.
Dust to Yawn is just how it was. A 6pm start. It was still too warm to ride off with anything more than a jersey. Oh, I did have nix on too. After a few hours it had cooled so I had to put my magical, long sleeve Icebreaker top on.
The laps were about 17kms long. After 10kms we came past the transition area then headed out for the other 7km loop. I was getting them done in about an hour. Shortly into the second lap I heard a loud, vibrating noise when I went to use my front brakes. Its ok, I have only lost one of my brake caliper bolts. The second one was loose to. The only reason I can think this happened is because I didnt tighten them when I put the bike together after the plane trip. No bike shop mechanic to get grumpy at & blame only myself.
I took the second one out, wrapped the caliper around the other hose line & did the next 15kms with only a back brake. This was a really good thing though. I found that when riding on marbles (pea-gravel) front brakes bring you down. As I came through the transition at the 10km mark I asked my dad (support person for the race) to find me one of these please, grabbed a fresh biddon, mouthful of fruit cake then continued on. The old-fella found one. It took me a few minutes to fit & adjust.
My dad commented that one of my lap times was not as consistent. I said "that was probably the one when I head slammed & tree & sat down for a couple of minutes to make sure I was ok. oops, sorry tree.
I was in 2nd place for a short while. On about lap 14 or 15 3rd place caught me. I stuck on his wheel & had a casual chat. He then must have realised it was a 2nd/3rd thing. The pace picked up. I wheel sucked. It got a little faster, I wheel sucked. He then backed off a little, so I attacked. Along came a short climb, so I attacked it hard. I hope he pops soon because I am about to. I then see his lights getting a little further back. When the trail flattened out he caught me again. He was certainly stronger & faster than me on the night. 7kms of attacking each other was AWESOME x 10!
I have made some improvements to my race nutrition & didnt get an upset stomach all night! Now that is a first in a long time. This is one of the major benefits of using Infinit Nutrition I can adjust it to suit.
What is it like to single speed for 12 hours? I loved it. All you do is pedal. If a hill comes along pedal stronger, if its flat just spin it out a little, if youre going down, stop pedaling & enjoy the ride. The hardtail hurt my feet this race. Other than that & my poor choice of rubber the bike was the perfect assault weapon.
On 3 separate occasions I started working on excuses to quit. This always happens for me at least once. My body wants to stop the hurt & go to bed.
In this interview Jens Voigt says "Sometimes you can hear like your body start talking to you. It says, I cant do it anymore I cant do it anymore! Your mind then goes Shut up body & do as I tell you!!!"
I will track down some more photos & update this post when I do.
Time to visit U-Turn Fitness for a session & get back on track with training.
...
Dust to Yawn is just how it was. A 6pm start. It was still too warm to ride off with anything more than a jersey. Oh, I did have nix on too. After a few hours it had cooled so I had to put my magical, long sleeve Icebreaker top on.
The laps were about 17kms long. After 10kms we came past the transition area then headed out for the other 7km loop. I was getting them done in about an hour. Shortly into the second lap I heard a loud, vibrating noise when I went to use my front brakes. Its ok, I have only lost one of my brake caliper bolts. The second one was loose to. The only reason I can think this happened is because I didnt tighten them when I put the bike together after the plane trip. No bike shop mechanic to get grumpy at & blame only myself.
I took the second one out, wrapped the caliper around the other hose line & did the next 15kms with only a back brake. This was a really good thing though. I found that when riding on marbles (pea-gravel) front brakes bring you down. As I came through the transition at the 10km mark I asked my dad (support person for the race) to find me one of these please, grabbed a fresh biddon, mouthful of fruit cake then continued on. The old-fella found one. It took me a few minutes to fit & adjust.
My dad commented that one of my lap times was not as consistent. I said "that was probably the one when I head slammed & tree & sat down for a couple of minutes to make sure I was ok. oops, sorry tree.
I was in 2nd place for a short while. On about lap 14 or 15 3rd place caught me. I stuck on his wheel & had a casual chat. He then must have realised it was a 2nd/3rd thing. The pace picked up. I wheel sucked. It got a little faster, I wheel sucked. He then backed off a little, so I attacked. Along came a short climb, so I attacked it hard. I hope he pops soon because I am about to. I then see his lights getting a little further back. When the trail flattened out he caught me again. He was certainly stronger & faster than me on the night. 7kms of attacking each other was AWESOME x 10!
I have made some improvements to my race nutrition & didnt get an upset stomach all night! Now that is a first in a long time. This is one of the major benefits of using Infinit Nutrition I can adjust it to suit.
What is it like to single speed for 12 hours? I loved it. All you do is pedal. If a hill comes along pedal stronger, if its flat just spin it out a little, if youre going down, stop pedaling & enjoy the ride. The hardtail hurt my feet this race. Other than that & my poor choice of rubber the bike was the perfect assault weapon.
On 3 separate occasions I started working on excuses to quit. This always happens for me at least once. My body wants to stop the hurt & go to bed.
In this interview Jens Voigt says "Sometimes you can hear like your body start talking to you. It says, I cant do it anymore I cant do it anymore! Your mind then goes Shut up body & do as I tell you!!!"
I will track down some more photos & update this post when I do.
Time to visit U-Turn Fitness for a session & get back on track with training.
...
What a totally awesome day. It was a warm day, with the potential to be a lot hotter. Low to mid 30s I think. There was a lot of dust. The course was fast.
