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Should I punish myself?!
I'm looking for a 2014 challenge and was thinking about entering another race - possibly Capital Punishment. I haven't done a lot of racing before - in fact, only 2 attempts at the Wollombi Wild Ride. To give you an idea of my level, I did the 60km race last year and completed in 3:30, although work commitments meant I didn't get much bike time in the run up to it (excuses, excuses)
SO......my question to the floor is this....do I enter the 50km or the 100km Capital Punishment? I understand the race has a lot of single track in it so I don't really know what to expect in comparison to the Wollombi ride. Would the 50km Capital be way more demanding than the 60km firetrail heavy Wollombi? Anybody done both and able to make the comparison?
I'm keen to push myself and try the 100, but keen to get your opinions. I have a fortnight biking holiday approaching later this month where I'll be looking to improve my fitness a lot. Could be a good foundation to keep training through Feb for the longer race perhaps?
Cheers
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Go for it, a lot of the folks here race a 100K in 4 hours and change like its absolutely nothing, they train and prepare hard and truly deserve and earn their results, but these enduros are not just about smashing out 100K's as fast as you can and posting superhero times up on strava/your blog.
Having personally been at the 8 hour plus end of the 100K field before.. there's enormous (warning its highly addictive) satisfaction to be had in completing the 100K race you never dreamed you could complete, sure you can wait till you are absolutely sure you are fit enough and be one of the people that can boast that they did their first 100 in 5 hours.. but as the organiser of the leadville 100 says "you can do more than you think you can". so why not simply enter the race, set some training goals and then just see if you can?
For what its worth; I did my first Dirtworks 100 shortly after getting into mountain biking, had never done more than about 30K's (certainly less than 50K's) on a bike before and was kinda unfit.. it hurt a lot and I probably nearly died, but its one of the most memorable experiences on a bike that I have ever had.
But really it is
.... you'll never-ever know if you never-ever go.
I did both the CP 50 and WWR 60 last year in similar times (around 3 hours - nothing flash), so would consider them comparable from that point of view. However, the WWR had more climbing and as you have already noted, was all fire trail / dirt road. After the first 15 or so km the CP 50 is mainly sniggle.
I've previously done the CP100 and a few other 100km races and generally speaking they are not twice as hard as 50km races if you have a reasonable base of fitness (which you must have to have done the WWR). You just need to be prepared to spend the time out there on the bike. A 3.5 hr time for the WWR would probably translate to 8hrs + for a 100km race and while you don't need to be riding 100km regularly to get it done, having done a few "all day" mtb rides to get a feel for the required saddle time would help.
I gave up doing the 100kms because I couldn't / wouldn't train hard enough to feel like I could "race" for 100km (it was more like "survive") and I'm getting on a bit, so now just do the 50km distances.
I'd suggest you do a 100km race to see how it feels and see if you get hooked on the idea. There is a weird sort of addictiveness to the pain
A further point is that Mt Stromlo at the end of the CP 100km race is a little tough (and makes it a little hard to enjoy the descent), so if you wanted to ease 100kms, I'd suggest the Husky or the Back Yamma for a first 100km race and see if you want to tackle some of the tougher ones from there.
Since there's a 55minute untimed section to get from one side of Canberra to the other, you're basically racing 60km, riding at an easy pace for 9km or so and then the race begins at Black Mtn, making it an easy way to begin 100km racing. I did my first event as 100km, and so long as you can manage the distance (which you should try in one training ride) there shouldn't be a huge burden in completing the event itself. Speed picks up with the number of the events you do.
Hope that helps.
Thanks guys - you've given me the confidence to give it a try! Any suggestions for a good 100km training ride?
Start in Glenbrook carpark, ride up the Oaks Fire Trail to Woodford, down Murphy's Firetrail to Bedford Creek, turn right at Ingar Fire Trail to King's Tablelands Road, turn left, down Anderson's Fire Trail, back to Bedford Ck; then back the way you came. over 2.5km of climbing and 104km.
Thanks for that Tristan, sounds like a good one. Last time I rode Andos was last year and it was in the 40's so wasn't the most pleasant experience on the climb out,
Definately go the 100. At about the 3hr point your legs will start to hurt, but it won't get any worse, and you find after a while you just accept that it's hurting but that's what it's all about - finishing is what you are concentrating on.
For training, doing 80km a couple of times 3 weeks apart is useful. Do it as a ride out of 40km so you don't have bail out points - removing the give up options is important - I always do mine as part of a group ride. It's much harder to quit when you are part of a group.
Oaks > Ingar > Andos > Oaks
Just how much harder is a 100km mtb ride compared with a 100km road ride, say 3 gorges + Sommerville?
Its hard to compare but think about it as the time spent on the bike and then add some more to cover aches and pains of manhandling a mountain bike (uses a lot more core and upper body strength), my take is that you add another 50%.
if you do your 100K gorges ride in 4 hours, then you may expect to be about 6 hours for your MTB 100..
Alot !
MTB is heaps harder but it really depends on the track. That 100km Oaks loop people have mentioned is heaps harder then the road even though its mostly fireroad. Go do 10 laps of Ourimbah and see how much harder that is...
I normally work on a 2:1 ratio, i.e. MTB takes twice as long and hurts twice as much as road so a 50km MTB ride is equivalent to a 100km road ride. Not scientific but it works for me
Also bear in mind that the first 50km of the Oaks loop mentioned is all climbing (except the descent into Bedford Creek).
I figured the track had a fair bit to do with it. CP sounds like a good place to test the legs.