Marathon Worlds

Well, my first ever international representation at a MTB world champs is done. The 2009 MTB Marathon Worlds were held at Stattegg, Austria (just outside Graz) and the Aussie team was Shaun Lewis, Mike Blewitt and I. We also had an expert manager in Laura and an extra pair of helping hands with Graeme.

We spent the few days before the race checking out sections of the course, and quickly gained respect for what we were about to do on Sunday. The climbing (of which there was a lot) was steep and sometimes rough, and the descents were much more techincal than an average Euro marathon. Throw in a good storm on Thursday and constant rain for a lot of Friday and it was going to be a tough race.

Having never raced a marathon with so much climbing I decided to not let myself get caught up with riding too hard for the first half of the race. The start climb was mostly tarmac, but one of the steepest you have ever seen! I crested the top in a small group and was happy that I had been able to pass people near the top whilst not having to dig too deep. All was good until about 15km in when I noticed my rear tire was starting to get a little soft, and soon after it was clear that it was not going to last even until the next feed zone where I could have got a spare wheel. After changing the flat, I met up with Lewi, and we hit the 2nd main climb together. I was feeling good at this point, and kept up a solid tempo, passing quite a few people who had got ahead of me when I was stopped. At about the midway point I had caught up with a group of Austrian riders, and I was still feeling like I was climbing better than those around me which is an unusual feeling in Europe, but also a sign that I was further down the field than I should have been. The climbing was pretty relentless from about 60 to 80km, and a I was in a group of 4 which was good as the tempo they were riding was just about the pace I wanted to go. Finally the highest point was reached, and the most techincal part of the course began. The track plumetted off the mountain, and despite a small spill I was catching quite a few more people. The two small short uphill pinches brought on the first twinges of cramping, but the rooted and rocky tracks were too much fun to worry about that!

In the end I finished 58th, 46min down on the winners time of 4:35. Even though I was completely spent after finishing I still had the feeling I could have gone a little harder. If it wasn't for the flat tire I would have been riding with people who would have been climbing faster, thus pulling me along more, rather than riding and passing people who I probably should have been ahead. But it is all a learning experience, and hopefully if I go to next years marathon worlds I will be stronger on the hills and able to be even further up the field. Big thanks to Laura for being a superb team manager and Graeme for helping throw bottles at us during the race, much appreciated guys.

Double Gold

It will be old news for some now, but on Sat I won my 2nd Gold medal at the 2009 MTBO World Champs. 1 day after the Sprint distance race which I surprised myself by winning, I won the Long distance race in a time of 1 hour and 32 minutes, just under 3 minutes ahead of last years Long distance champion Ruslan Gritsan from Russia. Many people seemed to expect me to do well in the Long race, but translating that on the day into a good result is always difficult and needs a bit of luck.

I started about 2/3 the way through the field after taking it relatively easy in the qualification race, and this proved a good move as I caught many riders and this kept me motivated. The heat was also a factor; it didn't bother me too much, but many of the euros found it hard going. My race was again not perfect, losing around 30 sec on 4 legs through small errors or route choice, but I think I was physically able to cope with the heat and hills the best, and this is what gave me the good margin in the end.

The final night banquet and party was as usual an absolute riot. The banquet was held outside next to a pool, and once the food and ceremonies were over everyone ended up in the pool, many not of their own free will! The party then moved back to the accomodation, and despite some teams having ridiculously early flights the next day it was a great night.

Yesterday was finally a day off the bike and relaxing. We visited the Dead Sea and Massada, an awsome clifftop ancient city where a group of Jews made a stand against the Romans and ended up committing mass suicide rather than be captured and enslaved.

I am now en route to Vienna where I will spend a couple of days before heading to Graz, site of the World MTB Marathon champs. I am looking forward to some riding without a mapboard after a pretty intense couple of weeks in Israel. There is a small Aussie contingent for the marathon worlds this year, and I will endeavour to keep sending updates as we prepare for the big day next Sunday.

Sprint Gold Medal!

I have again managed to become world champion, this time in the Sprint distance race. Three days after losing my title of current world champ in the middle distance, I managed to scrape home with 11 sec over 2nd in the sprint (my least favorite discipline). My race was not perfect, but good enough to take the narrow victory. The splits showed Lasse and I were swapping 1st and 2nd most of the race, and I hit the lead with 3 controls to go and held on to the finish. The race was held around an archelogical site, with many narrow paved and unpaved paths twisting around. Because of the nature of the site riding off the tracks was not allowed (unlike the rest of the races here), but you could run with your bike off tracks which I did quite a few times.

Tomorrow is the last race, the Long final, and with 35km and temperatures probably around the same number it is going to be a tough race. From what we can gather the terrain is steep, with less singletrack than the past few days. Hopefully the tough conditions will play into my hands, but picking the right route choice is going to be key here.

MTBO WOC rest day update

You have may have already seen the results of the first two events, but in case you didn't I once again was able to make the podium in the Middle distance race, this time in 5th place. The Long Qualification went well, I took it quite easy to save energy and wasn't too concerned with placing high in the heat as starting last offers no real advantage here; in fact the later the day goes on the hotter it seems to get.

The Middle race was a very different affair, with technical riding and navigation a plenty. My race felt very scrappy, but after looking at the splits it was really just 3 legs where I lost 60 sec or more which was the difference between the top step and where I finished.

Today was the first of two rest days for me, as with the relay tomorrow we have no team so I get an extra day off! We spent some of the day wandering the old city of Jerusalem; below are some pics of the day.