Tour of Bright

Great weekend away at the Tour of Bright it’s a classic event which everyone always enjoys!
I must say the results system run by Your-Sports.com was fantasic.

Sprint jersey for TFM
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Kona 24 Hour – World Championship Qualifier

The start line of a 24-Hour race is a lonely place. Despite being surrounded by 250 people, including mountain bike royalty, all you can hear is your stomach churning. Three thoughts go through your mind:

1. Got to get off to a good start
2. What have I forgotten?
3. I’m not going to sit on anything but a bike seat until this time tomorrow

The start gun went at midday sharp (Saturday) and the field took off from the football ground in Forrest that served as a transition/tent city to the 800 competitors in the race. Nearly 100 of those, like me, were riding solo. The rest were in teams of 2, 3, 4 and 6.

The first three laps were at a frantic pace, with the track progressively getting worse with each bike that passed through. The torrential rain that had lashed the course the night before had lightened but it was still wet. Very wet. Some of the downhill tracks were `point and shoot’ – there was no traction, no braking and a lot of nerve required to hold your speed.

I slotted into the lead group of solos with 5 others for company: Jason English (current world elite champion), Andrew Bell (2008 elite Australian champ), Troy Bailey (former World age group champion), Scott Chancellor (Surf Coast 6 Winner) and Carson Tully. The latter three would fall back as the pace continued to put all of us on out limit, and Jason English would make his move.

English steadily built a lead, lap after lap, with Bell behind and me in third. When the track changed at 8pm to a new loop, and lights went on, Bell and I became locked in a battle for second that would last the next 14 hours. We were never more than 10 minutes apart, and I couldn’t close to within 2 minutes at any point.

For the first 6 hours I did rolling bidon feeds and the only time I stopped before midnight was to do bike changes or battery swaps. By 3am English lapped me and rode with me for a while, before leaving me on a steep, muddy track never to be seen again. At 15 hours in the morale was OK but I couldn’t help shake my head at his ability and grace as he pedalled away.

I got through the difficult period between 2am and 5am with quick changes, but the frequent bike changes required by clogged drive chains and wearing brake pads were wearing me down. My back up bike was a hardtail and after 16 hours pedalling through mud and persistent rain the last thing my back needed was more impact. Some respite came from other TFM riders out on course who gave me plenty of encouragement.

Sunrise typically brings new energy but the dawn lap for me was a slog. My shoulders and triceps were tense, my hands were numb and my head was aching from the concentration of riding through the night in treacherous track conditions. My 9am I was 11 minutes down on Bell in 3^rd and it was nearly two laps back to fourth. At this stage I thought I had two laps to go, knowing I wouldn’t likely close down the 10 minutes to a seasoned rider like Bell.

At the end of that lap I got some unexpected news: Bell was struggling. He had pitted only 2 minutes ahead of me. I figured I would head out for this last lap and give it a go but I was completely spent. Team riders flew past me and I hardly had the energy to lift my bike over the frequent log jumps that characterised lap 3. As I pedalled down towards the finish I got more unexpected news from my wife Sarah: Bell hadn’t come in yet and I had passed him on track. They pushed me out for another lap.

I exchanged my bidon for Coke and was out again after a rolling transition. It was like waking up Christmas morning to be told that it was actually tomorrow. For the whole lap I looked behind, expecting Bell to come charging towards me. He never did.

It turns out that he never did that extra lap, and I had managed to get to within a lap of English at the finish. In the 24 hours and 27 minutes it took me to complete the race I had less than 10 minutes in transition, 22 bidons, 10 sandwiches, 3 Up&Go’s and a few gels and snakes. I had only climbed off my bike for the three or four bike changes. I’d expended approximately 10,000 calories. I’d ridden 350kms. I hadn’t changed clothes. I hadn’t slept.

But I was officially a World Championship qualifier (Elite) and a legitimate 24-hour rider.

Note: Big thanks to the support crew of Sarah, Sheridyn, Sally, Jenny and Sean.

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Brad Davies takes 2nd @ Gravity 12-Hour (Pairs)

Gravity 12-Hour (Pairs) – 2nd

The last race in the preparation for the Kona 24 and it was a scorcher. 35 degrees at its peak and lots of dust, ash (from the bushfires) and the odd snake on course.

I teamed up with Ian Kelly for the event held in North-East Victoria (near Rosewhite which is on the Happy Valley loop that the roadies know well…). A flowing course with some sharp rises, the course rewarded the pedallers as well as those with sound technical skills.

I took the starting honours, which constituted a `Le Mans’ start – a 500 metre run to our bikes – which was executed reasonably well by a non-runner… The first lap was a mad scramble for position with 220 teams on track. I settled into 6<sup>th</sup> place with Cam Lester behind me in 7<sup>th</sup> for most of the lap. The track was sketchy initially but would improve significantly as it was `ridden in’.

The riders ahead of me were trade teams – Felt, Torq, Merida etc – and the good start was important as it gave my teammate a clear track. Our strategy was one lap on, one lap off, which basically meant half hour intervals.

We were lapping consistently and leading the pairs by 15 seconds at the four hour mark. We were overtaken and my teammate was starting to fade in the heat so we agreed that I would put in a double lap at the 7 hour mark and set ourselves up for the last four hours. The Kona team was only a few minutes back and had some pedigree so tried to keep the speed high and clear the traffic as smoothly as possible.

By the time the lights came on we were four minutes down – and 10 minutes up on third – and it was a procession to the finish. Between us we covered 260kms in 12 hours (basically all singletrack) and 4000m of climbing. A great day and look forward to putting the racing to one side as I taper to the Kona…

Stratford to Dargo

Too hot 😦 

No good on the weekend nearly 4 hours (only 2 bottles of water) half way up the climb in second place and pulled the pin…Felt dizzy, couldn’t swallow still had about 7km to go on 12% grade no bloody water nearly died… All of ‘A grade’ accept Rowan Dever (total rush) and his team mate got buried; those guys had water (support). I called the race director up & begged for water, none! So I turned back to Dargo.

Nick Aitken who commited himself to the early break must have been doing 5km per hour all over the last berg he was shattered but kept pushing “youth”. It resembled and end of a marathon everyone was all over the place dehydrated & spent. Couple of guys (Chris D’amelio and Vaughan Bowman) made the early exit at Dargo before the climb due to the heat should have done the same given the way I feel today.

Tour of Perth this Friday

2009 Damian McDonald Memorial Road Race, Lang Lang, Victoria.

2009 Damian McDonald Memorial Road Race, Lang Lang, Victoria.

Steve & Stu both on the Podium

Perfect conditions with almost no wind and nice cool temps.

Racing on the first lap ended with rolling turns.. Dan, Ben, Stevo and I turned up last minute to end a frantic hard core weekend racing..

The big names (Leaper, Lovelock and Walker to name a few) had turned up for the 150-km race.. The race started tame a couple of tough accelareations towards the end of the first lap quickly diminished the field. TFM/Avanti was one of the biggest teams represented however the final lap is where it all unfolded.  Stevo and I fended for ourselves as Rowan Dever launched the first attack on the 2 km climb, I spinting up to him and pulled away no one else followed.. We stayed away for about 4-5km when Kane Walker, Lovelock and Tom Leaper managed to pull us back.

For the next 10 – 15km there were a number of attacks until Tom went “stong” I followed and we got a gap. We maintained the break for about 8km until Kane Walker (ARC) crossed on a climb I asked to Tom wait.. So we did once on board we motored nothing was going to catch us..It was bloody hard rolling turns with these two diesels.. I hung in managed to get within 2km then ‘wack’ they went over the top as I was pulling a turn.

I TT’d the rest until  I just caught them with a 100m to go just couldn’t sprint on the limit, settled for 3rd.. Stevo lead the bunch sprint to 4th place podium.. Was an awesome day for the team against a strong field…

Well done to Stevo winning the bunch kick, once again the perfect team mate he ended up 4th got some cash