SpoonBoy

With 4 days to go, I think I’m just about ready for my own little Canberra not-so-grand depart. Completely out of line with my usual level of preparedness, I’ve even managed a little test ride with all my gear! not an epic ride by any means but a quick up and back along the oaks was enough just to give it all a quick shake out.

A few little bits to add (which I’m sure will add up to much more than I think), some more stans, a couple of bolts to tighten, and we should be good to go! The handle bar system worked well too, both the bag and the light (though I will need some padding between the bag and the head tube to stop some rubbing)

Knowing what I know now and having played with various “cheap” setups over the last couple of months, I think I would have been better off just getting a carousel designs bar bag. Certainly I think they seem to have all the same features my conclusions have got to. At least I know now though and can make a knowledgeable purchase decission between Carousel and the Revelate Designs solutions.

If the ride isn’t epic enough, the amount of phone calls I’ve had to make has been. So far, 4 different government land managers ( National parks, Dept of Lands, State Forests and Livestock Health and Protection Agency ) a couple of private owners and one or two Bicentennial Trail co-ordinators. I’ve still to follow up with a couple which is a bit disconcerting given I’ve only a few days to go.

Most of the Rangers have been fantastic though. Chris Pravich from National Parks even wrote up this Excellent little flyer. Everyone else has been just as helpful with everything from suggested route choices to land access tips and not so well known water sources.

In other news, it looks like I’ll get a couple articles published in the next edition of Mountain Bike Australia. A review of the FreeLoad system and an article on the C2C200. Haven’t posted much here post C2C because of the article, and somehow I don’t think I will write too much that wouldn’t be different to what’s going in the article. I will have to see if I can get a pdf version published up here once it goes to press. In the mean time, if you havn’t seen it already, have a look at Ty Domin’s photos and write up. It really was a top day out on the bike…

…and finally, as you can see from the counter. 24hour worlds arn’t far away either! they’ve kind of snuck up on me actually with next week and everything else. It’s mostly coming together and I’ve been feeling really good on the bike so keen to see how I will go. Struggling with training at the moment though in a pure mental space issue. Get on the bike and I’m going “this is nice”. Shift into training session mode and I struggle to stay out there. Sort of really only came on post Sydney 12hr as before that I was chomping at the bit to get out for my sessions. Hopefully next weeks little jaunt will turn that around a little.

Anyway, really excited about my ride. I’ve got a spot page now too so will post that up just before I go.

Happy Trails!

Cheers
Craig

OK Spoon, here is the Gauntlet for you.

If you complete[1] the 12 solo carrying all your requirements, $50
will be donated to the charity of your choice in your name, (pick
something local). If you beat Chris & me there is another $25. If
you manage to get through the whole thing with no assistance
(including any assistance from other riders) there’s another $25. You
will also be awarded the “Golden Spoon”

If you chose to stop and refuel, need help with repairs, extra water
that’s OK, but the first time will cost you $20 ($10 off the donation
& $10 to me), the second time will cost you $30 ($15 off the donation
& $15 to me) and so on…

Gauntlet part 2.
If Jason English rides SS, there’s $50 for his charity of choice (not
including Jason English). If he still wins solo, there is another
$25. If he wins overall (including teams) there is another $25.

Rob

1. By complete I mean 66.6% [2] of the solo winner’s lap count
2. Pleased to meet you, hope you’ve guessed my name…

So here’s the deal, I’ll be racing this weekends Sydney 12 hour solo, fully self supported carrying all the gear I need including food, water, tubes, clothes, the works. If I complete it like that within 66.6% of the leader, I’ll be making a donation (hopefully) to 4 wheels 4 sean if I can get it organised, a local charity which supports cyclists permantly injured through cycling.

As cyclists, it is likely that we will have had, know someone who has had, or been affected by neck, spinal or other major trauma in our cycling lifetimes. Many of those will live with that trauma for the rest of their lives! It wouldn’t take much to help them back on their road to normality.

Hopefully by tomorrow I will have a link here to accept donations. In the mean time, my challenge to you is to do better than Rob!

The Gauntlet has been thrown, and I accept! What about you Mr English? :)

I have many a grand plan in the works, the most immediate of which a trip to Newcastle from Canberra via Lithgow & St Albans/Wisemans ferry way taking in as much dirt as possible along he way. Guesstimations put it at around 8-900km’s I think and I’m hoping to rack it up in 5 or so days. Leave is booked, route planning is well under way and a whole new world of bike packing has been opening up!

Part of fun of this whole thing has been researching gear and getting caught up in a whole new level of weight weenie-isms! Everything from figuring out which 500gram sleeping bag I can get away with west of the blue mountains in September (with or without things like down jackets, liners and socks… ) to whether my 1kg Mega Light tent is overkill, or not enough when compared to a 200gram silnylon tarp or even a “proper” 1.4kg one man tent (am I really worried about the mozzies? chya!!). And then there’s pack size I’m trying desperately to minimise anything on my back but forsee that a camelback of some description will be inevitable, mostly to carry food and the like but I think I’ll end up needing to figure out how to carry some 6-8L of water for some sections. Mightily difficult without a pack of some description…

So after a bit of emailing and a lot of thinking, I’ve just popped an order into Revelate Designs for a couple of bags: an off the shelf Seat, Frame and Stem bag. I’m hoping this combination plus a 6-8L dry bag strapped under my handlebars will be enough. I’ve certainly spent enough on compact lightweight kit that I’m hoping it’ll go close! For the mean time, I still have the FreeLoad rack I’m testing and will be using on this weekends c2c200 and will (after looking at the size and amount of kit on my floor) be more that adequate should my Revelate Designs kit not arrive in time for September.

Anyway, I’m all very excited! though it does seem somewhat sacrilege to take my light weight 10kg 29er bicycle and strap things like racks, lights, and aero bars to it…

Happy Trails!

Cheers
Craig

The Ultra Cycling association in America has a “Year Round” award, awarded to those who can complete an ultra event greater than 100miles in each calander month of the year (with two make up rides). Over the last couple of years, I’ve made numerous false starts to this, with injury and other factors meaning well, I’ve just not made it (although I probably came very close). I’ve since really forgotten about it; 100miles just doesn’t seem like the challenge it once was and yet (somewhat disappointingly) I still don’t crank out rides of this length on a particularly regular basis.

I’ve come to realise that, while not strictly an event a month, I would be very shortly reasonably on track to crank out 12 100milers or greater in the year, the list so far including:

• 100 miles of Albion Park
• Port Macquarie 12hr
• Mawson Marathon (does this count as two?)
• The accidental 100…

So pending on how you look at it, that’s 4 distinct ultra rides, including one double so could perhaps say that’s 5 if I stretch the definitition, but lets just say 4. Which Brings me to July.

Here, having dipped our toe into the 7th month, I am but a few days away from “competing” in the C2C200, a 400km self supported ride/race from Canberra to well, the Coast ;) It’s two days, and two distinct rides closer to adding to my ton a month talley bring me to 6. The rest of my year looks as follows:

• August: I have the Sydney 12hr planned, Given the course I should easily rack up 100miles!
• September: a wee jaunt through the country side. 900km total trip, should be some long days in there somewhere
• October:solo MTB 24hr Worlds
• November: Highland Fling 100miler
• December:TBA, but there’s an event coming I think will fill the gap nicely. If not, I’ll just go for a ride!

Which basically means, to meet my target I either have to sneak a couple of extra 100milers in one month, or ride two 100mile or greater days during my little Jaunt in September (and there’ll be more on that later…)

So maybe not quite a ton a month, but 12 in a year is still pretty impressive right?

makes for a pretty long road ahead (no pun intended) for the 100miles a day required for the TDR though (eep!)

Happy Trails

Cheers
Craig

It had been over 6 hours on the bus since we had left Adelaide, the sun was setting and out the bus window was a picture I had not been expecting. The area surrounding the Mawson Trail, a trail extending 900km’s from Adelaide all the way through to Blinman, had seen a lot of rain over the last few weeks. The fruits of which were lush green pine trees spread sparsley across the hill sides, a thin carpet of green grass spread out underneath. With the cliffs of the flinders jutting up in the background It was almost like we had emerged above the treeline of the Canadian Rockies rather than the dry, baron South Australian outback.

I was heading to Blinman with Arran Pearson and 21 other teams of 2 for the Innaugrual running of the Mawson Marathon. While also being run as a four day stage race, Arran and I had entered as a non-stop duo team, that is to ride the 360km’s from Blinman to Melrose via the Mawson Trail non-stop. Our target time? 18-20hours, but not having done anything like this before, heavy rains in the weeks before hand and the possiblity of more on the forcast, we didn’t really know what were going to be in for. Still, if the final stretches of the bus trip were anything to go by, we would be in for a fantastic ride!

7am…

7am meant scrutineering; pulling out all our compulsory gear we had packed so carefully the night before for checking. With some last minute sorting of our gear and a beer for matches exchange program, we were ready to roll. As the clock ticked over 7:30, the bunch rolled out with an air of excitement for what could possibly be the first event of it’s kind in Australia!

The first leg of our journey would take us 93km’s from Blinman to Rawnsley Park via the resort at Wilpena Pound and started with a 19km road section. Running at a steady tempo while we chatted amongst ourselves it would only be a matter of time before Chris Jongeward attacked; The race had now started…

meanwhile, Arran and I had let the bunch go, happy to do our own thing with the feeling that we’d probably see many of those in front again later. We were given warnings about this first section from the race briefing with a girl from the stage race apparantly shreading her tyre, but so far the trail seemed relatively tame though still fun.

Fast fire trail with the odd rocky section and dry creek crossing would have us weaving through the hills, climbing the odd peak to the reward of some increadible vistas! A sun illuminated peak amongst the clouds in the distance and chilly air just reinforced that alpine feel the lush green surrounds provided. Clocking along in the mid to high 20’s, we were making excellent pace though and after some great single track before Wilpena Pound and a bit of road bash, we would roll into Rawnsley park for the first feed station in a little over 4hrs.

Spending way to long here only to see some of those we’d passed earlier come and go, we eventually started the next section through to Hawker. As the crow flies it would have only been a short hop but our route on the Trail would have us take a more ’scenic route’, 91km’s out along a dirt tourist drive and back. A general downward trend and a slight tail wind would have us tap out speeds consistantly in the high 20’s for nearly 2 hours before turning the corner onto black stuff for the long grind back up, and into an increasing head wind.

We had been catching teams all through the stage, some though sat elusively in front, ebbing and flowing depending on the section of trail. The boys from Gordon Street Cycles were barely a km or so in front slowly widening the gap on the black top. Turning into the ranges between us and Hawker, they had simply disappeared. The wide flat landscape and open paddocks showing no sign to their existence. We kept tapping away at our own pace knowing we’d either catch them or not only to have them re-appear stopped at a gate crossing. A little more open paddock and it was time to cross the ridgeline with not only a short, steep and loose climb in front of us, but the mixed pair of Joel (The Fridge) and Claire.

Joel is clearly a strong rider and while Claire wouldn’t offer much of a draft, there was soon four more blokes all tucked in behind the man affectionately known as “The Fridge” before working as a group of 6 into the headwinds for the last dirt road sections into Hawker. After 8hrs and 25mins, we had completed the 180km’s together as 5th, 6th and 7th. 8th through 10th coming in shortly there after. The leaders may be over an hour in front but the rest of us still had a race on our hands!!

A little too hospitable?

Nearly 30mins later we had emerged from the food station; the warm soup, pasta and other tasty treats proving a little too much of a temptation in between sorting our lights and warm clothes for the rest of the race. Our tardyness meant we’d lost contact with the rest of the group making the push into the now quite strong head wind, just that little bit harder. Night was coming though which would hopefully mean a drop in the breeze. The red glow on the ranges as the sun was setting would mark the last of our paddock (and gate) crossings before Quorn.

The road to Quorn would be just that, a long flat, mostly straight dirt road. For a good 2-3hrs we sat on a consistent high 20’s to low 30’s as we dragged our average speed back up towards 22km/hr after out lengthy break. With Arran hurting a little, I was spending a lot of time out the front trying to keep us moving but while that flashing red light in front of us was getting closer, another mixed team had eventually caught us. While we worked together for a while, a bathroom break and a puncture would see us once again losing touch. Still, 12-13hrs in and we were still averaging up around 22km/hr for the entire ride. As Arran started to come good again, my stomach was about to fall into a deep hole…

“Would you like a rub?…”

14hrs and 290km’s on the clock we struggled into Quorn for the final checkpoint, neither of us expecting the hospitality that would greet us. The massuese was there ready to spring into action. Tired, sore and not really understanding what he was asking, I wasn’t really sure what to say! We had a bit of work to do here; Arran to swap a tube into a tyre that was refusing to hold air properly and me to get some food down into a stomach on the verge or collapse. Sat down, massuese in action and being fed Pasta, Tea and various other treats I guess the regular feed zone chores could possibly wait :). We weren’t on the pace and an extra few minutes was probably not going hurt our prospects of just getting home. A number of other teams arrived while we were there, some looking great! others a little worse for wear as we watched the fantastic volunteers spring into action, we decided it was time to roll out and complete this thing.

The temperature was now only 4 degrees. Rugged up a little more, we were greeted just out of town by a granny ring climb and the realisation that perhaps we’d over dressed. This last stage into Melrose was to be only short, 71km’s, but it had a little sting! with over 300km’s in the legs, the rolling hills were a little hard to stomach. We found ourselves checking off the milestones, 300km’s, 200miles, Arran’s distance PB. We were picking off the last stretch km by km. with about 20km’s to go, we rolled through Willmington to the cheers of the revelers outside the pub there, oh so tempted to join them. Turning west and with a slight tail wind, we would find ourselves once again hitting mid to high 20’s as we pushed through the rolling terrain but the last little suffer fest was to come.

10km’s to go and I’d fallen into a bit of a hole, struggling to get food down and with a shortage of alternatives in my pockets I could rapidly see that I was probably going to hit the wall soon. Trying to conserve energy as much as possible, the 10km’s of false flat climb all the way up to Melrose was doing my head in! The mixed pair of Belinda and Greg porter were also closing in behinds us, their head light just poking through the fog as we kept grinding slowly towards the finish, our only comfort; the 3km to go sign just out of town.

Finally, after 18hrs and 42mins, we’d rolled into a mostly empty finish line, over 4hrs behind the leaders, nearly 2hrs behind 5th place we’d rolled into Hawker with but it didn’t mater much, we were done and dreams of warm sleeping bags and hot showers would soon be a reality!

Tech and Tips…

I havn’t done a tech and tips for a race in a while, but this one was a little different and well… we were probably not organised anywhere near as much as we should have been so thought I’d jot down a few thoughts…

Gear & Bike Setup: Origionally I had planned to throw all my gear into a pack for the ride, and many did. The advice I had though was to “get it off your back” and with the loan of a Freeload rack from Dirt Works, the majority of my gear would end up in a dry bag on the rack. After pairing my gear back somewhat, this was possibly a little overkill but meant all I had on my back was food in my pockets and a small hydration bladder. The rack and drybag added a little weight, but at 850grams, not much more than a pack would have and given the nature of the course, wasn’t going to matter a lot. Other options would have included a big arse seat bag or handlebar bag from the likes of Revelate or Carousel Designs but plenty of guys got away with just strapping things to their bikes without bags. My experience with that was the more you strap on, the more likely something is to fall off. Put it all in a bag and it’s one “thing” to strap on or attach. I’m not sure I would do anything any different next time other than perhaps not putting my pump in the bottom when strapping it to the rack. I now have a pump shaped wear hole in my not-so-dry bag :) A “gas tank” or bento box would probably be a good move though, and perhaps if I end up with a handlebar or seat bag, it may get more use…

Bike wise, The conti Race Kings were probably over treaded for this style of race, but then I wasn’t sure what would happen if it rained and how that would affect things. If it does rain, I imagine a lot of that trail will become hike-a-bike. Bar ends went back on, and I liked them so much they’ll probably stay there. Seems like getting a set of clipon tri bars though might be the go for the future.

Food & Pacing: Food and pacing wasn’t so bad, though I found sitting on the front for long periods is not conjucive to good digestion. Arran suffered a little just outside of Hawker so I did a fair chunk of work till he came good again. Problem was all that really did was put me in a hole :) I had stomach problems emerging in the last sections into Quorn and basically all the way through to Melrose. Partly poor preparation but I just grabbed a few things form the super market that I’d eat in a enduro format race like pikelets etc… that are perhaps not the best to take with you on this style of race. A bunch of foods I packed into the drop bags I just didn’t feel like eating really. Bit of a problem and probably should have packed more variation of packed sandwhiches. Again, simply wasn’t prepared properly.

Timing & Preperation: Partly due to the organisation, the bus trip and the way things panned out, everything ended up being a bit of a rush! from getting groceries in Adelaide to getting prepared, bikes built, and into bed at a reasonable time. In hindsight, I should have flown into Adelaide earlier on wednesday, taken it easy and got as prepared as possible before the Bus Trip, or organised a car to Melrose and caught the bus from there. The trip was long, late, and with a stupidly long briefing left us with little time to get sorted. This would have included making sandwiches and the like (though could have done that during the briefing I guess :) Didn’t really think about what we had to do preparation wise though untill we were down there so in hindsight, really only have ourselves to blame really…

Camping option was probably not the best but we weren’t to know. A generator that ran all night didn’t help but the deluxe camping package wasn’t the most comfortable and I would probably have been better bringing some of my own gear. This, coupled with the rush to get things sorted had meant really an unrested spoon (and possibly Arran) prior to the race. C’est la vie really…

Summary

This really was a top race! the weather was probably as good as it was going to get with mostly clear skys and relatively temperate temperatures. A bit chilly at night, the cooler temps certainly helped with keeping hydration in check. First two stages had some amazing scenery and some really fun riding. The last two? probably a bit more of a straight out road bash but a really nice sunset and the night sky certainly made up for it. While the volunteers were fantastic, the course well marked and the food stations simply awesome, I’d have to say some of the organisation around the edges was possible not quite up to scratch with a lot of things seemingly being run ad-hoc. Arriving to an empty finish line without a proper tent or mattress was a bit interesting but the vibe in the hall where we all eventually crashed out in was in some ways, pretty cool…

The constant pedalling, false flats and head winds certainly made this a tough course, even with the “lack” of hills. But I really enjoyed and thanks to Arran for convincing me to join him! This really is the first event of it’s kind and I’ll certainly be back if it’s held again!

Happy Trails!

Cheers
Craig

* Photos attributed (c) sjh courtesy of Steve Hanley