Last year was the first Convict I missed in its 11yr history due to injury so this year was my first attempt in the reverse direction – we did climb Jacks Track in the first year of the event but it was a different course then (harder!). I estimated this direction would be 20-25mins slower so my aim was sub 5:30.

The weather forecast was for 10-20mm rain so I added some weatherproofing to the bike and decided to carry more weight in the Camelbak rather than on the bike but when I arrived it was light rain and warm so I didn’t wear any of the wet gear I brought along.

Three years since my last marathon race so I went with the 68k option. In hindsight it was the right choice for my current form.

Other than a couple of days in NZ in February I had only ridden the MTB once in the last year so went for a recce 4 weeks ago. I was that bad on the GNR section that I came back the following week and rode it twice searching for a bit more rhythm through the rough stuff.

“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever. That surrender, even the smallest act of giving up, stays with me. So when I feel like quitting, I ask myself, which would I rather live with?”
- Lance Armstrong... um... er... Anonymous

I think I must have been born a year too late…..

I missed last year’s initial reverse Convict due to a prior travel commitment. I had given up doing the 50km version a few years before due to it feeling a bit boring so I knew I had to give the new 68km version a go this year. I would have been a few months too young for the “Grand” masters last year, but after looking at last year’s results in the 68km version, I thought that if I could get in under 5 hrs I’d be reasonably competitive in my new age category. But that was last year’s results….