Smashed!!!

Well as im sitting at working typing this I am feeling a little used today.....

There had been a bit of banter about this race between a few of us and who was going to beat who and what times people expected....
Due to AR Junkie been sick i picked up his entry(cheers mate) just after the mont where he talked me up and said I was good for a 5hr race.

Getting into the race start I was feeling very refreshed and a tad cold. John myself and Alex set off on the front of the first wave after elites. The pace was good from the start and I warmed up pretty well. We hit the first hill and most people started walking pretty early on. I saw a few people I knew ride past me but they didnt really get away. (note to self walk this hill and save the legs) once we got on top the front group was down to maybe 8 people. I think I caught V around the 30km mark and she was looking a little sore on the bike. Spoke to her for a minute or so to discover that she was suffering from nerve pain in her leg (post 24hr injury we guessed). So after a few incuraging words to her I carried on in knowing that Alex et al were chasing behind. I hit the 50km fed zone is 2.17 feeling very good grabed a bananna and headed off. The climb to the top of the hill went very well for me I pulled in the other 2 guys I was racing against for line honors in the Open Cat. None of us knew that at the time but boy did the racing get hot (we all know each other as well). The decsents down were hair raising to say the least, we were all trying to either hold on or get a gap.... we all got to the bridge within a minute or so of each other. Rode the bridge with no dramas then a bit of heads down bum hard pedaling along the road before the next hill climb. We could all still see each other at this point.
I pushed to try and move into first place along the top of the hill the race was going very well untill 80km something mark where I paid the price for the hot pace and started to cramp. after a few minutes I managed to ride through most of them but not without losing the front two guys. I reached the 90km mark and really let lose trying to make some lost time but still couldnt pull them in. I took jacks track at a sensable speed and stayed in control the whole way. Now all that was left was a stupid water crossingg with LOTS of sand and then the road ride to the finish. I came across the finish line to here them say I was in 3rd place and I was like WTF. It turns out they were right I rode my legs off in this race and smashed the body, it was a seriously hard race for me but with people around me to race I just kept at it and the result was so much better than I expected!!!
I will be having an easy week this week I think to let the body recover.

Next year V and I will be doing the double, BMC and Dirtworks.

Cheers to all the nobmobers for a great weekend away. It is always a pleasure to head off to a race with you guys.

Till next time...