garyinoz's blog

2nd attempt at a 100km and first finish, my aim was simply to not have a DNF against my name and be somewhere between 6 and 7hrs. Mission accomplished!

Set off in the second open group and the pace felt quite comfortable - thought I could handle 100km of this but then came the mud and memories of the 50km last year.

A cold day in Wingello left me making my way down to the start with only a few minutes to spare.
I'd changed my entry from the 75km to the 50km during the week after my stack during the convict.

I'll keep this short(ish)
First 100km race to a bit apprehensive especially as my training hadn't gone to plan in the last month. Started in the 3rd wave as I was late to start due to not being able to find my sunnies (glad I didn't find them).

This was a great day out, probably the best of the three events I have done this year, well organised and a great atmosphere.

Started the race hoping to finish under 3hr15 so thought I'd start in the appropriate start time. If I'd know the course and how open it is for the first 10km or so I would have gone in the earlier group as I felt I could have gone harder at the start (some people did suggest this). Reached the transition about 1hr 10 and decided to fill up with water and grab some fruit, had I not done this I would have finished just under 3hrs as per my garmin (2:59).

As stated by others, a complete mud pit.

After my first 50 last week I decided to learn from my mistakes and start a bit higher up the order, only problem here is it turns out to be a fairly fast start, should of perhaps taken it a bit easier but that's not easy when people are racing away.

Lots of sliding action to be had, had a couple of mud baths when my chain locked up and couldn't turn the pedals (I'm sure some women would have paid good money to be covered in the amount of mud I was carrying). That probably cost me a few mins lying down trying to unclip. Single track was great.

First 50km race so I wanted to get a feel for it. First mistake was starting too far back and not going fast enough in the opening circuit. On the second circuit I paid for being slack at the start and had at least a 5 minute wait at the start of the single track. I was happy to just follow the rider in front on the single track and not push it. Had one guy pass on the single track and then just stuck on his rear for a few k's expecting him to go faster. The third section was a pretty good effort bringing the last 19km home in an hour.