Shame about that hill....

Category was actually "super" masters, but for some obscure reason it's not on the drop down menu

This year's version almost lived up to the original hype about linking up the best of Canberra's sniggle into one great 100km race.

Kowen was great, I lost count of the number of people commenting about how good it was as we wound our way through about 30 km's of old and new tracks right from the get go. Better selection than last year (thanks to the new Mont tracks) and then a better (road) link to the "transition off road stage" around the back of the airport, across Majura Road and along the horse track to Majura Ridge. Not fantastic riding, but at least it was dry and mostly off road.

Then up Majura ridge and into the famous Majura pine forest tracks. About 8 km of these with a detour into the Majura Winery for the 54km feed station in the middle. The link across to the Stromlo side of Canberra was better this year (no more paddocks, no main road slogs, instead some suburban back streets and bike paths). This "untimed" section (see below) was followed by a climb across the side of Black Mountain, then across into the cork plantation and the new National Arboretum. Unfortunately, the race was unable to utilise this "green" corridor across to Stromlo for some reason and we ended up back on bike paths, the Cotter Rd verge and then Cotter Rd and Uriarra Rd before diving into the last 15 kms of Stromlo sniggle.

For this black duck, the climb up Stromlo, while do-able, sucked he life out of the legs and didn't leave a lot for the 8 or so km's winding around the other side. Skyline and the Luge were great, but it was tempting to just head on down the 50km track to the finish from there.

Finished in an elapsed time of about 7:23, adjusted down to 6:38 as the "untimed" section of 9.5 km was removed. The race rules involved taking off whatever time was spent in the untimed section, up to a max of 45 mins. Like me, there were many who used that rule to have a "free" rest at the end of the untimed section. Without pushing hard, I got through it in just over 30 mins, so had nearly 15 mins of free time to eat, rest and stretch before crossing the timing mats. To me it would make marginally more sense to just add 45 minutes to everyone's time and not time the untimed section, although I don't suppose there is much in it.

While it was a great ride, it was a little disappointing personally, as I'd been hoping to go closer to 7 hrs. At just over 3 hrs at the 50 km mark, I thought I was going OK, but the climbs up Majura Ridge, Black Mtn and Stromlo made the second half much tougher. In fact on my trip computer, I did do the 100 in just under 7 hrs. It was just that the race was 107 km...... I suppose I should recalibrate.

If the old Green Hills / Deek's Drive areas could be used, I think that would be about the best combo for the race given the available tracks and land, unless AROC could get the Defence Dept to build some decent track around the back of the airport.

Oh, and apologies to anyone who happened to be riding near me after the first 25 kms or so. After an emergency stop to make the savage left hander into sniggle off the asphalt decent in Kowen, my newly fitted XTR pads squealed like stuck pigs for the rest of the race. It was driving me crazy on any downhill where a decent bit of brake pressure was required, but I'm sure it encouraged a few riders to put the hammer down to ride away from me....