to get my 3rd place back and put the hammer down just a little more,
I get halfway around the track and the pain comes back, hmmm this is no good, guess I'll have to harden up and deal with it.
One lap later I get to one of the choppy downhill sections and make the decision the continuing is probably going to do some long term damage, I get to the fast sweeping flat section of singletrack and it hurts, I back it off and tell the guys that im not doing any more.

18 laps and 10.5 hours of riding, IF, i had kept that up I could have finished really well, but I didn't and thats that,

What did I eat?
HAMMER GEL every 2nd lap and half a POWERBAR every 2nd lap, 1 750ml bidon of HEED every 2 laps.

I really really wanted to do so well, but unfortunately it just wasn't my day

now I'm sitting here washing clothes and making cakes out of all the bananas I didn't eat....mmmmm...banana cake.

next year I'll be back with a vengence, and hopefully a finish time.