50 is the go

Decided after doing the 100 last year that it would be my last at that distance - I can ride 100km, but I can't get motivated enough to train enough (or, in reality, get good enough to) feel like I can race for that distance.

Did a bit more training than usual in the last few months, but the re-scheduling of this race left me with 2 weeks on buses and planes in Cambodia and Laos as my lead in, getting back to Sydney after an overnight flight with 6 days until race day. Had two 45 minute sessions on exercise bikes in hotel gyms in the two weeks away and a 55 km road and bike track ride to stretch the legs again on the Wednesday before driving down to the 'bra on the Friday. Not ideal preparation, but the heat in Indo-China and a bit of tummy troubles meant that I didn't put any weight back on with the minimal exercise regime!

Stayed overnight with my sister-in-law in Kambah, but a slight miscalculation on the drive the next morning saw me arrive at Campbell Park offices just after 7.00 am for a 7.15 am wave start. Managed to get to the start line just after the prior wave were sent away, and there was sufficient space to get into position without climbing over people (Convict organisers take note).

Had a steady run up to the first real climb on the fire trail, where I decided to get off and walk up the last 20 metres or so to save some legs for Mt Stromlo. Had a good run through Majura - different route to last year and a good mix of swoopy sniggle and a long gradual climb to link them up. Had a new set of Maxxis Ignitors on the Niner Jet and they worked really well in the dirt, despite not having any time to play around with pressures (or in fact having done much dirt riding in the previous months, thanks to Sydney's great summer). The pair of Ignitors were about .5kg lighter than the pair of Crossmark LUST's (with tubes) that I'd been running and it felt like the bike was a bit easier to pedal out of corners. I was a few kilo's lighter than my last race (the Fling), which helped as well.

Ground up the hill to the start of the transition stage and cruised through the 'burbs to the foot of Black Mountain for a rest, a gel and to remove the wind vest before climbing again. Sun still hadn't burnt off all the fog, but it was getting close.

Skipped the feed station and headed on towards Stromlo, probably taking it a bit easier than I should've, in anticipation of that climb. Still a bit disappointed that the course requires a walk across the causeway and a dull bike track and roadside section to get across to Stromlo when there is a green corridor on the other side of the road, but at least it was a chance to easily down another gel before hitting the Stromlo sniggle.

Had a pretty good run up Stromlo (for me anyway), managing to stay in a train most of the way and so pushing a bit harder than I might have if riding solo. Had the legs to get through the various little rock gardens which had caused me a few problems towards the end of the 100 last year.

Then had a ball on the downhill, tailing another rider all the way, getting dropped, catching up and pushing it hard all the way. Probably the best finishing section for any of the 50 km (or 100 km) races I've done. So much better than the finish to the 100 last year, where the extra 5 (or was it 8?) km out the back of Stromlo was a real mental struggle after starting on the downhill.

Finished early enough to not have to worry about the elite 100's wanting to get past, which was good, and I got to see their sprint finish - a bit of an anti-climax, given the need to recalculate everything for the transition stage timing.

Used the shuttle bus to get back to Campbell Park, which worked really well.

Overall pretty happy with the top-third-of-the-field placing in super-masters (not masters - there is no super masters on the drop down menu for some reason), although the overall placing was pretty firmly mid-field as usual.

Would probably have preferred to have the less interesting Convict 50 as a lead in to this race, rather than the other way around, but hey....

After reading Antsonline's race blog, I feel almost guilty about not putting myself into a deeper pain place to test my real limits, so maybe I'll give the Convict 50 a bit more of a dig. Well, at least I'll think about it after I walk up that hill....