Better than a Root Canal

WEMBO - 24 Hour Solo MTB World Championships. 

It's been a big week with many mixed emotions. With my injuries over the last couple of months and my inability to train I went off to Canberra well under prepared and worried whether I would be able to ride the full 24 hrs.

Helium in the tyres?

Thursday
We had a fairly uneventful trip to Canberra.  Except for when the front wheel of the car fell through drain resulting in water spewing from the front of the car.  Emotional turmoil #1. Fortunately it was only the washer water.  I fixed it in a couple of minutes and we were back on track.

Friday
Woke up early as usual with a slight tingle in one of my back teeth.  You know the one.  It's been filled that many times it's now more filling than tooth and is going to cost $5000 to have fixed.
We head out to the track after lunch, register, set up camp and the usual practice lap with Kate, James and Mark.
The course this time is a mix of the red and blue laps of last year. 16 km with one big climb and last years more technical rock sections removed.

Oh! and it's dry. 
It has not been raining for 2 days. 
There are no creek crossings, mud swamps or lakes.

Looking totally exhausted.  I haven't started yet.

Race Morning.
It's 8.00am. I have hardly slept overnight, the tingle is no more. I'll go about a 5/10 on the pain scale and an 8  when i bite down.  Emotional turmoil #2. At this point I could possibly say I have reached a lifetime emotional low. In fact, I'm a blubbering mess.
The idea of competing in the Solo 24 Hour World Championship was conceived just on 2 years ago and as such the last two years have been spent preparing for this day.

11.00am. With some great advice and support for Kate's dad Kim I was seated in the dentists chair discussing the option.  If they remove the tooth it's all over. Go home and rest for a couple of days and wait for it to heal.
Option 2. A Root Canal. Open it up, drain the infection and hope for the best. I will be able to compete but to what level? We will have to let the tooth fairy decide.




Race Day - Saturday
11.15am.  "Mark can you please get the bike ready. I'll be there in 30 minutes"
A Root Canal, the associated drugs and the pain has gone.  I'm just left with that numb feeling and a fear of eating for a while.
11.58am. I'm ready, the bike is ready, I haven't eaten all morning, I haven't stretched and the face is still numb but I've made it to the start line.
WEMBO here we come.

No Haych.
I am not going to massage your date.

Race Day - Sunday
I find out later that they expected me to last a couple of hours then concede.
19 hrs later I did gave up. Emotional turmoil #3.  No leg strength, forearms weak and hands sore as hell. The pain in the butt and tooth are distant memories.  40 minutes later after a ten minute walk and some stretching I'm back on the bike.  2 more Laps.

I'm sitting in the back of the car writing this and tears still come to my eyes as I realise how fortunate I have been to have such great people around me.  Without their support and help this would have not been possible. Mark, Glenn, Shannon, Bart, Jeremy, James, Kate and Kim.  I thank you so much.







WEMBO 24 Hour Solo MTB World Championships.
haych.mtb - Haydn Chapman
127th Place overall
19th in Male 45-49
16 Laps, 
270.24km
5540m Elevation


And a huge congratulations to Kate.
6th Place - Elete Woman
20 Laps

Got the SHITS and loving it.

Six Hours In The Saddle.

Black Candy went on a diet during the week and has lost 1.5 kg with the new wheel set.
As a first timer at Beechworth and not knowing what the trails were like I decide to take Black Candy and test the new wheels rather the the Dualy.

Beechworth MTB Park has some fantastic trails. They flow well but there is an amazing amount of rock that has to be endured.   With 10 km track not muck bigger than a football field and being as technical as it was I started to feel a bit lonely towards the end of the first lap. (No riders on the track in sight either ahead or behind).

After an almost crash on the first lap. Legs in the air bouncing around on rocks and landing on the tip of the seat I believe I may have hurt myself.  The bruises and the pain when I sit down would indicate such.  I might go and see a doctor tomorrow and find out if I have broken my Coccyx (Tailbone).

7 laps later I finish the event 6 hrs ride time, 6.10 elapse time.  77.5 km at an average 13 kmh.  7th place in the Male 40 + Category.

1 Minute : 30 Seconds

Blores Hill 6 hr Enduro. Hayfield, Gippsland

Been a bit quiet lately, still recovering from shoulder surgery but been doing lots of riding.
The times up the 1 in 20 have still not come down so I'm feeling like the fitness is still suffering.

I had my first race of the season at Blores Hill. What a great race venue, all that fantastic single trail. Smooth, flowing and fast with a monster rock garden in the middle.


Here I was thinking my fitness is suffering and I finish the first lap in 43 minutes. For me that's not bad. I continued with 7 more and finished the race in 6 hr 2 min. 107 km. Average speed 18.3 kmh. Last year at the same race I only did 92 km at an average of 16.4 kmh.

I'm not sure what's going on as there a few new variables this year.

Felt Nine 3.  I love the new 29er.
Hardtail, first race ever on a hardtail.
I've also lost 5kg.
Or could it just be I had Kate 1:30 behind me for the first 7 laps.

What an "Epic" event.

"Left over pasta" - Scott Australian 24 hour MTB Championships

Wow! 'That's the hardest thing I have ever done.'

Haych - 11th place. Solo Male 40+.
Kate - 3rd place. Solo Woman.

 It turned out to be a 5 day weekend but the extra days helped in the preparation and recovery.

Thursday.
Kate, Mark & I set off towards Canberra late in the morning.
Here starts the carbo loading. Baked potatoes for lunch, pizza for dinner.
We settle into our backpackers' accommodation for the evening, our home for the next 2 days.  As Glenn put it.  "I little bit above our standard."

Friday.
Nice to relax for the day and not have to travel. We have an easy morning inside, it's raining and has been all night. - 55 mm of rain in fact. We are starting to worry about the track and are thinking back to the Garmin last year and the two previous years @ Forrest. All in the rain.

By late morning the rain had cleared, Glenn & James have arrived and we head off to lunch.  You guessed it, gnocchi.
Canberra sucks. After quite a few wrong turns we finally arrive at Stromlo Forest Park, the site for the 2012 Scott Australian 24 hr MTB Championships. What a fantastic venue. We set up the marques & tent on Solo Pit Straight.
Kate & I set out for a practice on the Red Lap with 9 year old James in tow.  We find out soon enough there is no tow involved. He rides like a machine, like no other 9 year old in the world.
Off to Chris' place in Canberra for dinner.  Guess what. Pasta.

End of the Red Lap.

Saturday - Race Day.
No pressure to get up early. Eat that last 1/2 dozen slices of toast & head out to the track.
Shannon is with us now so the pit crew is complete. The 3 boys, Mark, Glenn and Shannon have got their instruction written down and the wraith of Kate awaits should they stuff it up.
The nerves are setting in, 4 trips to the bathroom in the last hour.

12.00 noon. A rolling start for the 130 Solo riders and we are on our way. The Red Lap first. A 7 km climb up to the top of Mt Stromlo. Tight & technical with lots of switchbacks, but mostly dry. Then the amazing descent across Skyline & the tight section back down to camp on The Luge to complete the 12 km lap.
Garmin Connect The Red Lap




12.45 pm. We go back through transition and head immediately out on the Blue Lap.  Not as steep and not to the same altitude but there is still the same amount of climb over 14 kms.
Garmin Connect The Red & Blue Lap

Start of the blue lap, some time before it got dark.

A light drizzle in the early afternoon sees the track start to deteriorate.

6.00 pm. Time to stop racing a 6 hr Enduro and start racing for 24.  It starts to get dark and stage 2 begins.  Can we ride through the night?  9 hours in the dark.  I know I can, I've done it before.  But Solo? What was I thinking?  A bit more rain in the early evening and now some sections are becoming unrideable.




Sunday - The race continues.
12.00 midnight. It's dark. The mud gets stickier, but still going, have not had any spills yet and still........... happy?

1/2 way checkpoint on the Blue Lap about midnight.

6.00 am. Have gone way past the cramp stage. The mind is still good, the body is reaching its limit.

7.30 am. The body is shot.
Slow up the climb and now slow coming down. Legs, arms and back feeling the pressure.

10.50 am. The last lap Red & Blue has taken me me 2 1/2 hours and I'm officially cooked.

23 hrs.Why was I smiling?

11.05 Back on the bike and cross the finish line and straight back to the deck chair.  NO MORE

3.30 pm. All packed up and on the way home.  We spend the night in Albury and I have a massive steak with fresh vegies.  Lovely! And a couple of ciders and a red wine.... or two.  Off to bed at last.

Altogether a pleasant experience. The body will recover but the sense of accomplishment far out ways the pain.
Will I do it again. YES! Bring on WEMBO 2013.

I haven't said much about our support crew in all this.  What a bunch of inconsiderate bastards. All they could say was "Drink that water bottle Haych," & "You haven't eaten enough."  I just wanted to have a quiet rest and go for a leisurely ride.
Without them,  Mark, Shannon & Glenn we could not have done it. Thanks guys. You Rock!




Monday.
We finish the trip home on Monday morning and I go into the usual clean up routine until dinner time.
What's for dinner Jac?
"Left over pasta"

Ride 4 Epilepsy 6 hr

6hr Road Enduro on a closed circuit. 42 laps, 175.61 km around the Calder Park Raceway and Thunderdome.

It was only a small field of 150 but I managed to
finish in 6th place overall.

TdH puts in a good show with 9 riders.  7 of who finish in the top 20. A total 1,320 km ridden in the TdH colours.



The official results And of course Garmin Connect

You Yangs 6hr Training Ride

Just for something different I went for a ride at the You Yangs last night. Kate a I hit the trail at 5:26pm from the Stockyards car park to do the full loop including the flat track.  The lights came on just past the 1/2  way mark.  At that point we could see the full moon coming up over the park.

We finished the lap in 1:40 had a quick break then rode off to do it again .............. and again.............
Those tracks are awesome, day or night.   With a couple of extra short loops on the flat track we lifted it to 100km.

Late night I didn't get home until 1:30 but what a night.  Heaps better way to spend a night out than coming home drunk and having a hangover the next day. Not that I have a hangover very often.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/217269523

2012 Castlemaine 6hr Enduro

I did not know what to expect about this race on the way up there. It had been raining for 3 day straight but the forecast said cloudy for the day. The car park was a bit soggy but it was only a 20m walk from the car to the edge of pit straight.

Race under way @ 10am and off we went. The trails where fantastic, NO mud except for a couple of creek crossing. It was a very tough course with short technical uphill followed by short technical downhill. No time to recover and as you expect for Castlemaine, lots of ROCKS!


On to the new drug now. I got a tip to try Hammer Electrolyte Fizz. Seems to work. No major cramping and I'm now feeling more confident heading into the 24 hr. 60 days to go.


I'm also a bit happier with the result. 9th place of 20 1 lap behind. Top 10 finish in top 50% http://connect.garmin.com/dashboard?cid=6178828

2012 Blores Hill 6 hr Enduro

And so begins the official training for the 24.
What a place to start.  Blores Hill (Hayfield Vic)
It's still up near the top for race circuits.  The smooth flowing single trail is great to ride and so much fun. Except for that rocky bit up on Trig Point,  that is great of other reasons and 4 times longer than last year.



I finished 7 laps in 06:00:56. 17th place of 30 in the Solo 40+
It's a bit lower than I would have liked but in team BFC it's acceptable.
The usual leg cramps set in after 4hrs but I pushed through and I'm going to try some new drugs for the next event.
Some interesting stats from this ride.  The Average HR was 139.  That's not to say I wasn't working hard enough.  believe me, I was. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/201748204 


No pictures yet as my support (Cody) was two busy on the IPad playing games to look up.  He was helpful by filling the water bottles and asking what I wanted to eat.  Well done mate.
Can't wait for the official coverage to be published.  There were lots of cameras up there, photo and TV.

2012 Rock Hop 6hr Enduro.

Oh Man! Two days of solid rain then we hit the trail @ Dallas Brooks Scout Camp in Upper Beaconsfield.

I rode the first lap this time because we didn't have to do a "La mans" start.

The first lap was OK.  The track mostly staying together but by the second lap the mud was getting deeper and sticky.

Persist we did.After 11 laps Kate and I held third place by 1/2 a lap.

How good to have our personal photographer for the day.
Thanks Glenn.  Check out the pic's on google+ 

http://connect.garmin.com/dashboard?cid=1257459

2012 Forrest 6hr Enduro.

Great ride as always. But this time without most of the rain.

After some overnight drizzle that lasted 1 hr into the race the rain stopped and allowed the track to settle.

With Kate and I racing Mixed Pairs for the first time & Forrest being so popular. A few of the better riders entered our category, making it tough get the results.

Our lap times were spot on at 28 minutes and we managed 13 laps.  6th place.

http://connect.garmin.com/dashboard?cid=19993417

Garmin 24hr Enduro, Redesdale 2011

OhNo! Not another wet ride.  The conditions really, really, really bad for the first 12 hr.  It rained for 9 hr before the race start and then a light drizzle until night fall.

The track, always twisting and turning with the potential of loosing the bike from under you in a blink.  Slosh and mud, no traction with rocks in it.
Slowly lap by lap the slosh cleared to make the track almost ridable.  The stars came out. The sun came up. That's a bit better.Physically and mentally demanding to the extreme.

A late entry on Friday afternoon saw a new team enter the mixed pairs category. The World Champion Adventure team has entered the Garmin 24. Bad luck for Haych and Kerryn.

Kate is a machine.  No Demons. Just determination
•Female Solo
•First place
•10 laps 172.2 km
• 5 Laps clear on 2nd Place
Keep your eye on Cycling Central for the official interview.      

Kerryn (That's Sami's awesome mate) is a machine.
After lots of falls and memories of recent "happenings", she continued to get up and pushed on.
Haych,  He's is a machine to.
•Mixed Pairs
•2nd Place behind those world champions.
•Haych (9 laps) and The Kingy (7 laps) = 16 Laps 275.52 KM
•5 laps behind the winners and 9 laps ahead of 3rd place.
We wont be on Cycling Central.  Ah! but I was.  Having a bath in the dam.

Hey. And not to forget our support crew. Bart, Mark and Shannon your guys and totally awesome. And the guy who kept dropping by with the beer and spare parts.  He's awesome to.

Jeep 24 hr MTB Enduro - Forrest - 27-28 Nov 2010

Race Preview,Imagine if the government come to you and said they are going to build 70km of mountain bike specific trails around your town. To the people of Forrest in the Otway Ranges this became a reality in 2003.
On election day 2010 the town was swamped with an enormous amount of rain and extra 800 visitors as they hosted the 2010 Jeep 24hr MTB Enduro.

With much excitement, the four of us. Kate, Haydn, Dave & Jo set off for Forrest on Friday morning. We set up camp on the oval then went out for an easy ride to check out the race trails.
We had a great meal at a local B&B restaurant in the main street then went back to camp for our pre race sleep.





9am Sat. The oval began to fill with 650 riders and their support crews. We get a wake up call as Dave played a tune on the bagpipes. Our spirits drop quickly as the rain started to fall.


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Race Review

• 12pm Sat. Race underway. Haych and Dave set off on their first laps. Still raining a little.
  3pm Sat. Dave and Kate hit the lead in the mixed pairs category. Haych and Jo are in 6th Place. Still raining.
• 6pm Sat. Still raining and the trails are getting bad.
• 12am Sun. Half way. We are riding the night lap now a little easier but the mud sticks to everything. The bikes are starting suffer. Kate and Dave have a clear laps lead. Haych & Jo have moved up into 3rd place.
• 6am Sun. As the sun starts to rise we take off on the second day circuit "Mariners Run"
  The rain has stopped for a few hour now but the mud.......... Haych and Jo have just made 2nd place by a very slim margin.
• 12pm Sun. Race over. Kate & Dave 1st place with 22 laps. Haych and Jo 2nd place 21 laps.

Race Debrief.Sore, tired and a little bruised we set off home. Adrenaline still pumping with a sense of achievement.
We! Are! Awesome!
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Race Stats. ( for the 4 of us)639 km ridden.
49 hrs riding time.
48 power jells and sports bars.
48 litres of water.
24 bike washes.
20 cans of coke.
4 hrs of sleep
2 bottles of red wine (Support crew) or was that 3.
4 happy campers...........