Last 2 months

Well I tried to keep on top of this but the time has gone by so quickly again...

Results from the last few months:
Otway Odyssey, Apollo Bay VIC - 3rd - very tough race, 100km grueling MTBing, 3000m climbing!
Flight Centre Karri Cup, Pemberton WA - 100km (ended up being 115km!) tough weekend, especially after the Otway. Took out the win:)
Karapoti Classic, NZ - weekend after! very tough... OK now 'm tired! Great weekend in NZ. Had 2 flats finished 4th

After 3 weeks of solid racing, I had a few weeks of taking it easy, well deserved I think

Two weeks ago we had our first Club race for Perth MTB club. A track out at Forsyth mill - fantastic location and single track. I had a win for the first race, for the first time in a few weeks I really enjoyed being on the bike again.

I am in a taper week this week, for the BMC 100km Classic this weekend, another trip (we have been home for 5 weeks now)

I am looking forward to another trip, I will keep you posted on my results :)

Just ran out of time!

This has been a long time coming! and alot has happened since my last post....

Lets start with Christmas...
It was a busy time for us at the shop but we pulled through, managed to fit in some training and spend some time with our friends and family.

New Years allowed us to have a few days off work and spend some time down South, a camping spot south of Collie with our friends Jen and Paul. Camping was great, we managed to have a few drinks, get some great riding in and of course a bit of R & R.

After the festive season it was time to knuckle down and get some training in for the up coming National Champs.

I had been focusing on the shorter racing for a few months now, I was enjoying it, but honestly speaking I have had so many years of long distance training and racing, that I was coming to realise my body and mind actually enjoyed the endurance events more. This was in the back of my head going into the race. We arrived a few days early and had a chance to look around Canberra and do a few pre race laps. On the Friday before our race on Sunday, we did the Club champs. Our team Perth MTB finished 3rd, it was great to get in a race pace lap practice before our race.

I finished 10th in Elite women category though didn't feel I had a great race. Throughout the event I couldn't get into the race. I think it was just one of those days...

I couldn't fault my equipment though, the Merida 96 dually was amazing, such a great ride.

After the race we all went out for dinner as a team and it was great to catch up on everyone's race report, we all had our individual goals- some of us achieved them and others would have liked to improve. It was great to see no technical problems and we all finished!

National round #4 Mt Buller

I was a little down after my last race at Nationals, I flew to Vic on Monday and stayed with team mate James and his partner Rowena and their little man Quentin.
Ro and I took advantage of some time off and headed up to Mt Buller on Wednesday for some extra training and time away. We had a little house at the bottom of the hill, which was fantastic, very quietly nestled amongst the trees.
I had the chance to do 3 laps of the course before the race, and loved the track. It makes a huge difference going into a race when you actually enjoy the course. ..This is why I love the sport so much.
I didn't get off to the greatest start, and entered the single track in about 10th position. Throughout the 4 laps I managed to ride back up to 6th position and only 3min 45 off the winners. I raced better than last weekend and enjoyed it 100 time more!

On Sunday Paul, James Nick and I rode up the 17km Climb to the top of Mt Buller, it was great to stretch out the legs after a good race... once at the top we watched the elite mens short track and found a 30min single track desent all the way back to our accomodation!

Next on the cards is the Otway Odyssey - 100km MTB race

I will keep you updated on my results..hopefully not as long as this one took me!

:)

mud wrestling with bikes!

You Yangs was the most recent MTB National round held on the weekend.

I arrived in Melbourne on Thursday, met up with Nick and Paul, and drove out to Craig and James place in Warryndyte to ride a dirt crit. We made a few pit stops along the way firstly to our new favourite place - Ugly Moe's for a bite then to our second most favourite place - Greensborough for a coffee - which ended up being for free - thanks Paul! (Paul only asked if their coffee was better than Gloria Jeans across the road - of course they offered us a freebie) After a team decision not to race we did a few laps of the course, which happens to be a great single track on the property and then socialized with the other riders (great red wine - thanks craig)

On friday we left reasonanbly early, had a great breakfast on the way out to meet up with our sponsors at BikeSportz and Bikebox. Thanks again guys - it was a great chance to meet you all and show our appreciation of your support.

After a practice lap of the race course in the rain and a stack from me - again! we arrived at our little cottage 10min away from the race course in a small town of Balliang.

Race day was interesting, Melbourne had its biggest rainfall in over 2 years which converted the freshly graded race village into thick heavy mud. Our race was postponed 30min due to the bad conditions. I had a second row start this time, which resulted in a better start. the first two laps I was sitting comfortably in 3-5th position with Tory and Jenni King, Jo Wall and Jodie werent too far in front and Katherine had already made her move and had a good lead. Heading out into the climb of lap 3 I couldnt clip in my left foot, after looking at the bottom of my shoe I realised that one of the cleat bolts had started to come out, I stopped and tried to tighten it back up with my fingers (as I had lost my favourite caron tool and tool bag!) I managed to tighten it enough to get going again, though after another rock garden which I had to walk the bolt must have fallen out. So the remainder of the laps were interesting to say the least. I lost sight of 4th and 5th position and finished in 6th. I was happy with my result given the little problem.

Our team results • James Peacock – 2nd Under 19• Adrian Jackson – 5th Elite Men• James Kennedy – finished on lead lapped (published results are incorrect)• Nick Both, Paul Traynor and Dave Witney all DNF. Nick had a flat and both Paul and Dave broke the pedal inserts.• Craig Peacock, based on the course conditions and acceptance into the TransAlps decided not to race. Craig played a “support” role in setting up the tents, and feeding etc.

It was a pretty long day out in the cold, though lots of fun. Most of us finished up with no brake pads and very dirty bikes and clothes - but hey thats racing!

Thanks to Craig and his family for the support on the day, Mark from Advance Traders for all your help and Guy from BikeBox for supporting us on the track.

Sunday brought us some good laughs as Nick, Paul, Dave/Mike and I made our way back to Melbourne, were we made some good home made pizzas and had a couple of beers to finish off the weekend.

Next on the agenda is National Champs in Canberra on the 22 Jan

till then Ciao :)

National Round # 2 Illinbah Gold Coast QLD

Well my first experience in a National Round XC race was enjoyable yet very tough!

Tim and I headed over to QLD on Thursday to give ourselves a couple of days before my first XC race. We met up with Nick 'whigger' Both and Paul 'Geezer' Traynor for a few quite drinks at the Burleigh Heads Hotel and then onto some great Indian at a little restuarant called Zulu's.

Friday was spent putting our bikes together, doing a few laps of the course and then we rested up and had our Merida Flight Centre Team meeting. After a few hours of discussion over the year ahead we all had a great night of carbo loading, eating pizza and pasta before heading home for an early night. I didnt get too much sleep, I had those awful pre race nerves and managed a few hours, enough to get me through the next day.

Tim and I decided to head out to the race early with our team mate Craig (as he was racing early) Craig had a great start to his race though broke his chain and ran the last 3km of the lap - still managed 9th place.

I managed a good start after being positioned on the 3rd row (hopefully a better position next race) and made it into the single track fourth wheel, though had a few technical difficulties and had to run up the first climb. Not so ideal but never the less jumped back on where I could and tried to make up for some lost time. By this stage the eventual winner of the day Katherine O' Shea had broke away and had a good lead on the rest of us. The rest of my laps were ok and unfortunalty continued to have a few issues but made a bit of time on the last 2 laps and passed a couple more girls. In the end I finished in 5th position (4th Elite) and was pleased with my first National round. I learnt alot from the race and have a few things to work on. All in all I enjoyed the intensity and can only improve on my result.

On the other hand Adrian Jackson had an awesome race in the mens Elite field and blitzed the other competitors. A storm came through about half way into the race - amazing to watch it come and pass, not so for the guys...there was some pretty amazing stacks in the mud! Dave Whitney placed 4th in the elite mens field which gave him a first in the U23's. Nick Both placed 17th after a few flats and Paul Traynor finished one lap down in the elite men. James Peacock finished fourth in a tightly contested U19 race and Drew Robertson came in sixth in the Veteran Men.

To finish off the day we hung around and watched the four cross event - a great spectacle

Thanks to my lovely husband Tim for feeding us all on the day, also thanks to the support of Tod and Pete over the weekend. As a team we all should be very proud!

Next on the calendar is You Yangs - Geelong XC race #3 on the 13th Dec

till then

ciao :)

back into it!

Well the Croc has been and gone... I have had a week off training and now I am back into the swing of things.

My next race is the 2nd race of the national series in Illinbah, Gold Coast next Saturday 29th November

Training has been going well and I have been enoying the 'shorter' 'harder' sessions on the program. The goal this year is to compete in the XCO National series and qualify for the World Champs in Canberra, September 09.

Tim and I leave for the Gold Coast next Thursday, Tim isnt racing as he is having a month off training - which he is enjoying! We have our team launch and photos which should be fun!

I will keep you posted and attach some more photos soon.

AJ, Nick, Paul, Tim, Jo - day one relaxed and clean

There is life after the croc

1200km (the distance between Brisbane and Canberra) over 10days on a Mountain Bike 35 degree plus days, rough corrugated sandy dirt roads, what an experience

I decided that I wanted to race the Crocodile trophy early in the year when I switched my focus from Ironman triathlons to Mountain Biking. Tim my husband and Nick Both (Merida Flight Centre teammate) had raced the Croc last year, and I had heard only good things about the race (I think they had forgotten very quickly about the pain they went through). I thought that with my experience in endurance events that I would be ready for ‘The world’s hardest longest hottest most adventurous MTB race in the World’ so the website claims.

On the 17 October, Tim and I left Perth and made our way to Cairns to meet up with our Merida Flight Centre team mates Nick Both and Adrian Jackson. We had a couple of days of relaxing, drinking coffee and sleeping in before the thought of racing began. Our support crew Paul Traynor (also MFC teammate) and Peter Creagh (team director) met us on Monday to organise the support vehicle (our Aussie V8 Landcruiser decked out with all the fruit) spares, camping equipment and do the shopping for our trip. Unfortunately, the coffee machine on our list didn’t make it into the shopping trolley only home brand foods, apparently the shopping trip for Paul was a real experience – I wish I was there would have been a great laugh. Note. Home brand Top Deck chocolate is a real winner – NOT!
After a busy afternoon of stripping my bike and rebuilding on a new frame (thanks to the guys Advanced traders and Oliver at Trinity Cycles in Cairns) packing up the car, pre race briefing and a nice dinner out, it was time to relax in a nice bed for the last time for 10 nights.

Day one: Mareeba – Irvinebank 86km 1100m climbing
We had a leisurely start to the day; racing didn’t start until 11.30am 60km out of Cairns. We had a bit of time to relax in the shade before the madness started. The race started with an apparent 8km neutral section, I think it lasted about 5km following the police car then it was on! The race broke up quickly; I managed to ride in the third group with about 15 men and was keeping tabs on one of my competitors Karen from Belgium and her two team mates. The first day in a stage race is always testing and fast. It seems we all wanted to suss out our competitors and see what form we had ourselves.
The first 36km was road and then we hit a sandy hill climb, and the start of the technical/rocky section of the race. I was able to get away with another five guys, I pushed pretty hard through the sandy section once I had noticed that I made a bit of a break.
The boys had a good start to the race though the VIG racing teams from Czech were too strong for everyone.
Nick, Tim and AJ finished top ten - a good result for day one. AJ unfortunately over cooked a corner and tasted the outback dirt. Shaken but not stirred he remounted and finished strong.
In the end, I made nearly 4minutes on Karen, though it was just the start of a long 10 days.
My first taste of a leader’s jersey at a stage race was a great way to cap off day one

Day 2 Irvinebank to Koombaloomba Dam 107km 1400m climbing
I was a little nervous heading into day 2, I now had a taste of the race and knew my competitors a little better. Today’s stage had around 50% bitumen so more of a roadie stage, it broke into a few large packs and we rode at a reasonable pace. I had a few Aussies in the bunch with me and enjoyed their humour and good company. Most of the stage I was wary of Karen and her entourage I was trying not to waste too much energy by staying at the front of the bunch but also wanted to be ready for any attacks. The group stayed together until about 10km to go when the road became more undulating, Karen made a break with a group and managed to stay away putting 47sec into the lead I had.
Tim, AJ and Nick finished in the front bunch with about 10 other riders not counting the - You guessed it three Czechs up the road.

Day 3 Koombaloomba Dam – Gunnawarra Lagoon 122km 2250m climbing
Today was a bit of MTB treat with lots of steep ups and downs on loose rocky trails.
For the first 30min, I settled into a group of about 20 rider’s including Karen, this was the easier part of the days ride before we hit the powerline track and the tough rocky climbs began. At about this point I was overjoyed to see a green dot in the distance that resembled one of my Merida Flight Centre teammates. As I got closer I found my husband Tim had dropped back to give me some support as well, from that point on we worked together and put a lot of pressure on Karen and her team.
We made a lot of time on the steep ups and downs and through the soft sand sections of the race. Unfortunately, the stage finished with 50km of good dirt road so it all came back together for Karen and I to sprint it out to the line. As it happened, the last 1km was soft sand, which gave me the upper hand to win the stage and maintain my leader’s jersey. Nick and AJ rode strong to finish about 10min in front of us!!
The swim after the stage at Gunnawarra lagoon was bliss; I even managed to shave my legs (the Euros were very impressed) though a little disappointed not to see any freshies

Day 4 Gunnawarra Lagoon – Chilagoe 143km 900m climbing
Today’s stage was a flat and long. The start of the race was broken up as we rode back out onto the road through the sand that we finished on yesterday. On the road there was a few attacks, AJ broke away with the lead pack, our group rolled through until we rejoined the front bunch. Not long after the road started to head skywards as the trail roughened. Nick and Tim got on the front put a bit of pressure on the Belgium’s especially on the rough downhill sections, AJ stayed close to me to offer assistance incase of a flat. At this stage, Nick and AJ had also decided to drop back and offer assistance to my overall aspirations (which I was very grateful)

The reminder of the stage was a little uneventful with all the boys in the bunch pulling aside with 1km to go to let Karen and I duke it out in a good ol fashioned sprint to the line. This time she edged me out by a knob on my Racing Ralph. It was a photo finish and they decided to give us both the same time

Day 5 Chillagoe – Chillagoe 100km 1000m climbing
Today’s stage was an out and back, we all thought it would be an easy day, little did we know. AJ had decided that he was going to go with the leaders today and aim for a stage win. Tim, Nick and I ended up again riding in a group with Karen and her husband and other team members. Today Karen tried many times to attack the group, and work her road racing skills. This did not work until about the 80km make when she attacked on a slight rise and I didn’t have the legs to go with her and Christophe (her husband) the last 20km Tim and Nick worked hard at the front of the group while I groveled a little and about 6 others hung on the back. Karen brought my lead back by 2min today. AJ flew the team flag and had an awesome ride to finish a close 2nd.

We stayed at a lovely motel in Chillagoe for 2 nights, air-conditioned and pumping music only till about 3am!
Though we had a great laugh in the morning when we found our partying friends passed out with about 10 empty cans of Bundy and 6 unopened (obviously passed out before they could get to them) Thanks to them we scored a few cold Bundy’s ready for the end of the race!

Day 6 Chillagoe – Mt Mulgrave 120km 500m climbing
Today was flat and uneventful. Going into the stage I only had 1min lead over Karen, this was in the back of my head during the day, and my plan today was to protect my lead. I had a flat today and thanks to AJ I was quickly back on the road, Nick, Tim and another aussie/Canadian Tim(thank you!) brought me back to the group and AJ worked hard and got back on. Again, Karen and I were together with 1km to go had a sprint finish in the bunch. Karen got the stage win, but made no time on my lead. Goal achieved.

Day 7 Mt Mulgrave – Laura 148km 1100m climbing
Today’s stage was one of the longest and toughest, sandy and corrugated, though it proved to be a very eventful day for us. Nick broke away early in the lead bunch but unfortunately suffered a flat and rejoined us in the second bunch. I made a break early though the tough sand sections and put some time into Karen. Tim, Nick and AJ did the lions share of the work over the last 30km to bring me home with an advantage of 4 ½ minutes over Karen. A great day for the me and the team!

Day 8 Laura – Cooktown 142km 1050m climbing
Karen’s stage race experience shone though today Things were going well early on – marking Karen’s moves as well as I could despite the dirty tactics like attacking in the feed zones! Then the hills started, and I was quickly going backwards compared to Karen. She managed to get in a bunch ahead of us, which would not have been too bad except that she had 20 Belgium’s working for her. (Some actually waited for her at a feed zone) while we were stuck in a bunch with plenty of parasites so it was up to my 3 team mates to drive into the block headwind into Cooktown. It was a bad day, and I lost the jersey plus 9 minutes to Karen. The bonus of today’s stage was my first beer of the week a nice air conditioned room and a swimming pool.

Day 9 Cooktown – Ayton 124km 1900m climbing
Today was our last stand, as tomorrow is a neutral stage, to peg back Karen and get onto the top step. Today we threw everything at them making some time on the downhill rocky sections in the first 30km, but in the end Karen proved stronger on the steep finale, and I lost more time.

Day 10 Ayton – Cape Tribulation 49km 700m climbing
Today was a great day; we had plenty of time to catch up with our friends from all around the world, reminiscing on days that seemed so long ago. The feed zone was a little different today, no attacking or yelling for drinks, we stopped for about 45min, drank some beer, and rested waiting for the tail enders. We all rode together for the last 10km before hitting the beach at Cape Tribulation. It was the perfect finish to a long hard 10 days of racing.

All in all I enjoyed the race, gained a lot of experience and didn’t walk away empty handed, winning 3 boomerangs (stage wins) and 7 illustrious days in the leaders jersey.

I would like to say a huge thank you to Tim, Nick and AJ who sacrificed their ambitions of the Crocodile trophy 2008 to help me try to achieve the ultimate result.

I would also like to Thank Paul (our godsend, the rock of the team – cooking, cleaning, DJ’ing, and listening to all our bullshit. Also for telling some wicked jokes) Peter Creagh for home brand food, massages, beers, and comical entertainment. Last but not least all the sponsors of the Merida Flight Centre Team.

The Crocodile Trophy experience was amazing; the comrade between the riders, sleeping under the stars and riding my bike for 10days with my friends was truly unforgettable.

Team Website

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