2010 24hr Solo World Championships

The Lead Up

There was a lot of hype around the race this year, with qualification procedures lowered to allow more people than ever the chance to race, it seemed like every mountain biker I knew had entered, and the resulting buzz on the internet was incredible, it was certainly an exciting race lead up and I loved hearing everyone's passion for solo 24hr racing grow as the race grew closer.

This year's course would be at Stromlo, which was a double edged sword for me; It meant the race was in my home town, allowing me a lot of practice and no travel, but on the other hand, I was dreading Stromlo's loose over hard pack surface, which was slippery and often unpredictable, and the rough sections of rocks.

I have the opportunity to race solo 24 every year at Stromlo in the Scott 24hr, but I never had due to these reasons, in fact those that know me have heard me declare "I would never, ever, solo at Stromlo" before... now I had to face those demons, harden up and work out how I was going to handle it.

My preparation for the race started after the Mawson Marathon; I knew it would be tough on the upper body, so I started to do as much core strength work as I could with the help of gurus MC and Matt from Life Personal Fitness. I enlisted the help of world class technical riders like Ben Henderson and Jason English, who generously spent time with me on the course showing me where the smooth and fast lines where. I also started testing different tyres, pressures and suspension settings, to find the perfect mix to deal with the slippery surface.

I went on a very strict nutritian plan to strip off any excess weight, leaving me the leanest I had ever been at around 6% body fat by race day, and Radical Factory Racing spent countless hours building me the perfect light weight race bike, every component was upgraded and kept as light as we could afford, to help me cope with over 10,000 vertical metres of climbing that was planned for the race.

Kylie and I turned our lives upside down... putting this race at the top of our little families' priority list, as this would be my last shot at a jersey, we would give it everything possible and see what we could achieve.

It was certainly the most serious and committed race lead up I had done!

The 3 months went by in the blink of an eye and after dozens of practice laps and weeks of bike prep, I still didn't feel ready and my bike was far from built. A few days before the race I showed up to the legends at Onya Bike Belconnen with my main race bike in a million separate pieces, a pile of parts, not one joined to another. I thought there would be no way we could get it ready in time, but Shane and Mick did an incredible job and we got the bike going just in time.

The Race

The 80 elite riders were started 15 minutes before us, but their head start did not worry me too much, I was here to race for my category, and against no others. I had laser like focus on the category win and was not going to risk that by getting involved racing other categories or for overall positions, so we watched them start and I was happy we would have less congestion for our own 300 rider strong category mass start.

Luckily I was seeded well for the run and took full advantage, taking off like a cut snake and getting 3rd onto the bikes behind mates Blanko and Taylor. These boys were not in my category, so this was an awesome situation, a) I was already in the lead in my category and b) I had some fast mates to work with, perfect! We all took off up the hill for the first lap.

Blanko wasn't in any mood to ride slow though and he took off up the hill leaving us to ourselves, I pondered if he was going too hard and might not make the distance to win his own category, but hoped not. I settled into a nice tempo with the remaining boys and decided to roll some laps and see what happened... before long it was pretty clear someone was following me, the same bike was always there just behind me, he never went around and passed me either, just content to sit on my wheel... this was pretty suspect and I took a guess this guy was in my category and marking me... I turned out to be right, Stuart Brown was stealthily tailing me, not saying a word, just silently following me, lap after lap.

This went on for 7 hours, I had hoped he would fade, but he didn't, and it didn't look like he was ever going to, either, and to make matters worse, my legs were cramping big time due to the above average temperatures. Concerned I drank as much as I could and raised the pace a little to see if he would respond, thankfully the cramps stopped and I got a gap of 3 mins and hoped Stuart was gone. I caught up to Brett here, and we backed off a touch and rolled a couple of laps together, which lifted both of our spirits, but while we were chatting, someone caught back up to me and was again on my wheel... bugger!

So I attacked on the Skyline descent and we did a quick lighting transition to give me another gap, this time 8 minutes, and I hoped this was enough to stay clear this time. I caught up to Blanko who was having a great time, well in the lead in his category. We rolled a couple of laps together as well, which was awesome fun. The night was young and I was still feeling pretty fresh, so I decided to try and build my lead on Stuart and pushed on though, not wanting to let him catch me again.

As the night wore on we added Caffeine to the fuel mix and continued to pull away. Blanko caught me back up at 3am and he was flying much faster than before, he told me we had passed former National Champion Andy Bell and current UK National Champ Matt Page... we'd snuck up to an almost top 5 overall position and he was off and chasing for top 5 overall. I was pretty amazed, but decided to hang back, keener to play it safe, stick to my race plan and save any reserves I could in case the chasers in my category decided to attack after dawn, I did not know the guys in 2nd or 3rd or how they raced, maybe they were faders and blown up, or maybe they would come out of the blocks charging fast at dawn. I wanted to be ready for anything.

By dawn I was lucky enough to have pulled an hours lead, the legs were still feeling great, but problems were brewing in my stomach, bad problems. Too many gels over night was the likely cause of some serious gastro intestinal distress, my stomach stopped working and I could no longer eat or drink. Kylie gave me my usual sports drink, but when I tried to drink it, it would come straight back up. Disgusting! Each lap I would pass the port-a-loo knowing I would soon be in there screaming for mercy, and sure enough, by 7am I was re-enacting the toilet scene from Dumb and Dumber.

I tried to eat, but nothing would stay down, back in the pits I managed a starburst lolly or two, but that was it. Thankfully the chaser's didn't get wind (ha!) of my dilemma and an attack never came, 2nd and 3rd were a little distracted with each other and didn't notice my problems; They were fighting it out neck and neck to the finish, with Quiggs putting on an impressive attack to the finish to try and take 2nd place. Stuart only just holding him off by a couple of minutes in the end. A battle royale between two close mates there!

I managed to stay clear of any trouble and pushed through to the finish line for the final time after riding for 23 hours and 55 minutes, and only then did it dawn on me, I'd bloody done it! 3 long years of trying and I'd done it, I finished in 1st place, Category World Champion!

The dream came true!

Analysis

Thankyous

Stuart Dorland; For having the courage to bring this amazing event outside of North America for the first time, it cannot have been easy to let go of your baby, and thankyou for all you have done for the solo 24hr racing; without your efforts we would not have a World Championships at all, you change lives for the better forever and make a real difference out there.
Russ Baker; For believing in me and seeding me well for a great race start, shooting some great photos and organising a slick event, it truly was befitting the title of a World Championships.
Stuart Brown; For challenging me and making me work for the win, you rode impressively hard and I am sure we will meet again on the race track soon enough ;)
Ben Henderson and Jason English; For generously sharing your wealth of knowledge on race craft and bike handling skills. It was a real eye opener to spend time in your company, if only to be amazed by the different way you guys think and ride, just watching the way you look at things is amazing, you are both truly at a whole different level to everyone else out there.
Radical Lights; For the tireless support of my racing, hours and hours and even more hours of work were put into this race by you, and I'll never forget it. We could not have done it without you. The new lights we ran for this race were incredible too, 6 hours of battery, thousands of lumens and all in a light weight package, some incredible technology from an Australian innovator that is years ahead of the others.
Onya Bike Belco; Micko and Shane spent hours on my bikes, and when I showed up at the shop 7 days out from the race with a massive box of parts, Micko didn't even bat an eyelid, he just gave his usual massive smile and told me "not to worry, he would sort it out". And he certainly did, the bikes ran sweet all race without a hint of a mechanical. Flawless work by the best mechanics in the game!
Mark Fenner; You took a man about to turn 40, that had been stagnated for 2 years, having reached the top of his potential and somehow made him improve 10% in 6 short months. I don't know how you did it, but I am excited to be lucky enough to be coached by the best power based mountain bike coach in the world.
Mum and Dad; My Dad has travelled from Queensland to watch every solo I have done, he's seen me go through some seriously dark moments, yet he still comes to all of my races to cheer me on, and Mum spent this entire race on top of the mountain, sitting on a cold hard rock all day long; seeing her face twice a lap kept me going all race.
Family and Friends; I had dozens of amazing people come and cheer me on at this race, from family and friends, even work collegues. It really was amazing to see you all out there and your support kept me pedalling on when the going got tough.
Mitch; I hope spending the weekend with us dirty mountain bikers might persuade you to join the dark side and leave that road bike behind ;) Nah, I am kidding! It was your 21st this week and you should have spent the weekend celebrating with your mates, but instead you gave up your time to help me, you are an incredibly generous bloke, and you were amazing in the pits, nailing every transition.
Adam; 3 long years mate, we have worked together towards this goal as a team. For 3 Nationals and 3 Worlds, you have always been there for me and I don't know how I will ever repay this debt. Every race when I was down, you got me going again, every drama with a bike, you fixed, every transition, you nailed. Every time I needed advise, you had the right words. You're an incredible bloke and won't forget what you have done for me for the rest of my days.
Kylie; Finding the words is hard, very hard. If we go back to the start, 3 years ago and look forward to today, no one ever would have thought we could achieve what we did this weekend, no one that is, except you. You've always believed in me, working tirelessly 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to keep me going. It's not what happens in the pits or at the race that brings success at these races, it what happened for the last 3 years, every day, at home, that made this happen. I was dedicated to the training and racing, but you were even more dedicated to me, never complaining about the time I spent away, encouraging me to push the envelope a little further. You have given up so much for me to achieve this goal, it has truly been a team effort and we got a result that is just as much yours as it is mine.
My Kids; My favourite three people on the planet, my motivation. I should have been home more than I have been these last 3 months, but I promise I will make the time up to you this summer and in the years to come (starting with a couple of weeks in Fiji where there are no bikes, or work, or distractions, just time for Dad's to tickle their kids ;)). In the dark and lonely times in my races I always think of you three and how much you mean to me, you give me strength and get me through it. I hope I have shown you that no matter what challenges life throws at you, you never ever give up, and if you want something bad enough, with hard work, you can achieve anything, no matter what.

Fun Stuff

Some Statistics