CONVICT 100

It's that one day in May. It's a race so many people begin their marathon racing adventures on, it's a race that people measure their fitness against. It's the only race that gives you sweaty palms in the weeks leading up to it. It's usually a race you buy a ticket for 6months before the event knowing you have all summer to train for. Yes this race is iconic. If we held the state of origin in mountain biking this would be the battle ground for such an event.

For someone who lives on the central coast it's the 'local' marathon being 85km from home, in which you ride 50km of that during the race through the bush back towards mangrove mountain, its literally out the back door and over the fence to go and practice on the race course. With plenty of wet weather in feb and march we rarely got out there to check the condition of the course, the main deterrent being its destructive nature to bike and body and also how remote the course is. We must make friends at that buddha temple one year.

So with just a few days out from the event the crew at Magellan organise me a race ticket, I rush back from uni and we make the dash to St. Albans on the Friday arvo, stake our claim of ground race to put our tents up and head straight to rego. Once me and Wayne made the rounds of the event centre we rugged up and headed for a feed at the local pub. The 3rd oldest pub was looking pretty modern for Wayne, now he is either that old or just from the UK.
Neither of us were smart enough to pack anything for breakfast and I was already borrowing gels from Wayne, I think I stole 8. A warmish night was broken by people in snoring competitions and the early or late participants to the event, but once out of the tent we were greeted with an awesome sunrise. Some avocado on one slice of bread was breakfast, far from ideal but if you are going to let this beat you then your already beaten before you start the challenge of a race.

In the starting hold of the race plenty of big breathes were taken and the race was under way before you had time to think about enormity of 4-5hrs of hurt. In the back of my mind I had the result from the Rockytrail event in my legs, so I knew I had a good 4hrs in me.
Starting in elite with more coasties then I can ever remember the 3 of u, knowing they were so keen to knock me off my perch was a concern, to see big benny split the peloton was an awesome sight, that breakaway stuck and 5-6riders cleared the climb ahead of the main pack. On that climb young max left me behind as well, to only have a flat day, maybe my turn on the front was not a wise move, but I just get frustrated being blocked in and need some fresh air, so I took off out of the pack and my legs hated me for a long time after that.
It can be a very lonely race once over the big climb, but this year I was just concerned in keeping a solid pace and finishing with no injuries. 30kms in and my legs are still feeling crap I've also had some gearing issues which seem to fix themselves as well. I remember passing the 60km to go sign and really enjoying life, then looking at a rocky section thinking, oh shit wrong line wrong line wrong line, if you are to crash here not even a helicopter could get you out, (partically hate this part of the race) I'm giving the option to hit eject, knowing it may cause a shoulder dislocation or everything is going to hurt, or hang on an crash with hands on the handle bars. So I'm sliding down the embankment into trees but still attached to my bike.. The heart rate was really pulsating now! I get back on the track and continue on to the 50km mark with my legs getting better every kilometre I ride.

This part of the race is now the most deadly, riding smooth and safe is all I try to do from here to the canoes. With shepards gully the final technical section all senses must turned up to the highest of frequency to negotiate what goes from a flowy decent with a smooth line to what looks like a waste dump of bowling balls. You must hang on for your life through here.
Now rolling down the road I consume another gel, looking at my Magellan GPS unit I'm consuming a gel every 20km, I never had a moment of 'oh I need energy'. The heart begins to beat faster as the canoe crossing enters my vision, it's neck to waste deep this year. I ride through the grass section clearing my mind. I look at the bridge shake my head, and roll onto the planks.

The trick is to relax your grip on the handle bars and the bike just rolls straight. With cameras on the other side and everyone wanting you to ride your bike into the water, I refrain from taking my hands of the bars to salute and be ready to negotiate the sand trap and try not to make national tv for crashing.
Yewwwwwwwwwww. I survived.
Across the paddock to the road section I look back to see some guys from the masters category absolutely smashing it, they were to far back to wait for so i took on the road alone, well until I had a sheep dog wanting chops for lunch, he came very close to getting me.. Heart rate peaks again.
Onto to the switchback climb it is as brutal as rewarding but it's the home stretch. Climb after climb if your going to suffer for 25km on a bike this is not the place to do it. It will be the longest 25km of your life. On one of the peaks I see a black and red jersey, I try to contain my excitement it's big benny. I up my tempo to close the gap, hoping to sneak up on him on the next climb but a stick in my rear derailer blew my cover, I have to dismount to fix that and catch him on the next one, it was important cause the chances are slim on catching him once the altitude began to drop. Hey benny
Hey chops
" can we call a truce on this battle" I ask. Ben agrees, the company over the next 15-20km was really going to make the race more enjoyable. So we kick on together the mojo went up for ben and my legs where hungry for more. It was only bens second time across the ridge so I had fun being his tour guide on how far we had to go, the distance to creek, the distance after the creek. Because he kept asking are we there yet?, where is the descent? I discuss what we had left and the decent is where you will next see some volunteers/marshals. They appear about 2kms later and we let out a cheer, and start slip sliding and flying down the steep descent, once out on the road we take turns all the way to the creek, unable to ride through the creek we trekked through it and on the other side I wait for ben to chugg his way thru the sand. Once out on the dirt road, I give another time check, which has been constantly talked about for 20kms, after we round the right hander I suggest we have a crack at making 4hrs15min, so we smacked it so hard to the finish with me on the front, we over take another 100ker on the last corner and roll over the line at 4hrs 18min, two very happy mountain bikers doing PB's. 11th place in elite.

The one day in May comes to a close with a free beer and a presentation in the beer garden with podiums filled by local coasties. A road trip back with Wayne to hear about his battles of the 100ker and we all feel sore the next day.

This race is loved by all.

http://app.strava.com/activities/52217431

Enjoy the pics.

JUSTCHOPS :))