Good day out

St Albans is a magical place when there is a bit of morning fog around the river reaches, and so it was for the 2012 Convict 50.

After the warm up ride from the day parking area into town, I’d left it too late to get anywhere near the intended 2nd wave start group, and ended up getting away in the last group. With the timing system for this event, it doesn’t make too much difference, but the last group is a motley crew, and it was good to be able to get up in the front third and keep out of trouble on the road section, while I tried to keep a better pace than previous years in the run to the hill.

Attacked the hill and made it up to the second water bar on the main climb before succumbing to the inevitable and walking to the top like everybody else (well, for me it was an attack ☺). Lost quite a few places while walking, as my worn-out right knee doesn’t allow for much in the way of walking pace these days.

Tried to push reasonably hard across the tops, hanging onto the big ring whenever I could and getting out of the seat on a few of the climbs. Was reduced to walking the last bits of a couple of the ridge top climbs, but generally was passing more than being passed. Seemed like a few of the water bars had been given a bit of extra height and shape since last year. However, the warnings given at the start line seemed to have their effect and there were no riders down and no ambo’s on course that I saw.

Got to the start of the descents with not a lot left in the tank, but the Niner Jet 9 is pretty sure footed on those sort of downhills and a few minutes of fun was had. Hit the road and downed a gel while getting down to the slog of 12 or so kms into a slight headwind. Couldn’t really find anyone to work with, so pretty much did it all solo, reeling in quite a few tired riders and being passed by a couple of inexplicably fresh whippets. Cramp twinges started to appear while trying to keep the pace up on the brief little climbs on the road.

It’s always a great sight to crest the last rise and see the cars lined along the sides of the road, signalling time for a last effort down to the finish. Crossed the line in 2:36:28 mins, which was a PB by about 13 minutes.

After downing the free beer and water, rolled gently back to the day parking site and then made the mistake of heading back to the Webb’s Creek ferry. Had at least an hour in the ferry queue to keep reminding myself that it’s worth going the longer route back to the main Wiseman’s ferries. Passed some fairly shattered looking 100km riders on the road section between the canoe bridge and the Woomerah Range turnoff – 6 hrs + into it and plenty of work to do.

Looking at the results, I placed relatively better in the overall field than in the 50-60 yrs group. It is usually the other way around, so this must be a favourite race for all the older buggers out there (I'd guess it's popular with older guys with more of a road background, as it is nearly 50% road, and the fire trail sections are only a bit techy on the downhills).

All in all a good day out in beautiful weather.