gravity wrap up

I was joined by Gav and Marty for the adventure of driving to the North East for the Gravity 12 hr. Weather was spot on compared to last year and we were all looking forward to the weekend. We drove up Friday to get a prime spot on the course to set up our base camp. Lots of nice classic hot rods on the way up as it was the Bright Rod Run. Sweet cars all along the highway, some made you just stare and wish you owned them especially the F100 truck I saw and drooled over. The new tent was a great investment and was handy over the weekend, although Marty slept in is car, felt safer I think as apparently there was some snoring in our tent. It made a impressive race HQ for Rocky J's Mutton Chop Review.
We woke early on race day and found that the sun by 8am was eating at your skin..... she was going to be a hot one. My previous outings on the first hot day of summer are usually not great as I discovered last year at the Surfcoast. We had a loose plan to race lap for lap and volunteered Marty for the leman style start. He did us proud and got us underway. Gav smashed out his lap leaving me to do mine, I was happy coming home in 40 mins.
The course was sweet but I soon realised I was riding a gear that was not enabling me to get over the sharp pinches of trail. Running in the sun was not fun on sandy loose trail, I should have stuck to my usual gear ratio but chose to run big. There was limited shade on course and the temp was rising fast and as the day continued it would hit 35+ degrees in the shade and near on 40 degrees in the sun. The dry dusty course was soon rutted out and the descent called Mojo was testing on the rigid forks. I had one flat, which seemed to take ages to get it fixed cause of the heat.
Marty headed out and struggled in the heat and cooked himself. He sat out a lap and Gav and I tried to run lap for lap for a while and were slowly being affected by the heat. I lost interest in food and was downing some serious fluid as was Gav.
Marty headed out again and got to the top of the first climb and had to pray on all fours to the vomit gods and limped home to pull the pin. Gav and I continued but at the 9 hr mark I had some nasty chamois rash and Gav was cramping so it was beer and BBQ time. I was so happy to stand under the shower and cool off, but the oppressive heat continued into the dark. We cheered on the rest of the riders as we sat in the shade and had dinner and a laugh.


Hats off to this guy with one leg.... awesome!

Next morning the plan was to trip to Bright or Falls for a ride but after inspection of my rear end I pulled any plan of putting more shorts on and getting on a bike. We packed up and headed to the Myrtleford Butter Factory for a sweet serving of eggs and coffee.


Neil trying to recover before getting back out there in the Baum pairs


BBQ time, juicy steaks and Marty's clown kettle!

Whilst not impressed at the end result of the team (39th in the male 3's) it highlighted a few pointers for me.... my fitness still needs much improvement, use chamois cream and choice of shorts is important, go with a proven gear ratio, and heat training is necessary.
So its time to get on the road bike for some road miles and fitness and hit the gym again..... got a appointment to get my program rejigged to shock the body. Need to find a few more races to do before the arrival of the baby at the end of Feb. I was planning on the Alpine Assault in December but feel that I am not ready for the challange of a 100km marathon on a singlespeed. I cant race the 6hr at Officer this weekend as I have Simon Gerrans wedding on sat night so I will have to scan the calender for some events in the next 10 weeks.
Off to get on the road bike!!!!
Happy trails


It was dirty out there!