“Huh! We’ll win that easy” said Luke. Hmm, surely there’ll be enough competition to ensure that’s far from a foregone conclusion I thought, but Luke’s confidence was so blatant that I assumed the field must be fairly average at best.
Those were the thoughts that preceded the Kathmandu Adventure Race at Lysterfield. I had never really started a race assuming that we would win before, it was unnerving. My typical pre-race mental game hinges on me being the underdog, “prove the bastards wrong” and all that. I tried to get comfortable with the assumption of a win by telling myself that the event was for less experienced/fit people and that we’d probably be the only experienced Adventure Racers there. The car park at the start however was chockers, with heaps of the usual Adventure Racers that I’ve met over the past couple of years, and these people were neither unfit nor inexperienced! I was sure Luke and I were in better nick than any of the people there that we knew, but their presence meant we could afford no mistakes, and what’s more, with all these people, what of the ones we didn’t know?
Anyway, whatever, go hard and prove to the bastards that we’re the best; aye!?
This is officially the first time I have ever started a race and sprinted into the lead with the intention of dictating the race on our terms. Luke and I worked brilliantly as a team from the outset, with a fluent transition from a short sprint to paddle seeing us already clear of the field. We lead the first paddle from start to finish with a couple of teams reasonably close behind.
The first run was to make Luke re-assess his earlier assumptions of victory when two very fit blokes cruised past us effortlessly, as we laboured along wondering how the hell they managed to make their speed look so easy. They finished the run a good 500m ahead of us, but a poor transition saw us riding out close on their wheels for the first bike. After a km or two of open track we hit the first single track right behind them and watched with glee as they re-oriented their map with confused looks on their faces.
As if the revelation that they weren’t great navigators wasn’t good enough news, moments later we discovered that whilst they were very fit, they couldn’t ride the technical single track as fast as us. Add intermediate navigation skills to intermediate technical MTB skills and the resultant lack of speed in those conditions meant we never saw those guys anywhere near us again, nor anyone else for that matter!
Luke had a great day with the maps, and I was feeling good enough to run ahead (<50 metres!) and punch the control card, then catch up again with the ‘unrelenting forward speed machine’ that is Luke. The race had a lot of transitions (run, paddle, run, bike, run, bike, run, bike, paddle!) and we nailed every one really well, the last run we even managed to smash the rest of the field by several minutes, showing increased speed as the day went on.
In the end we came in about 11 or 12 minutes ahead of second place in 2 hours 43 minutes, proving Luke correct. I think it could have been tighter, but it was a perfect race for us. We never backed off the pace, every transition was seamless, and despite Luke’s insistence that the nav was easy, all due credit must go to him again for never once taking a wrong turn.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Surf Coast six hour MTB Enduro by Grant Suckling
Luke and I had chatted about the Surf Coast Six Hour as a good prospect for a training ride to keep things mixed up a bit. Beretta’s Bike Hub was keen for us to ride with their team and we were keen to do what we could to fly the flag for them. We both agreed it wasn’t a target event so there’d be no tapering, but we were going pretty well and hoped for a reasonable sort of result anyway.
I was looking forward to participating as I learned that more and more people I knew would be there for the race. Best of all, my brother would be there with the CFA team which was great news.
Beretta’s Bike Hub ended up entering a few teams, and the boys who hadn’t tapered (i.e. Grant and Luke) were to be a team of only two, whoops! Looks like the workload was to be a little more than expected… My late arrival at the start meant that Luke would do the first two laps; we had agreed to do 2 each to start with and see how we went from there.
The place was jumping, bikes and riders everywhere, sponsors tents, live music, food cooking in stalls to tempt us back to transition, it was all happening. Luke went around the first couple of laps in a solid time, keeping within a reasonable distance of the leaders. Then it was my turn.
The course started with a ‘little pinch’ to get the heart rate up (way up if you ride it the way I did!), my first lap was a self imposed shock to the system, any concept of ‘pacing myself’ for later or ‘not pushing too hard’ so I could train the next day was completely gone from my head. I reckon I had the worst case of white line fever that I’d ever had, something was telling my brain that this was an all out sprint race! Silly boy…
As it turns out, the course was a good ‘up and down’ course with no really long climbs, so recovery time was available to help me get over my adrenaline fuelled pace. But the penny hadn’t dropped, after every small recovery I attacked againJ.
Fortunately I ironed out my brain a little for my second lap, the fact that I was hurting (just a little) contributed to the change of attitude. But still not enough to stop me running through the bush to overtake a few more whilst straddling the top tube of my Cannondale Rush (‘Kenny’), I seem to remember people saying something that involved references to their God, and maybe something about an animal as I passed, either they were getting involved with a deeper meaning of what they were doing, or possibly enjoying the native wildlife…? Maybe I was still going to hard…
The course was great with some good little climbs, and obviously the resultant downhill sections were great fun. There was heaps of good single track however some had sandy pockets that rutted up a bit as the race went on which made for some hairy squeezes through the trees as you were pitched back and forth at the ruts whim, but happily accidents were only witnessed on this day.
The riders thinned out as time went on (particularly after the 3 hour finished), so less people to overtake meant we could settle into a rhythm. Our lap times became more consistent as we switched to one lap each, and the night riding was pretty familiar to us from a long winter training in the dark at the You Yangs.
We were going pretty well in the field, the leaders were well ahead of the pack, but we were still within reach of 2nd place (Team Rapid Ascent), running a few minutes behind them for most of the night. Team Rapid Ascent’s John Jacoby and Sam Maffett were both riding well, the gap seesawed for pretty much the entire race, but the positions never changed and we were to end up finishing about 5 minutes behind them in 3rd place.
Of the 145 teams that entered the 6 hour, we were one of only 3 to complete 13 laps finishing 3rd outright. Luke and I were both very pleased with the result, especially considering we had just gone down there to participate. My inability to follow my ‘participation’ race plan earned me some great stats – of the total 1,658 laps timed, I had both the fastest and equal fourth fastest day lap times of 25:31 (49 seconds ahead of the next best!) and 26:28 respectively. I also had both of the two fastest night laps in 27:09 and 27:31. This race was a great confidence booster for the upcoming Anaconda race in Lorne; all going well last year’s bike time would be obliterated!
A special thanks to Beretta’s Bike Hub for organising our entry and providing the fully decked out tent for our racing comfort, and once again, how could we keep the speed up without the most powerful weapon in the arsenal – TORQ bars, gels and electrolyte energy drink, Forrest Fruit gels were made for this event!
I was looking forward to participating as I learned that more and more people I knew would be there for the race. Best of all, my brother would be there with the CFA team which was great news.
Beretta’s Bike Hub ended up entering a few teams, and the boys who hadn’t tapered (i.e. Grant and Luke) were to be a team of only two, whoops! Looks like the workload was to be a little more than expected… My late arrival at the start meant that Luke would do the first two laps; we had agreed to do 2 each to start with and see how we went from there.
The place was jumping, bikes and riders everywhere, sponsors tents, live music, food cooking in stalls to tempt us back to transition, it was all happening. Luke went around the first couple of laps in a solid time, keeping within a reasonable distance of the leaders. Then it was my turn.
The course started with a ‘little pinch’ to get the heart rate up (way up if you ride it the way I did!), my first lap was a self imposed shock to the system, any concept of ‘pacing myself’ for later or ‘not pushing too hard’ so I could train the next day was completely gone from my head. I reckon I had the worst case of white line fever that I’d ever had, something was telling my brain that this was an all out sprint race! Silly boy…
As it turns out, the course was a good ‘up and down’ course with no really long climbs, so recovery time was available to help me get over my adrenaline fuelled pace. But the penny hadn’t dropped, after every small recovery I attacked againJ.
Fortunately I ironed out my brain a little for my second lap, the fact that I was hurting (just a little) contributed to the change of attitude. But still not enough to stop me running through the bush to overtake a few more whilst straddling the top tube of my Cannondale Rush (‘Kenny’), I seem to remember people saying something that involved references to their God, and maybe something about an animal as I passed, either they were getting involved with a deeper meaning of what they were doing, or possibly enjoying the native wildlife…? Maybe I was still going to hard…
The course was great with some good little climbs, and obviously the resultant downhill sections were great fun. There was heaps of good single track however some had sandy pockets that rutted up a bit as the race went on which made for some hairy squeezes through the trees as you were pitched back and forth at the ruts whim, but happily accidents were only witnessed on this day.
The riders thinned out as time went on (particularly after the 3 hour finished), so less people to overtake meant we could settle into a rhythm. Our lap times became more consistent as we switched to one lap each, and the night riding was pretty familiar to us from a long winter training in the dark at the You Yangs.
We were going pretty well in the field, the leaders were well ahead of the pack, but we were still within reach of 2nd place (Team Rapid Ascent), running a few minutes behind them for most of the night. Team Rapid Ascent’s John Jacoby and Sam Maffett were both riding well, the gap seesawed for pretty much the entire race, but the positions never changed and we were to end up finishing about 5 minutes behind them in 3rd place.
Of the 145 teams that entered the 6 hour, we were one of only 3 to complete 13 laps finishing 3rd outright. Luke and I were both very pleased with the result, especially considering we had just gone down there to participate. My inability to follow my ‘participation’ race plan earned me some great stats – of the total 1,658 laps timed, I had both the fastest and equal fourth fastest day lap times of 25:31 (49 seconds ahead of the next best!) and 26:28 respectively. I also had both of the two fastest night laps in 27:09 and 27:31. This race was a great confidence booster for the upcoming Anaconda race in Lorne; all going well last year’s bike time would be obliterated!
A special thanks to Beretta’s Bike Hub for organising our entry and providing the fully decked out tent for our racing comfort, and once again, how could we keep the speed up without the most powerful weapon in the arsenal – TORQ bars, gels and electrolyte energy drink, Forrest Fruit gels were made for this event!
Upper Murray Challenge
The Upper Murray Challenge has had my attention for a very long time as a must do event, it still does. This year was to be the year that nearly was, with my running legs still arguing with my competitive brain about whether they as a team were over the Bull of Africa, my individual aspirations would have to wait. In the end it was to be my paddling that would get me an invite that was too good to pass up.
Scott Rantall approached me looking for a capable paddler, for which I was most flattered. Self belief is still not my strongest suit so to get an invitation from one of the best runners in the country was a fantastic compliment and I intended to do my very best to prove myself worthy. Scott planned on doing the ride as well as the run in an attempt to build on his goal to become an adventure racer, but alas, the quickest legs going around only mean it hurts more when you fall off your bike! Scott ripped the skin off his forearm and damaged his shoulder a couple of weeks before the race, he couldn’t ride... If I had a little more confidence in how well I was going on the bike I may have been a little more assertive when I suggested I was capable of doing the ride in his place, you’ll know why if you read the Surf Coast Six Hour report...
After some stress during the week leading into the event with Scott being both injured and unwell, we finally locked in a team only a day or two out. Our rider, Tim Briggs, was to be the unknown quantity to both Scott and I, but we had started to believe that as long as he could ride in the top 20% or so, Scott’s run speed and a solid paddle from me would get us somewhere near the podium.
Keen Torq’ers navigator Luke was in his element the day before the race, walking me through the course and giving me the heads up on what was to be expected on race day, valuable information that gives you that handy little edge. Very heavy rain had been forecast for the region, which had prompted much debate over the expected river levels for the paddle, those that had concerns wouldn’t have felt any better when they awoke to the sound of heavy rain on race day!
There were some tense moments prior to the start as I wandered around in the rain unable to find my team, but eventually we managed to track each other down. Tim appeared nervous which I took as a good sign, and before we knew it he was riding off into the hills and we were on our way to the MTB/Paddle transition for the long wait. A really long wait. So long in fact, that we were compelled to ask the event organisers if Tim was still coming at all! As time went on I started to worry about food, I had planned my day without allowances for waiting this long, and with only two TORQ gels (one to have 10-15 before starting and one during), my nutrition and hydration requirements were thrown into a bit of a tailspin, the longer I waited, the more my body would crave it’s next meal.
The wait continued, most of the mountain bikers had already finished the ride, and we were sure something wasn’t right. Eventually we noticed the event Director conferring with some safety people and looking in our direction. That look is unmistakable, it speaks volumes, bad things have happened.
Tim had come off his bike in apparently spectacular fashion and broken some ribs, all for a free ride home in an ambulance. Our transponder and race bib were on their way to transition and we had to make the decision as to whether or not we’d proceed as an un-ranked team. As thoughts for Tim’s wellbeing tortured me, I resisted the urge to jump in my car and head to his bedside in hospital where I could hold his hand and tend his wounds in his time of need, and decided to go for a paddle first instead (insensitive bastard that I am)! Donning the race bib it was time to hit the river.
Snowy Hydro lets extra water out of the reservoir for the race, so the river was up from the day before. Conditions for paddling were perfect, little wind, and not to warm. I ramped the pace up early planning to rate as high as possible for as long as possible.
The body felt good and with the river littered with paddlers to chase down (averaging about 1 per km), it was shaping up to be an ideal situation for a quick time. One of the best thing in any time trial style of race is the carrots that dangle ahead of you, there was no shortage of these as I had left so late, so gunning past them was a great motivator that kept the adrenaline delivered from start to finish. Some grade one rapids along the way bought variation that kept my attention the rest of the time. The river wound its way through farmland between Khancoban and Corryong, Luke had told me there would be several bridges with one main bridge signalling the half way point. Passing under the half way point suggested I was on target for a very sharp time, unless the bottom half was longer or slower than the top half I would exceed expectations.
Doing the maths is one of my favourite ways to motivating myself and occupy my mind during this type of race, calculating my progress was getting me a little bit excited, I was moving well and before I knew it there was a ‘2km to go’ sign on the side of the river!
All thought of taking care of my boat vanished as I rammed it into the rocky bank near the finishing line, leapt from the seat and sprinted for the transition. Scott was ready to go and we transitioned very fast, my wife Iris was genuinely surprised to see me already, having timed some of the earlier paddlers and made a guess as to how long I’d take. It’s so difficult to tell if you’ve gone hard enough when you’re paddling, the rate of recovery is so much better than running or riding, so it’s easy to convince yourself 5 minutes after the race that you maybe could have gone faster!
Scott ran very well, but his illness that he’d had through the week took its toll. The run course was apparently torturous, Scott’s first words at the finish line were “that was hard, I’d rather run a marathon, a marathon’s easier than that…” That said, he over took a very long line of people and ran us into 3rd position in the teams, pretty impressive!
Discussions at the finish line centred around trying to find out ‘who’s done what’ to see how your times would compare. There was one common theme when discussing the paddle, everyone expected Australia’s K1 marathon representative Tim Naughtin to produce a repeat performance and smash everyone in the paddle split, especially hot from the World Championships in the Czech Republic. I had accepted that he must be in a league of his own so imagine my surprise and pleasure when provisional results were posted at the finish line showing that Tim and I had indeed smashed the field, but the best news of all, I had Tim by about a minute!
Scott ran the 4th fastest run time which I think he was a little disappointed with, but keeping it all in perspective for him, he had been sick as a dog and nearly pulled out all together. God help us all if he gets a good lead in to an event, especially if he learns to keep up in the kayak!
The Upper Murray Challenge is now etched in bold print on the list of must do events for me as an individual competitor, hopefully 2009 is the year.
Grant Suckling
Scott Rantall approached me looking for a capable paddler, for which I was most flattered. Self belief is still not my strongest suit so to get an invitation from one of the best runners in the country was a fantastic compliment and I intended to do my very best to prove myself worthy. Scott planned on doing the ride as well as the run in an attempt to build on his goal to become an adventure racer, but alas, the quickest legs going around only mean it hurts more when you fall off your bike! Scott ripped the skin off his forearm and damaged his shoulder a couple of weeks before the race, he couldn’t ride... If I had a little more confidence in how well I was going on the bike I may have been a little more assertive when I suggested I was capable of doing the ride in his place, you’ll know why if you read the Surf Coast Six Hour report...
After some stress during the week leading into the event with Scott being both injured and unwell, we finally locked in a team only a day or two out. Our rider, Tim Briggs, was to be the unknown quantity to both Scott and I, but we had started to believe that as long as he could ride in the top 20% or so, Scott’s run speed and a solid paddle from me would get us somewhere near the podium.
Keen Torq’ers navigator Luke was in his element the day before the race, walking me through the course and giving me the heads up on what was to be expected on race day, valuable information that gives you that handy little edge. Very heavy rain had been forecast for the region, which had prompted much debate over the expected river levels for the paddle, those that had concerns wouldn’t have felt any better when they awoke to the sound of heavy rain on race day!
There were some tense moments prior to the start as I wandered around in the rain unable to find my team, but eventually we managed to track each other down. Tim appeared nervous which I took as a good sign, and before we knew it he was riding off into the hills and we were on our way to the MTB/Paddle transition for the long wait. A really long wait. So long in fact, that we were compelled to ask the event organisers if Tim was still coming at all! As time went on I started to worry about food, I had planned my day without allowances for waiting this long, and with only two TORQ gels (one to have 10-15 before starting and one during), my nutrition and hydration requirements were thrown into a bit of a tailspin, the longer I waited, the more my body would crave it’s next meal.
The wait continued, most of the mountain bikers had already finished the ride, and we were sure something wasn’t right. Eventually we noticed the event Director conferring with some safety people and looking in our direction. That look is unmistakable, it speaks volumes, bad things have happened.
Tim had come off his bike in apparently spectacular fashion and broken some ribs, all for a free ride home in an ambulance. Our transponder and race bib were on their way to transition and we had to make the decision as to whether or not we’d proceed as an un-ranked team. As thoughts for Tim’s wellbeing tortured me, I resisted the urge to jump in my car and head to his bedside in hospital where I could hold his hand and tend his wounds in his time of need, and decided to go for a paddle first instead (insensitive bastard that I am)! Donning the race bib it was time to hit the river.
Snowy Hydro lets extra water out of the reservoir for the race, so the river was up from the day before. Conditions for paddling were perfect, little wind, and not to warm. I ramped the pace up early planning to rate as high as possible for as long as possible.
The body felt good and with the river littered with paddlers to chase down (averaging about 1 per km), it was shaping up to be an ideal situation for a quick time. One of the best thing in any time trial style of race is the carrots that dangle ahead of you, there was no shortage of these as I had left so late, so gunning past them was a great motivator that kept the adrenaline delivered from start to finish. Some grade one rapids along the way bought variation that kept my attention the rest of the time. The river wound its way through farmland between Khancoban and Corryong, Luke had told me there would be several bridges with one main bridge signalling the half way point. Passing under the half way point suggested I was on target for a very sharp time, unless the bottom half was longer or slower than the top half I would exceed expectations.
Doing the maths is one of my favourite ways to motivating myself and occupy my mind during this type of race, calculating my progress was getting me a little bit excited, I was moving well and before I knew it there was a ‘2km to go’ sign on the side of the river!
All thought of taking care of my boat vanished as I rammed it into the rocky bank near the finishing line, leapt from the seat and sprinted for the transition. Scott was ready to go and we transitioned very fast, my wife Iris was genuinely surprised to see me already, having timed some of the earlier paddlers and made a guess as to how long I’d take. It’s so difficult to tell if you’ve gone hard enough when you’re paddling, the rate of recovery is so much better than running or riding, so it’s easy to convince yourself 5 minutes after the race that you maybe could have gone faster!
Scott ran very well, but his illness that he’d had through the week took its toll. The run course was apparently torturous, Scott’s first words at the finish line were “that was hard, I’d rather run a marathon, a marathon’s easier than that…” That said, he over took a very long line of people and ran us into 3rd position in the teams, pretty impressive!
Discussions at the finish line centred around trying to find out ‘who’s done what’ to see how your times would compare. There was one common theme when discussing the paddle, everyone expected Australia’s K1 marathon representative Tim Naughtin to produce a repeat performance and smash everyone in the paddle split, especially hot from the World Championships in the Czech Republic. I had accepted that he must be in a league of his own so imagine my surprise and pleasure when provisional results were posted at the finish line showing that Tim and I had indeed smashed the field, but the best news of all, I had Tim by about a minute!
Scott ran the 4th fastest run time which I think he was a little disappointed with, but keeping it all in perspective for him, he had been sick as a dog and nearly pulled out all together. God help us all if he gets a good lead in to an event, especially if he learns to keep up in the kayak!
The Upper Murray Challenge is now etched in bold print on the list of must do events for me as an individual competitor, hopefully 2009 is the year.
Grant Suckling
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