Mud, Glorious Mud...

After last weekend's realisation that I'd missed riding the mountain bike, it was back to Thursday night Dirt Crits this week. And what a time to return!

For those who don't know, "Dirt Crits" is an off-road version of road cycling's criterium (hence 'crit') races. Basically, it's a short track event lasting several laps or going for a certain time period. The Thursday night crits are held at Westgate Park and consist of 5, 4 or 3 laps (A, B, C or D grade) of a 3-4km course depending on how the organisers set it up each week.

Again, for those not in the know, Melbourne's weather this week has been just plain nasty - cold, rainy and with nice blustery winds!. It may be a nice change from the dry dusty conditions that we've raced in all summer, but you can imagine the state of a series of dirt tracks after such weather.

Anyway, I discovered just how much fitness I'd lost since the accident and the last time I raced on a Thursday night!! And the fun part was that I didn't discover that until my third lap… Laps one and two were fine. A little rusty and off the pace, which is to be expected after a couple of months off from racing, but part way through lap three everything felt very heavy. Now, this could have just been from all the extra mud that I was now carting about with me, but I think it may have had more to do with simple tiredness and having gone out harder than I should have.

There's a bike under there somewhere, and 'Mud Socks' will be all the rage this winter!

All up it was it's usual FUN hit out, with a few hairy moments in the slippery conditions, and along with the ride home should hopefully help in preparing for this weekend's Chase The Sun 6 hour enduro back at Lysterfield!

And now for the really fun part - no not the nice warm shower upon getting home, but cleaning all the mud off the bike so I can re-coat it on Sunday at Lysterfield!!

(And thanks to Erin Francis for the pic at the top of this post)

Every now and then...

" The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is like an eggs-and-ham breakfast: the chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'. " - Author Unknown

Tri-X Adventure Race

Outline of the event is a cross country run (6-7kms) followed by a 20km mountain bike ride, and then a smaller cross country run of (4kms). Lysterfield National Park was the venue, and a stunning one too, as you drove into the valley and into the morning fog that filled it! (even if it was around 8C!!)

I did it with some mates - Mike Kerklaan & Damien Eley (of 24hr and Otway Odyssey fame), Mark n Dave Bubner and Louise Flaherty (of 12hr enduro fame).

The keener ones moved forward at the start while the rest of us were content to hang back in the pack, and at 9am away we went into the trails of Lysterfield. I have to admit that I was a little surprised at the pace set by the front runners, who are more used to longer adventure races, but to me this was an endurance event.
Unlike the half marathons, I had no 'plan' for this event except to just do my thing and get through it. I was looking forward to the bike leg as this is more of the reason I did this than for the cross country running. I spent most of the first leg being overtaken as I wasn't really pushing myself - I'll say "saving myself".
I do wish I had a camera for it though, especially when we emerged from the forrestry to cross the dam wall of Lysterfield Lake! Looking across the glassy water with the morning mist lightly coating it, and the sun just above the surrounding hills was a pretty spectacular sight!
Anyway, scenic pleasantries aside, it was then onto the mountain bike (MTB) for the 20km ride through the trails, including a good portion of the Commonwealth Games MTB course. This is where the grin both emerged and grew! My turn had come to do some overtaking as I made my way through the fast flowing singletrack. Despite there being some slippery and muddy sections it was nice to know that even after a month off the mtb I could still ride it - "like riding a bike" I guess… While not meaning to sound like I'm bragging, I was surprised at the number of people struggling around the trails on their bikes. I suppose Adventure racers aren't really mountain bikers like me, but then again, I'm no adventure racer! But, who cares, I was enjoying myself and just chasing down the next rider I saw in front of me. I didn't feel any of the effects of Saturday's little 70km jaunt either - such a handy thing this adrenaline!!

Unfortunately, while "riding like I stole it", I'd forgotten all about the final 4km run that was still to come, so yes, coming into transition I got that sinking feeling…
Off came the mtb shoes, on went the runners and off I went for the final run. Just not as quickly as that sounds as my legs suddenly felt quite heavy. "It's just a short 4km run" I told myself.
Things didn't go too badly for the first kilometre, but when I reached a rather steep hill they certainly go right… This steep section was just nasty - in 200metres the path went up 20metres! Despite what I wanted, my legs decided that this wasn't their thing! Unfortunately, I lost out to their wishes and had to slow up considerably - even struggling to catch they guy in front of me who was walking!!
Once at the top we compromised as I convinced them to let me move at a far more reasonable pace. This worked well until about the last 700metres when they decided that some cramping would make life interesting. I'm not sure just how interesting the cramps were for my legs because I thought they were just outright painful! And, if you're thinking that I was regretting Saturday's ride about now, then you'd be thinking correctly!

It's funny how your head works when you find yourself in such a position. You actually seem to argue with your body - not out loud, but certainly internally. "Your biggest competitor in cycling is yourself," said Lance Armstrong, and he's right, although it's not just cycling that this applies to! (And I'm not ashamed to say that some of what I got from his autobiography came in very handy through this last section of the event.)
With thoughts of still trying to "run" (simply because it meant it would be over sooner!), despite the reduced pace I managed to get across the line. Time to find the others and see how they went.

It was a lovely sunny day to be out in this National Park and it's bushland, and I'm smashing myself in it - what on earth was I thinking?!
Honestly, I was thinking all sorts of things while doing it, and believe it or not, it was a great way to start a sunday. Pushing your limits, doing something new, discovering and getting out amongst it. All Good.

*Results here

One way to spend a Saturday Morning.

I sold a cycling jersey last week and the guy who won it chose "COD", which I'd forgotten to remove from the options…
He lives in south east melbourne in what would make an interesting detour/change from the usual (okay, not so unusual since the car accident) weekend morning ride down beach road to Mordialloc. The Mordialloc ride from home is just under 90km round trip, so the thought of not going quite that far, but with a different route to ride appealed. Unfortunately, the distance didn't as I haven't done a ride of that magnitude for some time. So the idea of riding to oakleigh south then getting on the train for the return journey came up. A much better idea considering tomorrow's Tri-X Adventure race, and not wanting to overdo it before the event.
Only once I'd made it to oakleigh south I was feeling pretty good. Several of the hills along north rd were a challenge but I felt good. This meant I did something that I was later to regret - I rode home.
By the time I'd reached footscray I was spent, and considering the cold and the drizzle that had been around for most of the trip had had enough, so I piked the last 10kms home. All up I'd covered 70kms, which wasn't too bad considering it had been nearly a month since I'd been on a bike.
Hopefully, it won't be a problem for tomorrow's Tri-X Adventure race at Lysterfield…

RuntotheG - Half Marathon

Sunday 16th June

Nothing like good cold Melbourne weather to start the day off, and thanks to the folks dropping me off I got there with plenty of time to prepare/drop off bag/etc… except… getting a certain urge with 10mins before the start time. With no trees in Fed Square and the loo queues being what they were I didn't bother.

I joined the start group in my appropriate time group - the plan being to break 2hrs again. We set off about 10mins after the "elite" runners, which meant I'd would have had time! But, I had other things to focus on like my race plan and all the nicely shaped lycra ahead!

Twas a simple race plan, and the same as I used for the Geelong Half Marathon - keep the heart-rate below 85% (stay aerobic) for the first 16kms, then 'run' the last 5kms ignoring the heart-rate. The terrain around the MCG and Yarra river was not as flat as what Geelong was, so with much uphill running to do, the plan wasn't easy to keep to. And neither was a certain nagging feeling!! However, the nice race organisers did place portable loos around the course, and I was lucky enough to see someone come out of one just as I got to it!! After what seemed like one of the longest pit stops ever, I was away again and feeling far better.

Thankfully, the rest of the event was pretty much incident free and when reached the 16km sign away I went. One definite advantage of doing it this way (other than knowing that you'll have enough energy left to finish) is that you get to pass all those folks who streamed past you earlier, and damn, that feels good! Unfortunately, that pit stop cost me my under 2 hour target by 26seconds, which I'm not too disappointed about, especially as my training was interrupted by some of the last couple of weeks…
The good part though, is that I know the next one will be done in well under 2hrs, but just how much remains to be seen.