Last time I raced the track was two years ago—it was one of my first races in Brisbane since moving north from Sydney—and I remember liking the track. I also remember riding past the feedzone and people telling me to smile as I shook my head and chewed my stem. So arriving at the race, I wasn't sure whether I did actually like the course or just found it a grovel-fest.
Oh well, only one way to find out! The course is a 'true' XC MTB course, with oodles of climbing, some rocky rock gardens, whoop-de-doos, loose off camber corners and sketchy descents. That means for me, when I have good form, I can usually nail the climbs and rely on my okay technical capacity to carry me down. Hopefully in one piece.
The women's field lacked Willett, who sadly bunged her ribs up again while pretending that riding 24hrs is cool (so still think 24hr racing's cool, Jodie?). But we did have the full Team Awesome in attendance making their presence known in the Elite Women's race, with Miss Maduna and Miss Stoklasa on the start line.
The gun went off and immediately I struggled to find my pedal, my shoe was already gunked with mud! An omen? Perhaps...
Leading the climb up the hill (once my foot was in) I thought "gee whiz, this is the hardest race I have don ever and I am a minute into it", a pretty reasonable thought when you're body's freaking out. By the second climb I had a gap and I tried to ride consistently the first few laps. I knew I had to climb well, because I was up against Miss Maduna, who is a world-class descender and could put time into me on the tough stuff!
Just hang in there AB.....
I grabbed a bottle heading into lap three which, after climbing up the first grassy climb and hanging a left, my bottle cage promptly spat out on the fast descent. I realised what this meant...over an hour with nothing to eat on a hot and windy day on a climbing course was a recipe for disaster.
I tried to focus my thoughts and not freak out too much, but by the fourth lap I had dug myself a bit of a hole. I grabbed a coke bottle, and sunk it like a submarine. It didn't touch the edges and I was aware of my decreasing speed with my increasing dehydration.
Being mindful of trying to ride the climbs in the same gear lap after lap, I tried to undertake some damage control to slow the mushroom cloud effect. I was blowing up very slowly, from lack of nutrition, which is a more insidious way to blow than just working outside your capabilities, I have found out.
You can work for longer, at a less-diminished speed than a blow up from purely working outside your capabilities, but it seems like it takes longer to feel normal again. And longer to recover!
I wasn't putting anymore time in on Kylie, and having a good hard stack and a few hypoxia-driven foot-outs, I was managing to keep her a couple of minutes behind without her closing in. But I held it until the end—phew!
Kylie, aka Miss Maduna, rider and member of Team Awesome...DHer, 4Xer, XCer...is there anything this chick can't do?
I was WRECKED! The last lap felt like months. I was having no fun at all out there, I think probably mainly due to my lack of nutrition. I managed to get one gel in during the whole affair, and one full bottle of half-strength coke. Not enough for working at 92%...but things don't always go as planned and i'm sure it's good preparation for some bigger races working through that.Afterwards, I just felt shattered. Not even hungry, just empty. The first race in a few months, my system didn't know what to do—it had shut down from lack of food and too much sun I think! It was great for Kathy and Sam and Bec'n'Trav to come out, much appreciated for the yelling! And a thanks to JP and the multitasking Dad—Matt D for feeding me.
My sweet 2x9 setup did me well, hardly moving out of the 42T ring except for one pinch climb. I must say though, that not riding my 26" race bike too often, usually riding my 29er singlespeed, I know which wheel size I would like to be racing in all disciplines this year! 29 is the way forward guys...
On a final note, Aido took out the mens, doing 7-laps in not much longer than it took me to do 5 (eep!). Glenn was not far off the pace, he's really riding fast now and has improved a lot towards the end of this year! Donna Dall also managed a sneaky third in elite women, her first race in the elite ranks post-anklebiters (whoohoo!), so it was Cyclinic kits all around!
Cheers to Hubcap for the pics :P