Despite all the talk of how easy this race is, that was tough.
Lined up at the start to hear the riders briefing. No closed roads, stay left and be careful, remember there are sections that have on coming riders etc. The elites didn't go off first in a separate group and everyone just started together. The pace seemed comfortable to start with and then we hit the first hill. I walked a little bit as traction was an issue for me. I also started the race with a sore back and I was just waiting for the panadeine to kick in.
After some arm twisting by Sloany, I picked up my entry for the Circus. I love the Wingello trails, but have yet to do this event - something about the cold Southern Highlands in the middle of winter.
Anyway I find myself of the start line, with probably the biggest Jet Racing contingent we have seen to date, the front row dominated by the red Jet uniform. The difference with this race, was that the vibe was alot more relaxed, everyone looking for a good day out, on some of the best trails in the State. Hugh's pre event startline banter also adds to the relaxed nature.
I think the race organisers did a much better job this year. The track was marked better, race central work well, access the the RSL toilets and somewhere to keep warm in the morning was nice as well.
Also, thanks to the local club SCUM (http://www.scum.asn.au/) for providing awesome single track. It would be awesome to be able to link the trails around the massive bog holes because for me these we just too much.
This race was not really in my plans, but given my recent results and managing to avoid any sickness so far this year, I thought I would give this a go. You never know when you will get another chance right ?
My plans were to get down to Canberra and do a pre-ride of the course the Sunday before, but with all the rain this never happened. So I found myself not really knowing what to expect course wise, but from reports of other riders, and previous knowledge of riding Stromlo - I knew 80km + out here was going to be a hard day out.
This was the race I was aiming for in 2012. Having done this the previous two years in 2010 taking 07:32:53 and 2011 06:27:49 my goal for this year was 05:30:00.
With the Capital Punishment being rescheduled this meant I had the Wombat 100, then the Capital Punishment and then the Convict 100 all in consecutive weekends. This meant not only going for my goal time I was backing up from two other races.
3 Marathons in 3 weeks is what I was thinking in the week leading up to this race. I would have to say the body was beginning to feel the rigour from the previous 2 weeks. After a warm up ride on the Wednesday preceeding the race I was confident I was strong and ready for the weekend. I was also motivated from my results in the two first rounds.
This was my first Capital Punishment. It looks like I picked the perfect year for weather and track conditions as both were brilliant. Its a bit of a weird race with such a big untimed section. I used this to get water and have a bit of a rest. Due to the single track at the start a really suffered in the last 40km as I didn't eat enough in the beginning.
Apart from a massive OTB on the Luge I quite enjoyed this one. A shame that the results are delayed but I have my unofficial time of around 04:37:00 taking out the untimed section.
Last time I raced this event was back in 2010. This inaugral event was a complete disaster - a mudfest in cold / freezing conditions.
I was glad to finish that event, let alone be competitive and had no thoughts of doing it again after that first experience.
That was definitely the hardest 100 I have done. On the Hardtail with so much technical singletrack I am stoked with my time. We had rain the night before so the pine forest singletrack was very greasy.
Even though this was the hardest 100 I've done it was also one of the most relaxing. The 900km drive each way didn't seem that big. I headed down Friday morning with Wayne arriving Friday afternoon. Checked in at Cammeray Waters as I had a room in where race central was. We unloaded the car and then headed out to have dinner with Wayne, Paul and Anthony.
Originally hadn't planned to do his race, but when it got included as part of the XCM series and Brian had already sorted accommodation - I thought what the heck.
Great location for a MTB event, with a great combination of single track and fire road which made the course challenging and interesting. The Single track is awesome with a combination of some plantation pine forest and rugged Australian native bushland.
