For my record keeping, the final results have been posted up:
Final results : http://www.ccomtb.com.au/results/Final%20XC%20Rankings%202010.pdf
What a great year, never thought I could get first place in B grade, but I guess showing up to as many races as possible really pays off. I'm really going to try and do some next year as well.
Edit: Managed to get to the first round of CCOMTB XC 2011, and picked up my trophy 
Hard. Phew, what a race.
This was my last for a while with a baby on the way my races are taking a back seat. This was also the last race of the CCOMTB season and I managed to do all but one so wanted to go well. I started too hard after telling eveyone I was going to go easy and realised I was in for a hard race by the end of lap two. I just couldn't drink enough water and by lap 5 was showing the signs of dehydration. I pretty much had a rest after every lap from then on. Timing was good though, managed to time the cut off just after passing through the gate so squeezed another (very slow) lap in. On that lap I ran over a snake and narrowly avoided a rider coming the wrong way at the bottom of browns! The scare almost made me forget the cramps.
How some people do solo 8 hours around here I don't know.
The CCOMTB season has been great, recommended to everyone for good hard racing, friendly people and of course some of the best trails around.
Great but hard race. Like a different track in reverse, but really good fun, and some big hucks. Still waiting for the result but I'm told I was 3rd or 4th.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/48763936
Great race this weekend. Come on Gazza, the championship's yours to loose now.
Hard at night when you have rubbish lights.
Anyone see that inconsiderate idiot that cramped on the canoe bridge and held up stacks of people for about 5 minutes? That was me 
Sincere apologies to anyone behind me. There really was nothing I could do, movement was not an option, I have never had cramp that bad.
I thought I was on for a cracker of a time up till then too, as it was, with the 5 odd mins. lost on the bridge and from having cramp for the remainder of the ride, loosing loads of places etc. I was only in 2 mins. slower than last year. I suppose I could be pleased with that, if it wasn't for the shame.
Note to self; one 70kay training ride on the road is not enough for the DW.
Hats off to all that took part this year, you are all legends.
Track was perfect today, nice and tacky mostly everywhere. Happy with the 1:37 mins in light of the lack of training recently, I don't think that is far off my old times. It was good to get some hill training done after the race as well.
Well done to Steve and Gazza for a nobmob 1, 2. Sorry I wasn't around to make it a 3 as well, but this is one hellish competitive race 
Actually I shouldn't call it hell, it was completely expected. It really felt like there was a lot of climbing for this race but in fact it was only 694m in total. The downhill section after Demtel was fine, I was expecting all sorts of surprises but most people I saw took it all very slowly and it was all pretty straight forward. I got a pretty rubbish start but I'm not going to use it as an excuse, I just need to do more interval training.
Well done to the fast guys that finished in front of me (how competitive is this little group getting!), and bad luck to the DNFers.
Due to injury I haven't been training for 2 weeks and it really showed today. I found it hard to keep with the leaders on the first lap and I wasn't enjoying the pace one bit, None the less my HR was often up around 97% so I wasn't slacking off. I made a couple of silly mistakes and was getting a bit loose so I was much happier when I backed off to around 90% HR.
Bad luck to Gazza for getting a flat front tyre on the first lap. When I got to him he was about the throw the towel in but I chucked my seat bag at him and yelled something about thinking about the points. I only found out at the end he didn't even have a pump!! Sorry Gazza, I tried
Great to see Wazza racing the whole last lap bashing handlebars with some young gun. At the end he looked like he had given it everything, they were glued together on the line.
There were a lot more riders this weekend so I'm not expecting top ten, but it's good to have my race number for the year - 27
Temp: Around 28 I think.
Hydration: 1.2 Litres
Energy: 1.5 Gels (not enough)
Track: Just about perfect.
This was always going to be a competitive team, just look who is in it. From the start I thought we had a good chance at a podium finish, and finding out on Friday that I wasn't able to compete in the Mont 24 due to work commitments I was ready to give this race everything I had.
From the start I was a bit worried about the track, it sounded as if it would suit road riders more than technical riders (I consider myself the later although with my recent dosage of training on the road that could be argued I guess) but actually the circuit worked really well. Yeah the hill was painful but then they always are and it was easy to put your head down and grind it out. The gully was great fun and you could carry some pretty decent speed through there. I had a couple of stacks on the off camber roots on the new section of single track that annoyed me a bit but 
somehow didn't slow me down and in the end all of my laps where within a few seconds of each other (apart from the madness before it the race was pulled for the night. Yes it rained, it rained a lot. Rocky trail made the right call to call it when they did, sending people out at night in that rain would not have been a popular call, it was getting dangerous.
This is the first race I have used my heart rate as my "speedo" and the technique worked well for me. When you get fatigued it's easy to drop the pace without realising it but watching the heart you can keep the same level of effort at all times, even down hill. This works best of all when you get to the top of a climb when most people back off, this is the perfect time to bang it down a few gears and get some speed up.
I wasn't THAT surprised we were leading out category but when I heard we where second in open fours that was quite a shock. John had already made his mind up we were going to win the whole thing and was going after getting first overall, I think he was racing Jason English! The rest of us where along for the ride. Each of us rode as hard as we could every lap, there was no pace setting, it was just one long sprint. No mess ups, not too many crashes (despite Steve_01 pushing his luck on the cabin steps), just hard riding. It felt great to be on such a quick team.
Great vibe out on the track, lots of chatting (although none from my fatigued lungs). And a nice last lap dual with an unknown rider right up to the finish line. I hadn't been passed all weekend and was damned if I was going to let that happen on the line. Competitive? Perhaps I was in the right team after all
Highlights:
Not being passed during the event
Food and Hydration spot on
Consistent Lap times
Brilliant team
My first first place (I think)
Lowlight: Getting home to find my house had been flooded
Well done to "Pissed and peddling" (hope your tooth mends well Blondie). Thanks to the roadies that made it out on both days, great to see you make the effort and appreciate the support even if I did more or less blank you on the road, race face was firmly attached. Thanks to Whisperer for pulling the great team together and doing all the organising etc.. Thanks to Steve_01 for stepping up as the gun and handing me that last unexpected lap. And thanks to John for the advice, comedy and endless reminders that he has some kiwi in him somewhere. Eh Bro?
The downpour on the way up should have given me an indication of what was to come. It stopped long enough to fool me into racing, then on the start line the heavens opened again. Alongside me on the front of the pack was Gazza, who on hearing the news that this race was to decide our year long race numbers was like a bulldog off the leash when the hammer fell and led the pack to the first corner. I was about 5 back and quickly realised I required more sight than was being allowed me by the mud and rain and had to back off. God knows how the guys up front managed to stay on the track, I couldn't see anything at all. This is pretty much how the first lap continued, I knew there was a line of people behind me but none tried to pass so I carried on, cursing my glasses and the incessant mud. Had I been able to see my HRM I would have seen a pretty constant 95% so I was going about as hard as I could which was my object in preparation for next weekend, and I backed off a little on lap two when I could tell no-one was behind me.
The grip started coming back in lap three, I was able to remove the glasses and get some pace going. I was passed a couple of time but was able top pass a few back, or just sit behind those that I couldn't catch. The rear brake was making some VERY nasty noises on the last lap, and when I got home I could see why. Even Hope brakes couldn't deal with Ourimbah today. I had been saving my brake pads for the Sydney 24 next weekend, I think I need some more spares.
Well done to Gazza for the dream season start, he wears the number 1 plate all year and wasn't going to settle for number 2 (although secretly I think it was the lend of my sidi insoles that did it).
First day with the Racing Ralph and I did have a slip but to be honest any tyre would have struggled today, in places you couldn't see the track through the river we were riding in. All in all, a fun, technical (and expensive) days racing.
it's been quite a while since the last race and it showed.
I decided that because of the fairly high amount of riding I have been doing during the week I would treat this as a training ride and aim to ride consistent laps and work on my techy skills, it turned out this variation of the track was certainly good for that! I started well toward the back on the pack and spent most of the first lap walking! I think next time I will fight for mid pack on the start line at least. Once the pack started to thin out I settled into a nice pace, aiming to keep the lap times the same all the way. The plan went pretty well until I started to feel the chilly signs of dehydration on the 8th lap. Although I was drinking the correct amount of liquid I think my salts were low, luckily I was able to ninja a salt tablet from Martine and Gav kindly filled my water bottle, just in case.
The track variation was quite bumpy this time and on the last lap I unlocked the RP23 to get some plushness... my lower back was hurting quite a lot, must investigate my seating position, I don't usually get it as bad as this. Quite a few others complained of the same too.
Good to see Gordo and the rest of the Rockstars out there, polite as always and always good to watch smash past, something to aspire too.
Respect to Martine for the podium finish.
Finally, a massive high 5 to Gazza, he's a missile at the moment - looked seriously fast today.
Ave HR: Z3.1
Max HR: Z5.1
KMS: 59
Temp: 32
