COMFORTABLE IN CHAOS. This doesn't mean that chickens are running around with their heads cut off. When your socks are soggy, you have 1000 grass seeds in your socks, you're tired, sick of m&ms, mozzies are buzzing in your ears, leaches hanging off your ankles & a very long 40% gradient, deep rutted, slippery mountain presents itself you feel comfortable in the chaos. Look up, smile & yell at the mountain gods "Is this all you have!!!" I can tell you from first hand experience, this is not "all they have" hehehe... That darn mountain just kept going & kicked up even steeper around the corner.
We were in need of a kit check, team shake out prior to XPD. Liam from the Queensland Rogaine Association put together a "24 hour Adventure-Gaine" & it was awesome! Liam & his team of worker bees set out a great course & organised a great event.
If you were a novice you could achieve a result. If you were a pro you could smash yourself & the course was almost cleared by some of them.
The race was made up of Teams of 2. So our XPD team of 4 signed up & traveled together for entire race XPD style.
It is easy to quickly work out that Adventure racing is not just about smashing it forward. Planning & logistic preparation is a very large part to a successful race. If you pop your shoes in the wrong transition box, too bad.
A couple of health issues have popped up recently. After an unrelated visit to a doctor, it was suggested that my maximum limit for coffees should be 2! "What!? do you need me to chop off a few fingers also?"
There is no way I would go from my excessive daily caffeine consumption to zero. I don't care how nice 'cold turkey' is on a sandwich.
Here's the plan. Alarm 3am. Coffee number one. Get on bike. 2 hours+ later coffee number two. That's it for the day!
I tuck into a few decaf coffees during the day. No other caffeine & guess what? My general day to day health is the best it has been in a long time!
2 weeks till we head to Cairns for XPD. I have kicked the caffeine addiction.
It has been too long since my last endurance mountain bike race. I am feeling like a fat, lazy, slob. I miss the constant tiredness in my legs.
So, off to Pomona for the 000 Emergency Services Charity 12 hour xc race. 8am to 8pm. Only a couple of dark hours of racing. But better than none!
I was very rude in 2009. As a guest rider at the Police Games (Ay Up put up a couple of bike light kits as prizes) in both the road race & xc race I stole first place in both races. I surrendered my places & didn't go near the podium.
I am really excited about this Saturdays 12 hour race. It is organised by passionate cyclists. Funds are being raised for a good charity. Last, but not least, it is 12 hours of xc racing!!! Only 1/2 as much fun as 24 hours hehehe...
Ay Up will have a small presence. We are putting up a couple of prizes in support of the local racing scene & the Emergency Services.
In preparation for XPD, 3 out of the 4 team members of Team 145 L-Attitude headed to Noosa for an all day training session. Our 4th team member is still in recovery mode post Port Macquarie Iron Man Triathlon.
Our 'base camp' was on the river in Tewantin. We arrived in Tewantin at about 6pm. Had dinner at the local pub & discussed the plan for the following morning. I should have got the lasagne & chips. Next time.
Before racking out for the night a few kit things needed to be sorted.
Ride 5 hours:
Sunday 3am the alarm went off. A few more food things, a kit check & get on our bikes...with packs. We had the pleasure of having all of the trails to ourselves for the entire ride!
Riding in the forests on the Sunshine Coast is beautiful. Definitely more visits for xc cycling in the near future.
Mmmm....the 3 stages of calorie consumption pleasure
Paddle 5 hours:
Sunscreen on, cycling shoes off, inflate the two person kayak (as used in XPD) & away we go for a 5 hour paddle. The darn thing had an air leak in the left pontoon. There was also a water leak!
Kirstie: "How are you going back there dog?"
Dog: " This would be my least favourite discipline"
I love being on the water. I feel as though I can paddle all day. Just not in the Sevylor inflatable tanks errr...boats.
Walk 10 hours:
This was the epic part of the trip. I know it wasn't on a bike, but this was my favourite leg. We got to try out a new bit of kit. A jetboil & some new flavours of dehydrated meals.
It's not all about training.
We covered about 40kms on the walk. Our Ay Up lights were awesome all night.
No dogs allowed? Well this dog loves spotting critters in the bush. Especially at night.
My wildlife satisfaction bucket was full to overflowing with some of the amazing creatures we saw on our training session.
We spotted a Tawny Frog Mouthed bird, a kangaroo so darn big that Bear Gryls wouldn't even have considered it food, a very large & beautiful owl. These were easily the highlight critters.
The large owl was easily my favourite spot all night.
We also saw this little dude
After a few hours sleep we popped back into Tewantin & found a sign that said Big Breakkie $10 with a free coffee! After some dog therapy filled out tummies with an awesome breakfast.
Check out the road sign in the top left corner of this photo... "All other destinations"
We had wet shoes & socks for the most of the trip. Cairns will more than likely give us the same treatment. Time to pack up & head home already.
Grafton to Inverell Cyclosportif. This event is run on the same route as the one day cycle classic race.
Why not go for a long roadie ride?!
So Kirstie & I left Brisbane at 1:00am on Friday morning to drive to Grafton. I dropped her in town then continued my drive along the 230 course to Inverell. There was one particularly long stretch where there wasn't any where to get water or food so I did a cache drop at the top of the Gibralter Range.
I parked the car in Inverell, threw my leg over the Look & started towards Grafton. After a few minutes it was very apparent that it was going to be a 25-35km headwind for the next 9-10 hours. It rained on me 5 times too!
The descent was very wet & clouded it. My Ay Up Lights & wind jacket saved the day!
9 hours: 15mins, 230kms & 2700m of climbing later I saw the wonderful smile of my woman waiting out front of our hotel in Grafton.
Food, water, shower, sleep!
Saturday morning: Awesome! my legs feel great...kind of.
We loaded up our pockets & headed to the start of the Sportif Organised ride. There is something very calming about a hotel room with a couple of bikes with numbers on them, riding food, course map... It's the small things in life I love!
Kirstie headed out about 40 minutes before me. 78kms later I found her 1/2 up the 18km climb. Said hello & rode on. The guys I was tapping away the mountain with were riding a little harder than my legs wanted. So when I got to the water station I looped back around, shot down the mountain 3 1/2kms & found Kirstie again. We climbed together to the water station then I took off again.
At about the 160-170km mark I stopped at the local shop & got them to cook me up an Egg & bacon burger!!! That washed down with 1 litre of Coke was quite simply an amazing experience. The small things in life.
8 hours: 38 minutes, 237kms, 3300 metres of climbing, another headwind all day, more than 10,000 calories I was at Inverell.
Phew. Oh, crap I parked at the hotel aptly named "Top Of the Town Motel" Oh well, back on the bike for another few kms up hill to get the car.
About 1 1/2 hours later Kirstie rolled in. She had found a peloton of women to swap turns with after being out in the headwind by herself for the first 1/2 of the ride.
Kirstie not only finished the single longest ride she has ever done in a very respectable time, she also rode with Stephanie Haussler (Heinrich Haussler's sister) Street cred on both accounts! Bloody AWESOME ride Kirstie! You deserve to put your feet up.
That was the most understated question of Saturday night.
XPD is creeping up on us. Our team is complete. We were all available for a training session last Saturday night.
We found a 42km walk in Lamington National Park. 21kms between Binna Burra & O'Rielys.
Rain was forcasted for the weekend. Nobody knew that it was going to be the most rain this area has had in over 100 years!!!
We started our walk at 6:30pm on Saturday night. The first hour was just a few puddles & clouded in. As it got dark we arced up our Ay Up lights. Then it started raining. It got heavier & heavier. Shortly there wasn't any room in the sky for any more rain.
It dumped on our heads non-stop for the next 9 hours! The puddles on the track got deeper & deeper. Then the trail turned into a running creek.
Each of us would have easily had about 20 or so leaches on us at any one time.
The walk took us 11 & a half hours. Lots happened in that time so here is a point summary.
1. Dog is the new team XMO (executive morale officer) 2. Dogs can sing (not) 3. Poetry is awesome on long walks. 4. Walking while sleeping is possible 5. 5 minute power naps do work 6. Goretex renewing conditioner doesn't work 7. Team 145 L-Attitude is awesome 8. Bike nix are not good for long walks 9. A big breakfast, a bacon egg burger, 3 extra strength coffees is the best recovery breakfast 10. Doing something that takes you outside of your comfort zone is very rewarding. 11. Bear Grylls is our team mascot
Training long & hard during the mornings, spending 1/2 the day on my feet & the other 1/2 on a computer I was finding my calves were suffering the most.
One of the great prizes from the Dusk to Dawn race in Perth last year was a pair of compression pants coupon from Line Break
I didn't feel I would get the use out of a pair of long tights. I don't even know if they will work or not. So I emailed a very helpful & accommodating Barry asking if I could get just a pair of calf socks instead.
With in a couple of days I received my calf socks. I found the measurements on their website to be accurate with their sizing.
So on a day when my calves were smashed from weekend racing & some morning training, now is a good time to see what they can do.
I found the socks gave my calves relief with in about 20 minutes of wearing them. I left them on all day & my legs felt GREAT!
Summary after 2 months of use:
Very comfortable
Look good
I have found they DO work to rapidly assist in muscle recovery very, very well.
Now referred to as my magic socks
A little difficult to put on the first couple of times.
Some of the stitching has opened up a little.
I am so impressed with the results I am going to invest in a pair of the longer leg short, tights from LINE BREAK
Next step, I am going to see how they go 24 hour racing! I am thinking these long, shorts would be awesome for XPD?!
In 2008 I posted a comment with regards to my lead up to the 2008 Crocodile Trophy
"I would be a fool if I didn't appreciate all that I have experienced leading up to this event. It's not just about the 9 days of racing for me. It is the entire experience leading upto, during & I am very excited about what is to come once it is completed."
With XPD training I find myself again appreciating the experiences leading up to an event. Here are some photos of last weekends hike up Mt Warning about 2 hours drive South of Brisbane. We did a day hike then the following weekend we did a night one to see the sunrise!
I have come to believe that the biggest, most amazing, most memorable moments are made up by lots & lots of very small events. It is only ever possible to experience the big ones by fully appreciating all of the small events that create the most memorable moments.
Day hike
Halfway & the 'puppy' was steaming up the mountain.
A quick drink
A bit more climbing
Summit Fever! Nice work Ty
The mountain was clouded in but it was still an amazing view.
Kevin's fruit cake is awesome food. Thanks Kevin!
One very tired 'puppy'
One week later...Night hike
This is one of those 'never forget magical moments'
