I have entered the 100km.
Time to start training
http://www.maxadventure.com.au
Dirt Works 2010
True. You could also do the Oaks + Anderson's and back yeah? Looks like it would be more like 120km but I guess you don't have to go all the way to the end.
I have received an email from someone at work strongly advising me to enter the 50km instead of the 100km. I HAVE to finish it now.
I have received an email from someone at work strongly advising me to enter the 50km instead of the 100km. I HAVE to finish it now.
I'm in to... 100km. I've done this once before in 2008. To get there I caught train to Windsor & rode to St Albans. I wished I had stayed on Sunday night & rode back Monday & there's the mother of all traffic jams at Wisemans Ferry after the event. So that's what I might do. How about this -
Saturday morning - Train to Windsor & ride to event with my trailer carring my stuff (tent etc)
Saturday night - eat & drink
Sunday - Race & collapse & sleep (perhaps stay at Wiseman's Ferry)
Monday - Ride to Windsor & train back home...
Lindsay
Saturday morning - Train to Windsor & ride to event with my trailer carring my stuff (tent etc)
Saturday night - eat & drink
Sunday - Race & collapse & sleep (perhaps stay at Wiseman's Ferry)
Monday - Ride to Windsor & train back home...
Lindsay
You can try this modification at the water's edge.I think my heart just sank to my feet...
It's easy, look at the horizon and where you want to go, and then just ride, don't hesitate too much, speed is your friend, and your across before you know it.
You can easily practice by riding along the road and sitting on a white line on the road. it is a lot easier to do by looking ahead than by watching the wheel.
James
You can easily practice by riding along the road and sitting on a white line on the road. it is a lot easier to do by looking ahead than by watching the wheel.
James
If you can't ride it, who can?Even worst case is to walk over the bridge like I did, thus making you soft for the rest of your miserable existance on planet earth...
I should read the mountain bike thread more often! I haven't laughed so much in ages! Anyone got a spare MTB, because I'd love to join you. Looks seriously fun. And when I look into my deep dark cycling past, I'm pretty sure plummeting down slippery spinifex studded hills on something I purloined off my neighbour plays a big part in it.
What about that hard tail of yours Lindsay? Not that I could possibly live up to the Tough Man.
Dammit! Just read the site. Sold out! Well, count me in for 2011.
What about that hard tail of yours Lindsay? Not that I could possibly live up to the Tough Man.
Dammit! Just read the site. Sold out! Well, count me in for 2011.
I was just reading the event program, and thought I'd point out the change to the Kayak bridge this year:
"Please note: This year only riders will be allowed to access the bridge. If you do not intend riding across the bridge, please follow the directions of the marshals to the river wading area. You will have to pickup your steed (we suggest above your head) and wade across the river to the other side."
I'm guessing a few more people will attempt to ride across this year. I have wimped out of the 100km and am doing the 50km, so it won't be a problem for me.
"Please note: This year only riders will be allowed to access the bridge. If you do not intend riding across the bridge, please follow the directions of the marshals to the river wading area. You will have to pickup your steed (we suggest above your head) and wade across the river to the other side."
I'm guessing a few more people will attempt to ride across this year. I have wimped out of the 100km and am doing the 50km, so it won't be a problem for me.
The trick to riding something like that is to watch the horizon, not right in front of you.
Further, you want to do it at a reasonable speed, not stupidly fast, but fast enough where the bike is happy to stay on it's line.
James
Further, you want to do it at a reasonable speed, not stupidly fast, but fast enough where the bike is happy to stay on it's line.
James
Race report.
Victoria, Lindsay and camped on the Saturday night so we wouldn't have to get out of bed at 3am like John and Kevin had to. It turns out there is a line for the toilets even at 5am, and just before the race the queue was quite large.
The race started at 7am for elite, 7.10 for the first non racing group and two more groups after that. My plan was to ride in the first non racing group but didn't get to the start early enough and they had already fenced it off. John made it into the first group. It doesn't really matter which group you are in as you have a timing tag, its just the amount of people you need to pass. The race started at a fair pace as there were a few of us who should have been in the first group, it was like a road race on mountain bikes down a dirt road, I managed to stay near the front. The first hill was a killer, and slippery as well. This was why I needed to be close to the front, lots of people can't ride the hill and end up walking and getting in the way. I managed to make it to the top. I heard that most people in the third group walked it. It was at the top of this hill we started passing people from the first group who had to walk. From here it was a mix fire trails, single track and very rock sections including some nasty loose descents, but over all it wasn't too steep. I kept finding myself in small bunches of four or so riders, its easier this way, you keep a steady pace and don't blow yourself up. I caught John at around the 40km mark, he was suffering with stomach cramps, he rode with me for a while but when I reached the half way mark at 50km he was nowhere to be seen. Half way was a quick stop for some free food, then back on the bike.
The next 20kms flew past, a couple of climbs and one very cool descent though a dark rain foresty section, it was a bit rocky in parts but not loose and the track flowed, so you could go quite fast. Next was the canoe bridge, which is a series of canoes with a plank across them, I think it was about 100m long. This year you had to ride over or wade across the creek which was waist deep. I rode across without any difficulty, a friend who was also riding said he saw 6 people on a row fall off.
A quick 5kms down a sealed road to the next killer hill, it didn't start out all that steep but it didn't seem to end. It did level out eventually, sort of. The next 20kms where painful, the surface was sandy and it seemed to be uphill most of the way. The sand just saps all your strength. I was in a world of hurt for this section. I had to walk one hill as my legs were cramping up, three guys in front of me were having the same problem. I was making good time at the 75km mark and it looked like I'd make in in in 5 hours, little did I know how long it was going to take to ride the next 20kms. At about the 85km mark I seemed to come good, sort of, still cramping a little but I could keep the pace on the flats and could still ride up all the hills.
We eventually got to go back down to the valley floor, and it was a long way down, the last descent was steep, luckily it was fairly smooth, but with some big water bars. By the time I got to the bottom I could smell my brakes. For the last little bit I slipped into roadie mode and motored down the dirt road to the finish. I finished in 5 hours 24 minutes and 11 seconds. I'm happy with my effort, its the first time I've ridden the race, I'll have to do better next year.
Also the race is really 104kms, not 100km, but the Dirtworks 104km classic doesn't sound as good.
Victoria, Lindsay and camped on the Saturday night so we wouldn't have to get out of bed at 3am like John and Kevin had to. It turns out there is a line for the toilets even at 5am, and just before the race the queue was quite large.
The race started at 7am for elite, 7.10 for the first non racing group and two more groups after that. My plan was to ride in the first non racing group but didn't get to the start early enough and they had already fenced it off. John made it into the first group. It doesn't really matter which group you are in as you have a timing tag, its just the amount of people you need to pass. The race started at a fair pace as there were a few of us who should have been in the first group, it was like a road race on mountain bikes down a dirt road, I managed to stay near the front. The first hill was a killer, and slippery as well. This was why I needed to be close to the front, lots of people can't ride the hill and end up walking and getting in the way. I managed to make it to the top. I heard that most people in the third group walked it. It was at the top of this hill we started passing people from the first group who had to walk. From here it was a mix fire trails, single track and very rock sections including some nasty loose descents, but over all it wasn't too steep. I kept finding myself in small bunches of four or so riders, its easier this way, you keep a steady pace and don't blow yourself up. I caught John at around the 40km mark, he was suffering with stomach cramps, he rode with me for a while but when I reached the half way mark at 50km he was nowhere to be seen. Half way was a quick stop for some free food, then back on the bike.
The next 20kms flew past, a couple of climbs and one very cool descent though a dark rain foresty section, it was a bit rocky in parts but not loose and the track flowed, so you could go quite fast. Next was the canoe bridge, which is a series of canoes with a plank across them, I think it was about 100m long. This year you had to ride over or wade across the creek which was waist deep. I rode across without any difficulty, a friend who was also riding said he saw 6 people on a row fall off.
A quick 5kms down a sealed road to the next killer hill, it didn't start out all that steep but it didn't seem to end. It did level out eventually, sort of. The next 20kms where painful, the surface was sandy and it seemed to be uphill most of the way. The sand just saps all your strength. I was in a world of hurt for this section. I had to walk one hill as my legs were cramping up, three guys in front of me were having the same problem. I was making good time at the 75km mark and it looked like I'd make in in in 5 hours, little did I know how long it was going to take to ride the next 20kms. At about the 85km mark I seemed to come good, sort of, still cramping a little but I could keep the pace on the flats and could still ride up all the hills.
We eventually got to go back down to the valley floor, and it was a long way down, the last descent was steep, luckily it was fairly smooth, but with some big water bars. By the time I got to the bottom I could smell my brakes. For the last little bit I slipped into roadie mode and motored down the dirt road to the finish. I finished in 5 hours 24 minutes and 11 seconds. I'm happy with my effort, its the first time I've ridden the race, I'll have to do better next year.
Also the race is really 104kms, not 100km, but the Dirtworks 104km classic doesn't sound as good.
That sounded so cruel!"Please note: This year only riders will be allowed to access the bridge. If you do not intend riding across the bridge, please follow the directions of the marshals to the river wading area. You will have to pickup your steed (we suggest above your head) and wade across the river to the other side."
Well that was fun! I think it's the most challenging thing I've ever done - which meant I felt pretty happy with myself when I finished it. If someone told me a year ago that I would be riding 100km's off road I would have laughed.
I probably paced myself a bit too much at the start. I wasn't sure how I was going to handle 100km's off road so I went out pretty easy. Really I should have used the non technical bits to gain some ground as it was the rocky descents and climbs where I lost a lot of time. I lost a bit of confidence after coming off at one point, which meant I lost even more time on descents. If I wasn't so concerned about saving my legs I could have climbed on some higher gears. I was in the little ring for the first climb until I was forced to walk due to the queue of people, but I managed to get back on and ride some more of it at one point. That was a relief as walking it was killing my back. Saw lots of people walking the last climb, but I managed to ride all of that. That was a long, long climb.
Some lessons learnt for next time. Need to plan my fuelling a bit better, and I think I would like to try going without a hydration pack or at least going with a smaller/lighter one and some bottles on the bike. It felt a bit of a burden and I found it difficult to get food out of it and would prefer better access to my jersey pockets. I lost too much time stopping and fidgeting with things. Starting in the second group may have been wise to get a better run up the hill, but I suspect I would have encountered the same problem unless I was able to be at the front of the group. There really didn't seem to be anyone who climbed it but I think it was relatively do-able. Anyway, now that I've done it once it will be cool to see if I can better it next year and attempt to be a bit more competitive. With my lack of confidence I think I was more in touring mode than racing mode (but it still hurt!!).
Riding the bridge was awesome and the confidence boost of doing it definately helped me get through the last 30km's.
So who's in for the Angry Doctor? 5th September... Rego's open on the 9th June
I probably paced myself a bit too much at the start. I wasn't sure how I was going to handle 100km's off road so I went out pretty easy. Really I should have used the non technical bits to gain some ground as it was the rocky descents and climbs where I lost a lot of time. I lost a bit of confidence after coming off at one point, which meant I lost even more time on descents. If I wasn't so concerned about saving my legs I could have climbed on some higher gears. I was in the little ring for the first climb until I was forced to walk due to the queue of people, but I managed to get back on and ride some more of it at one point. That was a relief as walking it was killing my back. Saw lots of people walking the last climb, but I managed to ride all of that. That was a long, long climb.
Some lessons learnt for next time. Need to plan my fuelling a bit better, and I think I would like to try going without a hydration pack or at least going with a smaller/lighter one and some bottles on the bike. It felt a bit of a burden and I found it difficult to get food out of it and would prefer better access to my jersey pockets. I lost too much time stopping and fidgeting with things. Starting in the second group may have been wise to get a better run up the hill, but I suspect I would have encountered the same problem unless I was able to be at the front of the group. There really didn't seem to be anyone who climbed it but I think it was relatively do-able. Anyway, now that I've done it once it will be cool to see if I can better it next year and attempt to be a bit more competitive. With my lack of confidence I think I was more in touring mode than racing mode (but it still hurt!!).
Riding the bridge was awesome and the confidence boost of doing it definately helped me get through the last 30km's.
So who's in for the Angry Doctor? 5th September... Rego's open on the 9th June
Official results are now up: http://www.maxadventure.com.au/100kmcla ... sults.html
Well done all the 100km people. Nice to catch up with a few of you on Saturday night.
As quick summary of the half-strength version, it started as the same road section then steep climb as the 100. Traffic and the state of the trail after all the 100km people had been up meant that most pushed.
Then it was undulating, fast and open fire trail, manageable climbs, and couple of rocky but not-too-technical descents. To finish, a medium length brake-burner with big water bars before getting back onto a long road section toward home.
The biggest differences from the 100, apart from the canoe bridge, were the lack of more technical sections and the much higher proportion of road.
Well done all the 100km people. Nice to catch up with a few of you on Saturday night.
As quick summary of the half-strength version, it started as the same road section then steep climb as the 100. Traffic and the state of the trail after all the 100km people had been up meant that most pushed.
Then it was undulating, fast and open fire trail, manageable climbs, and couple of rocky but not-too-technical descents. To finish, a medium length brake-burner with big water bars before getting back onto a long road section toward home.
The biggest differences from the 100, apart from the canoe bridge, were the lack of more technical sections and the much higher proportion of road.
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