1101 = 13?

The leadup to this race, my final one of the year, was perfect for me. Training started the week after the Kowalski and weekend efforts consisted of 3 - 3.5hr ride duration, up to 55km in length and I tried to get in around 1000m of ascent per ride. The hills of the Oaks, Wisemans Ferry, Cascades, Nth Turra and Ku Ring Gai NP provided a good challenge and, along with a quick pre work dash around Lane Cove NP each week I felt I was ready for my first Half Fling on 4 hrs riding per week which is pretty much my maximum given current life priorities.

Some other points for the leadup:

* Rego was quick and easy - a well run event.
* If you want free stuff just hang around the town centre when rego opens, preferably with old stuff in your possession - my mate picked up a TR EVO Schwalbe Ro Ro for his clanger of a bike. We replaced his skinny crappy front tyre and he had a great time at the casual fling event. I scored a pair of Shimano socks just for being able to name a major race sponsor - decided to wear them on race day.
* Arriving in Bundanoon on friday meant we could relax and enjoy the area. Echo point was great to see - and aptly named. The mozzies were large enough to carry my small kids away - we tied them down just in case.
* Riding to the event centre on race day morning was a novelty - said gday to Jenny Fay as she was warming up on Quarry Rd 15 mins before start time.
* Jason English starting from the back of the Elite wave and zooming past with a smirk on his face. The king of endurance...
* Bike setup - old faithful tyre psi 24F/27R, increased front fork to 82psi, rear shock to 155psi for a firmer ride. Had put an Ardent Race on the front a week earlier and was happy with the grip it provided.
* Race plan was to take it easy on Stage one allowing for an assault on Stage 2

A beautiful morning greeted me as I lined up towards the front of wave 2 and without further ado we were off and racing. The start felt pretty relaxed, a few riders streamed past as per usual but reaching the first gravel/dirt section I held onto about 30th wave place. The first creek crossing came and went and some riders were already starting to feel the pinch on the first climb out of the crossing. Most of this stage felt like undulating firetrail with small flatish sections in between. I decided to spin up most of the hills in the first stage to conserve energy which meant a fair few riders going past. It was hard to keep to the plan and take it easy but I persevered with the hope of being rewarded in the 2nd half of the race.

A major highlight for me was finally nailing my gel eating technique on the bike At the Convict I spilt them on my leg, at the Rocky Trail 4hr I got some in my brake lever (seriously WTF?), at the 3 Ring Circus I decided to stop each hour so I could get some into my mouth. This time I actually went through the motions in my head the day before... Reach into back pocket with left hand and grab a gel, tear off tab in mouth, put left hand back onto handlebar still holding gel, with right hand grab the tab in mouth and put it in back pocket. With left hand put gel into mouth, stow away empty gel in rear pocket. Sounds complicated but it worked for me.

About 3kms from Wingello transition (along the flat smooth dirt road) I attracted a 'leech' who, to his credit, admitted he was drafting me so I promptly asked him to take a turn himself. He did, and we formed a small train and made short work of this section, passing a few riders. Into transition at 1hr 31min and was feeling very fresh and confident the plan was working so I could try and attack Stage 2. I had used up the remaining available brownie points with my wife the day prior and convinced her that it would be a great idea for her to wait at transition to hand me a new bottle of Endura as I came through. Luckily I predicted my stage 1 time fairly accurately and there she was with bottle in hand. For her trouble I passed her an empty bottle and 2 empty gel wrappers and was on my way in under a minute. Thx honey!

So, stage 2 loomed. A train of roadie-looking types i.e. bloody fit buggers steamed past me on the flat road out of transition so I hopped onto the back of that train and held on for dear life for the next 2kms. The elastic band broke on the first climb but felt it was a decent start. We then went through a golf course and into some nice singletrack switchbacks. Then onto a winery reminding me of the James Estate race from earlier on this year and straight after was the paddock descent. Now with my duallie setup fairly firm this section wasn't that comfortable (didnt have enough time to put the fork into descend mode)- guys on hardtails would have had their fillings rattled out of their teeth for sure.

The next section of singletrack was beautiful - a 4% steady switchback-laden climb amongst gum trees - it wouldn't have been out of place in the middle of kowen or sparrow hill. Some fast firetrail sections up next and then the Rollercoaster. This is why I went easy on stage one. I made it up the first two pinches, passing quite a few people in the process. I came unstuck on the last pinch when I lost traction at the back after a poor line choice and came to a stop, got off and walked the last 10 metres or so. I had got through the majority of it in decent time and passed a fair amount of riders. Feeling pretty happy with myself and still with some energy left I came to what I thought was a nice little singletrack section through an open field.

Then I looked up and nearly shat myself in awe

Ahead of me, for as far as I could see up this hill was a snake like procession of riders attempting to ascend Brokeback Mountain. For the uninitiated, like myself, its a 1km switchback climb that, according to strava, is only 4% average grade but feels much harder than that. There were riders walking, riders saying 'hail marys', riders talking to their mummies and still others who were just stopped dead in their tracks seriously questioning the meaning of life. I whacked the bike into granny gear and spun up it rather slowly and was glad to get it behind me.

From here the Garmin was reading nearly 50kms so I knew I was nearly home - the Magellan KOM section was next and I prepared myself for another hell climb. Instead I was greeted with a few kms of slightly technical singletrack. Many laps of OMV had prepared me for this and it was probably my favourite part of the whole race. Passed many riders here who came unstuck either through fatigue or lack of confidence/skills. Apologies to anyone I yelled 'Coming through' to on this section but it seemed better than 'track' and I always said thx as I passed.

A rather sandy trail then took me to the start of 'your call' where I took the easy 'right' option. It did get a little steeper half way up just as my last Gel kicked in and I rode away from the bunch I was in. Not long past the top I saw the '5km to go' sign and pushed fairly hard on the downhill dirt road section, over the final paddock, passing another few riders onto the final 200m stretch of grass where kids shouted out some encouragement - good on 'em!

Over the line and my new Garmin tricked me into thinking I had cracked the 3hr 30min time but I later realised I had been looking at 'moving time' (i.e. > 4kms/hr) only so missed out on that little target. Still very happy with a top 50% finish overall and in category. Im still learning alot about when to push and when to take it easy during races, as well as how hard my body will allow me to push! I felt fairly good at the end - out of breath from the last 5km effort but overall feeling pretty good, I probably could have gone a little harder in the first section but that may have meant a slower stage 2 time?

That ends my first ever year of racing - I've had a great time entering a few of the bigger events on the calendar in 2014. Thx to all the nobmobbers I've ridden with, taken advice from and chatted to - hope to see you on the trails or at the next event soon.

For all you IT-heads out there - I did consider for a minute turning my race plate upside down as per rule #13 but decided against it.