2011 Scott 24hr Race

All the warning signs were there, telling me slow down, but do you think I was listening? Of course not!

I was there to race the 40+ solo category, but other than Jason English, I'd beaten everyone else in the solo field at one point or another, so it was hard to accept the reality that due to recent illness, I didn't have the form this time. Perhaps I could make up for that by pushing a little harder than usual? So when the gun went off I made the decision to hang back, but stay in touch with the lead bunch, and after 4 hours we'd see where I was and decide what to do...

The pace of the first lap was insane, I was nudging my AT heart rate the entire time, and yet the other boys just rolled away from me. Right there in those first few minutes, I should have known to back off and ride my own race, it was clear I was off the pace, but in the back of my mind I was wondering if they were maxed out too and would back off, so I kept the pace up, riding these first four hours at a higher average heart rate than I did at the Back Yamma Bigfoot 100km race, which was a 4 hour all out effort after which I could stop and go home. Today though, there was still 20 hours to go, and I'd already burnt all my matches...

I came into the pits and got the news I was 5 mins off the pace of the others already, out of the hunt. We were well ahead in the 40+ category though, so we backed right off to a much more manageable pace and into ITT mode, time to follow our race plan and just focus on our category and have fun. The next 4 hours were some of the best fun I've had on a bike; the course was made up of 30km of Stromlo's best singletrack and it was taking around 90 mins to do a full circuit of both loops, so you were never repeating the same stuff too often, but often enough that you remembered where all the nice lines where. The course was long enough that it was never congested (I didn't get stuck in a multi rider conga line even once) and the recent rain had made the course perfectly tacky, but never muddy. Mountain bike nirvana.

The sun fell and the Radical Lights went on; night laps are my favourite time to ride and I found myself picking up the pace and it wasn't long before I caught Deon who was in 5th place overall at the time. Would we fight it out for a top 5? I wasn't keen, but we got word that Brett was only 8 mins ahead. Hmmm... going back into race mode was very tempting...

I rode with Deon for a while until he stomped up the red lap climb, I mistook his single speed riding style for an attack; it was a red rag to a bull, and I gave chase. At the top I slipped past him and counter attacked on the descent, going back into full race mode. This was a big mistake... Now I was in the top 5 overall and found myself wanting to chase down Brett and Andy for a possible podium, a chase I didn't have the fitness to do, but being an optimist, I couldn't help myself and I was off in pursuit; my ego was writing cheques that my body was never going to be able to cash... inevitably at 10pm, reality came to visit...

I'd been riding the course cleanly for 10 hours by now, but this blue lap was a disaster. My derailleur cable broke so I was stuck in the 11 tooth, and any time I lost momentum on a rock, it was too hard to spin back up to speed and I was getting slower and slower, until I was slow enough that I rocks would stall the bike and *wham*, I would be on the ground. I stopped counting the crashes I had on this lap after the first dozen. It wasn't just the derailleur cable that was the problem, I was starting to get tired, really tired...

In the pits we swapped bikes and I dropped a couple of no dose tablets and normality returned, I felt good again, the bike was great and there were no more crashes. Midnight came and went and we were past halfway, but I wasn't feeling right anymore. I was starving, but nauseous. I was so hot I was sweating, but I was shivering and freezing cold. I didn't pick it at the time, but my body was starting to shutdown...

At 1am I started to lose vision in my left eye, just like I did at Easter. It started as cloudy vision, but over the next couple of laps it went to full white out. From experience I knew lemonade would fix it, so in the pits we smashed lemonade and caffeine to try and jump start me. It didn't work, I just got sicker, blinder, and slower. At this point I knew the race for an overall position was over, so we shut the whole race down; long transitions, easy slow laps, to try and let my body come back to life. Maybe I could come good by dawn... I didn't, as time went on, I just got worse.

I can't remember much of the race between this point and when I crossed the line, it's all one big blur. Like when you wake up after a hard night, hungover, and wondering why your mouth tastes like a public bathroom floor. All I have are some random images for memories; a pink and purple sunrise, hands of team racers above me, reaching down and offering help to get me back up after many unintentional lie downs. I recall Deon catching me in the morning, as I lay in a ditch, upside down, with my bike on top of me. I should have gone home, but I am a stubborn bastard and wasn't going to quit, I'd never live with myself if I did.

The last four laps saw some of the slowest riding I have ever seen, let alone done. Everyone was flying past me like I was standing still, my heart rate was hovering around 90bpm, almost asleep! The transitions were 15 minutes each, mainly me psyching myself up to face another lap I knew I shouldn't be doing.

Although I was off the back of the overall solo racers, I was still over 3 hours ahead in the 40+ category, so at 9am we decided I could pull into the pits and stop, but maybe I should do one last lap to be 100% sure the chasers didn't catch me. I clipped into the bike and took off so slowly I was wobbling down the bitchumen crit track barely able to balance. I was in such a bad way, I doubted I would be able to ride this lap out. I swear a snail over took me, and then a slater. Tumbleweeds may as well have been rolling past, over taking me too. It was surreal, like time was speeding and up and slowing down at the same time.

On my way up the red lap for the final time I was greeted by the ever cheery voice of Cam Ord. This guy is always in a good mood and just having him there chatting away was heaven, he offered to stay on my wheel and keep me company, awesome! It wasn't long before his company came in handy and he was picking me up off the ground after I made my final super man impersonation of the race, flying over the bars and landing with a thud. Having friends around in times like these is priceless, I think I may have even managed a laugh with him at this crash ;)

Making it to the top seemed like an epic journey, like we had climbed Everest together, and it had taken months. I swear I grew a beard during that lap it took so long to get there! Finally though, I could point my bike down the mountain and roll into the pits and have a little lie down (the details of which stay between me and my crew ;)), then get back up at 11am and push the bike over the line to get an official finish.

I've had some hard races and pushed myself before; I've been dizzy and had tunnel vision, I've gone deep enough that I could taste metal in my mouth from protein break down... but none of those experiences even comes close to this race. There is a line somewhere in the sand, and this time I crossed it and went too far. To say it was the hardest thing I ever did would be a massive under statement!

I'll walk away with a huge lesson in knowing my limits and sticking to my race plan, avoiding the temptation to chase those I shouldn't. Just because you were fit enough last year to chase someone does not mean you are fit enough to do it this year, and if you try to get an extra 20% out of yourself to make up for lost fitness, it is going to bite you, hard, in a delicate area ;)

Next time I'm not rolling up to the start line unless I am 100% fit, healthy and ready to race it!

Thanx:

Radical Lights, Another faultless race from these fantastic lights, I could have gotten away with a single battery change, but changed them at 10pm and 2am just to be safe; the "half flat" indicators weren't even coming on at that stage, awesome; Onya Bike Belconnen, The Giant Anthem survived over 20 (pilot error) crashes and kept on working all race, a testiment to it's toughness!; Hammer Nutrition, My first race being 100% on the Hammer products and the first race in years without any gastro distress, the HEED and Gels were fantastic fuel; Cam For keeping an eye on me and make sure I finished that last lap safely; Robyn, Anne, Mum and Merryl, for supporting Kylie and I thought a hard race, your cheery faces at transition kept me going; and Kylie It's been a long road and the last couple of solo 24's have been the hardest ones we've seen, I know it's hard to keep me going when I was as badly broken as I was at this event, but you never let is show and kept me ticking along to the end, I think it's time we had break from this stuff and had some fun :)

Some stats for fun:

Race Distance: 327km
Climb: 5.3 vertical kilometers
Speed: Average 15 km/h
HR: 121 bpm
Crashes: Countless!
Result: 6th (1st in my category)
Training: 210 hours over 17 weeks (CTL: 100.4)
Canberra Times Article about the race.

A look at the lap times of the top 10. Pretty tight amongst the top 6 until Revet slows first at lap 12, quickly followed by me completely imploding. Hall and Bellchambers slow after midnight, leaving McDonald and English the only ones to stay consistently under 55mins all race, nice works boys!

An analysis of the gaps between certain riders that interest me; In the 40+ I was lucky enough to pull a healthy enough lead over Locke to allow my disaster to not affect that race. In open it was only Revet that I stood any chance against; I managed to get a lead on him until lap 21 when I went boom like a Chinese firecracker and he caught me back up and sailed into the distance. All the other gaps are linear and a picture of inevitability, with one rider cleanly riding away from the other consistently every lap from start to end, bar English and McDonald who stayed in close contact the whole time until McDonald faded in the end and English could ride away for the win.