Training Log Archive: O-ing

Event: Australian MTBO Long Distance Champs
 

Astleys Tower. Long. Well now I have some idea what mud wrestling AND bog snorkelling feel like. This event was closer to those sports than the MTBO we are used to in WA. The overnight thunderstorm turned Poppet Head Park into a swamp, and crucially it was variable - so the track grading largely went out the window. That affected two of my early route choices, where I took the big track option (2) and the single track option (3). Neither worked out and now I was lying 14th, already 3.15 behind eventual winner Lee Merchant, and had been caught by Rick Armstrong (finished 7th) by two minutes. The next section took us through the hills, where the rain had less effect and with a couple of fastest splits I was up to 2nd. Foolishly chose to turn around and go back up a slime slide path for 7 and that cost me 1.30. Next was a wide slightly downhill forest road - normally I would expect to get up to 45 kmh on this type of track, but here 29 kmh was as fast as I could get along with a slide into the bushes on the side. Still I did get the fastest split again, taking 45 seconds out of the leader. Next was single track; single track which was a deep rut full of water with thin narrow slippery banks on either side. I was taking a full minute to go every 100m, falling off on both sides, mostly pushing the bike and swearing loudly (which didn't help). From there to the finish it didn't get much better and I just wasn't up to it. So I had made no navigational mistakes, made 3 poor route choices, but crucially was not able to ride in mud. Ended up third, 3.51 down. Overall have to be pretty happy; at least I retained 1 title; I was generally competitive and beat all of the Kiwis each day. To get better I will have to find a mud bath in WA if we have such a thing.

Event: Australian MTBO Middle Distance
 

Killingworth. Middle, 1st M50. So, I made the Australian team for the first time (after retiring from M21 with Ireland after last year). In fact finishing 9th in the Aus M21 a few years ago but being left out of the 2003 M40 Aus team provided part of the motivation to go and represent Ireland at MTBO WOC. Plus I was defending three titles from last years Aus Champs, and the fact that those were held in WA might have led some people to discount those results, so the pressure was on.

Overnight rain filled all the ruts and puddles at Killingworth but our course avoided the worst bits, so didn't really let us know what we were in for later. I started well, choosing a good wide route to 2 which put me in front on the splits and meant I caught Wildside rider (and former Easter winner) Darryl Smith. I stayed behind him for the single track to 3 but he hesitated there and I left him. I took a couple of routes that didn't pay off to 7 and 8 and suddenly he was back in front of me (having taken different, better options). But again he hesitated and I picked the best way to 9 and motored it. That leg was decisive on the splits and I was now nearly 2 minutes up on 2nd place Lee Merchant. There wasn't much left in the course, but I was a bit slow and made two dumb mistakes on 11 and 12, losing about a minute all up - enough for a 43 second winning margin - Darryl ended up third.

Sprint. A brief rain shower kept the tracks wet as we headed out for the Sprint course. I had a tentative start and was already 30 seconds down after a third of the course (2 controls). Here was where the wheels fell off. I chose the most direct route to 3 but that involved a section of slippery single track which was slow followed by the infamous 4wd/trail bike slalom course on an open firebreak. This firebreak crossed the map and was essentially a mudbowl. My first encounter with it wasn't good. It took me so long to make progress that I turned off it too early and made a parallel error, arriving at 4 instead of 3 just behind Geoff Todkill. By the way, Geoff, James Lithgow and I were the only 3 that participated in both the Oceania foot-O and the ANZ MTBO in the M50 class. Anyway I was now 13th overall, 2.40 down on the leader. Knowing where 4 was helped me to my first fastest split, but I didn't help my cause with the 5th fastest time on the last long leg. Finally woke up and knuckled down, knew I was running out of time and had the next 3 fastest splits to the last control and then gave away 2 seconds on the run in (I was held up by a Kiwi). Clearly that was never going to be enough, but I did pull up to 4th place, 1.34 down on the winner (Lee), 8 seconds off the podium, and at least ahead of all the Kiwis.

Slow Group and shortcut up Malcolm St at end

Large bunch sprint today, got a reasonable wheel (Frans) but the young guy was too quick - 3rd. End of a long winning streak at UWA sprint. First recorded loss since May 2006 - there were a couple of non-commented rides later in 2006, but I've won every contested sprint I've been in this year up till now. Did Chase group and got dropped on hills earlier.

C • why? 5