Wow, what a day! The start saw us hit up a cobbled climb through a winery before a brief flat section and then yet more climbing, and more, and more…then we were in some awesome singletrack before a long steady climb up to Water Point 1. In between sucking up the pain in my legs as I clung to Shaun’s wheel, I was able to take in the scenery below as we wound our way up the valley. It was sensational and riding in a bunch of guys from all over the world, a new experience for me.
From there it was a hairy tarmac descent and into Water Point 2 for the biggest climb of the day. This was a tough one. Shaun set a solid tempo on the front and I did my best to keep up. This was the hardest point of the race for me and I was begining to wonder what I was getting myself into!
But soon enough we were into some rocky double-track and I felt a little better again. It was a long stage though. At about the 110km mark, over 4 1/2 hours in, we hit a 7km section of rough railway track with sharp rocks and railway sleepers every half-metre. Our bikes bounced around as we grimaced our way through it and hoped it’d be over soon. It wasn’t, it dragged out like nothing else and was damn tough, seeing the smooth road after that hellish section was pure bliss.
So we got through that one and were able to enjoy a short downhill before the finish. What a massive day: 117km and a shade over 5hrs on the bike, bring on day 2!
The 2010 Otway Odyssey
My legs were screaming, I was puffing hard and I was going backwards through the bunch. “Oh shit” I thought to myself, “this could be a very long day.” We were on the first climb, about twenty minutes into the race. I pushed my dead legs on to a chase bunch and passed them on the next descent, taking all sorts of risks and almost crashing, to re-join the lead group by the next steep climb. The race had only just begun.
The Otway Odyssey is a classic 100km race on the Aussie calendar and this year it pulled the strongest field of elite racers for a 100km race in Australia ever. It was always going to be a tough day, but with over 2600 metres of climbing and an eager field keen to snap up the $3000 prize money on offer, I had a feeling this year’s Otway was going to take ‘tough’ to a whole new level.
With this sort of pre-race build-up and having never ridden the course, my imagination was going wild before the race. There was no doubt about it, I was nervous.
The alarm woke us at 530am and we shoved down as much breakfast as we could before assembling on the startline for a 7:15am start. The sun was only just rising on Apollo Bay as the wind ripped though the main street, muffling the standard pre-race banter and giving us a solid head wind to ride into off the gun.
Without too long we were off and after a few minutes of flat tarmac we were on the first climb of the day and my legs started telling me they’d rather still be in bed. “If my legs aren’t keen to go hard today my head will just have to push twice as hard”, I said to myself as I re-joined the lead group on the 2nd climb.
The first few sections of this climb weren’t too tough but soon we hit a super-steep section where a lead group of riders separated from the rest of us. This section was extremely tough with steep climb after steep climb but finally we crested the incessant granny-gear sections and hit a section of tarmac. At this point there was a group of about six of us but that soon dwindled to four over the next few sections with myself, Shaun Lewis, Peter Hatton and Jason English riding together.
The climbs kept coming though and I was really hanging by this point. One gradual climb saw me dangling off the back of the group, puffing hard and hoping with every bend in the road, that I’d see the top. I finally did and at this point the three others were about 50 metres ahead up the road. I pushed hard to try to re-join the group on the next descent and was making up some ground when Shaun and Pete crashed into each other, giving Jason a gap ahead to us three.
Not long after we were into the first section of downhill singletrack. It was a lot of fun although I was starting to cramp and we were only about half way through the race! Ouch! I slammed down some more electrolyte, grimaced and kept pedalling. In a weird sort of way, this was fun.
Singletrack kept things interesting for the next 20km or so but it was far from flat with plenty of tough little climbs to remind me how much my legs hurt. Pete lead most of these sections and held a decent pace to try to reel in English.
I ran out of water at about the 55km mark. I’d got through two bidons on my bike and one in my back pocket! It was over 30 degrees though and I was sweating hard. I knew the feed zone was at the 67km mark and tried to ignore the cramps as I counted down the kilometres and tried to hold onto Pete’s back wheel.
The feed came surprisingly quickly though and I grabbed two new bottles and some more food with glee. The next stage gave us 20km of singletrack before hitting the feedzone again and heading out for the final 13km.
This section is where our trio really started to slow down. We still wanted to close the gap to English but it seemed like none of us had much energy left. Shaun did most of the singletrack duties for at least the first half of the 20km and, while I felt like we weren’t going particularly fast, I also didn’t feel like I could go any faster. I led for most of the second half and tried really hard to keep the pace high. I actually felt quite good at this point and hoped in the back of my mind that my legs might finally be coming good.
I sucked my next two bottles dry by the time we got to the feedzone again, took on another two bottles for the final leg, and hoped this final climb on fireroad wasn’t as bad as people had described. It didn’t take long of pedalling on this fireroad climb to know that my body had well and truly had enough of this crazy race. I tried to take some turns with the other two boys but just couldn’t summon up the power to even get around them!
With about 10km to go Pete put in an attack on us which neither Shaun nor myself could respond to. We pedalled stubbornly on, tried to get up the climbs as best we could before hitting up a long singletrack descent. Shaun had a crash in one of the early mud bogs so I got around him. I knew this descent would be a good spot to make up some time but I just couldn’t do it. I tried to descend hard and fast but my whole body was in pain by now — it was more a case of getting down the hill than descending with any sort of style.
The second last steep climb of the day is called the ‘Sledgehammer’ because it’s very steep. It wasn’t too bad though. It was steep but short. Shaun got a small gap on me at this point but I pedalled hard to get back on his wheel over the top. From here it was more singletrack — which I descended with similarly tired vagueness — and up a short and steep sandy climb. I lost traction here and had to get off and walk a few metres. Shaun made it up clean and got a slight gap on me which he managed to hold over the last few kilometres to the finish.
We crossed the line 4hours and 54 minutes after we had started having climbed some super-challenging climbs. It felt like a lifetime out there with the hardship of the race and the concentration required in the singletrack. I was happy to have finished such an epic event and it was great doing the race with buddies Shaun and Pete. In the end Pete grabbed 6th, Shaun 7th and myself 8th.
That afternoon we sat at an Apollo Bay fish and chips shop eating all we could and chatting about the day’s adventure. After the morning’s hardship, my mind felt completely flushed and I was already forgetting the pain and working out how I can go faster next year!
Thanks to Giant for my awesome new carbon hardtail and to all my sponsors for their great support. Thanks also to Sarah (and Murray) for feeding me and Dwight for some last minute accommodation and carrying our bags around the countryside. Thanks also to Rapid Ascent for the photo.
The race started and it was game on! With a short descent, riders flew everywhere — some even hit the dirt — trying to secure a strong position for the upcoming rough and rocky fireroad. Within 15 minutes our lead group had dwindled to about eight of us and the pace on! As we smashed through creek crossings, wrestled our bikes down unknown rocky descents and climbed loose and rocky fireroad climbs I could hardly keep the smile from my face (although it probably looked like a grimace). Racing over new countryside, with every section offering new and un-seen challenges, it was exhilarating. The Cradle Mountain air helped keep things fresh too.
Our lead group fragmented over the final sections of the first stage with Sid Taberlay and Dan McConnell going off the front and the rest of us trying to hold on. With lactic-filled legs and plenty of bumpy terrain, the final few kilometres were tough but with the stage done in under an hour, there thankfully wasn’t too much time to think about the pain.
Wildside takes riders from the heights of Tasmania’s Cradle Mountain to the seaside town of Strahan over four days. The race is made up of competitive stages, linked by cruise stages allowing you to spin out the legs and take in the scenery between sucking up the hard work over the race stages. Each day was broken into two stages, generally about an hour in length while the final day saw just one race stage in the morning and a BBQ, some beers and overall presentation held in the afternoon.
But back to the first day. After that lung-blasting first stage we hit up the cruise stage over the tarmac — which was an effort in itself with one sizeable climb — and then pulled in for some much-needed lunch.
The support at Wildside is incredible. Each lunch stop offered a huge selection of salad rolls, a range of fruit (grapes, apples, nectarines, peaches, apricots), chocolate bars, bags of lollies, electrolyte drink, pastries, tea, coffee and to my absolute delight, Milo. All this was set up and ready to go when we rolled in so we simply had to walk up, fill our arms (and pockets) and start eating!
In not too much time at all it was time for stage two. This started with some singletrack which immediately spread the bunch out. With me about 8th into the singletrack, I had my work cut out for me over those first sections to maintain contact with the front but after a good ten minutes of leg-pain the roads opened up and I was able to sit in the bunch relatively comfortably. Again our lead group had dwindled to about eight of us (setting the trend for the week) and it was over the last few nasty and steep pinch climbs that Sid and Dan managed to get away from the rest, but not before we all had to tackle a waist-deep creek-crossing complete with guide rope to keep us above water!
I was struggling in the later sections as the hills and day’s effort started to add up. Andy Blair and I worked together to try to bring back a group of four ahead of us and managed to almost catch them by the finish line. It was another great stage, very tough with a bunch of steep climbs, but rewarding and a great day on the bike for me.
From there it was a downhill cruise to Tullah, our stop-over town for the night, a swim in the lake and a buffet dinner.
Stage 3 was simply up, then down. Sid Taberlay got a flat tyre within the first 5km and with that the pace was on with contenders trying to maximise the time over Sid. Whether it was because I didn’t warm up very well, or because the pace was just too high for me, I’m not sure but stage three was a forgettable one for me from a performance perspective. I lost contact with the front group on the climb, struggled down the technical descent, and lost chunks of time to the leaders. From a scenic perspective though, the stage was amazing. Riders climbed through the rainforest on singletrack, hopping the odd log and negotiating creek crossings and rocky sections, to arrive at the summit and hit the descent almost immediately. The descent started with a rocky fireroad but soon riders ducked into very technical singetrack with boulders everywhere, a very deep mud bog which saw plenty of riders come unstuck, and yet more creek crossings. It was a short stage, about 40 minutes, but what it lacked in length, it made up for in quality.
We had a good few hours to chill out in Rosebery, eat our lunches and lie on the grass on a day that was uncharacteristically hot for this part of Tassie. The second stage of the day — the Montezuma Falls stage — is the longest of the event at 38km and is also lauded by Wildside regulars as one of the most memorable. The stage started with about a 4km climb up tarmac before hitting the dirt.
I was nervous before this stage, I wanted to make up for my disappointing stage in the morning but was also aware that if the pace started too ‘hot’ I might struggle to recover and maintain contact with the front guys. The initial tarmac climb proved not too taxing and soon enough we were hitting up the dirt and I was in a good position in the top 5. Sid Taberlay, having lost close to 15 minutes in the morning stage with mechanical problems, decided to make a move on this next section — a gentle climb up to the suspension bridge of Montezuma Falls. The bunch strung out and I hung tight. It was tough but I was feeling good.
At the bridge crossing I was told to wait because only a few riders are allowed on the bridge at one time. I waited patiently, hoping the guys ahead would abide by the ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ and wait on the other side. They didn’t! There was daylight ahead of me as I pedalled up the gradual climb and hoped they would soon be in sight. Dan McConnell came around me, also in chase of the leaders and I managed to hold his wheel for a while before my legs told me enough was enough. I cursed, thinking my stage was over, but then Mark Fenner came around me and set a fast but steady tempo. Gradually, and with much grimacing, he dragged me back up to the leaders.
Just as we were about to make contact, Fenner’s legs told him enough was enough too and it was left to me to make the final move to the group. With the consistent climb, it was more a case of measuring your effort, then sprinting all-out, but gradually I got back to the leaders (with Sid still off the front) and managed to hang on the back for the descent. This was awesome! It was fast, gradual and long, very long. Some sections required you to think quick as we dodged mud bogs, puddles and logs. It was a hoot though, I was completely loving it.
We hit some rough singeltrack after this for the final main climb of the day. I started feeling good in the legs here and gradually worked my way through the dwindling group. Paul van der Ploeg and myself managed to get a gap on the bunch in the final descent and, with Paul trying to make up time on his U/23 challenger Steele van Hoff, he pushed the pace hard on the final fireroad section. I helped out where I could but it was Paul who was the motor in our duo. Coming into the last 500m Paul punctured which gave me 2nd place for the stage behind Sid, I was stoked! It was super-fun stage and to finish it off strong was the icing on the cake.
The final cruise stage of the day took us to Zeehan, a very quiet town feeling the effects of reduced mining in the area. After discovering our booking had not been taken at the local pub (complete with a dirt-floor office), we caught the bus to Strahan for a night’s sleep.
The morning’s stage was the shortest of the tour, followed immediately by the longest cruise stage of the event. The 6km time trial was basically all up hill with a motorcross tack thrown in, some tight singletrack and a long and dark tunnel. We were paired off for this event and I was with Ben Mather, only about a 1min30sec behind me on overall time. If I wanted to secure a top three in Open Men I had to keep him behind me. So we started together and got about half way before Ben put down some serious hammer time and I could do nothing but puff hard and grimace ever-harder in response. I got dropped but kept calm and maintained a solid tempo to only lose about 20sec to him over the 6km.
From there it was about five minutes of ‘rolling out’ with some serious leg-pain and gasping lungs before a cruise and some lunch!
Trial Harbour was our lunch venue and offered balmy seaside air — in contrast to fresh and chilly Cradle Mountain air a few days earlier — and a lush grass to lounge around on. I was happy to have a lie-down after the morning’s intensity and almost fell asleep under the shade of the lunch tent!
But there was no time to sleep, we had a stage to race. Heralded as one of the toughest of the race, the stage to Granville Harbour started with a solid climb out of Trial Harbour before heading along the coastline, with barely a flat piece of road and plenty of rough and technical descents.
Sid Taberlay was again on the attack on this stage and he soon forced a gap on the rest with Paul and Steele in hot pursuit. Adrian Jackson, Andy and myself were a bit further back and maintained a steady tempo. After about 10 minutes Andy’s ‘steady’ tempo got to the point of being a bit too much for myself and AJ, especially me, and I clung to AJ’s wheel as Andy rode away from us. The trails were wild with some super-steep and techo climbs matched to equally steep but more techo descents. It was fun but sometimes hairy as we descended fast without really knowing what was over the next rock.
With about 3km remaining in the stage, Ben and Dan joined our little duo and AJ and I had a collision at the base of a big descent, giving Ben and Dan a gap ahead of us. Wanting to maintain my lead over Ben, I rode my heart out over the last stages and lost only about 20 seconds again to him. It was a tough stage with no real chance for rest with steep climbs and attention-grabbing descents but again, Wildside impressed with its awesome variety.
From there it was a long bus trip to Strahan. Strahan is a great place to base a race in. It’s quiet enough to be accommodating to 450+ smelly and dirty mountain bikers, offers a relaxed and cruisy seaside vibe and some great pubs and eateries.
It was very easy to relax that night as we threw down some pizza and pasta and enjoyed the outside dining with the water only a stone’s throw away.
The final stage is one of the longest at 36km but is also one of the flattest and hence, one of the fastest. About 10km of the stage is raced on the open beach — with the sand about as hard as concrete — while the rest of the stage is held on fast fireroad or soft and slow desert dune trails. With only about a minute between Ben and myself, and with the top three riders on GC separated by about 30 seconds, it was going to be a fast stage!
I help a good position in the early sections and managed to get onto the beach on Ben’s wheel in 2nd place. From there it was like a road race with riders attacking and other chasing. Nothing managed to stick until Ben put in a strong attack, gaining a gap on the bunch and riding off into the distance. With still over half the stage to go though, I was confident we could bring him back.
After exiting the beach the stage got hard with about 20 minutes of sand dune trails. This section offered no momentum and plenty of mental resolve to keep punishing tired legs. I almost lost contact with the group but managed to grovel my way back up to them and firmly position myself just in time for the open fire road.
By the time I made it back to the group, Sid had again taken off up the road and Dan and Ben were working together between our group and the lone leader. Paul, AJ, Andy, Ross Farell and I swapped off hard to catch Ben and Dan. Steele was also in the bunch but with his team mate up the road, refused to work with us. Paul put in a strong attack to try to dislodge Steele, which had me well and truly on the ropes, but in the end we all finished together with Ben only slightly up the road, meaning I was able to maintain my lead margin over him. Luke Fetch was also only 2sec ahead of me at the start of the stage but lost some time in the sand so I managed to get ahead of him overall and Josh Carlson experienced some mechanical problems, meaning I jumped him also.
So after four days and seven stages of hard racing I finished up 2nd in Open Men and 5th outright. I was stoked.
Wildside is truly an amazing event. It combines a very strong social side with some great racing, awesome variety of trails and stunning scenery. Throw in slick organization and support and you have an unforgettable four days away.
Thanks to my generous sponsors for another awesome time on the bike and thanks to Mick Ross and Rick Eaves the pics. You can check out all the images from the race at www.rickeaves.com
The first round of the Victorian state XC series was held at Bendigo. And it was wet, “the most miserable conditions for a mountain bike race in Bendigo ever”, according to the organisers.
But we didn’t need the organisers to tell us it was miserable conditions, we just needed to get out of our cars. We started our practice lap in dry but muddy conditions but soon were getting bucketed on with rain. “This must be the random flash flooding they mentioned on the internet forecast”, I thought to myself as I struggled to see through my glasses for the mud and slipped my way around the course.
We managed to get back to the car after that practice lap, grabbed some extra layers of wet weather gear, and shivered around waiting for the start of the race. “We could always take our race numbers off and go home.” I said. But Niki wasn’t having any of it, “nah Jimi, this is fun!” While I didn’t agree, I appreciated her enthusiasm.
We lined up on the start line and I decided that I’d go as hard as I could and if that meant I ‘blew up’, I’d pull out of the race. I certainly didn’t want to be dawdling around in these conditions, I had to be amongst the race to finish.
So we sped off in the direction of the puddles and soon a bunch of five of us had gained a lead margin on the rest. We rode together for about a lap and a half until the three front guys – Adrian Jackson (Merida) Murray Spink (Giant) and Scott Liston (Felt) – forced a gap on the main climb. Neil van der Ploeg (Felt) and I worked together to bring them back and half way through the 3rd lap we did. At the half way point we were still basically together give or take a few seconds but then Scott attacked and AJ followed, and then attacked harder to ride away from the rest of us.
Scott was feeling the effort of his attack and drifted back to Neil and myself with Murray a bit further up the course. We stayed like this – Neil and I together and Murray a bit ahead – until the final lap where Neil made a break on me which I was able to close, but then forced another break which I had no response to.
In the end I finished 4th, with Neil 3rd, Murray 2nd and AJ a fair way ahead in 1st. It was a crazy race given the conditions but, despite my pre-race apathy, a really fun day. The trails at Bendigo really are a treat to ride, no matter the conditions.
Thanks to Giant for my awesome bike that still managed to perform like a dream despite the elements being against it. Thanks also to Adidas eyewear, JetBlack products, CrankBrothers, Ritchey, Squirt Lube and PowerBar. Thanks also to Stephen Rowe for the pics.
This is the year’s most popular 100km race with the 1500-odd entries filled in an astonishing seven hours and another 2000 or so eager riders having missed out on their chance. Lucky for me, I secured an entry and eagerly awaited the day to put it to good use. Sunday the 8th of November came around and I woke at about 10 to 6 for some breaky and the short half hour drive to the race.
The race attracted a strong field and lining up on the start line I got a definite sense that the pace was going to be on from the moment the start gun fired. Nerves were high and, before too long, the race was on!
The race is broken into three ‘stages’ with a transition point in between which allows you five minutes to get between two check points (about two minutes’ riding apart) and gives you a chance to have a quick stop, fill up your bottles and grab some food etc. This rather complex (from an organisational perspective) system is put in place because there is a train line which riders must cross and, in the unlikely event of a train coming by, the system ensures that it won’t have an effect on the race results.
So the first ‘stage’ took us about 1hr and 20mins. We started in a huge pack of riders but once the pace lifted, the group quickly whittled down to about thirteen at the front. The first stage featured some singletrack, a number of short climbs and some deep creek crossings. The terrain wasn’t particularly taxing but I was aware of saving energy for later in the race so tried to stay in little gears and keep eating and drinking. It was a solid pace though and I was certainly feeling the pinch at certain points!
We arrived at the first transition point, loaded up on bottles and headed out for the 2nd stage, the longest of the three. With countless long and steep climbs, it’s touted as the ‘race defining’ stage. Usually the person that exits this stage in the lead, wins the race.
The stage started with some smooth fireroad before hitting up some fireroad descents and then some short singletrack and then the much-talked-about section; The Wall. This is a short but very steep climb that then leads into a long section of singletrack. While the climb itself isn’t super challenging, it’s important to hold a good position at the top of the climb to hit the singletrack in the top group of riders.
A few kilometres before this section, Matt Fleming launched an attack and was soon joined by Hamish Elliot. So, leading into The Wall, there were two riders off the front of the group. I hit the base of the wall at the front of our group and managed to get into the singletrack in 5th position which I was happy with. The singletrack proved harder than I expected though (probably because I was still in energy debt from climbing up The Wall) and by the end of the section I was feeling like I was digging very deep, far deeper than I would have hoped for.
I quickly realised that I was struggling to maintain contact with the now-dwindling front bunch and after a few more kilometres, and some steep climbs, I had lost contact. It was a strange feeling – half an hour previously I’d been feeling great and now, riding on my own and watching the group ride off ahead, I was on the verge of blowing up. I was a little disappointed but tried to stay positive.
I eased up on the pedals a bit, had a drink and something to eat, and tried to convince myself that I might be able to ride back into a good position if I just stayed focused. It was a tough few kilometres though, I felt like I was creeping along and my morale was very low.
After a few more climbs I came to another long section of singletrack and I noticed Josh Carlson, another member of the splintering front group, up ahead. Spurred on, I found some more energy and caught up to him. We rode together for a few kilometres until he pulled aside and gave me the lead, “I’m flogged mate, you seem to have a bit more in the tank than me.” Feeling like I had nothing in the tank, I tried to look strong as I rode past and muttered something about how hard the race was.
I got a bit of a gap on Josh over the next few sections and then we hit the long, steep fireroad sections which, I later found, shattered what was left of the front group. I tried to hold a good tempo here but it was super-hard mentally riding so slowly! Josh maintained a similar distance behind me and I wondered whether it would be better to wait for him so we might be able to work together. I decided to ride at a solid pace and, if he came across to me, we’d be able to work together.
A few more torturously slow ascents later I noticed Andy Blair, another rider from the front group, just ahead. Thinking we were near the end of the hills, and wanting some companionship on the flat terrain, I put it in to catch him. He seemed pretty spent so I set the pace on the front but, unfortunately for both of us, the hills were far from over. Just when I was seriously ready to lie on the track and cry into my dirty gloves, the terrain eased and we were into the last sections of ‘stage 2’.
Andy still seemed pretty flogged so I sat on the front for most of this section, but it was great to have some companionship out there!
I finally made it to the finish of this stage and, just as we arrived, I saw another two riders from thenow-shattered front group – Brent Millar and Marc Williams – just ahead. “Great”, I thought. “Some people to work with on the final ‘stage’!”
We re-fuelled, grabbed some lube for our chains and headed out for the final, gruelling ‘stage’. I was told it was mostly flat and was feeling a bit better by this point so I forced the pace on one of the early climbs and Millar and I got away from the rest. Thinking there couldn’t be too many more climbs left, I put it in as we swapped off turns and headed to the finish. Problem was, there were more climbs, and lots of them. The two of us worked together well but there were a few points where I was at my absolute limit. I threw down another PowerGel and drank more but I was at the point now where not much could help me – I was nearly completely spent.
I was told that once you get to the ‘Your Call’ section (a fork in the trail where you can take the short and steep option, or long and gradual option) you are only 5km from home. So once I saw the sign I was damn happy. We had to get up the steep climb first but it proved rideable despite my exhaustion. Millar and I worked together over the last section and Millar rolled in for 6th, me 7th. Seeing the finish banner was a pretty rewarding feeling and made all that hardship seem like it was almost fun.
The Highland Fling was an experience. From fun, to exhaustion, to desperation, to elation; I experienced it all in the four and a half hours of racing. It was a great day and I’m looking forward to heading back.
Thanks to Giant for my awesome carbon hardtail. Also thanks to Adidas Eyewear, PowerBar, Crank Brothers, JetBlack Products, Ritchey and Squirt Lube. Time for some rest before the next one!
The Cape to Cape takes an all-encompassing approach to running a four day stage event. While the riders are treated to well marked and generously marshalled courses, the racing is only a small part being involved in the Cape to Cape.
Upon finsihing a stage of the event you’re pampered with a recovery area including Ascend energy drinks and bars, a selection of iced water (sparkling or standard), a massage tent, a mobile bar with beer and wine, and a lunch tent. But that’s not all: roll your bike to your accommodation, have a shower and then catch the pre-organised bus to the evening’s festive location with all the food, beer, wine and socialising you could ever want. So as you can imagine, it was a challenging four days. Race organiser Chris Heverin did warn us during the welcome dinner though. “We want the days to be a challenge and the nights to be even more of a challenge!”
Racing got underway on day one at the Augusta Lighthouse – still the most impressive stage start I’ve ever seen at a mountain bike race with views across the ocean and along the rugged coastline.
The start may have been picturesque and relaxing but it also lulled me into a false sense of calm because the race on day one was certainly the toughest of the four day event. It featured a long, steep, technical climb early into the race and plenty of short, steep climbs afterward, punctuated by a ride along the soft, soggy and leg-sapping beach. While scenically spectacular, this section was physical torture.
I was swapping the lead with Rohin Adams at this point but for whatever reason (probably skill), he rode away from me in the sand while I had to get off and push my bike. It was demoralising, hard work and as I watched Rohin ride off in the distance I decided to save my energy as best I could over the rest of the stage in the hope of coming back stronger later in the week.
So I finished that stage at Hamelin Bay a few minutes down on Rohin in 2nd place and washed my bike – thanks to the complimentary bike wash – peeled of my cycling clothes and went for a swim in the fresh Indian Ocean which was only about 50 metres from our accommodation. If that doesn’t sounds idyllic enough, after drying off in the sun I headed back to the mobile bar for an ice cold beer and a chat to the other guys who, I quickly discovered, were unanimous in their painful memories of the beach section. We traded our stories of suffering and laughed at what we’d put ourselves through, bring on day two!
But first we headed into Augusta for the second challenge: the post-stage dinner. Some entertaining stories were shared from the day and we feasted on lasagne and salad.
The next stage was longer but less challenging. The beach section of day one was replaced with a green paddocks and a winery, and fast flowing trails replaced steep, technical climbs. We rode in a group for much of the day and it flew by.
We raced three abreast up the last major climb, no one giving an inch, until we hit the last sandy 5km where I managed to get past Rohin and Joel Read and held a gap of about a minute to the finish in Prevally Park. Where Hamelin Bay was quiet and tranquil, Prevally Park offered the full, wild ocean experience with massive waves crashing against the beach and Kombi vans covered in surf boards.
That night was a step up in presentation and ambience with a lavish outside dinner at the local Colonial Brewery. The beers were tasty and the dinner was even better. We chatted about the day – it’s amazing how much riders can talk about riding – and ate and drank like we’d earned it, which judging by the weary faces and fresh, red tan lines all around, we had.
Day three was the premier stage of the race – the Margaret River Special Stage. While the other days had been predominantly open and on fire road, this stage had some long sections of singletrack and plenty of challenging terrain. The singletrack was a welcome addition and certainly set the stage aside from others.
After about an hour there were just the three of us at the front – Joel, Rohin and myself. Joel was happy setting an awesome pace on the front so I sat on his wheel and tried to work out where the best spot would be to try to break away from the two team mates. If I tried to break away too early I knew they’d work together to bring me back which would end up costing me a lot more than them.
So as the end neared Rohin threw plenty of attacks at me but I was feeling strong and was able to match each of them. I managed to get into the last singletrack ahead of him and I built a lead to the two chasing riders. With about one or two kilometres to go though I took a wrong turn because some locals had changed the direction of a few of the course arrows! So I finally realised my mistake and got back just in time to see Rohin passing the same point. I got in front of him again but didn’t manage to re-catch Joel.
So I finished 2nd on that stage and while I was disappointed coming over the finish line, if anyone deserved a stage win it was Joel as he’d basically set the pace for the whole day, it was impressive. So I can’t say I was all smiles at the finish but once I’d quenched my exhaustion thanks to the post-stage luxuries, I was happy to have had a challenging and damn fun day on the bike. The only problem with this event was it was going so fast!
Based on the course arrow confusion, the organisers decided to zero the time difference for the final day between Rohin and I. For the last day we’d be starting dead even on time, as we had on day one, the stage was set for a final stage showdown!
No to get too caught up with the racing though, that night we hit up the local Augusta – Margaret River football club and were entertained with Johnny Waddell’s speech regarding his action-packed history on (and off) the bike. The local owner of the club also chipped in with his own unique motivation to get out on the bike – “I’ve recently been forced onto my bike by the local constabulary.”
While the local club struggled with the demand and ran out of food – I overheard one of the older female employees complaining: “we had enough food for 250 people but they were all loading their plates sky high!” – it was another festive night. Along with riding our hearts out, laughter was continuing as a very strong theme for the week.
Day four was certainly the most cruisy of the four stages. The four of us – Joel, Rohin, Johnny and I – were working well together on the flat roads until Johnny locked bars with Rohin and smashed into the ground, ripping chunks of his arm in the process and smearing himself in cow patties. It was almost funny and after a few minutes I think even Johnny could see the funny side. We all pulled up and called First Aid.
Once Johnny was safely off to the hospital we continued on our way. It was flat and fast and there was really no chance for us to break up until the final last climb. I laid it all on the line on that final climb and managed to get a gap on Joel and Rohin which I held until the final descent and the finish line.
So in the end I managed to take the win over the four days but as I hinted at earlier, the racing is only really a small amount of the Cape to Cape experience. In summing up the Cape to Cape I have to steal a quote from my racing buddy Joel Read: “I’m all about doing things for the story and the Cape to Cape did it for me.” The amount of cool people we met, stories we heard and shared and experiences we had was incredible. The fact that it was all crammed into a meagre four days makes it all the more impressive; almost magical, in fact. And I haven’t even started on the scenery…Thanks Cape to Cape!
Thanks also Giant bikes for yet another great few days on the bike. Also a big thanks to my other major sponsors: Adidas Eyewear, Ritchey, Crank Brothers, JetBlack Products and PowerBar. The WA crew: Jason Dover and Lee Walker did an awesome job during the race and they also deserve special thanks. Thanks also to Travis Deane for the pics.
Here are some more sweet pics from racing at the 24hr thanks to Dan de Witte
With 2500 competitors and an estimated 6000-strong crowd, the Scott 24hr is the biggest 24hr race in Australia (and one of the biggest in the world).
I got together with a bunch of mates: Shaun ‘Lewey’ Lewis (Mongoose), Adrian ‘AJ’ Jackson (Merida – Flight Centre) and Andrew ‘Blairy’ Blair (Redshift Racing), and with the support of local Canberra design company Swell Design, entered in the pro four man teams against the strongest Aussie 24hr teams in Australia. Our competition was highlighted by the Gu-Yeti team which included Olympian Sid Taberlay, the Crown Plaza team including Olympian Dan McConnell and the Rockstar Racing team with World 24hr Champ Craig Gordon and fast-men Hamish Elliot and Matt Fleming.
So we knew we had our work cut out for us but we were also quietly confident we could match (and hopefully topple) these teams with our own blend of tactics and consistency.
The race started at midday on Saturday and Lewey took up the charge on the fist lap with a lightening fast lap which had us in a great position from the very first hour. Lewey managed to put time between the Gu-Yeti and Crown Plaza teams and was duking it out with Rockstar’s Hamish Elliot as he came into the transition area for the first time.
Blairy was next up and he maintained our position as we continued to lead the charge with Rockstar for lap three. AJ was next up and for myself, the nerves were starting to build.
As I was getting my bike kit on for the first time Lewey said to me “we can’t lose the lead, if we have to chase we’ll just blow up, we have to stay at the front.”
With this in my head I was ready to put it all on the line even though this was only the first lap of many for the race – the physical and psychological advantages of being in the lead were worth fighting for!
Luckily, AJ came in with no Rockstar jersey behind him. I didn’t know if the gap between us was ten seconds or a minute though so I pedalled through my lap as if the Rockstar guys were only a few seconds behind.
I had a big scare on the major descent when some air starting hissing out of my rear tyre! Luckily the sealant in the tyre managed to clog the hole but I rode conservatively for the remainder of the lap knowing that a flat tyre at this early stage would be very hard to come back from.
I finished my lap having maintained the distance to Rockstar (about a minute) and got some food and drink into me in preparation for the long night ahead.
After a few more laps news came in that the Rockstar guys had punctured and we had close to a six minute lead about four hours into the race. With that gap up pur sleeves we decided the tactic now was to ride solid but conservatively – that way if the Rockstar guys caught us again we would have at least have more in the tank to take the race to them!
With this strategy in place the gap between us narrowed to about four minutes, but as night fell we put in some good laps to see the gap open to almost ten minutes – the race couldn’t be going better for us.
During the late and early morning night hours we changed our strategy and paired off to do one lap on, one lap off for four laps, giving the other two guys a decent rest (almost four hours).
AJ and myself were the first to pair off and by about 2am I was on my last ‘double’ and dreaming of a bed and a shower. The night laps went really well for AJ and myself though and we rode very consistently to build an almost fifteen minute advantage by the end of our session. I really put in for the last of my double, knowing that I had a good rest ahead of me and also knowing that the larger the gap, the bigger the psychological blow for the Rockstar team and also the more of a buffer we’d have should we suffer a mechanical problem.
So I finished up my night laps, grabbed a shower and tried to get a few hours rest before the morning laps.
I woke at about 530 to hear that we still had a strong lead – about 12 minutes – and spirits were still high. As we came into the last quarter of the race we were in a great position.
I was a bit unsure of how I’d feel on the next lap (my first of the morning) and I rode within myself given our significant buffer and also knowing that one silly mistake on track could cost us minutes. Perhaps I rode a bit too much within myself though because when I got back I heard that the Rockstar guys were charging and they’d brought the gap back down to less than 10 minutes. It wasn’t time to panic yet but we could by no means relax!
As the next few laps went by I watched anxiously as the gap continued to drop to six minutes with about three hours remaining! It was looking tight.
AJ headed out for what would be his last lap of the race saying he was going to “leave it all on the track”. Pumped up by his motivation and eagerness to dominate the opposition, I got amped up for a final lap flyer!
AJ came through in about a forty seven minute lap (super-quick) and if I wasn’t amped enough, seeing him smash it down the finish straight and give me some exhausted words of encouragement, had me absolutely ready to tear up the course! So I left transition with far more urgency then I had on just about any other lap and hit the course hard from the first minute of the lap.
I was puffing hard but feeling great. I got through the rocky technical sections without any problem and really opened it up to the maximum for the last 20 minutes. Judging by my watch I was on one of my quickest laps of the race with about five minutes left and I absolutely left it all out there on the final climb, puffing hard but smiling inside knowing that Rockstar would have no chance of closing the gap we’d opened.
Lewey took the baton for the final time and I couldn’t help but smile – barring any sort of huge mechanical difficulty we’d won the race!
In the end we earned close to a ten minute buffer on Rockstar with the Gu – Yeti team taking 3rd place.
With no team manager, we ran like a well-oiled machine with barely a glitch over the 24hr race, it was an awesome weekend, thanks to Lewey, AJ and Blairy for a very memorable two days.
Thanks to Giant bikes for their amazing support and my XTC Advanced SL carbon hardtail. It was faultless as ever and the bike’s race-oriented geometry and compliant yet stiff carbon frame is like an unfair advantage in races like this.
Thanks also Col and Anton at Swell Design for making the weekend happen.
Also, thanks to my sponsors: Adidas Eyewear, Powerbar, JetBlack Products, Ritchey and CrankBrothers and NiteRider for making my weekend all the more enjoyable.
I’m off to WA in a few days for a four day stage race, I’ll keep you posted!
This is the day that plenty of mountain bikers in Australia had been waiting for – the chance to wear the Aussie Champion’s jersey and pocket some handy prize money.
So the day rolled around and, after feeling great in the legs the day before, I felt a bit sluggish as I warmed up but I wasn’t too worried because I knew it was going to be a long day and, if anything, it’d be better to feel slightly average early because it could mean that I’d be forced to hold back and hopefully feel stronger as the race progressed.
The gun went and I had a shocker getting my foot into my pedal and also managed to drop my chain in the first 50 metres. Not that it really mattered though – with the long day ahead we started at a relatively leisurely pace.
We hit the first section of singletrack about 20 minutes into the race and the bunch began to string out slightly. I was riding within myself but pushing pretty hard at the same time. As the undulating trails continued I found myself digging deeper and deeper to stay with the front group. I reminded myself that the pace would settle as the race progressed and if I could just hang in there my legs might start to improve.
So we quickly formed a lead bunch of about ten riders and made our way through more singletrack paddocks before hitting a super steep little climb where gaps started to form. I was at the back of the bunch but managed to get in a quick descent and latch myself onto the back of the bunch once more. By this time I was starting to sense that it wasn’t really my day. I was digging deep and it was only one hour into the race.
The next hour or so passed pretty quickly as we made our way over some dirt roads and even some tarmac still all together as a bunch. A few attacks went but the bunch quickly reeled them back in and all in all, it was pretty smooth sailing.
I tried to eat and drink as much as I could in this downtime knowing that there would be some tough times to follow.
We hit up a few more leg-sapping climbs before entering into the first major section of singletrack. The pace was pretty cruisy through this section and I tried to spin some little gears and convince my legs to feel good again.
We exited that singletrack and hit a longer climb soon after, at about the 3 hour mark, and this was where my average legs showed themselves. I was pushing as hard as I could but there wasn’t much power coming out. I gradually drifted off the back of the bunch and tried to hold a decent pace in the hope of bridging back across to the group on the next descent.
I chased my heart out for the next half hour and managed to catch Troy Glennan who also got dropped on the climb but the effort in catching him had dug me into a big hole which I couldn’t clamber out of. I ate, drank and sucked down PowerGels but it was all too late by this time. So I frustratingly limped home and slipped down the field to about 14th place almost 10 minutes down on the winner.
It wasn’t a great day for me and I’m not really sure why I blew up so badly. Anyway, hopefully I can gain some lessons from the day and hit up the next race fitter, faster and smarter.
Special congratulations to my Giant team mate Murray Spink who took out the race in fine style, riding a damn good race and letting out a roar as he crossed the line – awesome stuff!
Thanks too to my sponsors for another tough but incident-free day on the bike and thanks to Russ Baker for the pics.
When I first heard about the ‘the Grafton’ I was a young tacker, very new to the racing scene. Being 230km long, it sounded epic and with a 17km climb and about 1500 metres of vertical gain over that 17kms, it sounded tough. Immediately it was a race I wanted to do.
So, about ten years later and having raced all over the world but never in far northern NSW on a road bike, I was on the start line of my first ever Grafton to Inverell. And I was shivering (mainly because it was 8am in the morning and damn cold, but also because I was, I admit, slightly scared.)
The race started at a super slow pace due to an overly long neutral roll-out behind the race official’s van but after about 15 minutes the van waved the flag and the race was on!
A breakaway of riders went off the front of the bunch early and I cursed myself for not making more of an effort to make the cut. Sitting back in the bunch and cruising along I knew it’d just mean more pain at about the 70km point of the race were the roads would head skyward and the strong guys would start to set a ballistic pace to catch the breakaway group.
So the first two hours passed by at not too fast a pace and we made our way closer and closer to the Gibraltar Range.
After only a few minutes of climbing with the bunch on the mountain I was already hurting and dreaming of the top despite knowing that it was plenty more painful pedal strokes away. The bunch strung out and riders started dropping off as I clenched my teeth, sucked in as much air as I could, and reminded myself that if ever there was a time to amp up, it was now.
The first third of the climb felt damn hard but the gradient eased a bit about half way up and I started feeling okay and gaining confidence with every pedal stroke…but then the road pointed up more steeply and the pain was back! It was tough not knowing where the top of the climb was but after about 40 minutes we crested the mountain and I was well and truly at my limit.
And then the attacks started. A group was intent on getting away and the bunch was strung out in response. I was really hanging by this point but, luckily for my legs, another bunch managed to get off the front and the tempo in our rapidly diminishing group eased.
We were only about half way and it was four hours in. It was going to be a long day. Our group tried to work together but half of us were just too tired and the other half didn’t want to drag the rest along so there were a number of attacks before, at about the 160km mark, there was an unspoken truce which said “okay guys, we’re out here together and we all have to get home so how about we just ride a steady tempo and help each other to make it to the finish line (and the pub).”
So we worked together for the final two hours and made it to the finish line in about six hours and forty minutes. It was a huge day for me and a very tough one but I had a great time and certainly want to return fitter and stronger. In the end I finished about 32nd out of about 76 starters in A Grade which I was relatively happy with.
For a complete change of scene, it’s off to Bendigo this coming weekend for the Australian Marathon Champs – a mountain bike race with tonnes of fun trails, I can’t wait.
Thanks to all my sponsors for another epic day on the bike!
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