Husky 100k'er

What a great race, I expected it to be good but not this much fun.

After getting over my sickness and back on the bike last week with a good solid few sets of training, I was keen to not compromise it and get in a good session on Saturday so I did the Bakery bunch ride before we headed off to Huskinson. I found the bunch ride hard as usual and got dropped in the same spot I always do but I find a little group to tag onto to finish off the ride. It is always a good session and a very quick spin around Canberra.

So the race venue here we come, and the place was buzzing and had an awesome feel, but for us it was a quick rego and into Nowra for a nice dinner with Mike. Sunday morning came real quick and a little chat and it was not long before I was on the start line. All the elite’s and a lot of others were keen to get a quick start and headed off in the first group. I was happy to sit back in the second and hopefully have a good start without a mass of riders in front of me and it worked perfectly. Off from the front row we hit the trails without going into the red zone I was happy to get into the single track first, and everyone seems happy behind me for the first couple of k’s till I miss read an arrow thinking there was single track there where it was actually pointing for a fire road further down, no issue but I jumped in behind a few riders. From here on I was pretty much losing ground on the up’s but making up lots of ground on the down’s. There were plenty of puddles and little river crossings, and heading up to one there were about 3 riders walking the edge up to their knees I decided to run the risk and ride it, and it paid off. But around the 30k mark there was another but a big pool of mud there was only a small lumpy section to the side, and losing a little speed and balance I was forced to put a foot down, and down it went. I sunk and my knee was under with my hand, handlebar and calf on my other leg, bugger, but I was sure it won’t be long till there was another creek to wash off ;).

Keeping it going while trying to brake with a muddy finger and lever I was trying to keep consistent noting every hour I was hitting the 20k marker. So 2 hours in 40k’s down but I dropped off the pace a little during the next 30k’s dropping about 15 minutes and adding 1:45 to my time, but it was the 70k mark and it was time to finish it off how I started. So I hit it out catching a lot of 50k’ers long the way and managed to get across the line in 5h 12min. I was pretty happy with that considering I had worked it into my training without backing off and I have continued my intervals this week.

The trails were awesome while there were a few mud pools and water crossings everywhere else was perfect track. A really good mixture of single track and fire roads/double track it was never boring. I’ll definitely be back next year Blackheart did an awesome job and so did the Vollies thanks guys. Also after the first cancellation I am so glad they did they really made the right decision, I was down there when it was raining and after seeing the course after a pretty good dry spell, I would not have liked to attempt it with that rain, plus my bike would not have recovered ;).

Lucky for us we also had the Monday off so on our way back we had a few laps of Cabbage tree I really love this place and Kendra did too (she is still dreaming about it, and the smile has not gone from her face). So no doubt we will plan a few more little trips down there for some more fun.

On a side note have a look at this little gadget:

http://www.ibikesports.com//ibikedash/index.html

I have not had a good look at it yet, but turn your iphone into a power meter that is pretty cool. It seems to work in a similar way to my current ibike, so it may not be good for off road, but hopefully with the lack of calibration and better sensor’s it can be a little bit easier to get it correct and accurate. Essentially it still guesstimates the power output measuring all the riders forces calculating a power number.

Bugs I hate them......

Over the last week I have been smashed by a bug, so this means time off from riding (plus work), and the decision to not do the Single track mind round 3 race. I'm dissapointed about the race as they are great fun and an awesome seires. So with my energy levels starting to return I'm keen to get back on it and start firing again. I have been tempted to put my rego in to do the Angry Doctor 100k having done it the past 2 years but decided not to. I love the race but it will be just before the FTP training camp and with a few weekends away around that time I decided I'll keep the $140, and use it to make sure the bikes are in good order before Worlds. It can get silly sometime's how much we spend on these things, and the slight increase does turn me off a little.
I have had a bit of a look into this site too:
http://www.cycle2max.com/
It is pretty cool just entering your area, looking at the hill cliimbs or circuits and peoples times, might just give me a few targets to aim for as well as keeping a log of my times. Maybe I should add some longer circuits ;).
Bring on the Husky in nearly a week, can't wait for that one after getting a little taste of the tracks.