Blogs

I can’t exactly explain why I signed up for the 100Mile, there are many excuses that mask the complete lunacy of doing 100 (it’s actually like 165K’s and 3500M of climb) miles on a mountain bike, but I think the best reason is that 100K events just seem so “yawn” and don’t represent any real challenge

Three years ago the half fling took me 3:30, 2 years ago 3:15 and last year 3:01. I keep telling my wife some things do get better with age, and this year I was determined to improve again.

I've been training pretty hard in the last few months for this and I've actually already doubled my 2011 total kilometres in 2012 so I've really been at it all year.

This was the my last marathon for 2012 so I was keen to finish off strong and I'm pretty happy how it went today.

With four training rides of less than 2 hours and a blast for three hours on Monday, and then getting a stinker of a cold on Friday night I thought I would struggle to finish this, so I was very happy with a sub 3:00 for the half.

I did the Dash the night before (came 20th compared to last times 10th) as well and I think that it helped to remind me of what real hellish pain was, thanks to all the people shouting me up constitution hill, that was much harder than my last effort in 2009.

As always the fling turned out to be a brilliant event, really happy we went along.

Did about 18 minutes better than last year, despite a hard fall at the start of Sherwood Forest, trying to get around a rider who stopped in front of me.

Really enjoyed 50 kays of the fling....but the last 8 0dd kays woah mama that hurt. Decided that limited training I would try and pace myself and that went well. But I think 50k races are my limit. Made it thru the roller-coaster and up Broke back mountain but I lost all drive in Bakers delight (about 50K) after I hit a rock un-clipped and put my leg down in an awkward position for a whoppa of a quad cramp. After a few mins got going again but was destroyed...Great Sandy desert and the rest zapped me and come over the line with nothing left.

The phone call went like this:
(me) What day can I pick up the bike?
(Rob Booker) You cant, Specialised haven't sent the shock back yet. Were you riding this weekend?
(me) Yes. Im coming 2nd in the series.
Then before I had time to think about NOT riding in the last round and state champs.
(Rob Booker) Your a large aren't you? You can ride the test bike.
(me) OK, that should be good.

It's a funny thing this racing caper. There's a whole bunch of stuff you have to get right for it to come together and the mind ply funny trick on you.

I went into last years 8hr at Rydal feeling reasonably fit. Lots of casual riding under my belt backed by a good lead in of regular Tuesday night races had me in good stead. Got a good start and went steadily down hill, cramping bad by the end of the day.

Raced in C grade. Came 7th out of 27 in C grade. Had problems with my seat tilting back and forward on the first lap. 52.7km all up.

Results - http://www.hmba.asn.au/files/Results/2012/Race%2...

How the track rides, what lines we take and how they are shaped is something we are all passionate about.

We have a meeting with Council next week including reps from clubs and NobMob.

The purpose of this meeting is to look at future trail works and many of the issues in the other thread.

Can people post photos of key sections of track such as the BBQ patio and 19th Hole and any other favourate segments with diagrams and show what they regard as key beginner and more advanced lines.

Others can also comment. The photos also document what is there currently.