2008 24hr Solo World Championships

At the 2008 Nationals I managed to qualify into elite men at the World Championships in Canmore, Canada. This page will track the logisitics of planning the trip and the training I'll put in to ensure a good race.

Logistics

Flights
We ended up booking through Air Canada. Other options we considered were Qantas and British Airways. It all came down to luggage and getting those bikes over there as some airlines charge a fortune to take a bike box. Air Canada is also the only carrier that goes direct Sydney to Vancouver, avoiding transit (and luggage, customs and finger printing pain) in the US. We've settled on the simplicity of taking a greyhound bus to Sydney from Canberra, rather than mucking around with airport luggage systems and the tiny Dash 8 planes, the bus will be simple and allow a stress free, and hopefully sleep filled, trip to the airport.
Cars
Having tested taking the bike carrier to Mildura on the plane, I have found that although you can get these boxes on a plane, fiting them in a car is another story. We will be renting a car in Canada and spending a week touring from Vancouver to Canmore via Whistler and Banff (amongst others) and need to pick and book the right one before arrival. To be sure the luggage and bikes will fit, and at Neil Dall's experienced advice, we will be going for a people mover over a 4WD, as they are more capable of fitting the luggage (with the seats folded down) and comfy for the week of touring we'll be doing before the race.
Crew
Kylie did a supreme job at the Nationals, our pit crew was rivalled only by Mark Fenner and Dan Mackay, who had pro crews, and our crew was just about as good as the pros, only a few seconds slower. The smooth pit stops is what kept me going, and these were made possible by having at least 3 people involved in every full 3 hourly stop, sometimes we had 4 or 5 crew! Although I cannot afford to take 3 crew with me, I am lucky enough that Adam will join Kylie and I over there to help her with those quick pit stops. We won't be able to pit as fast as we could at Nats, but I'm sure we can get close with some more bike changes (if the damned bikes stay working the whole time!).
Bikes
For a shot at the Worlds, I'll surely need two bikes, as I am travelling with Kylie, her luggage will be one suitcase for clothes and my backup bike packed into a standard cardboard bike box from the bike shop. Hopefully it will survive the trip :) My luggage will be the primary bike, packed int a $200 torpedo 7 bike carrier and a suitcase loaded with all the tools, nutrician and other stuff that is too expensive or difficult to buy there.
Stuff We Can't Take
There will be plenty of gear we will need but just will not be able to take due to luggage restrictions on the plane. To that end I have booked a tent package with the event organisers, which provides a 10x10 marquee, table and two chairs for my support crew. Other things we will need, but will buy on arrival in Vancouver include things like water, an eski, bananas... more to come.

Training

Here's how the 4 month training and racing plan will go:

April Race Apr 13th: CORC XC Series Round 1: My first XCO race and it was a challenge, I held on for a the first couple of laps, but then faded and rode with a fellow Onya Bike rider (Grantley). First place got 8 minutes (10%) on me, so it's not too far out of reach to do well in the Veterans class, but it will be a challenge!

Apr 25th: CORC ANZAC Day Short Course Picnic Day: This was a top family day out, perfect weather and we had a ball. I had not done an XCC race before so went in C grade, I won all my races as a result :) Will go in B grade next time!

Apr 27th: CORC Tumut 3hr: Started out well in this race, 3 minutes or 10% faster than last year per lap for the first 5 laps, but on lap 6 the freezing rain got to me and I got very cold; I faded back to last years times on lap 6 and lap 7 was appauling, 40% slower than laps 1-5. I was frozen solid and seriously thought I had hypothermia. A hot shower and some soup later and I was still cold, it took an hour in the car with the heater on full blast before I felt normal again!

Train Strength: This phase went well, did my gym sessions and raced every weekend. My left knee is hurting a bit though, so I'm taking the recovery week easy and looking forward to an AT test tomorrow to see what's been achieved...

May Race May 4th: Dirtworks 100km Marathon: Smashed this out and felt great all race due to taking a week off the bike before hand. Tough course, but had a ball.

May 11th: CORC XC Series Round 2

Train Phase 1 With Chris: I have just completed my first 6 weeks as a coached athlete, and it's been good. I have put total faith in Chris's abilities and just let him plan my training, and what he has me doing is very different to what I normally do. I'm doing lots of base work, which is long rides at a lower intensity, and after 6 weeks I am noticing some major changes in my body, I can power along at 65% of my maximum heart rate, like never before. At 70% I can PB lap times in places I would have had to lay down 85% to do before, so I can now put down a lot more speed for a lot less effort, which is amazing. The cost has been the complete loss of my top end, I couldn't get above 85% if my life depended on it now, and even 80% is very hard to do, and that's where I used to race (even the Fling was all done at >77% which is now out of reach)! The upside is I can race as fast as I used to for much less heart rate, which is exactly what I need for solo 24, so things seem to be going perfectly!

June Race Jun 1st: CORC XC Series Round 3: Have started to notice I can no longer get big heart rates up for XCO races anymore, but I'm no slower... it's weird.

Train Phase 2 with Chris: Less gym this month, and heaps of big volume days (4 weeks in a row over 22hrs a week) including an awesome epic to the coast with the boys, were followed by (finally!) a recovery week, and hey, Chris even gave me a day off, my only one in the three month program. It was nice to back the training off for a week, and the result was on the weekend I was full of beans, and smashing the pedals like never before. It was awesome to feel so good!

July Race July 26th: 24hr Solo World Championships
Train Peak: Some intensity this month, to regain my lost top end, and it's coming back slowly but surely, I can finally get back above 85%, and it's a welcome return I can tell you! After I started the taper I got a cold though, and I'm bloody tired returning to >22hr weeks again. Things are starting to wind down from here though, with only 10 days to the race! I feel very tired and ready for a few days of recovery rides and getting on the plane to Vancouver this Thursday! I hope it all comes together...

April	Race	Apr 13th: CORC XC Series Round 1: My first XCO race and it was a challenge, I held on for a the first couple of laps, but then faded and rode with a fellow Onya Bike rider (Grantley). First place got 8 minutes (10%) on me, so it's not too far out of reach to do well in the Veterans class, but it will be a challenge!
		Apr 25th: CORC ANZAC Day Short Course Picnic Day: This was a top family day out, perfect weather and we had a ball. I had not done an XCC race before so went in C grade, I won all my races as a result :) Will go in B grade next time!
		Apr 27th: CORC Tumut 3hr: Started out well in this race, 3 minutes or 10% faster than last year per lap for the first 5 laps, but on lap 6 the freezing rain got to me and I got very cold; I faded back to last years times on lap 6 and lap 7 was appauling, 40% slower than laps 1-5. I was frozen solid and seriously thought I had hypothermia. A hot shower and some soup later and I was still cold, it took an hour in the car with the heater on full blast before I felt normal again!
	Train	Strength: This phase went well, did my gym sessions and raced every weekend. My left knee is hurting a bit though, so I'm taking the recovery week easy and looking forward to an AT test tomorrow to see what's been achieved...
May	Race	May 4th: Dirtworks 100km Marathon: Smashed this out and felt great all race due to taking a week off the bike before hand. Tough course, but had a ball.
	Race	May 11th: CORC XC Series Round 2
	Train	Phase 1 With Chris: I have just completed my first 6 weeks as a coached athlete, and it's been good. I have put total faith in Chris's abilities and just let him plan my training, and what he has me doing is very different to what I normally do. I'm doing lots of base work, which is long rides at a lower intensity, and after 6 weeks I am noticing some major changes in my body, I can power along at 65% of my maximum heart rate, like never before. At 70% I can PB lap times in places I would have had to lay down 85% to do before, so I can now put down a lot more speed for a lot less effort, which is amazing. The cost has been the complete loss of my top end, I couldn't get above 85% if my life depended on it now, and even 80% is very hard to do, and that's where I used to race (even the Fling was all done at >77% which is now out of reach)! The upside is I can race as fast as I used to for much less heart rate, which is exactly what I need for solo 24, so things seem to be going perfectly!
June	Race	Jun 1st: CORC XC Series Round 3: Have started to notice I can no longer get big heart rates up for XCO races anymore, but I'm no slower... it's weird.
June	Train	Phase 2 with Chris: Less gym this month, and heaps of big volume days (4 weeks in a row over 22hrs a week) including an awesome epic to the coast with the boys, were followed by (finally!) a recovery week, and hey, Chris even gave me a day off, my only one in the three month program. It was nice to back the training off for a week, and the result was on the weekend I was full of beans, and smashing the pedals like never before. It was awesome to feel so good!
July	Race	July 26th: 24hr Solo World Championships
July	Train	Peak: Some intensity this month, to regain my lost top end, and it's coming back slowly but surely, I can finally get back above 85%, and it's a welcome return I can tell you! After I started the taper I got a cold though, and I'm bloody tired returning to >22hr weeks again. Things are starting to wind down from here though, with only 10 days to the race! I feel very tired and ready for a few days of recovery rides and getting on the plane to Vancouver this Thursday! I hope it all comes together...