Brian's blog

After injuring my knee in early 2015 and then having knee surgery in February 2016 it's been a couple of years since I've raced my mtb. I finally got back on the mtb at the end of last year and then decided to get a bike that was more for fun than racing as I was currently on an Epic. I got the Rocky Mountain Element and have set it up with wide rims, 2.3 tyres, dropper post, short stem etc so not really a XC race bike.

What an awesome place. A group of us went down for the long weekend. I got down there on Saturday so I had enough time to test some of the trails before the race on Sunday.

The trails in Tathra are magic. I wouldn't say they are technical but some of the dippers really test you. Especially towards the end of the race when you're totally shattered. They flow really well and there's rarely a section that is straight.

This being my second MTB Marathon since March 2014 I really had no idea how I would go.

I have been riding a bit so I knew I was going into this with some fitness. I’ve also been paying attention to what I eat and have managed to drop a couple of kilograms which is always nice.

After heading down Friday afternoon with Michael, checking in, picking up a race number we headed out for dinner with Dave and Gary. Besides the restaurant forgetting about our meals everything was going like clockwork.

I haven't spent much time on the mtb in the last six months but thought I'd give this one a go. I had to take 4 panadeine (not all at once) the morning before the race as I wasn't feeling well but still lined up.

Once the kow bell went and we were off up the first hill and into the single track. I was going okay but my body wasn't happy so 10km in I made the decision to just ride the 50.

Once I backed off it actually became quite enjoyable. I ended up riding a lot of it with Michelle Ainsworth who won the 50 overall which was good.

Yee-haa. My first mtb race in just over five months is done and dusted.

Back in June after having a break from all the races in the first part of the year I approached Anthony and Kyle for some ‘official’ help with training. After working out what races I was planning to do, come July, Kyle was set to coach me.

With quite a selection of events on the calendar it was May when the emails started about putting some teams together for the Scott 25hr. It didn’t take long to pencil in some names and the first thing unanimously decided was to go the full luxury marquee. Having a marquee with, power, lights, gas heating, table and chairs meant it was basically a turn and race.

SXC Racing has had a bit of success lately but the Scott25 was going to be the first race with the team in SXC kit. Thankfully it arrived 2 days before we were heading down to Canberra so we were all set.

My last full marathon was The Convict 100 in May and after a bit of a break I decided I needed a bit more of a structured training program. I approached Anthony and Kyle from Pepper Coaching and come July, Kyle was set to coach me and the Pepper program had started. Without going into the detail the commitment means now the alarm is set for 4:30am most weekday mornings.

A few training phases later the Kowalski Classic was set to be my first full marathon where my training wasn't hindered by sickness etc.

Another great event by Wild Horizons. Well done to everyone that finished on Sunday. I've written a race report here

Cheers
Brian

What an awesome race.

For those that don’t know, I raced the Australian Marathon Championships 2 weeks ago in Atherton. I had a week up there prior to just dedicate to riding and relaxing, the race was unbelievably hard taking over 7 hours to finish so I knew I had a pretty good prep coming into this race.

One week prior I did a 95km mtb ride averaging 20km/h which felt good so I just needed to avoid getting sick in the week leading up and I should be good.