Nick R's blog

Having not done much training for this race given the terrible weather I wasnt sure what to expect - especially given the wet weather in the lead up to the race. Many of my mates had pulled out so I thought I would just try to have a nice day out on the bike and see how things went.

We surprised ourselves coming 3rd in the "very prestigious" Male 6s 40+ category. For 3 of the guys on our team it was their first MTB event ever.

Everyone rode well with smooth transitions, consistent lap times and no flats or mechanicals.

After little training and illness I wasn't sure what to expect. The day seemed pretty warm when Chitts and I lined up for the start and I wasnt feeling 100% so I thought that the best strategy was to try to keep my heart rate at around 160bpm which I know seems to be about the right level for a race situation.

Given my memories of last year (severe cramps and taking a wrong turn / getting lost) I had a different plan this year which was to take it easy in the first 50kms and really try and enjoy the single track and the whole event. With the forecast being 30+ I spent the Saturday trying to drink a fair bit so that I would be well hyrdrated on the day.

Awoke to find that it was somewhat warmer than the 6 degrees last year so put on just arm warmers and my sealskinz socks plus usual kit. Big bowl of cereal and then a 500ml can of "Mother" with 160mg of caffeine and 200 calories in the car on the drive to St Albans from the Rosevale caravan park units near Wisemans.

After a cold night in the tent and then a long queue for the toilets Chitts and I finally arrived at the start line at about 7.20am and were well back in the pack. When I finally got over the start line and got moving, I started to work through the pack towards the front but there seemed like a lot of slower riders that were in front of me and there were numerous traffic jams for no obvious reason. Cruised into the first transition feeling great at about 1 hour 26 minute having passed large numbers of riders, average heart rate was in the 140s and average speed up around 20km/h.

Not sure how to describe this event - a mixture of both pleasure and pain.

Long periods of extreme pain from unbelievable cramps. My muscles were spasming like there were aliens inside them moving around from about 25kms to the end. Getting off didn't help - the only thing to do was to keep moving and keep the legs spinning. I think maybe the three red wines the night before wasn't a good idea, but then again lots of others I spoke to were cramping.