I've come a long way since that first event where 7 of my weekend warrior mates entered with some sort of notion it would take 3-4hrs so off we went in our baggies and heavy huck bikes, me with about 4 gels and a muesli bar. That year the course was a lot more difficult. It was a clover leaf, each with a big climb. The first was Jacks Track - going up what we all know as our fast descent not far from the finish. We did Blue Hill and another similar climb not far from there. After the first loop most of our team gave up and left so 3 of us persisted finishing 9:51!

I spent most of the week leading up to this race being very low key - early to bed, low stress week at work (I even left a triple farewell on Friday night after 2 hours) and staying away from the bike in order to give myself a fighting chance against the cold I had been battling since last week and which had interfered with last weeks james estate adventures. The result was I was pretty much fighting fit today, although with no time on the bike since the last race.

I've been entering MTB half-marathons for about 10 years now. When I started I was stoked to finish in the top 50%, but today I was stoked to finish in the top 4%. I've certainly stepped up the training over the years, but it's only the last 9 months that I feel like I've started learning how to "race". The real change started when I actually got some coaching - just one weekend (the Fling training weekend with Anthony Shippard and Kyle Ward), but for me it was the start of understanding racing vs riding in a race. Today I felt like I raced.