Race report ... Worlds!

I knew going into the race it was going to be competative. With a field of 400 solos and a totally seperate course from the teams to ensure that there was not too much congestion ... it promised to be a good race. And it was ... this race is going down as the most competative female Solo race in 24hr history .. pretty cool!

The field was pretty deep ... pros from 15 different countries were there vying for the top spots ... and the Aussies were out in full form. It was amazing!

Here is a quick summary ... by the numbers :)

• Laps ridden: 17
• KMs ridden: 306
• Feet climbed: ~29,000
• % singletrack: 85%
• Place finished: 10th

Now for the interesting part ... the story behind the numbers :) The race got off to a bit of a shaky start ...I thought that call up was at 11:45 but it was at 11:30 so I missed my call up but made it to the front of the line before the start just fine. Kinda funny really, the media guy was giving me a hard time at the start :)  The race got off to a fast start, which i was expecting. There were several woman who were openly bidding for the top spot and a lot of talk about going out hot and keeping the lead. My plan was the usual .. push it a bit, but not to hard, try to find a good pace, and settle in.

Out of the gate and onto the bike I was at the back of the pack ... the whole field had gone out hard! It's tough at times like that to remind yourself to pace,  ignore everyone, and that half the field would not be able to maintain the pace. It seemed like eveyrone was gunning for first and with a lot of unknowns i had no idea how they'd hold up. But in a 24hr solo if you don't do your own thing you pay for it later. So I tried to relax, I tried to pace, and I tried to ignore the girls around me who were hammering up the climbs. Into the second lap my legs and back were sore ...what is up with that? I'm only 2 laps into a race and my legs hurt? They didn't hurt enough to slow me down too much but i am guessing it was from all the hiking on the team ride where i snapped my cable.

My pit crew consisted of Kate and my folks. Kate was the pit manager and had everything organized and ready to go. Whatever I needed, she had it ready ... and mom and dad were her helping hands. Thanks guys - could not have done it without you! Thanks too to my friends 'back home' who were sending emails, texts, and messages of encouragement!

Into lap 3 I felt like i'd found my pace and was starting to settle in. Some of the girls i've raced in the past had passed me and were asking if i was ok ... 'yeah' i'd say 'i'm just settling in'. But i woundered ... am i going really slow? Why are they asking me that? 24hr races are a bit of a mind game ... so i decided it didn't matter ... if 'my pace' was slow, so be it, i wanted to ride the entire 24 hours! 

I started to gain some positions around dusk .. people were starting to slow down and I was holding steady .. finally the strategy was paying off :) Then nighttime came ... and I wasn't eating enough. I was dizzy and a bit bonked so i had a few longer laps, ran into a boulder on one lap,  and then decided to stop and eat; and let it sit for a while.  

This is a good time to mention the snakes, spiders, and Kangaroos! On my dusk lap i was riding up a switchback and saw a huge (1.5 inch in diameter) brown snake. Hmm... i think these are the bad ones, i thought. So i slowed down to let him slither across the trail ... but he didn't move fast enough and i had to decide ... stop and let him go ...or run over him. I didn't want to stop...this climb was hard! So I sped up, a bit nervous, and ran over him ... for the next 2 minutes I was sure he was going to hunt me down ... but he didn't! Phew! 

The next lap a 6 ft Kangroo jumped out in front of me (scared the crap out of me) and ran down the trail in front of me as if to say 'oh yeah, i can run faster than you can ride ... and I can stay up all night too'. After a while he got bored of this little game (i don't think i was going fast enough for him) and ran off the trail and into the woods.

During the night the spiders came out to play. And these were not small spiders ... i was convinced that they were all truantulas ...am still thinking they were :) They were about 1-2 inches in diameter .. and didn't have really long legs. They were all over the trails. I am not a big spider fan and was deaking them out whenever i could ... on the downhills i just cringed and went for it ... it was too rocky/hard to be deaking out spiders!!!

The course got a little rough over the course of the event and I was very happy to be on my Norco Faze with 4.5 inches of travel on the front. I felt bad for anyone riding a hardtail .. that course was rough! But the Norco just ate it up and kept on going ... I love my bike!

So ... back to the race ... all in all I think i was off my bike for about 1 hour ... back onto the bike I started feeling better and could feel the effects of the food/calories in my system. I was waking up and was no longer dizzy. As the sun came up so did my energy and i ws back doing my pace and getting some good lap times in. Kate told me i was in 18th around 6am ... so even though I was passing loads of women I knew i had a lot of work to do to make the top 15. I was feeling pretty strong in the morning .. not too many people were going faster than me and i felt like i could ride another 12 hours. Finally back in my zone and re-energized with banannas and peanut butter sandwiches, i was having a great time.  My 15th lap Kate indicated that 12th was in reach so I hammered out a solid lap to ensure I could do one more ... I really pushed it to the end at this race ... and managed to catch 12th, 11th, and 10th ... to put myself into 10th place! What a great race ...

Going into the race i figured i'd be happy with 16 laps, and estatic with 18 ... I ended up with 17, which is right in the middle so I am pretty happy with that :)

All in all, a solid race! i am much better at cornering now ... :)

What's next? Kate has convinced me to do the Seattle 1/2 marathon ... so i've 6 weeks to dig out my running shoes and get into shape :) It should be fun .. i think she'll rock it and land on the podium ... i'll suffer along and hopefully finish not too far behind her :)

Ready or not ... here we go!

Well, the count down is over and Worlds is here .. tomorrow that is! The feild is deep this year with 400 Solo riders taking on the challenge and vying for World titles so it's going to be nothing if not competative ... it should be good ....

Now for the real question ... am I ready? Well, I have my super star pit manager (Kate) and my super keen pit helpers (Mom and Dad) ready to support me .... I have my bike, my kits, and my food, tools and etc ... I am feeling rested ... and my legs? Well we know once i start up the first hill climb tomorrow!

So what have i been up to? Well, eating bonbons, laying around, and posing for pictures (here is one with my dad) ...

... ok, in all seriousness ... i've been scooping out the course, resting, doing last minute errands, and generally getting ready for the big day - tomorrow!   On Thursday the Canadaian team got together for a lap of the course and dinner afterwards ... here we all are with our team kits on ... getting ready to ride:

The ride was pretty fun ... relaxed pace and my legs felt good. unfortunately 1/2 way around the course my shifting cable snapped (it was a bit frayed) and i was single-speeding it. now, I'm not a practiced single-speeder and didn't think that 2 days before the race was the right time to learn ... so I ended up walking most of the hills for the 2nd half. Seems like a lot more climbing when you are walking :)

Kate arrived between the team ride and dinner and i'm super stoked to have her here! Today we built my 2nd bike, got my shifting sorted out, and tires and tubes all ready to go! Kate did a loop of the course and I did a quick spin, rested, and then went out for some last-minute errands. And now ... we are just getting ready for sleep ...

I won't be posting for a bit but Kate will be tweeting about my race under Monilee24Solo so if you are interested you can follow along there :)

Prepping for Worlds - A report from 'down under'

Well, i made it ... and so did my bags! It was touch and go for a while there wrt flights ... more on that later! First up is a report on the race loop ...

The race takes place in Stromlo Park, just outside of Canberra.  The loop starts out with a short flat section and quickly turns into a series of singletrack switchbacks which lead you up a long 1000ft climb up to the top of Mount Stromlo. Once at the top the trail winds around a bit before heading back down, again all on single-track, a rocky twisty descent. The trail is pretty cool, very rocky (big rocks and baby head rocks) and the corners are bermed so you can 'ride the rails' onthe way down. It's very fun but because the corners are so sharp you can't really get up too much speed. About 3/4 of the way down Mount Stromlo the course starts winding back up again and takes you backup to the top of the mountain again, still on single-track. The course dumps you at the top, on the opposite side of the mountain, and because the course is so exposed (no trees, only bushes) you can see the other riders on the top as well. Kinda cool .... then down you go again, this time slightly more technical with a fun steep rocky descent. I plan to ride that section a few times today :) The course ends by taking you through a bmx type section where you can gain a lot of speed if you work your bike... a fun ending.

While the course does not play to my strengths (lots of climbing but none of it is steep, where i tend to excel ... and lots of descending but I'm not a strong cornerer), it should be a fun time and I am sure that my cornering skills will be killer by the end of the weekend! The course is about 95% singletrack - there are only a few sections that are double-track and none that are road ... this definately plays to my advantage but will make passing tricky. They have a totally seperate couse for the Solos which is good because even with the 400 solos on the course at once, it will be crowded.

It took me an hour and eleven minutes to finish a loop yesterday ... so i'm guessing my lap times will settle right around that ... might be a bit slower due to congestion on the course and lack of passing options ... but we'll see!

By the numbers it looks like this (this is from the course map, I'll confirm with the Garmin today!)
Distance: ~20Km
Climbing: ~2000 ft
Singletrack: 95%
Estimated lap goal: 18 to 20

So now more about my trip here ....

The first leg of my flight was delayed (into SFO) due to fog but luckily they got me on an earlier flight and it looked like I would make it for my connection. Once on the plane, it took forever to take off and then they had to circle a few times around SFO before they could land which meant that we landed 5 min before the connecting flight ... didn't look good. As soon as I got out of the plane i booked it (imagine a full on sprint) to the next gate and made it just in time. OK, in reality they held up the flight for an additional 10 minutes for other connecting passengers :) i was worried my bags wouldn't make it but when i got to Sydney they were there waiting for me ... so it all worked out!!

By popular request - the tale of 3 crashes

OK OK, I know it wasn't fair to say I crashed 3 times at worlds but omit the gory details. It isn't as exciting as you may think but here we go.

All three crashes happened after 6am on Sunday (read: i'd been riding 18 hours already). You'll have to excuse me if I was feeling a little stunned and like I'd been hit by a truck. I usually love the first morning lap - the sun rise energizes me and gets the legs turning again. At Canmore I was bonked though so the morning lap was a little rough.

I mentioned that there was a lot of technical singletrack so it should come as no surprise that all 3 of my crashes were in the singletrack....

Crash #1: there were a lot of little (8-10 feet) steep dips down with a steep up immediately afterwards. Several of these dips had roots, rocks, and fun stuff in the middle, on both sides, or all three. This was one with all three - and root on the 'up' side. Momentum is my friend so I usually sail through these with no issue. Not so on this lap. I went down the rocky side nice and smooth (and fast)and somehow aimed for the biggest part of the root which was a 1 foot up and over and yup, you guessed it, landed flat on my back. I did a backwards endo if you will. for some reason it took about 30 seconds for me to get my feet unclipped and during this time my bike was upside down on top of me. I am sure if anyone had seen this they'd be laughing their butts off.

Crash #2: the course was dusty and some sections were really loose. There was this one spot with a 1.5 foot drop where you had to do a 90 degree turn right after. Normally, not an issue. I was behind someone who decided to pull off the trail and decided that the right thing to do was to look at them instead of the trail infront of me. Wham, over the drop and over my handle-bars and into the woods i went. Another classic moment.

Crash #3: this crash was on my last lap when i was 'riding scared'. I was pushing the pace through the tight singletrack, took a wrong line (i honestly don't know what happened here) and ended up hugging a tree. This was the only crash that produced a nice bruise and some good bleeding - i think i was going pretty fast!

Race report: World 24hr Solo Championships

I'll add to this as I get time - for now you get the quick update :)

By the numbers:
Placement: 5th place
KM ridden: ~ 235
Feet climbed: ~22,500
Hours ridden: ~23
Mechanicals: 0
Crashes: 3

The lead up:
We drove up to BC the week prior to the race and set up camp (our RV) at my brother's place in Invamere. My mom, dad, and niece were there as well so it was great to hang with the family. We headed up to Canmore and scoped out the course the Monday and Tuesday. You can read about our 'scouting' trip in my previous blog post here.

We spend the remainder of the week hanging with the family, napping, eating, and riding my brother's favorite trails in K-Country. Not a bad way to spend the week :) On Friday we headed back up to Canmore, set up our pit, and then hung out at the hotel - napping, eating food, and watching the Tour. Saturday I had a great sleep-in and we had to rush to get to the race in time. The solos were starting early but we weren't aware so it was a last minute rush getting my plates on and getting up to the line.

The Race
As they called the solos up one by one, I felt good - energy was high and I felt well rested. I was excited! The gun went off and we were running. As usual, i dropped a few positions in the run. To my surprise I was feeling good by the end of the run and actually passed a few people back. My legs were ready!

The first lap was fast and slow. The course was well-laid out but with all of the single-track (even though they separated the Solos and Teams for most of the course) passing was tough. There were bottle-necks but by the end of the lap the field was well spread out. I was feeling good and came through the feed zone (Fraser, my amazing husband and pit crew was giving me double feeds during the race) too early so Fraser missed me. No worries, I had grabbed an extra bottle of water due to the heat and had a gel in my pocket. I was good to go.

It was a hot day but we had a good 'keeping it cool strategy'. Fraser made me some 'ice scarfs' - socks filled with ice, tied together, and worn around the neck. It was amazing. I also carried a little thing of water to dump on my head - and with the double-feeds I didn't need to wear a camel back so life was bliss. I was definitely keeping it cool - even if I was soaked.

The first laps were taking me around 1:18 per lap on average. They were a good length and I was enjoying the course. I was feeling strong - my legs felt good and my energy was high until around lap 4. My stomach was feeling queasy. Uh oh. I came in and sat down. I ate salts, water, and gel. I sat some more. After 30 min i was feeling ready to ride and headed back out to the course. I felt a little 'on the edge' so i backed of the pace and focused on breathing and riding - my first and primary goal was to ride all 24 hours and not to have to stop for stomach issues.

Around 7pm we had a brief rain storm which helped to settle some of the dust. I was wishing for a bit more rain as the course was super dry and dusty - i had to use my inhaler several times. Of course, that may have had someting to do with the fact that I was racing at 5000 feet above my normal altitude :) The air was a bit thin for this Ocean dweller.

The darkness set in and I was feeling good. I'd recovered from my nausea and had upped my salt intake so things were going well. The night riding was tough because of the dust. It was like riding in the snow - the dust was sooo thick. Whenever I was behind a rider I wouldn't be able to see a thing. But I just kept on riding and hoped for the best.

Now is a good time to talk about my bikes - Jon at SVC dialed in my Fazes the week before we left so they were in tip-top shape. I would swap bikes every 3rd lap or so and Fraser would check the tire pressure and lube the chain. Loads of people were getting flats and breaking their chains this race ... i got through without one mechanical incident.

Around 6am I knew I'd made it. It was time to turn it up as best I could and see what I could do. I asked Fraser where I was -- turns out I was 6th and making time on 5th, 4th, and 3rd. Sweet! I ate some bananas and headed out for a lap. I caught Rebecca Rusch on a climb (yes, caught!) She'd done 3 more laps than me and it was a tough course - she was suffering. After I caught her I figured i'd see if I could keep with her. She led me right to the 5th place girl who I passed in the single-track. Rebecca dropped me in one of the rough sections of single-track and I continued at a good pace, hoping to put some time on #5 (#5 was the plate number of the girl who I passed in 5th place).

The next lap I caught Rebecca again - she must have had a longer pit. We chatted for a bit and then she dropped me in the same section of single-track. At that point I was worried about #5 chasing me down and was riding with 'one ear open', listening for her behind me. At one point I saw a girl in a yellow kit (same color as #5) and couldn't believe it. I dug deep and climbed like heck trying to put time on her. i kept on hearing her behind me and kept on digging deeper. I was toast but I wasn't about to get caught. i wanted my 5th place finish.

I came through the pit exhausted, ate some more bananas, ate part of a hammer bar, and headed back out again. I had to keep on going - it was 9:30 and my laps were taking just under an hour and a half at this point. I could do 2 more if I needed to. i didn't want to need to ... but I would if I had to.... I wasn't going to give up 5th place.

At this point everything hurt. The course was demanding - it was technical, 75% single-track, and unforgiving. Thank goodness for the Norco Faze! I hammered to the 'feed zone' where Fraser informed me that I had put 40 min on #5. Phew!! Apparently the girl in the yellow kit was a team rider. I could dial it back, take my sweet time, and finish my last lap. 4th was totally out of reach and i had 5th place locked up. I'd like to say i enjoyed the last part of my lap but I was in pain. My upper body hurt. My core hurt. My legs hurt. It was the toughest course I'd ever ridden for a 24hr race....

My parents were there to cheer me to the finish and I had a huge smile on my face as i crossed the line. I had overcome my stomach, dug deep, and pushed myself hard. It was a good race.

Thanks for reading and thanks again to Norco and SVC for helping me make this possible. Your support goes a loooong way!