8hrs of LunarC IV

I think it is fair to say that  LunarC  is my favourite event each year.  The 8hr lengths seems to suit me, so do the cooler temperatures of night racing.  This was the 4th running of the event, and the 3rd at Murrenbong.  Having done well in this race in 2012 and 2011, this was definitely a race I was hoping to do well again this year.  Preparation had gone well over the New Year, with lots of rides with friends and commuting.  However with less than two weeks to go, I managed to hurt my lower back and was barely able to walk, let alone ride.  A couple of visits to the chiropractor, and I could walk, but still could not ride.  The with just over a week to go, on the advice of a friend, I visited an osteopath who adjusted, massaged and performed some acupuncture and I was like new person...not 100%, but at least able to start some short commutes to work. Eventually managing only 50K in the 2 weeks prior to race start, and no recent night riding.  LunarC was going to be a ride of discovering how my back and legs were feeling...more than usual.  My confidence was down a little too, so mentally this was going to be tough.

Conditions on race afternoon were not great, and driving home in torrential rain, I definitely considered not showing up.  A quick call to Ben setting up, suggested that Murrenbong had had less rain and the track would be fine.  The rain continued as I packed, and I only live about 5K from the track.  Still thinking about pulling out with the risk of a slippery track increasing the chance of hurting my back.  By the time I headed out to the track, the rain had lifted, but the dirt road in to race HQ was slop, and thoughts of previous mudfests at Murrenbong came flooding back.  I found where Ben had set up, and went to register.  There were only 6 single speeders registered, but there was always the chance category changes, especially due to the expected conditions.

Unlike previous years when the race started at Midnight, this year it was scheduled to start at 10pm.  This suited me because the wait for midnight did seem to drag on, and an earlier finish sounded better too.  This did however mean more of the race was in the dark, and therefore more batteries for lights.  Another change to the track for this year was adding about another 2km to make the course just over 10km, which is a better length for the solo for an event of this length.

So after some setting up, deciding on which bike to ride, it was time to see how I really felt for my first MTB ride in 3 weeks.  The fire trail was better than expected, and I felt OK on the bike, maybe I would manage more than 1 lap.  I lined up on the 2nd row, hoping to get in to the single track in good position with the false flat fire trail separating the riders and quite favourable to my SS gearing.  The plan worked, and I hit the single track in great position.  The track looked good, until we hit the creek section, which was quite muddy.  I didn't have the best of tyres for mud, but I was fairly confident that in a lap or two, they would be the perfect tyres for the majority of the track...which they were.  There were some sections which filled both my front and rear tyres with mud, and it was a case of pointing in the general direction you wanted to go, and hoping for the best.

I got through the first lap and felt pretty good, maybe this was going to be OK.  Thankfully I'd set my bikes up with lower gearing than last year because of my back issues, and I would have gone even lower had I known how wet it was going to be.  The climb to what has been aptly named Mordor was still as impossible as last year, but the new sections like "Crying in the Chapel" were fantastic and well suited to single speed.  On the 2nd lap my glasses started to fog up, and I eventually had to take them off, and left them at camp.

I was getting passed by more riders than normal, and not really passing that many, and I felt like I was not riding well at all and my back was starting ache. I had not seen many single speeders but did get passed by one like I was standing still.  It turned out to be a team rider, but at the time it was a little demoralising.

About 3:30 the heavens opened, and the course became even muddier than the first lap.  It was nearly impossible for me to ride some climb because I had no grip.  I went down once when I just lost momentum and could not get unclipped in time. Later that same lap, came across another rider that had suffered the same fate.  Now with out glasses and the return of serious amounts of mud I was also having problems keeping my eyes clean.  At this stage I was suffering quite a bit of back pain, and my feet were sore from pushing the bike up Mordor every lap.  The heavy clouds also made for a later sunrise delayed the great morale boost that comes with it.

My lap times had dropped off from 35 mins to about 50 mins, I considered pulling out, but I know that quitting hurts more in the long term.  I always prefer to finish these timed events "on the bike" and I worked out that I was going to sneak in that "extra" lap.  I desperately wanted to know if I needed to do it or not and given my lead up to this race, probably would have stopped if I could, but there seemed to be no results that Ben or Andy could find, so I had no idea, whether I was first or last.   It turned out that in the single speed category I did not need to do the lap, but I suspect overall results may have changed significantly. Of course now I am glad I did the extra lap because it feels like I finished the race as it deserved.


So in the end there were only 4 single speeders that showed up, and it was a close run thing for 1st with only about 10mins back to Ashley Howlett in 2nd who pushed me again this year.  Overall I was about 7th solo, but also on 12 laps.  It was also another great ride by John Sloan who for the 2nd year in a row was actually the fastest solo rider, showing the young guys how it is done.

A big thanks to Ben and Andy for support, to the Robyn and Simon for an other awesome event (I've come to expect no less from I2A) and to all the volunteers and helpers.  Also a massive thanks to Brisbane Holistic Health Center who took me from just able to walk to an 8hr MTB enduro in 8 days.


I'll try to update with some more photos if some become available.  Check out the video by Element Photo and Video Productions above.

Compared to most others and the published track distance, my GPS reading about 10% under and should have been 120K.

Super Series: Race 1 - 4hrs of Mud

The Super Series is a series of 4, 6, 24 and 8 hour races. Race 1, 4hrs at Old Hidden Vale was a short race as far as enduro races go and should have been relatively straight forward. Enter some heavy rain early in the week and it suddenly becomes a whole lot harder.

The weather fined up at the end of the week, and the drive out was showing all the signs of a beautiful day, with not a cloud in the sky. The rumour on Friday was that there were some patches of mud, but it was not too bad. Entering the property looked promising, the dirt road looked hard packed with no dust. A bit further in though, there were puddles. Decision time...Which bike, which tyres? Usually the tyre choice for OHV is all about puncture avoidance, but the potential for mud threw some more variables in to the mix. I decided to stick with the SuperFly as it was my "Race Bike" after all, and this was a race. I also went with the Hutichson Pythons, that have got me through many races. Their tougher Tubeless Ready sidewalls gave me some puncture protection, and I was convinced that there might be some small sections of mud, but on the whole the track would be hard packed and fast...as it turned out, I could not have been more wrong. I decided to stick with the gearing I used at LunarC which was 32/19 which should have been OK for a 4hr race. Decisions made, the rest of pre-race was fairly casual catching up with friends, puting on races numbers etc.

Race start was at 8:30 with the teams heading off with a 3 min headstart. I made my usual mid pack start, when I really I should be getting myself in to a position further towards the front to avoid time costing traffic on that first lap. The fast descent down Happy Gilmore was a vast contrast to what awaited us at the bottom down by the billabong. There was some 2km of barely ridable quagmire...it was going to be a long 4 hours. Surprisingly the Pythons and Small Block 8s felt OK(it was really only when I changed bikes I realised how poor they were). The section at the start of the fire trail known as Old Man's Schlong was tough, sapping so much energy for the climb itself, but this is where an SS 29er excels although passing was tough with a couple of sections where bunting reduced it to single track. Then at the little pinch climb in the single track after Old Man's Schlong I dropped my chain as I pushed to pass a slower rider. As I put the chain back on I watched most of the riders I had just passed, pass me back. The descent through 007 also provided very little in the way of passing opportunities. The climb up Gully allowed for a lot more passing. Down Ladder and up Snake again saw me managing the challenges of riding SS in traffic, especially up Snake. It was then back on to firetrail with a chance to put the power down and back to transition and time to do it all over again.

It was easy on the roller coaster that is Happy Gilmore, to forget the mud waiting at the bottom,. At least much of the muddy section was wide, allowing for some more passing. About half way through the second lap I was had found some clear track and was able to run my own pace, only having to pass the occasional single rider rather than groups of 3 and 4. 007 was a heap of fun, except for the little pinch climb in the middle, which was tough with 32/19 gearing. On one of the muddier sections during the 3rd lap, a massive amount of mud managed to splash up inside my glasses and I had difficulty for a while trying to remove the grit from my eyes while riding one handed. It was also on the 3rd lap that my rear brakes really started to feel spongy, but I had decided to persevere rather than have to wash 2 bikes. Then my chain came off again right at the end of the 3rd lap, and since I was returning to transition to get some bottles, I decided to change bikes.

The Continental Race King tyres front and back, were awesome by comparison to the Pythons and combined with the slight improvement in track conditions, I was able to get a bit more traction around the billabong. On the other hand the track conditions seemed to have deteriorated at the start of Old Man's Schlong. It was this 4th lap that I started to catch riders I thought long gone after my terrible start, and I got renewed motivation. By the 5th and 6th laps things were starting to warm up and all thoughts were towards the finish. I was trying to figure out how many more laps were possible. On the 6th lap I realised I was going to fit in one more lap, and I crossed the line with 10minutes to go. One last stop for a bottle and out to smash that last lap. Part way down 007 on the last lap I noticed my front tyre was feeling a little soft, but with my pump on the SuperFly and not wanting to waste a CO2 canister, I decided to just take it easy for the last 4k to home. So concentrating on picking smooth lines, and keeping my weight over the rear wheel I was able to get home, although some of the corners on Ladder and Snake caused the tyre to really roll. I was still feeling pretty good at the end, and even had a little race to the finish line with a geared bike along the fire trail for fun.

The final result, was 2nd in SS.(Well done Matt Dog) and 6th Overall Solo. I did push fairly hard but had an absolute ball despite the mud(or maybe because of it?). The next race in the series is the 6hr at Murenbong. Thanks again to the BA&A crew for putting up Gazebos, pulling them down and generally helping me during and at the end of the race to pack up.

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