Bit of Wembo 24hr action

 

 

 

WEMBO 24hr

Winning my age group at WEMBO has been my goal for the year. As with most people who trained all year for this, I didn't get the perfect preparation due to injuries. Instead of looking at this a negative, the positive was I didn't over train in my lead up.

The plan...
My plan was very simple: race the two weekends leading up to WEMBO and lay down some good km during the weeks in between. First up was the Awaba 7hr, where I got to race with Canada and Holly in a mixed 3 team. This was an uber fun race - I got to lay down some fast laps & we all ended up getting the win.  Everything was coming together nicely at this stage. I felt that with another week under the belt I would be ready for WEMBO.

The lead up...
Weekend before Wembo saw me race the Scott 25hr as part of a 6 person mixed team. This was the perfect place to get a feel for the WEMBO course because the Scott25hr used all the trails we would be racing on. Our team was made up of Jack, Cam, Holly, Trekky, Canada and myself... There were a few pinners in this bunch so I had to lay down some fast laps. Andy and Ethan were racing the 7plus 6 and managed to get 3rd against a very strong field. Our team had a solid race, but by morning the Onya bike team had done enough damage throughout the night to get away with the win. We ended up 2nd. Thanks go to my team mates - it was awesome fun. A massive thanks to Pete our team manger for all the support and bike maintenance during the race. We would have struggled without him.

My crew...
WEMBO 24hr was finally here, so who were my support crew? I had good friends Richard and Mikey flying in from QLD; Holly (who ended up jumping in the deep end to race WEMBO herself, take out the under 23 title and still manage to look after me); and Pete - team manager, mechanic and legend at looking after solo riders.  I have also had a huge amount of support during the year from my family, friends, team mates and sponsors - thanks heaps guys, it's much appreciated! We had an awesome set up right on the crit track and I spent the morning going through my usual motions of going over bikes, getting gear ready and sorting my food ect ect. Its very cool rocking up to a race and having the support of a team behind you. After a little warm up, it was down to the start line for the race. The elites got under way, and the wait seemed like a life time until our start.

The race...
My race plan was simple. I wanted to work pretty hard for the first 4hours and see who was keen to play. We got started, and it soon became apparent that a few peeps had the same plan. Last years winner Alexis Matthys was one of them. As it turned out we were swapping turns for the few km on the climb up to the observatory, and with a km or so to go before we hit the top I decided to push a little bit harder and see if I could get a gap leading into the first descent. This worked, until I hit the first corner and flatted. I was gutted. I couldn't believe it. I had raced the weekend before, had my lines dialled in, and still flatted on my first lap.  I watched about 50 plus peeps cruise past and dropped a good ten minutes. I finally got my head back in the game: "Sean, you have 23.5 hrs to catch back up". I smashed back through the field for the rest of this lap. Quick bike change in pits and (thanks to my awesome crew) I was back out trying to get back to the leader. For the next few hours Alexis was smacken it, and to be honest I couldn't close the gap. At this stage of the game my crew were working really well and I came into pits not wasting too much time and rolling out with a lubed bike, food in the belly and a fresh bottle, really what more could a solo rider want? Ed was smacking the elite field up and Holly in her first ever solo24hr was turning heads. Meh, keep peddling damn it...

Darkness was coming. I love night riding, and I had it in the back of my head that if I had a shot at the jersey, night would be where I could put some hurt on. Just before dark I was greeted to another flat tyre... I have to admit - mentally I considered calling it a night and heading off to the pub. After a quick can of HTFU I rolled back into pits.  Ed, after smacken the elite field, had pulled the pin due to health issues.  It was around the 9pm mark when I rolled outta pits and I could hear a rider behind me pinning it... Boom! Holly was on my back wheel, and even after 9hrs I thought: Game On Holly....   This was probably the high point of the race for me, as we raced each other to every corner.

During the night I kept an eye over my shoulder for the ever-consistent Crummy, so you could imagine my surprise when I caught up to him! "Maybe I'm not rolling to bad?" I thought. After a quick chat, I kept lapping through the night just trying to hit my lines, not get another flat and hopefully catch Alexis up front.  I'm not sure what time it was when I got the word from my crew that I had actually passed him, and was 2min in front. This was the break I was looking for. After a quick feed I went back out looking to put some hurt on. Another two laps and it was sunrise, Alexis had taken a break and I now had a 50min lead. My crew handed me fresh kit and heaps of food - now it was time to play the safer race.

The next few laps went really well and I was stopping for about 5min each lap, making sure I was fuelled up before rolling out for another lap. I carried this on until just after 12pm and was stoked to have a cold beer handed to me at the finish line, surrounded by all the peeps that supported me during the race.

Massive thankyou to Pete, Richard, Mikey and Holly for crewing and keeping me focused on the jersey.  Thanks to my family and friends who have supported me throughout the year. A big thanks to my sponsors: Target Trek Racing Team, Trek Bikes, Ay Up Lights, Venture Cycles, Shotz Nutrition and Rubena Tyres. You guys make my goals a lot easier to achieve!

Big thanks to Crummy, always a strong competitor when I'm racing against him, and always keeps me looking over my shoulder. Thanks to Alexis for making me work (hard!) for the age-group win. Bellchambers, you're a freaking machine & awesome company. Congrats on the SS World Title.  Last but not least - congrats to Jason for taking the overall win and covering nearly 450km to do it!

Quick Stats:
30-34 World Champ
389km covered
11th overall

Epic Pursuit

This is a race I've wanted to do again since my failed attempt a few years ago. I chose the 50km event as a good hit out in my lead up to Wembo 24.

I rocked up to Hidden Vale and was greeted by an awesome day: a perfect race day with temps rising a little over 30deg.   Racing the Pursuit 50km meant I got to watch the elites and the full epic riders start. After a bit of pre race warm up I soon came to realise that my race had started with out me.  Not an ideal start. The race had started 15min ahead of schedule, although not a massive loss because my time didn't start until I crossed the start line, I did however have a battle over the first few km with traffic.  It wasn't until 20km mark until I came across Zack [Target Trek racing Team mate]. I knew that if I had made it back him I should be up at the pointy end.  My goal for the race was to crack  the 2.5hr mark, so after the road section I decided to make a move on the long climb, hoping to put some time between me and my competition and hopefully catch who ever was in front. 

To be perfectly honest I had a really good race, my average was good and nutrition went to plan and I kept pushing all the way through to the finish line.  It wasn't until I crossed the line that I realised Dave Whitney was just in front, after some quick calculations by the timing team we were told there were only 35 seconds between us... I was stoked to finish so close to a rider that is known for being a pinner.  The end result for me was a race that went to plan, a result I was happy with & a time of 2hr 24min. I managed to get the top spot in the 30-39 cat and a 2nd outright for the 50km.

Thanks to my sponsors: Target Trek Racing team, for my super smooth racing machine; Venture Cycles for keeping my steed dialled in and Rubena for hooking me up with tyres made of glue.

Well as you can see I had a good ride at this years Epic Pursuit [50km].. details to follow

The lead up to Worlds

 

Lead up to World 24hr hmmmmm, well not exactly as planned but I don't think anyone can say that they have had the perfect lead into any race. 6 week ago saw me hit a tree pretty hard and ever since, I have tried to push through with training and racing. The time has come for me to give it a rest for a couple of weeks.

Although not ideal it has allowed other ideas to present themselves and I have had time to pursue them. I have for a few years now wanted to start my own Skills clinic but never had the time to get it off the ground. I'm still working in Tamworth and after helping a friend with some MTB skills, word spread super fast,  before I knew it my long lost dream has surfaced and is now looking more promising then ever.

Where to from here, well I have two weeks of no/ minimal training, then I'm hoping to smash the km's and get some form back.

Last weekend was super cool, I got to race with friend and under 19 National champ Holly Harris at the Rocky Trail 7hr. We laid down some fast times and came away with a win in the mixed category.

Stoked

Mt Annan Rocky Trail 7hr

Due to some knee damage over the past couple of week my training has been patchy, on the up side when I have been on the bike it has been pretty fast. So all in all no complaints.

So find a race that will suit my riding for the time being, the Rocky trail 7hr ticked that box. To make it more awesome I was able to team up with National under 19 XC champ Holly Harris. What a team mate right.

Racing the enduro scene  in Sydney is always good, you get the very best riders and this race was no exception. The likes of Gordo and Ed Mcdonald to name afew.  Good friend of mine Crummy gave us a head up on the course, basically you had to be on it the whole time, tight twisty switch backs lots of climbing, wicked A lines this race has it all. Holly with some convincing took up first lap honours, she had a pretty good start and smashed her way through the field to be the first female back to transition, I was up next, I got on the gas from the get go, although I did hold back a little to scope out the sneaky lines.

We went lap for lap and we increased our lead every lap, things seemed to be going really well.
Because I was treating each of my laps as a hot lap, I wasn't quite ready for what was about to happen..........

Holly had gone out on her lap and being the machine she is, she pushed a little hard and found her bike had been dragged out from under her. After picking herself up out of the rocks it was obvious her race had been cut short. Holly had a pretty awesome cut to her knee. Luckly we had put a lot of effort in early and all I needed to do was tap the next 3 laps out. After being fueled up by Crummy, Donna and Holly I headed out, I felt good but because of putting everything I had in on the previous laps I was getting pretty tired.  With 30 min plus left on the clock we were far enough in front that we could call it a day.

I would like to say a huge thanks to Crummy and Donna for having us, Holly for being an awesome team mate, heaps sick racing with someone as keen as yourself to smash it.

Thanks to my Sponsors, Target trek racing team, my Superfly was unreal and seriously fast, Rubena for the super glue like tread, Venture cycles for keeping my bikes in tuned, never misses a beat

Tamworth Newspaper
http://www.northerndailyleader.com.au/story/1627523/queenslander-laps-up-tamworth-two-hour-challenge/

Just after Holly went through on a smashing lap.

Got the top step. Boom

 

 

Have to say its almost cheating when you team up with the current under 19 National champ

Here is what Holly and crummy had to say about the Rocky Trail round 4 on the weekend

Holly Blog below:

http://hollyharri0.wix.com/hollyharrismtb#!blogger-


Crummy:

http://www.mcrummy.blogspot.com.au/


Enjoy

Kona24hr

 

Result: 1st overall solo

 

It’s been about 2 years since my last 24hr solo, and to make a come-back the weekend after racing a 12hr solo could have been my undoing.

I decided that the Kona 24hr would be the race to mark my return to the 24hr solo scene. It was held at Old Hiddenvale in Southest Qld. This course in the past has been good to me, although I had been told that this year it was the hardest and roughest a lot of riders had ever seen it.

 

After a really hectic week of work and a 9hr drive home to Qld on Thursday night, my race prep was poor to say the least. I didn’t even get a chance to sit down and sort my gear out until 8pm the night before the race.

 

Race morning rocked around and the conditions were pretty perfect; overcast and no more than 30 degrees. Before the race I managed to roll half the track and it lived up to what everyone had been saying (rough). My race plan was simple: go out pretty hard, make the field work for their positions, keep an eye on the riders I knew would be tough competition and prepare myself for any dark-horses who may have come onto the scene since I last raced.

I rolled up for race start and was quite surprised to see there were only two people taking the front row, so I took a position up front. After what seemed forever the count down to the start began. The gun went and I stuck to my plan, rolling up the first few km of fire road at the front of the pack. To my surprise, not even a team rider rolled around on me. Coming into the first descent, one of the solo riders I was concerned about (Andrew Mallet) took the lead and bombed the descent. Watching this, it became very clear that this race wasn’t going to be won on who could descend the quickest but on who could keep their bodies in one piece for the whole 24hrs! Coming up to the next hill, Mallet sat up and looked like he wasn’t keen to put in on the hills, so I took the lead again and went on to work hard on all the hills. My plan was to try to open a gap on the field. By the end of the 2nd lap my crew told me that I had opened up roughly a 2min lead. Everything pretty much continued like this for the next few hours until dark.

My race was progressing really well, hydration and eating were going to plan and my Trek Superfly100 was railing. At this stage of the game I had a 15min lead and things were looking good to keep increasing this lead.

The night laps ticked out and my crew had me sorted for batteries etc every lap. Things went well until 4am, when I started having trouble holding food down. At this stage my pits started getting a little longer, but Kiri told me I was clearing each lap a few minutes quicker than 2nd and so retaining my lead. By 7am I lapped 2nd place, and after a having a chat with him it was clear he was riding to finish. For me it was time to play the rest of the race safe.

 

The overall field was pushing right to the end, which kept Gavin and I riding right until the end to hold our places. Despite this, I rolled the last few laps with no hassle, and by 23hr 40min mark I had secured 1st overall solo, and could finally get off my bike.

 

 

 

Absolutely stoked with the result, especially after backing up from a 12hr the weekend before! A big thanks to all to the TargetTrek racing team for their support, and to Rubena for my tyres.

UNE12hr at the Piney

 

Quick stats:      13.5km course at Armidale NSW. The track had it all, nice consistant climbing, pinch climbs, rock gardens and most of all the track left you keen to go out for more.

 

Result:   2nd solo overall

 

We woke up to a perfect day for racing, bit overcast and not to hot, I had enough time to put a practice lap in and dial in some sweet lines for the race. The race kicked off at 10am and the solo feild got sent of first, not knowing how good my form was and how strong the feild would be I decided to ride my own race. By the time we hit the first corner I was second wheel, heading up to the first technical part of the course I managed to get into the front. From here I kept the head down and concentrated on hitting all my lines and not worry about anyone behind me. Not that I knew until later but I had laided down the fastest lap for 8hrs of the race and put 6minutes on the feild.

 

I managed to ride my own race and stay out the front for about 3hrs, English got himself onto my back wheel and after a quick chat he kept going, this was the witching hour for me. The time when you question what you are actually doing. Thanks to my crew and some food, I got myself into a good head space and the race continued on, then Holly Harris who was racing in a 4man mix team decided that she would chased me down on the climb. There was some pre race banter between us, so i knew there was gonna be a race on to see who could get back to transition first. This lap was a highlight for me, having a team mate modidvating you is awesome.

 

The 10hr marked rolled around and the organisers had let me know that I had 3laps on 3rd place, with a 24hr coiming up this weekend i decided to do one more lap and call it a day.

 

I want to thank, Target Trek racing team, Anytime fitness and Rubena tyres for all there support.

 

Bozza

                       

                       

The catch up

There will be a complete update up soon. Havent blogged for along time