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Having done this race for the last 4 years I felt I had a pretty good understanding of the course and for the first time I had a proper race strategy to counter all the mistakes I have made in the past.

Eating was the first and biggest issue I have, easy fixed I thought so I set the Garmin to let me know to eat every 20 minutes. A Gel every 20 worked well even though it's a little lean for my 95kg frame my energy levels didn't fluctuate.

Awesome race event - so lucky with the weather - great conditions - see you next year!
Thanks to all the friendly MTB + organisers + supporters for making this event so good!Cheers, Dan

Well, this race was very much a last minute entry for me given I missed out on the Shimano 4 hour race at St James Estate the previous weekend due to flu. I'd not ridden the Convict before, but had heard that the 50km version was more a test of fitness than finesse. Still, with a holiday coming up, I thought it was a good opportunity to get in one last race before unwinding on a beach in Zanzibar

I have been reading these blog entries for a while and thought I would try to write my own.

So the convict 100, Well the 50k version anyway.
Last year was the first year I had done it after only doing two 50k races before it, I was a bit turned off by it being all on fire trail, road and no single track, Though I must admit that I’m glad that i did it, I had a ball and did it in 2:05 and I was happy with my time.

Moving onto this year and I thought well I bought this Cyclocross bike not long ago I might give it a try on it.

The convict was my first ever MTB marathon race in 2012, I remember it being hard and hating every hill with a passion. I eventually rolled in after 6.5hrs (ish).

After this I focused on hills as the core of my training - every hill I could find I went hard at. Last year I felt much stronger and pulled a 5:06, which I was super stoked with. I still felt the back end of the race was a let down (I hit a wall around 85kms), so made a note to increase core fitness and focus on nutrition.

Where does the time go? It doesn't feel like a year since we were last lining up in St Albans for this great race. A few different faces this time around however, sadly no Brian or Dicko, but Phil B, Minter and Chitts were all back having missed out last year for various reasons.

I really like the Dirtworks/Convict race for a number of reasons, the spectacular scenery, the course (no matter how many times you ride it, there's some pain in them hills) and its the race that I use to motivate my rides and fitness for the start of the year.

I've come a long way since that first event where 7 of my weekend warrior mates entered with some sort of notion it would take 3-4hrs so off we went in our baggies and heavy huck bikes, me with about 4 gels and a muesli bar. That year the course was a lot more difficult. It was a clover leaf, each with a big climb. The first was Jacks Track - going up what we all know as our fast descent not far from the finish. We did Blue Hill and another similar climb not far from there. After the first loop most of our team gave up and left so 3 of us persisted finishing 9:51!

I spent most of the week leading up to this race being very low key - early to bed, low stress week at work (I even left a triple farewell on Friday night after 2 hours) and staying away from the bike in order to give myself a fighting chance against the cold I had been battling since last week and which had interfered with last weeks james estate adventures. The result was I was pretty much fighting fit today, although with no time on the bike since the last race.

UPDATE: There are some advantages to finishing the same time as the women's champion! The C100 video is now up here: http://www.marathonmtb.com/2014/05/05/video-2014...
That's me at 2:05, finishing just in front of Jenny Fay! Very typical pounding on the pedals as I go over the line!

It’s Thursday night, May 1st, and I thought I’d take an opportunity whilst stuck in a computer lab waiting for a friend to write a pre-blog for Convict.