Nationals part 2

We flew up to Canberra on Thursday so we could all have plenty of rest and time to set up pits for the big event. My Dad and Marlene drew the short straw and drove up all of the gear in one of our utes.

After a bit of a restless night due to Mitchell missing his day time nap we headed out to the course to establish camp. I also had a chance to check out the course. The day before a big race i like to do an easy lap to get a feel for the course and then i like to do one at race pace to show the body what it is in for.

We were all up about 7am race day after a good nights sleep and headed out to the course about 9am for final preparations. I kitted up about 11am in my new Giant gear and a new set of Skins. I had a feeling this course was going to be a bumpy one so my Skins would be vital in preventing upper body fatigue and soreness.

No warm up for me just a roll to the start line why waste the energy.


I felt very relaxed at the start and when the gun went off and i smashed it up the road getting a good gap on the rest of the field. From here i just settled into that hard fast rhythm and hoped i had the legs to maintain it. For the first 6 hours until night we were feeding faster than XC races, this was also getting dangerous as others were stopping in the feed zone. I also had my first crash for the race trying to leave the feed station.


At 6pm I fired up the Nightlightning Enduro Blasts - one on my bike and one on my helmet so i could maintain fast lap times over night.

By about 9pm i was in trouble not from fatigue but a far greater enemy. I had stripped the skin from my backside and was struggling to block out the pain every time i sat on my seat. At this stage Jason and i had lapped the field so i was in the running for the win which i desperately needed to be able to go to the Worlds in July. So through the night as the pain got worse Jason would put time into me before i would suck up the pain and ride him down again. This would continue until sunrise. Also during the night i had my second crash leaving the feed zone when a lady walked in front of me. The feed zone was the most dangerous place on the whole track. I have the utmost respect for what my pit crew were dealing with and don't know how they did their job flawlessly.

The sun came up and i was still in with a good shot at the win but couldn't break Jason - he slipped away again . I had a bike swap and on it was written 6 minutes in three laps. Little things like this from your support crew do wonders. I lifted again and rode him down again. With 3 hours to go their was 15 seconds between us. This is where Jason finally started to put good time into me. I was flat out down one of the descents trying to catch him and my bike disappeared from under me, sitting me on my arse at 50km/h and bending my bars. Gathering myself and straighting things out on my bike i never really got back up to speed. The pain took over and it really was just a matter of survival.


Coming up to finish my 46th lap i had 10mins to spare so it was decision time - do i head out on one more lap or wait it out. I did the full body Scan and knew i was done. The little voice said 2nd is all you had today - don't hurt yourself permanently just to do another lap. I waited for the time to tick over and then finished the hardest race i have ever completed. After finishing we were ushered into first aid for a check up.