Now that's racing.

Decided to do the 50km option to limit pre event training and to go out and have a bit of fun.

The game plan was to stick with the front runners for as long as I could, then settle into something more manageable. It was after the first bit of new single track where I found two guys who were riding well and more to my pace and so stuck with them, for the time being. Punched out the first lap in 1h02 which had me just inside top ten, but only a couple of minutes behind the leaders. With a quick bottle change I was off for the final 25km.

I attacked on the KOM climb to bridge the gap to a rider up ahead (who ultimately ended up finishing 8th overall). I stayed with him through the single track and fire road descent until the long climb up to the water station. At this point I was starting to cramp and so let him go. Knowing water wasnt too far away, i spun it up the hill to minimise any further damage. Unfortunately i was caught by the next rider and when I stopped to fill up he was gone.

Downed a full bottle and gel and tried to nail it home to make up for lost time. The two riders in front obviously had the same idea as I finished about two minutes behind 9th place.

Ill remember that even if it's only 50km, electrolytes are still needed if you don't want to cramp.

Had a blast. The 50km format definitely felt like a "race" rather than a "survive" session, which made it a whole lot more enjoyable.

Now here's onto training for the DW100!