GAZZA's blog

After feeling crap due to a virus at last years Fling i was determined to beat my place and time of 11th in Masters and 5hrs 10mins.
I knew i had a sub 5 in me somewhere. I just had to dig deep and find it.
Although I'd consider myself the fittest I've ever been ( having done 34 races to date this year) I knew i didn't have the distance in my legs as most of my training and racing have been sub 2hrs. Which in turn has brought my top end through the roof but has done very little for my endurance.

I'll start with a brief story of what happened in the previous nights 20km race,

During a cold night race with a blistering pace, I'd managed to get in the second group with Dicko,another Mate from Manly, Myself and another Rider, We all stuck together for the whole 20km loop, just near the end the bloke that had been sucking our wheels for the whole time made a sprint for the lead, We didn't know why but realised pretty soon that the finish line had crept up on us and he claimed the win with Myself in 2nd and Dicko in 3rd and my mate from Manly missing out on a well earned podium spot.

I went into this race having no idea what time i was going to do as i wasn't here for it last year and had a shocker (for no apparent reason) the year before.
I knew i was fitter than previous years but having had a throat virus for about 4 weeks in the lead up i knew my training hadn't gone exactly to plan.
I arrived just before dark on Friday and set up camp with my riding Buddies from Manly.

It was the first of four races in the next few months being held at Terrey Hills Bmx track/ equestrian center.
After Doing the Fling on my cyclocross bike I thought, "never again" and looked forward to a proper, short and fast race on a course that better suited the skinny tyres.
The Boys and Girls at Manly Warringah CC have been talking about organizing a few CX races and as a few more of us have caught the bug and got bikes then their plans were put into action.

after drinking rather a lot of beer on saturday i didn't know how i'd cope doing a xc race on sunday morning but i turned up anyway just to have a crack at it and if anything, it would be a good training ride.

just before the start i used a screw on type track pump to check my pressure and concequently unscrewed my valve out when taking it off, after a bit of a panic and a borrow of another pump i got the tyre up but had only hand tightened the valve. it was all done in a panic and knew this might be trouble later on.

driving up to the central coast this morning i kept looking at the clouds and worrying. a spit here and a shower there! i was more worried about the race being cancelled than anything else.
just as i turned off the freeway, the heavens opened and it was terrential rain! OH DEAR! i nearly turned round at this point and drove home but as i was nearly there i thought 'bugger it' its only a bit of rain!!!!!!
i arrived and was glad to see a good gathering of fellow mtb'ers/nutters had also said 'bugger it' too!

after a long break over the xmas period and well before that from mtb racing i was itching to get back and race on the dirt.
i've been doing a lot of road racing over the summer months ( two races a week for quite a while before xmas ) and it certainly paid off today.
i got a good start near the front and held my position without slowing any faster riders up. my plan was to go flat out from the start and just keep going as fast as my body would let me, if i slowed to a snails pace at the end then so be it. but it wasn't to be and i just seemed to keep motoring.

i hate typing so i'll keep this short.
what can i say but HOT,HOT,HOT!!!
the air was so thick and hot at times it felt like someone was holding a massive hairdryer on full heat in front of you, my mouth was drying up with every breath i took, absolutely incredible!
had a great start to the race, i went first, about two rows back from Gordo. i was thinking "am i too far forward?" but off we went and i sprinted up the road and got a fantastic position into the singletrack, i never really lost any spots on the first lap staying in about the top 30 spots( at least i think?)

Well, that was the hardest 8 hour solo i've done so far and i've put the blame mainly on one thing, it wasn't the weather,my fittness,my equipment or the track. it was BEER!

After a big night in bondi on wednesday night, i foolishly backed it up by having another big night on friday after a hot day at work!
i made sure i drank litres of weak endura all day saturday and took even more magnesium than i usually take on a daily basis.