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.