ps's blog

Got to the start late and was pushing my way through when I saw D-on so stayed and talked to him for a while. Had a fairly conservative start and stayed out of the wind as much as possible. Didn't have any real holdups until I got to early bath. Saw D-on climbing out the other side while waiting in the queue and didn't see him again until the finish. Got to transition feeling good, took my full 5 minutes to mix up some more rehydration and got going again.

My brother qualified for the solo worlds in February and suggested we enter a team in the Scott to keep us busy while supporting him in the pits. By the time the entries opened there were a few people putting up their hand to come down so we entered a mixed team of 6.
First time at Stromlo for me, most of the other team except Cathy, my wife had done past Scotts or been there before so we settled on me doing the opening lap.

Only got the leave pass approved on Wednesday evening so not much in the way of preparation or expectations. Started midfield which was about right for me.
It ended up being a beautiful day with temperatures up to 29 near the top of the main climb. Lots of bitumen and dirt road however the single track was fairly technical. After the first hour the single track settled down and provided some good riding. There is about 140m of climbing on each lap and most of it is in the dirt road with a steep section of 100m or so just near the end of the climb.

About a month ago I agreed to go up to QLD for my first lap race as support crew for my brother. He had already qualified for the 24hr worlds however it was at the shortened del rio race so he was looking to experience the full 24 hours of fun. He got me into mtb racing earlier in the year and again managed to convince me that entering the solo category would allow me to ride a few laps with him in the later stages of the race.

Stayed with the in-laws in Kiama the night before and left a bit late to get to the start on time. Was still getting dressed during the rider briefing and got to the briefing area just as a group went down to the start line so did my warmup in the 100 meters across the car park to the start line.