Convict 100 2013

LOL. I said to Kyle I'll take him up on some skills sessions.

It looks like they are closing the road for the start of the 100km to where we turn off the main road so that should settle things down a bit.

or will it be Dicko?

Thanks for the support.
I'll be there, on Saturday, giving it 100. Like all of you - training, prep, planning, it all comes together.

Wayne will go well. Brian will also surprise many (including himself actually) with his speed. Kyle will be doing his first Convict 100, and will trouble the scorers, and a few others that I have recently started helping too (who I cant name just now) will get amongst it. Garry Millburn vs young Jayden Ward in the 50km will be a smash-fest, add in Guy Frail, Callum Carson, and Michael Potter - and you can see that the youngsters are coming. Average age there is about 16! I love to see that. Secret tip in the 50km, a bloke called Jaeger....(this is getting like Tom Waterhouse!)
Jenny will fly around the womens race, but her coaching now is with someone else (as of National Champs two weeks ago). However - I still wish her all the best for the ride, to stay motivated when only 4 other girls even enter, and on paper she has them covered by 30mins - that hard to keep pushing on. Still - its a race, and anything can happen. Whether she goes 4.28 again - who knows..
Naomi, Nienke, Imogen, and the other girls - its tough to call it in the Elite women.

All of you guys (and girls maybe) have a good race, keep it safe, remember to eat, and enjoy the ride. If you see me warming up on the trainer,(sporting Cannondale kit and bike these days) come say hello. Apologies if I have the 'phones on - I'm not being rude!

Remember - for those rock gardens - smooth is fast. Its all 100% rideable, but if you rush it too much you'll mess up. Too slow and you'll stall. Get it just right though - and you'll float through.

Good luck - I cant wait for the after party already!

Are people going to have a beer at the pub after? Anyone staying Sat night?

FYI after the ride if anyone wants to come up for a beer just head through the middle of the paddock directly across from the back of the pub / start line. (About 70m) You will see a few of us out on the deck.

Ill also be directing traffic again tonight. The red beard should be easy to spot.

A great day out as usual.
Some very good rides by many Nobmobers.
Brian had the ride of the day I reckon - aiming to break 5hrs, he pushed around in 4hrs 34 mins!
We all knew he was capable of it after his rid ein Cairns / Atherton, but you've still got to get up and ride it. Well done Brian.

Its been a while between drinks for me with race write ups, for reasons that will become obvious when you read my latest report / blog post...
http://nobmob.com/node/41876

Those last few kms sure were a blur. Well I made it - in one piece - sort of, just a little sore, and 'thore today. One slight frustration - new Magellan Switch Up GPS recorded a total distance of 97.2km and 1794m gain. Please someone tell me I'm right, I cracked 100 and the GPS is in error! Did anyone else track the course on their GPS out of interest - as Magellan is the sponsor I'm tempted to take this up with them.

For the record finished my 1st 100km outing in 5:56.40, could've been 5 minutes faster or slower. Given my 1st 50km DWorks 5 years ago netted a time of over 3 hours some progress has definitely been made.

Funniest moment was a dude who passed me on the 1st downhill after the 28km water station on the approach to a tight right turn, who locked up, narrowly missed the course marshals who spilt their billy tea in fright and preceded to bush bash at speed back onto the course swearing in anger and pain from some rather prickly scratchy tall scrub. Think James Bond in For Your Eyes Only, clearing the après table at Cortina while evading those nasty Russians, and you get my drift. Oh and there was a moment when another dude decided to stop middle track on a technical climb up some sandstone ledges right in front of me, causing my cramp to escalate to spasm and me screaming FU"K FFU"K FFFU"K as my cleats had fun at my expense - before letting me unclick just in time. Close call. Most uplifting moment was the Asian walking group at around the 40km mark cheering each rider on with one of them most excited yelling CMON AUSSIE over and over again. Worked a treat after recovering from 1st round of cramp.

At the 90km mark atop the range with just a few pinch climbs to go followed by a big descent to get excited about, and the 6hr target narrowly within sight, I put aside fears of repeat cramp, stopped pussy pedaling and put the hammer down - with the theory "if he's in front just pass the b@stard!". Well it worked wonders for a few kms as we approached the big descent, but unfortunately a rather rough outcrop of loose sandstone rubble well and truly punished me for all but ignoring the preceding Danger - Steep Descent" sign and collected plenty of DNA evidence to horrify any passer by. (In skiing terms think over ambitious drunk Russian skier hits death cookies with speed)

Winded and not at all impressed with my efforts thinking I'd blown my chances of finishing sub 6 hours in my 1st 100 outing, I remounted pronto to discover my front shifter trigger had snapped inside its casing so I was reduced to the small ring for the 'dash' back to St.Albans. Bugger! Thankfully body, lycra and mechanicals survived otherwise intact and a South African dude who I'd tagged with drafted me, while I pedaled like buggery at cadence-extreme to keep up to the finish - only to bump into my old boss who at the ripe old age of 55 had finished 1 hour faster! So I reminded him the winners were over 1 hour faster than him just to be a smart@rse.

Anyway damned glad I finished, positioned about 1/2 way through the field and about 1/2 way through the burgeoning 'veterans' category, so call me Capt Average. Is the veteran category so big as a result of fellow dads willing to endure pain riding for hours over a day of reigning in their little terrors, ahem treasures?

As a Northern Beaches expat now living in Mudgee I can definitely vouch for the SingleTrackMind event in Orange in late November, come on up!

Cheers

Rourkus

The Asian walking group were awesome. I was riding through with Michael and they were going off cheering like crazy. They would have got some pretty awesome pics and will have a story for life seeing us all fly through.