Climb fest

A bit of unfinished business, as I'd DNF'd my previous two attempts at this race.

However, it's a climbers race, with 680m of vertical for a 26km lap, so not really where I expected to do well. Even though I was in pretty good nick, the repeated assaults of Mt Stromlo took their toll. Finished 10th out of 14 starters in the over 50's. Didn't have enough over 60's for a category apparently Overall, 73rd out of 95 starters.

I have a love / hate relationship with Stromlo - the climbing is tough but do-able for me (except for the shitty fire trail climb that Rocky Trail throw into the mix), there are plenty of gnarly, rocky sections to test my skill levels and dodgy lower back (not always such a good thing) and there are some great descents. In this event, the climbs win and on a pretty hot day, I was pretty knackered at the finish, although I seem to have posted a PB on the Old Duffy Descent Strava segment leading into the finish on the last lap after 4.5 hours riding! My back was also pretty stuffed, which as it turned out, was not a great lead in to a 10 day camping trip to the Victorian High Country. Could hardly get off the ground some mornings.....

Looking for a better horizontal-to-vertical ratio for my next XCM half marathon outing.....