Discodan's blog

Well that was a race, as my first full fling ever and first race of any sort for a couple of years I wasn't planning on setting the world on fire.

Things got off to a bad start when the diff on my car destroyed itself somewhere near Campbelltown on the way up but the gods took pity on me. I took the bike out the back so people would know I was a rider and stuck my thumb out and literally 30 secs later a car pulled up with a spare rack on the roof and room for all of my crap. My new mate even let me sleep in the back of his wagon and gave me a lift home on Sunday: Simon, you're a legend!

March 1

After a couple years of enjoying various events ranging from Club XC, marathons and 24hr team events (not with much success I might add) I've decided to take it to a logical conclusion and have a crack at a 24 hr solo. Given I'm a complete newbie I have a fair bit to get sorted out before the event, The Scott 24hr on October, so I thought I'd keep a record on this here blog both for my benefit and to be able to tap into the collective knowledge of the forum.

This was my second team 24 event and a very different kettle of fish from the Jet Black 24 I'd done previously. If we could just drop the cabins from Del Rio into the Kowan site it would be perfect. In the interests of bevity here's the concise version.

Highlights:
- The slugger: John. Was crook and was out for the count in the tent from lunchtime on Saturday but still managed to get out for every one of his laps bar one. Didn't puke once on the track

This was my first 100km event and also marked one year since I got hooked on this MTB lark (Last years CP 50km was my first event). There's already been lots of posts on the event and track so I won't repeat that content, instead here's the patented Danny summary of how my ride went

What worked:
- The weather; after last year it was just perfect
- The track; with the exception of the fields around the airport it was great and a lot better than last year. Bring on the Mont 24hr so I can try more of that Kowen goodness

Given this was my first foray into XC racing I thought I'd post a few scribbles on how the day went. Overall it was great fun.

I planned on using this round as a 'no pressure' toe in the water to learn the course and see how the pace was and if I had the fitness to do it. I figured C grade was about right based on the distance. Suprisingly I was quite nervous before the start, more nervous than before the start of a race in my other sport which is motorcycle road racing, but that settled as soon as we got rolling.

Well that was an interesting way to learn what this MTB racing stuff is really about. I'm pretty happy with my result but what I found most interesting was how the body works (or doesn't) under these kind of conditions and how nutrition/hydration effects things. This was also my first ride on a bike I'd borrowed for the event but which I now think I will buy after it did such a good job.

Better late than never, I though I'd best add an entry for my first MTB event.

After being convinced to enter Capital Punishment in a rush of group testosterone at work it dawned on me that I'd never ridden a MTB in anger and that my rigid Giant Boulder commuter (hereafter known as The Shitter) might be out of its depth for this event. Fortunately my mate Deon offered to lend me his bike and he would ride his SS for the event.