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Stage 6 - night race

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Stage 6 took place over the same course as the morning time trial just under lights and with a mass start.
Have to pass out a thanks to Dicko for the Lupine lights which did a fantastic job as a helmet mount, I also had my lights on the bars for extra power.

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Stage 5 - Time trial - 22kms

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Thursday morning was the day of the time trial. Thankfully I wasn't starting until after 10 which was most welcome after the early start the morning before.
We set off at 30 second intervals, the loop started at the golf course along sandy buggy tracks until we hit singletrack.

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Stage 4

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Today was the longest stage of the week and meant a very early start. The night before we'd dropped our bikes off for transport to the aboriginal community of Santa Theresa, the start location some 70kms from Alice Springs.

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Stage 3

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Stage 3 started out at the Telegraph Station which meant a ride of about 7km to the start line.
The weather today had cleared to a reveal blue skies and cool temperatures so perfect riding conditions.

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Stage 2

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This stage is short (300m) but straight uphill to the lookout at the top of Anzac Hill. The elevation change is about 30m which starts of quite shallow but the gradient tops out about 19% around 2/3rds of the way up, but then flattens out for about 30m before rising again around a corner to the finish.

Riders are set off at 30 second intervals with the slowest from the Stage 1 going 1st and fastest last. The atmosphere on the hill was superb with both riders and spectators watching and cheering riders up the hill.

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Stage 1

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This stage rolled out from the event centre, the Chifley, in the centre of Alice Springs at 9am. The rain had fallen on Alice from Saturday evening and throughout Sunday meaning that there were some puddles but the trails had drained pretty well so were almost perfect.

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Convict 100 - Womerah doesn't get any easier!!

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This being the first endurance mtb race I entered in Australia back in 2009 I will always come back and enjoy the challenge that it presents. Last year was the first time I managed to ride under 5 hours (4:51) and this year I set myself a target of wanting to finish in the 4:30-4:40 range. Although I've not followed any structured training since mid 2012 I have ridden a lot of base kms and in the last few weeks I upped the intensity to try and build some endurance as the Womerah Range is always a battle for me as fatigue takes hold.

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6th is an improvement..

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So Saturday evening was the final round of the Camelbak WSMTB 4 hour, despite the rains the organisers were on the ball and communicating early to notify that the event was going ahead as planned.
Thanks again to all the volunteers, WSMTB really seem to have the organisation well oiled and ran perfectly.
I'd arrived early to have a practice lap based on advise from some riding friends. I'm glad that I did, just to know how to ride the rocky sections and get a feel for the high number of switchbacks.

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Happy with 7th

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I decided that I would join an MTB Club and do some short xc riding this year. I'd joined WSMTB last week and signed up to ride the 2nd round of the CamelBak 4 hour as my opening race, this was a bit of a learning expereince as this was my first time riding Yellomundee and riding solo laps.
Have to say that the organisation was fantastic so it's great to see that WSMTB is a well run and organised club, clearly this is down to the people that volunteer and take the time to make the events the success they are, so well done to all.

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2nd Full Fling

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So this was my second time out riding the Fling having ridden it in 2011.
My goal going into the race was to get as clsoe to 5 hours as possible with anything under 5 being a bonus. I feel that my main weakness in enduro races is the final third where I feel flat and no amount of nutrition will keep me going, however I have been completing some longer training rides hoping to draw out some stamina for the final push.

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