Blogs

Well, that was interesting.

Had been doing some longer rides of late, nothing fast, but 40 - 75km rides around the place so thought I should be ok here lung, heart and legwise.

Took off and tried to stay with some friends, that lasted about 2km until I started getting uncomfortable twinges in the back. I also found my heart rate was way up too, felt ok but was a bit surprised.

First race, second time on the course, not a bad result i thought. C grade next time me thinks

Anyone riding this sunday? Looking at going early morning...
Due to mothers day seems like everyone is out!

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

Had an absolute ball at The Mont and can so very easily see why everyone raves about it. Arriving at the campground to see so many people there to ride their bikes, the excellent set-up and facilities at race central, the nervous/excited buzz and then, on that first night, the quietest and stillest campground that I have ever witnessed.

For my own personal reasons the Dirtworks is a kind of spiritual event for me (yeah WTF..? as if any bike event could be classed as a spiritual.. then perhaps its the Buddhist temple...?.. who knows?) and this year I had trained hard for and was touting a 6 hour finish, having turned my lard ass from an 2009 8hour+ novice/newbie into the finely tuned wannabe road riding boy racer that I think I am today…

After the absolutely cr@ppy weather all week and the wear and tear from Easter Monday I was not sure I was looking forward to the race. Set off in the first wave and sure some of the puddles on GNR threatened to swallow you, drivetrain gremlins were constant, a bad hamstring cramp near the GNR summit, and a close call from a lack of concentration on a loose descent.....but after exiting Shepherds Gully and feeling the sun shining brightly it was a bloody good day out. Though I didn't quite manage to make my target time, still got to be pleased with the result.

What a race! I had a ball at capital punishment, and this took it to another level.

I started the race in the first wave after the elites and I was happy cruising along at a moderate pace just sitting in the bunch while others around me jostled for position. I was keeping a keen eye on True Swain and others making sure i was in with a chance of being with them at the top of the hill. A rider fell in a car-sized mud puddle and went down causing a bit of a pile-up at the base of the climb - luckily though i avoided the carnage.

This was my 2nd 100km event and the first being last years Dirtworks. Last year I did it in 07:32:52 and one of my goals for 2011 was to do the DW100 in 6-6.5 hours.

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.