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!!