2009 Australian 24 Hour Solo National Championships

My 4th 24 solo race turned out to be absolutely nothing like the previous 3. This time we would have to race it, hard...

Last year I generally rode slow and cruisey all race, I was slow, but consistent; I felt like a patient circling shark, when people faded and got tired and weak, my consistent lap times meant it was pretty easy to attack and eat people alive. It was a successful strategy last year to avoid racing the race and just sit back and let others blow up, then move up the ladder as they fell. In the end I managed 6th overall, and I really felt I didn't deserve or earn it, more I survived while others fell.

This year, though, was very different indeed... instead of being an unknown, I was seeded 5th, and I knew a few people where expecting me to do well, me included. This amounted to a lot of pressure really, and come race day I was a nervous wreck, worried about standing on the front row of an elite start grid (a place I have never been before and certainly did not feel comfortable about), and mucking up the start; like my usual trick of failing to clip into my pedals, or just falling over and making an idiot of myself...

Miraculously though, at the start I managed to clip in and ride with the leaders for the first few minutes, these minutes are one of the best memories I have had in my journey in this sport. These are the elite guys, manufacturer sponsored, magazine featured famous doods, and I was riding with them, it was amazing, and elating! Quickly though, common sense kicked in, I was riding way too fast and backed off and let them go.

I settled into my usual solid consistent rhythm and everything was going fantastic, night fell and I got to try out my brand new Radical Lights, I'd only just got them a few days prior and not done a ride with them (infact I had not even test fitted them to my bike or helmet before the race, which was a bit silly, but I had every faith they would be fine). Ofcourse, they worked flawlessly and I held the same lap pace in the dark, with 2500 lumens at my disposal, there really was no darkness left to hold me back ;)

The party was short lived though, when the heavens opened... at the worst time possible, just after the drying sun had gone down. It was exactly what happened at the Worlds last year. That was a hard race to ride and the awful, horrible memories of what I went through there came flooding back; Would I have to go through that again, a long long night in the mud? I didn't want to face it. I asked my crew if the race director would stop the event, as it was just bloody dangerous on the slippery mud... "no dice, this is a National Championship, it's 24 solo, HTFU and get back out there" they told me. "You bloody go out there!" is what I was thinking, but I headed back out into the rain, one very unhappy camper.

Thankfully the rain was short lived, but the course had turned to a river of mud. I slowly crawled my way around it. Frustratingly I had to walk the climb 3 times because slippery roots spun my back wheel out. Add to that four solid crashes on slippery muddy corners, and I was getting angrier and angrier and I just wanted to go home.

I stayed out there though and tried to find ways to mentally deal with it, it wasn't easy, until a shining ray of hope was given to me at midnight, I had already moved into 1st place in my category and was in 5th overall, and the race was only half way through! You have to be kidding me! And to add to it, the track was drying up and you could start to go faster again.

Now I'm fired up!

I couldn't have cared who was in front anymore, last years games of catching the fallen were not on my mind, now all I wanted to do was hang on to the position we had achieved and defend it! Anyone that knows me, knows I am a numbers man, I need to know my heart rate and lap times, so I wanted to know what my times were and I wanted to keep them tight and heart rate consistent. My Polar did not want to work though, it was filled with mud, the buttons jammed and I could not read the screen. Without my numbers I was freaking out. All I could think of for motivation was to get my crew to tell me the gap to the guys chasing me.

"Who's chasing me?" I ask. "Brett Bellchambers" they tell me.

Having the man that I have heard the single speed community describe as "The second coming of christ" chasing me down struck fear into me like never before. I've never had anyone chase me down at a race before, I've never had the lead before... so for my first time defending a good race position I get to have this legendary rider gunning for me. I had no hope!

He was 10 minutes behind me, about how long I take to change a tyre I thought. Way too close, so the only option was to try and gap him and see if he would falter or follow. I put the hammer down and for the rest of the night I managed to pull away from him, little by little, inch by inch. I had no heart rate or laptime knowledge, so I just rode like most do, by perceived exertion, listening to my body instead of some number on a display, and I have to say, it was great to let go of technology for once and do what came naturally! By dawn I had pulled a gap of 30 minutes on him and was thinking, "surely now he will fold, like all those others last year".

He didn't.

Infact it was quite the opposite, I started to fold, bigtime. Usually the pre dawn witching hours is where I am stronger than most, and I hoped I would stay strong and continue to pull away, but I didn't, I got slower and pain started to get a hold of me, and he got faster. He was coming for me. I started to do the math, he pulled the gap back to 25 minutes very quickly and there was still 6 hours to go, if I dropped a mere 2 minutes a lap, and he picked up a mere 2 minutes a lap, he would beat me... and that is exactly what was happening, he picked up that 2 minutes and my lap times dropped. He was going to get us.

I was going to lose something we had fought for hours to hold onto. Mentally, this played on me and at 8am I came into transition a broken man. I was in so much pain I could not stand, I was dizzy and wished lightening would strike me dead on the spot and end it.

My crew were amazing though, they changed me into fresh clothes, fed me up and got me rolling again, "just keep cruising around" Kylie said to me. So out I went and kept tapping away at the pedals, dreaming that Brett would be run over my something large and mechanical :)

Luck was on my side, Brett had a couple of long transitions, and these crucial minutes allowed me to get my gap back, and eventually pull a lap on Brett. He was now around a minute (and one lap) behind me as I came onto the finish straight for the start of my final lap, when whoosh, out of nowhere he comes up behind me in true showman style and sprints past me for the finish line, "You Dirty Dog!" I shout, laughing, no way!!! So I went after him and we sprinted for the finish line at full throttle much to the amusement of spectators ;) It was pretty funny... until I remembered I had another damned lap to do! ;)

The final lap was a cruise now, I had a lap up and all the hard work had paid off, I was on cloud nine and crossed the line one very happy (but badly broken) man indeed.

One thing that blew me away at this race was the cheers of support I got from the most amazing places, it was very humbling. I had friends come to see how I was going, some staying for hours (amazing in itself when you consider some of them don't ride bikes and must have been bored to death ;)), my sponsors, my family, it's just mind blowing how many people come to prop me up. A real surprise for me was the cheers I got from the support crews of other racers, and I'd love to list them here, but I would feel like I am name dropping to sound cool, because we're talking about some amazing names in our sport, cheering for this mug punter... I was blown away; but that is what is so wonderful about mountain biking, everyone is happy to see others do well, like one big community, a family, it's amazing. It's also amazing that these support crews are there to help others do well, a thankless task that is just as stressful as riding the race, yet they get no credit when they should. They work hard all day and night, and taking time out to gee up other racers as well... it's too much. You guys totally rock, it's those cheers of support and smiling, reassuring faces every lap that kept me going!

The race could not have happened without my core support crew, and were not talking about a couple of people handing me bottles for a few hours; we're talking about a very generous, supportive group that give their time and support, for months, so I can race. Mick at Onya bike for keeping my bikes rock solid all race (and all training season) long, not a single mechanical issue was had at this race, which is a first for me! Chris provided the golden coaching that got me much faster than last year; Neil for running my timing and being the welcoming face at the 3/4 mark on the course, every lap, without missing one; Adam for the amazing mental coaching and keeping me going when all I wanted to do was die, not to mention some of the best sports photography taken at the event! And of course to my greatest asset, and biggest supporter, who has put up with all the training, fatigue, bizarre nutritional needs and allowing me to turn our family household upside down for the last 18 months to live out my dreams, with me, the most beautiful and supportive wife a husband has ever had, Kylie. So thanx guys, you make it all happen, I just do the fun bit, ride my bike ;)

Some stats for fun:

Race Distance: 384km
Climb: 5.8 vertical kilometers
Energy Burned: 64,806kJ (15,504 Calories) - The equivalent of 103 Easter Buns
Speed: Average 16.0km/h
HR: Average 119 bpm
Hunger Flats: 3
Crashes: 4
Result: 5th (1st in my category)
Training: 265 hours over 14 weeks

A quick look at my heart rate over the race versus lap times. After the first silly sprint lap, I quickly settled into a nice steady rhythm for the next 5 hours; but it was broken by the rain, and slippery mud. After it dried up I was able to put some effort back into the pedals, but when midnight came, so did the pain, and I was forced to shut down to a woeful 110bpm heart rate for the rest of the race.

Here's an analysis of others lap times, just because I like to see how I went against certain people ;) Brett and I were certainly close for most of the race and he was often quicker than me, I was just more consistent.

The field was a lot stronger this year, just look at how much closer the race was. Here is a graph of the top 20 race positions and how much slower they were than the winner; comparing last year to this year. This year the gap between 20th place and first place has narrowed a massive 20% and that improvement is across the board for all of the top 20. Mountain bike endurance racing just gets more and more serious every year!

Here is a look at how close the race was for Brett and I, and while I was there, I added in a plot of the gap between 1st and 2nd place getters Jason English and Dan McKay, as their race was even closer at the end. In my little race you can see Brett was beating me until 7pm, where I caught him back up, and then we tusseled a bit (not that either of us would have been aware), and I got the lead at last and started to pull away until just before dawn, where I started to fade and Brett came good, pulling me back. Although I begged my crew for some easy laps, they told me to put the boot in until the end or he would catch me; thankfully though, Brett eventually gave up chasing and I pulled away at the end.