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We arrived in Bundernoon with just enough time to rego, get food sorted and set up tents before dark. I was keen to get in a quick ride on my new bike to make sure I was happy but the light didn't allow time...

The race was going to be its first real ride which I guess really isn't that wise but I have faith in the boys at Gordon Street Cycles who managed to put it together on Friday.

With the new Manitou suspension forks on the front the bike would weight between 10.0 and 10.1kg with pedals!

The race started off fairly fast, the 100mile riders started with around 700 people! I wasn't too concerned as I managed to sneak to the front for the start. About 1km into the race we turned into a heavily corrugated road. I was informed my drink bottle had fallen out but about 200m afterwards. As I was up the front this meant about a 200m battle against the flow of traffic (700 riders) to find my drink bottle. I needed this bottle as I went without the camelback for the stage. I finally found the thing and luckily it was still full despite the last rider running it over....

About 20mins of sprinting later I managed to catch the lead group again. I knew I was going too hard but I could now have a rest. Within 2 seconds of catching the group however, my tyre blew off the rim..... 

This was a valuable learning experience for me, I'm still learning a few tricks associated with tubeless tyres. Apparently when running non-tubeless tyres tubeless, the trick is to not put more than 50psi into it otherwise you get covered in stans milk and have to reinflate.

By the time I finally got the tyre sorted I was back on the charge again. I think just thinking, its only 160km...so I charged off once again trying to chase down the top guys.

Into the first transition I was only 1 min off the lead now. I used up my full 5 mins of "free time" before I charged on. I backed off the pace slightly but still wanted to be within striking range. About half way into this stage I noticed I had again lost my sports drink so I tried to make up the carbs by consuming gels. It seemed to work ok and I was feeling great at the end of this 2nd stage. I grabbed another 5-6 gels, another sports drink and continued my chase. At about the 100km mark ( the virgin blue water station) I was within 1 min of the lead. It was about this same time that I couldn't take any more gels and was starting to struggle with fluid intake also. 

I switched very quickly from race pace to survival and worked on rehydrating. It seemed like the heat was starting to get me, I thought I was making an effort to drink but I guess I don't really use a camelback much racing. I took it super easy for the rest of the stage and the gap to the lead expanded out to around 15mins. I was actually starting to enjoy the race again and spend the last lap chatting to anyone that was keen for a social time!

With a nice cool down last stage I actually felt pretty good coming across the line and felt sorry for Dennis who thought I was only 2 minutes behind and about to catch him at any moment!

 So what I learnt from the race:

a) my carbon drink bottle cage is past it use by date

b) when using a camelback I need to drink more!

c) don't inflate old non-tubeless tyres on a tubeless system above 50psi

d)  the new BMC Fourstroke 01 is an awesome bike!

I should have a brief report up tomorrow. I'll also be looking for some professional photos to put in the gallery. Gotta get in some early kms before work tomorrow! 

The Freedom Marathon 

The Freedom Marathon was located only a couple of hours from Brisbane and attracted riders from both sides of the border. I was amazed at the number of local participants. It was great! 

My race prep wasn't great as I forgot to put the tent in the car so the car became the tent!

The race started off at a reasonable pace and, as I didn't have my heart rate monitor, I went out a little too hard. I thought it was going to be a fairly easy race however, at the top of the first hill I was looking for reasons as to why I was suffering so bad. I was even thinking it had something to do with riding a 24hr the weekend before!

I have raced against Geoff Gilchrist a few times this year but this time I thought I would have to settle for second. I'm sure he had me covered on the up hills but I had the unfair advatage of a BMC Trailfox for the downhills. Downhills gave me some breathing space and I finally got a gap.

It was amazing how hilly the course was. Around 1900m of climbing in 60km is tough. There was only 20m of singletrack so it was a great fitness workout. Good prep for the Highland Fling in a few weeks.