You are hereBlogs / Blades_Utd's blog / Capital Punishment 2014

Capital Punishment 2014


Blades_Utd's picture

By Blades_Utd - Posted on 17 March 2014

Re: This ride meeting: 
Capital Punishment 2014
Team: 
Sxc Racing
Status: 
Finished
Time: 
03:57:18
Position (Overall): 
51
Race Category: 
100Km/Male/Veteran
Position (Category): 
12

This being my first time at CP I wasn't sure what to expect. Knowing that there was an untimed section and unsure how tough the climbs were, I went in with a little trepidation, but as well informed as I could be based on conversations with friends (Brian, Dicko, Dave, Minter, etc etc). A drive down on Friday afternoon soon went awry as traffic was as bad as I've experienced (when will i learn!). Met DoC at registration, had dinner and did the car drop off.

I started in W2 as when entering I would have thought W1 was purely for the elites. I managed to get onto the 2nd row and we were soon away and rolling. I squeezed around on the firetrail uphill section and about 4 of us broke off the front of the group. Soon enough we encountered the first single track and picked up the back markers from W1. There was a bit of holding up but nothing too bad, I just settled in and enjoyed the trails as much as I could and maintain momentum.

I slowly started picking off people and was surprised to catch up to DoC and Chitts riding together with a couple of others. I got on the front of the group at a section of firetrail and hoped that they would be able to stick with me through the singletrack. I wasn't sure of the distances as my garmin was showing about 5kms less than the trail side distance markers so when we hit the road crossing I thought that would be the untimed section but little did I know that there was a bit of a grind before that arived.

I rolled into the feed section and Dicko was there having a stretch so I grabbed some water and a handful of sweets and rolled on keen not to wait around for too long getting cold. There was a biggish group of us waiting to reenter the race and a few gusy went ahead. We waited for DoC to latch on then rode in with the intention of sticking together but the hill climb split us almost immediately. I could see Dicko slowly distancing me so set myself for a solo ride to the end. At the top of Stromlo I caught a sidewall and my rear tyre started to leak. I was getting the tell tale squirm from the tyre and was praying it would hold on for the descent to the end so I really nursed it down the descent not pushing into the berms and avoiding any rear wheel hits, insult to injury I was passed on the tarmac and couldn't even sprint to the line.

Overall I'm very happy with how the race went, a top 10 would have been nice but given the strength of the field I have no complaints at all. Looking to race Willo now Smiling

Some notable mentions:
Minter (Warthog) - 2nd in cat. amazing racing, you could compete in elites no trouble
Dicko - 3rd in cat, another very strong performance and a great lead into the Epic to come
And to all other friends that I ride with great effort all around.
Well done all

jp's picture

Well done. Glad the tyre held out!

Tristania's picture

Bummer about the sidewall... I almost had a similar experience. It's a pity we all got separated at the end of the untimed section... sounds like all who started in our little group ended up being solo!

garyinoz's picture

Great ride Michael, wave 2 didn't hold you back and it was tough competition in all categories. Thanks for the lift, see you at the Willo.

Chitts's picture

A great result and testament to your training!

Dicko's picture

Nice ride for your first CP Mike.

You will no doubt join us up front next year. Good riding mate, you've trained hard with us over the last couple of months and the results are definitely showing.

Lets keep it up - race season is just kicking off in full !

D

GAZZA's picture

You'll be catching up with Minter in no time if you keep training with him? Eye-wink

doc's picture

Superb ride Michael. Great result from a strong start and finish. Wish I could have kept the pace.

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

Best Mountain Bike