When I decided to step it up from 50km’s to a 100 and from Open women to the Elite category this season I knew this wasn’t going to be easy and would require a lot of hard work. I didn’t realise how hard this step up actually was until I started racing.
Going from racing 50km to 100km on the mountain bike doesn’t just have to do with an increase in endurance and fitness. A race that long also requires good tactics, a good nutrition plan and the ability to concentrate for a good 5hrs riding technical single track. The shoulders and arms almost end up doing as much work as the legs do, and on top of this all is the stress about the bike staying in one piece for the whole 100kms. Racing MTB marathons are bloody hard and I have found a new respect for its loyal athletes.
Racing the Kona Odyssey a month back I completely failed in my nutrition plan, or lack of it really, to the point that I with 2km’s to go didn’t think I could finish the race. At the James Williamson last weekend my bike had a fit, and I had to walk the 10km’s back to the start. Whilst lining up for the Capital Punishment I still hadn’t mastered a solid 100km race without fatal let downs. Needless to say I was nervous.
Lucky I was in great company with Subaru-Marathon MTB team mate Graeme Arnott, and our organiser for the weekend Pete Figg. Both these guys have a lot of experience racing which was a great help. And it made a huge difference. The benefits of racing on a team! Thank you Subaru-MarathonMTB.com.
It was a 7am sharp start for the first group of riders which meant we were warming up in the dark. Untypically for Canberra it was really mild. The air was filled with the noise of bikes, nervous laughter and the organisers getting ready for a big day out. The athmosphere was great. I had my pockets filled with my SIS gels, snicker bars and my water bottles ready, Pete had my nutrition plan. I had it all organised. The nutrition part of it anyway!
My let down today was that I still hadn’t really worked out where I belonged at the start with the consequence that when the gun went off I was way too far back off the first group. The front pack started hard and I could not go with them as I was navigating myself through the crowd. I couldn’t find a good bunch to ride with which caused me being stuck behind slow people on the single track and riding alone on the fire trails. Not good race planning at all and there is still a lot to learn for me.
The course was great, it started in Kowen forest on awesome flowy trails, I was flying through the single track, there is nothing better than having a good day on the mountain bike and the Bianchi just handled the narrow switchbacks so well. The km’s flew passed and before I knew it I saw Pete’s familiar face at the feeding zone and my race started to come together quite well I thought.
I thought wrong.
Unfortunately the legs decided that 75km’s was more than enough and stopped cooperating, at this stage we were racing in between Kowen and Stromlo so there were no fun trails to convince my body this racing business was really fun. I had raced hard to close the gap to the 2nd elite girl only to see this gap increase again. I was either passing people who were struggling just like me or I got passed by roadies and before I could even think about jumping on their wheel they were already miles ahead of me. This part of the race seemed to last forever. It’s made worse by the fact that it looked we were circling Stromlo , as if being teased. When the heck do the trails start again???
Finally the fun began, well, not before a 5km steep single track climb to the top of Stromlo, at this point I was negotiating with myself not ever to race 100kms again, but the Capital Punishment people were clever, they left the best for last: 5km’s of a fast paradise descent and I was smiling again and ready to sign up for next year’s race by the time I finished. How easy it is to bribe the MTB mind.
I will take away from this race that my endurance is not quite there yet and I still have a lot to learn about race tactics, but it was definitely a step up from the Kona Odyssey and I am looking forward to my next MTB Marathon. (I am still on a high from the Stromlo descent while I am writing this).
The men’s elite race was taken out by Andy Blair, with Dylan Cooper in 2nd place and Shaun Lewis for 3rd.
Subaru-MarathonMTB.com’s Graeme Arnott had a solid performance for 14th in a very elite field.
In the elite women’s it was Jenny Fay who dominated the race followed by Michelle Ainsworth for 2nd Cristy Henderson 3rd and myself in 4th.
Big thank you to the organisers for an awesome race, and Graeme, Pete, and Rick for looking after me!! I’ll be back next year for sure.