24hr Solo World Champs, Canberra

9th-10th October saw the 24hr Solo World Champs in Canberra, its been 3 weeks since and I figured I better write a race report.
I found out that I had qualified for this race about a year ago and thought I would head over and do it. Qualifying meant not sucking at the 2009 Moonride 24hr Solo, this also happened to be my 1st 24hr solo race and I ended up in hospital after it (but I didnt suck). Figured I had a year to train and prepare, but really, how do you train for a 24hr solo event aside from lots of long rides?
The year went pretty quickly, I figured I would head over and compete in the race and not get too serious, I was going to have fun and that I did.

I would have never imagined I would be racing a course like this for a 24hr Solo event, my laps were around 1 hour 25 minutes and the course was very technical. All quite different to the sub 30 minute laps and flat, smooth course the Moonride offered. But this was a World class event!

I shared a site at the race with a friend from Wellington which kept setup costs down. We were all very organised, the whole event was very well orgainsed.

The race started at 12pm and we ran a short distance to our bikes and soon we were on the singletrack. The course was 18kms long and consisted of what I would call 4 sections. The 1st section was a technical uphill with lots of sharp switchbacks, rocks to climb over etc, I think I liked this section best as I found it the most fun to ride. This climb took us to the top of the course, we would cross this path again later on in the lap. Section 2 was the downhill section that followed, it was technical and rocky. On this downhill section we would meet a track called Pork Barrel, this was a very technical track with dropoffs and all sorts of things to climb over and negotiate. It took me a couple of laps to get properly comfortable riding this whole section with my seat up. Seat down would have been a  breeze as this is how I often enjoy the technical stuff, but I figured in this sort of race I should ride with it up. Once at the bottom we would get onto section 3 where we had some wide 4WD track, some long uphills, a few short downhills and some good pinch climbs. I found this part of the track particularly boring. Section 3 would take us back up to the top where we would cross paths with where we were with the top of section 1, a bridge had been constructed over the track. There was also the only aid/fuel station at this point. Section 4 followed with some more single track and then onto some very fast smooth flowy track that would take us back down eventually to the event village.

I raced from 12pm to 10:30pm at night, I stopped each lap for a new bottle, I ate some food and had a gel. I believe my hydration and feeding was very good and well organised for the event and this was thanks to my partner Candice. I would usually stop for around 3-4 minutes.
I pulled into the pits at around 10:30pm, I had just had a rather sketchy lap, I was tired and fatigued, it was dark and I no longer felt too confident riding down the technical downhill, I felt like I would make a mistake and I had had previously plenty of close calls. I was racing this for fun after all and decided I would get a sleep in, I thought I might as well get a decent sleep in too and slept until 4am. We had stretchers to sleep on that were borrowed from a friend in Canberra, they were ideal.

I was back on my bike and racing again at 4:30am, I managed to get 4 more laps in finishing the race at 10:30am. I could have got another lap in and the race allowed you to finish up until 1pm but I felt like packing it in. I ended up with a result of 11 laps which meant I had come 39th in my category (out of 50) and 282 overall (out of 264 starters).

I didn't see any spiders or snakes or other nasties out there while I raced, I did have a Kangaroo leap out in front of me though and I did see magpies dive bombing other racers.

Awesome event, definitely world class, the organisers did a brilliant job!
This was the hardest race I have ever done and an awesome experience too.

PNP Stage 2 - Wainuiomata

We had great weather for the 2nd round of the PNP so I decided to take my race bike + I couldn't face having to ride up that firebreak on a Singlespeed. If it was going to rain for this race I had decided I would not register as I still hadn't got over my cold.

I lined up on the start line with the Enduro men, the biggest class of the PNP with around 40 entrants, I was near the back but after the start count down completed I sped up to the group in front. I entered the fire break road with the leading bunch and raced to the top, some people dropped off but I remained at the front. It was a tough climb and my lungs exploded with pain - I guess that's what having a cold does to you. There were some steep pinch climbs near the top where I jumped off my bike and ran up as did others. Then we were at the top.

We were all neck and neck, about 4 of us, we weren't in front though, there was a guy further ahead we were chasing.

We followed the ridgeline to the start of Labyrinth track, I was 4th to enter in our chasing group and then at that point everyone seemed to slow down. The racer in front of me was very slow down Labyrinth and almost came to stand-stills on the 180 degree corners, though there wasn't much room for passing he would let me through either. Unfortunately a whole lot of riders had caught up to me as well. The guy finally let me through and a couple of others when we got to Snail trail. I barreled down the track but quickly caught up to the leading group, a 1 guy let me through and then there were no more places to pass. We go to the bermed switchbacks and I was hard on the tail of the rider in front and then from out of nowhere Tryfan with his bike flew over our heads and landed in front of us, he had hit a kicker on one of the corners, it was the most amazing thing I have even seen before my eyes in a race!!
At the bottom of Snail Trail Tryfan indicated the shortcut we were allowed to take and I followed him down there, everyone else went straight ahead. I am not sure if it was much of a shortcut for me as I believe I lost a couple of positions.

I then raced the rest of the race without seeing any of that leading group, I caught up with Tryfan though and rode a section of the race with him.

I dropped my seat for B-Line which im glad I did as this aided to a quick decent and later on I dropped my seat again for Spoonhill which was very muddy and rough.

I sprinted across the finish getting a 5th placing with 1:21:42, it was a close finish for the top 5. It felt like it had been a good race for me and I had enjoyed it more than Makara, though today my cough is worse than it was :(

Day Night Thriller training ride

This would be the 3rd time, 2nd 12hr Solo I would do of the Day Night Thriller. I had never found the course particularly exciting in the past but we we told due to logging they had changed the course. Unfortunately the course wasn't any better, just slightly different.
I wasn't competing in the Day Night Thriller for fun, but more for practice for the 24hr Worlds next month.

2 weeks ago I competed in the 1st round of the PNP, unfortunately is was a miserable day and rained throughout the race and unfortunately for me I got very sick from this. I had the the following week off work which worried me for upcoming Day Night Thriller.

We were pretty well organised for the Day Night Thriller, we had a good setup, we were practiced.

I was then lined up at the Start line with the rest of the competitors, we were stretched across this field and there was a lot of us. Actually there was a massive amount of us at the start line, more people I have ever seen on any start line aside from the 160km Taupo round the lake.
We had the count down from ten and then started. We all raced across this short field and then into this right corner. Things where very tight, I was mid field and if felt like everyone had their elbows out. We then got onto the course and things were very congested, I felt like I was crawling along at times it almost impossible to pass the thick throng of riders, I was in a huge traffic jam.

I rode the 1st 2 laps quite aggressively, constantly passing people, trying to work my was past all the slow riders that had started ahead of me and there was a lot of them.
By the 4th lap I had slowed down and settled into a pretty good pace that I was happy with, but still constantly passing people. I felt like I was using more energy calling to pass than actually riding the course. There were a lot of riders on the course, much much more than the Moonride, fortunately there were many places to pass.

After 4 hours I started getting some mean back pain and this continued to get worse, I also wasn't feeling so good, I guess I was still recovering from being sick. After 7.5 hours of riding non stop I pulled into my pits and had a sit down. I wasn't feeling so good, my legs were fine but my back was sore, I lacked energy and motivation. It then started to rain and I thought given the circumstances I would pull out.

The Day Night Thriller wasn't a race for me, it was a good 7.5 hour training ride.

PNP Stage 1 - Makara Peak

Last time I entered a PNP race on a Singlespeed bike I finished last, so I didn't hold high hopes for the 1st race in the series. Combined with a flu like symptoms, a sore throat and it was raining heavily outside, if I hadn't pre-entered already I would have stayed home in bed.

Often when people see a Singlespeeder they think of a fast rider, I am not that person, I am not fast on a singlespeed. I had initially planed to enter my race bike, my (geared) Blur XC, but I just couldn't face the servicing nightmare after a good thrashing in the rain. After all aren't singlespeeds more reliable on wet weather rides? And I pre rode the course last week on my SS and all wasn't too bad.

Feeling soft I entered the Enduro class, I didnt want to race T3 and I had some friends that I often rode with entering this class so I felt it would be nice and competitive.
On the start line the rain started up again (it had stopped briefly) and it pretty much didn't stop until well after the race had finished.
I felt the race went pretty well for me, at times I felt I didn't have a big enough gear and at other times I felt a bit fatigued on the climbs. Throughout the race I held my position pretty well and not many people passed me and I did pass a few. On Nikau Valley I over steered on one corner and rode into the bank bringing pain to my foot that I managed to ignore for the rest of the race.
After more climbing I was at the top of North Face, this meant there was no more uphill. I also found that there was no more pads on my front disc brake and a sparingly amount on my rear. I managed to get to the bottom without crashing but there were plenty of sketchy moments where the use of effective braking would have helped greatly. I passed a few more riders.

I was across the finish line in 1:43:46 earning me 11th place, nothing to be proud about. The Singlespeed felt like it had had a good thrashing. I think I would have been a lot faster on my race bike but it was great knowing that it wouldn't need a overhaul before my 12hr solo in a couple of weeks (Day Night Thriller).

Unfortunately after the race, my cold kicked into full gear. Today as I write this I feel terrible and don't believe I will be back at work tomorrow either :(

The DMR thats not

It was my birthday recently so I thought I would treat myself to a new bike. I had been on the lookout for a replacement for my DMR Singlespeed, I was looking for something lighter in weight and with XC geometry, it also had to made from steel.

I had my eye on a Kinesis decade Virsa made from Tange Prestige and weighing in at 4.8lbs. Chain Reaction Cycles had these for sale in the UK and when the Emerald Green frame came in stock I ordered it.

There is a great review on the bike at Bike Radar which essentially sold me on the frame http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/decade-virtue-09-34708

Kinesis partnered with Upgrade Bikes who are responsible for DMR to make this frame. Under close inspection the Virsa looks a lot like a current model Trailstar but with XC geometry, lighter weight and without the ISIG tabs. The bike shares the same swopout system as the DMR for the rear dropouts.

I built the bike up with a combination of new and old parts - Reba 100mm forks, Stylo 700mm flat bars, Juicy 7 brakes, Stylo Cranks, Mavic/DMR/Hope SS specific wheelset. Running a gear ratio of 32:18 the bike weighs in at a modest 25.3lbs - quite a bit lighter than my old DMR.

On the trails the bike feels responsive and fast; the bike climbs quicker and easier than the DMR and descends almost as well. The bike runs a 69 degree head angle and with the 700mm bars this inspires confidence and allows the bike to handle beautifully downhill. The 71 degree seat tube allows for snappy acceleration and climbing ease. The bike has a low bottom bracket at just under 12" this makes the bike very fast on tight single track but it does suffer often from pedal strike. Kinesis Decade say the frame is designed for forks between 100mm and 130mm.

I have 2 rides under my belt so far on this bike and am loving it, there is no going back.

Its a shame I have this new bike and wont be competing at the Singlespeed Worlds in October.

Back into it

I recently got back from a work trip to Seoul, this meant I had been off my bike for over 2 weeks. I had visions of hitting the gym while I was away but this never happened. I was working long hours and coupled with the 30 something temperatures and high humidity at the end of my work day, exercise was the last thing on my mind.
Seoul was a great city but while I was there I wished for clean fresh air, there was quite a bit of smog in the city and every restaurant or pub we went into allowed smoking.
And I feel like in my couple of weeks away I have added some extra weight as certain clothes aren't fitting as well either.

I got back last Sunday afternoon and after a rest day on Monday I was back into my riding. I pushed my usual pace to the top of Makara and to my surprise my head was spinning when I reached the top. Wednesday night I hit the trails again with some (fast) friends and struggled to keep up, but at least this ride felt better than the previous days. Thursday I went for a run at lunch time to ensure that if I still wasn't feeling pain from the previous 2 days I would be that day. Friday I had off as I let my legs recover from the run. Saturday I got a text saying "hard and fast" this resulted in a couple of painful laps around Makara Peak with a couple of friends. And then today I have been out again repeating yesterday's effort but on my singlespeed.
Hopefully with this weeks effort I should be back into it.

Dawn 2 Dusk a 10hr Solo DH race

Run by the Rotorua Mountain Bike club, the Dawn 2 Dusk is a multi lap Downhill event (team or solo) into its 2nd year running.

There are 4 sets of tracks you ride to get to the bottom, you can ride these tracks in any order and any amount of times but you had to do a certain number of compulsory runs of each. This year there was a pedally loop which was Billy T, G-rock, Chestnut, Rollercoaster, Chinese menu. You had to do 1 lap of this, you had to do 2 of corners, 2 of Jumps and 2 of the National DH. You would get stickers at the end of each track to confirm you had done it. Unfortunately there was really no way to force people to ride the courses properly and people were taking shortcuts or missing sections of track out. The fastest tracks to the bottom were the DH and Jumps (with the shortcuts) and this is what people wanted to ride.

I entered last year as a solo but didn't take the race too seriously, I missed the start and treated the day as a fun day shuttling. This year I thought I would try and take the race a bit more seriously.

The race was a hard race to do competively as there are so many factors you need to take in to do well in this race. While the main factor is your riding ability and how quickly you can get downhill, your race can also depend on the shuttle trucks and how they transport you back up the hill. Last year there were problems with the shuttles, there were often huge wait times to get you back up the hill, thankfully this year this wasn't really a problem.

There were other problems though and myself and a couple of other riders faced them, this was where our bikes fell off a trailer transporting them to the top of the hill. The suspect trailer had been borrowed from the Christchurch Southstar shuttles operation where they drove smooth tarmac roads to the top of the Port hills, the Rotorua uphill was far from a smooth drive up.

If there was ever an argument for why someone would need a bashguard on their bike, I was a strong contender for one. At close to 12pm on the way back up to the top my bike was flung off the trailer wheel braces and landed hard onto the trailers edge hitting my bike's chainring square and hard warping it beyond belief. I guess I was pretty lucky that no other damage was caused. After assessing my bike I slowly rode down the jump track, I couldn't pedal, then went on the search for another chainring and some bolts for my bike.

My hopes for this race were now gone, I almost felt like giving up and thought I was going to have to. After asking around a bit, the Revolution Cycles (Transition Bikes) crew sorted me out. After a search, a replacement 34T chainring was found and a couple of bolts. I installed the chainring and bolts, I was only running 3 but this was enough if I took it easy and didn't pedal too hard out. I think I lost a couple of laps while I mucking around trying to fix my bike.

I continued the race but without the dedication I had had in the morning. The rest of the race was uneventful for me and I finished it getting 12th place (18 laps) out of the 36 solo riders.

Cheers to Helen for the photos

Running again

Busy today at work and then meetings after lunch I planned I could only get a 30 minute run in this lunch hour as it would take time for me to get ready before and after and of course I needed to eat lunch.

Of all the training I do I still find running the hardest. They say running requires 3-4 times more effort (energy) than cycling, so my 30 minute run today could be equalivant to a 2 hour bike ride.

It was raining and cold this lunch hour today and I forced myself out for a run, I thought today I would just run out to the point and back, a bit shorter than my short usual run. I would also step up the pace a bit too so that I would be sure to get back in my 30 minute allocated time frame. Out to the point and back was roughly 6kms. There wasn't many people running today, but this was understandable given the crap conditions.

Running on road doesn't do much for me in excitement terms, much like road bike riding. I need things to keep me interested, keep me going. One of those things is music via my iPod and the other is these little goals I set myself. When I talk about little goals I really mean I try to catch up to people and pass them, if someone passes me I try to match their pace. The catching people and passing them goal works well for me, its great passing people, makes me think I am doing well. The matching pace when I get passed goal often doesn't work so well and buggers me out quickly. Fortunately today I was only passing people.

Running today seemed like more work than last week, though I dont feel as sore it did feel harder. Not sure if that was due to the weather, my faster pace (was it really faster?) or was I just having an off day?
28.22 minutes later and I am back, happily under my 30 minute estimate. Shower, a quick lunch and i'm in time for my 1:30pm meeting.

A proper ride for the Nomad

Today was my 1st proper ride on my new Nomad bike, though technically it was the 3rd time I had ridden it. From the continuously non stop bad weather we have been having lately the rain had finally stopped for the morning. Riding in the rain I can do, riding in the cold I can do but both together I don't really enjoy. So fortunately it was just cold.

I rode to the top of Makara Peak, it was a pretty sifty ride, not too fast but a good pace. I was thinking North Face would be a muddy bog down so I opted for Ridgeline. When Ridgeline is this worn and slippery after rain, the track really shines - it was seriously a lot of fun.

Back at the bottom carpark I thought I would give the bike a quick rinse with the hose before I continued, unfortunately someone else with more gusto than brains accidentally drenched me with their high pressured hose.  At least they thought it was funny...

I continued on, next I thought I would ride up Salvation and then down Deliverance. Deliverance is another one of those great tracks when its wet, it keeps you on your toes. Fortunately Deliverance wasn't muddy at all, plenty of slippery rocks though for shits and giggles :)

Post ride thinking about how the bike performed. I felt its uphill performance was as expected, I run a short stem on it and a burly build. The bike climbs well and comfortably, though I wouldn't do any serious XC races on it. Downhill performance was good also but not as great as I expected, I think this was due to the feeling the DHX Air rear shock gave. As mentioned below the shock has a factory tune of High Compression and I think this is where the problem is. While this tune aids climbing ability with pro-pedal, downhill with pro-pedal turned off the shock feels too bouncy.
I have read that the small bump sensitivity isnt the greatest on the DHX Air and I can agree to this. I am going to have to have a good play around with the settings on this shock, there are plenty of them. Santa Cruz forums suggest putting a coil shock such as a DHX RC4 on the Nomad makes a massive improvement, apparently Push Industries recommend this also.
Maybe this is something I can look into later.

Bitterly cold commute

Thankfully most mornings aren't this cold over winter (or summer).

I knew it was cold this morning before I stepped out of the house, I thought the cold would be comparable to how cold it was yesterday, boy I was wrong.

3 Merino tops, 1 Merino legging, pair of shorts, 1 Hi Vis jacket and 1 rain jacket later I was ready to go I also had a pair of waterproof/windproof riding gloves. I decided not to wear my water absorbing waterproof labelled pants I usually wear when it rained and just went with the merino leggings today. I was riding to work today, I am a rain or shine cycle commuter.

There was a more rain on this morning's commute and it was much colder than yesterday, this insured I got cold very quickly and remained cold until I got to work. Fortunately my commute is not a long commute and can do it in around 20 -25 minutes, if I were to take my road bike I could clean it in 15 minutes. My trusty commuter is a Generation 1 DMR Trailstar single speed, I run a 34:18 gearing which I can spin at a decent speed. My commute to work includes hills a couple of ups then downs into town. The uphill combined with the single speed gearing help on days like today, they are a great way to try and warm up a bit or adjust my temperature from "very cold" to "cold" as was the case this morning.

I only saw one other cycle commuter on the way to work this morning but that is hardly surprising given the circumstances. We both threw glances at each other our expressions confirming how crazy each of us were. I arrived at work to an empty bike cage aside from the few other bone dry bikes that staff seem to store in there for an eternity, I saw 1 other guy locking up his bike. In the changing room while warming up my hands with cold water I laughed with 1 other at how crazy the commute into work today was.

I'm now assessing my commute to work this morning, while my shell protected my top half from the water, my bottom half got soaked. My face, ears, feet and hands got so cold they hurt while the rest of my stayed a bearable cold. I need to get some better gloves, find my balaclava and maybe get some booties/covers or something for my shoes. I also need to get some mud guards again, for my bike.