The Rogue 24 hour multigaine.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doers of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiam, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
Roosevelt.

I love adventure racing. I love it because no matter how strong you are, navigation and strategy can bring you undone. I love a great team where all energy is team energy. And I guess I must love pushing my bike up 40% gradients at 3am.


The west side of Mt Glorious, and over towards Wivenhoe is a beautiful area with hills that are considerably more brutal than our usual haunt on the Nebo side. We majored in finding the hardest possible route to do just about every checkpoint - made all the more obvious by great google earth technology now employed by the Queensland Rogaine Association which plots and compares each teams route. Thanks Liam for such a great race.

Blacksheep HCs finished 12th, not a bad days effort given we had done nothing to prepare. :)
Blacksheep Old Coots also fared well, with Adam finishing his very first adventure race. I think that is a great example of the deep end! Prof also held up well given a month of heavy OS travel and fat cat luncheons. Must be in the genes.

Anticipated side effects - very sore legs this week to train through.
Unanticipated side effect - a hankering to get back out amongst it with the AR gang. Three dreaded letters were even mentioned.... x.....p.....d.....
Am I seriously willing to be that pushed/exhausted/broken again?
Can I perfect sleeping while walking if I give it another try?

Can I take the cold of tasmania for 10 days?
Maybe sometimes you just have to jump in first and figure the rest out later...

triple 000 noosa 12 hour - 1st solo female.

Well, that was a master class in mud riding. Unfortunately mother nature was not up for co-operating and she really gave us some tough conditions. Bike eating conditions. I went through a set of pads around every 2 laps and even managed to grind down a spider.... and I swear I was only using my brakes at about 3 places around the course! Inspection of the rotors revealed gritty clay jammed in all the holes, which would have been grinding pads away even without braking.... Gears were not into it much either! I ended up putting it in middle ring, and somewhere in the middle-ish of the cassette and just riding there. I was definitely considering the merits of owning my own SS. I even managed a jersey malfunction with the zipper dying from the mud!!!


Things I learned:
a) Tyres really do make a difference.
Last time I raced in these conditions I was on monorails and crossmarks. It didn't end well.
This time I had an ignitor on the front and crossmark on the back, and a bag full of spare mud tyres. No need to to change though as I was getting around reasonably well on that combination.

b) The right pressures help.
Coming from AR I have a tendency to way over-inflate my tyres. Less was more.

c) Big Wheels Rock!
I am convinced that the handling of my new bike really helped. It just seemed to go where I wanted, and even when I was rolling some horror narrow ruts that would usually grab a wheel and spit me off the bike it just seemed to keep on trucking.

Happy Days! Thanks Black Sheep -1st solo female.
Next Up... a bit of fun and some base Kms in the 24 hour multigaine.

Big Double coming up.

2010 is flying by... April!!!!
Things have been pretty quiet on the race front up here in SE Qld. March was mad with work, and some the rides went by the by. Still coot-tha time trial tells me no fitness lost so happy days.

Program has me swinging into Base 3, the last of the miles before hurt bags build starts. Having my program from uturnfitness made it easy to get back on two wheels after the distraction of two major tenders at work, and singapore travel interrupting training. Instead of stressing about how to start up again having someone tell you what to do and when made it pretty seamless to get back on the horsey.

So back to riding it is.
Coming up - the noosa Triple 000 12 hour mountain bike challenge.
Keen to help out Royal Childrens Foundation ? Sponsor me here .... - > Triple 000

Once that is under the belt, plan is to see it backed up with The Rogue 24 hour multigaine !!! Blacksheep HC's FTW!!!!

Big Wheels Big Season - BlackSheepImports

2010 is off and running. The first of my new steeds has arrived and it is a pinch me I am dreaming moment. Need a hint? Ok......
titanium.
custom.
29er.
work of art eye candy.
no?? ok, how about this....


It can only be a BlackSheep.
With the fantastic support of Shannon and Pete from BlackSheepImports.com.au I have a new hardtail weapon, firmly sitting in the slot of bike one my my planned race duo for 2010.



The entire process has been so enjoyable. The time spent to understand what I needed from a bike and how I planned to use it was both awesome and educational. Watching something made specifically for me from the drawing design stages through to receiving and riding the end product is an experience I would highly recommend. The knowledge of these guys is incredible and I learned a massive amount about geometries and design. Very cool indeed.

The quality speaks for itself.

The ride is superb. Fully built with training wheels - it is just a touch over 22lb. I am middle ringing my way up every climb. I see sub 10kg 29er in my future!!!



Now, to name her.....
suggestions?

LunarC - a win for 2010.

Rolling in for the win.

The weekend kicked off my 2010 season at an 8 hour with a difference. LunarC, run by in2adventure, kicked off at midnight on Friday and ran through to 8am Saturday. Another night time race, perfect for the Queensland summer.

Slickers is a fun place to race. It is not technically challenging, but has been home to some really enjoyable races and good results for me, like insomnia and a bunch of ARQ/Geocentric adventure races. It was great to see so many riders racing - 250+. Even better there were plenty of girls racing all categories... even a number of SS nutters, and no kayak leg :)

Solos were off 2 minutes ahead of the teams, so I knew I needed to get moving lap one to stay clear of log jams. The course was a surprise, with a lot more pinch climbing than I expected - a change from most of the other race routes used previously. Still, on balance I am better up a hill than most, so I'll take it. A quick change from bottles to a camelbak on lap 3 sorted out the lack of easy spots to eat and drink.



My old Gap Cycles teamie Kylie Maduna (ForTheRiders), of national 4X fame, has shifted focus and stepped up the to solo plate. With plenty of going long experience in ARs and marathons and despite the casual pre-race chat, it was clear she was there with a plan and had been training specifically for the race.

Race Face!

She gave me some work to do! I lapped pretty consistently, and despite not having a support crew - drop ins from Trickle, and support from those whose races didnt work out (better luck next time Prof and TR) meant there were a few people around most times to help out.


Local boys, taking rests from racing, did the next best thing - drank Rum and cheered on the riders in style. Who couldn't smash up the hill with that encouragement!! Nice one TK and Dec.

Thanks to my lap buddy, Shannon who rolled around the last lap. And then the lap after that. (remember, there is always 'just one more').

Time to get the kms in. It is going to be a massive year. I am convinced my uturnfitness programs are the best I've ever had and look forward to getting faster and stronger for when it counts.

Bekkers and Fellows were flying. Matt Dog hot on their heels. It was great to see Jeff Toohey back hammering around the course. There are a lot of eyes on October that is for sure. Including mine.

Next up, Dusk to Dawn.

*thanks to PHOTOEVENTS for the images.

coming up....

Well, 2010 is here and the first race of the year is coming up.

LunarC - a midnight 8hour kicks off this weekend at the scene of many a mud based crime - slickers. Given the rain we have had, there are plenty of us who are holding out to the very last minute before confirming that we will in fact show up. I have sacrificed many a brake pad, bearing and bushing at that place..... Last race at Kurwongbah saw us riding more THROUGH the lake, than around it and resulted in a rebuild of my rear suspension among other things. Don't believe me .... check it out.


Hoping for a dry and hot week this week. If not, I suspect I will race anyway.... but maybe I will put the Ridley to one side and dust off the Trek fuel. And I better get on the phone to Mick to order one of his home made mudguards.


There is a promise of a new course with more interesting bits - looking forward to a great race....!

Pitchblack solo

Night races are just made for queensland at this time of year! It was 35'c while we were setting up and I was particularly grateful when the sun dropped down below the horizon to provide some relief. Gareth went for a pre-race lap on his dirt jump bike to 'see what kind of stuff you guys ride all night' and rode closer to my average lap time that I am ever likely to admit!! Animal! On a Giant STP.

Tailwind put on a great race - tshirts and bottles for all competitors. Big tent with TV and DVDs for kids. BBQs selling great burgers, and free brekkie for riders. And best of all, a tough track.

I have learned to love the track at OHV. I still remember the first inferno race. It blew my mind, and to me seemed incredibly and impossibly technical. I have slowly learned how to ride rough rocky terrain and not get blistered hands (hello death grip) and there is not too much there that gets the better of me now. I've definitely improved since sacrificing a helmet to the OHV gods in the early days (still finished the lap)...


I had a really enjoyable race. Both TR and Nick were soloing so often times I found I had company. I also made new lap buddies friends like Ky..... and received plenty of encouragement for Bozz and the Dog. After the over-crowded track at the Scott, OHV space was a welcome change.

Having just come back from China, I decided that my aim was to cruise. 10 laps was the goal. I cruised and managed 12 laps before knowing I was 3 laps up, that I could sit down and enjoy breakfast while watching riders come in from their last lap. Nice to finish what has been a MASSIVE year with a 1st and 132km of single under my belt.

Thanks to Jezza from Ride Inn for the mid-race tune up on the Ridley!!!

What's next?
A catch up with Coach Tapper from uTurn Fitness for program setting for 2010.
Steve has made me fitter and faster than ever before, and the plan for 2010 is to step it up.
Come ON!!!!!!!!!