01.02.09 - Bulldust in Buller
Having spent the last couple of years literally at sea level, I was a bit worried how the minor altitude at Mt
Buller in Victoria's ski fields was going to affect me. But with a major heat wave all over the state, it would be good
to get up to a slightly cooler temp.
I was also keen to see what Glenn Jacobs had done with the new course. Little effort had been put into the tracks at Buller in the past, so hopefully Jacobs achieved his usual deal.
With the Nationals flowing into the Australia Day long weekend's Monday and the Buller XC on the Saturday, we only had 5 days rest instead of the normal 7. And wanting to keep my race fitness going, I raced both local Canberra crits during the week. So the legs were heavy. But I felt healthy and ready to hurt.
Being my first National Series race of the season, having missed the first 3 rounds, I got to start at the back
again. Luckily the field wouldn't be as big as last week's Nationals though. But I was determined to get to the front
asap. On callup I lined up on the far right of the last row. I just hoped the field would move tight into the first corner,
opening it up for me to move up. It did happen that way and I got to the front much sooner than expected, right to
the front and kept going.
After getting to the front, I decided that was good enough, sat up, and just made sure I was with the front few
going into the first single track. Especially because there wasn't much overtaking after that. Apart from a couple of
slip-ups, it all went pretty smoothly. I just tried to keep it smooth on the unpredictable tracks. There was so much
thick dust on the new track that you couldn't see what was underneath. And more of the time that was a pile of big
rocks. So my aim was to not puncture or crash, while saving as much energy as possible for when it counted.
After a few consistent laps in second place, chasing Jongewaard, I found I had plenty of juice left. So I upped the pace in the last two laps. After the last feed, I put in full effort. But not long after that cramps started to come on. It wasn't as early as last week's Nationals, but it was going to be risky pushing it. I took the risk and just kept pushing, but with a higher cadence. By the time I reached the main climb in the second half of the last lap, I suddently saw Chris only 50m in front. He looked tired and I felt good. So I attacked the climb. Just then my quads cramped, then hamstrings. I barely made it to the first of three crests. So I had to back right off and watch Chris ride away for a bit. Once I spun out, I had another go. Same again to the top, but I just made it up to the flat area in sort of a limping style. Once I got to the top I could spin more, so I chased again. By the time I caught Chris it was in the finish straight and too late. I was one second off. It felt like a repeat of last week. But again, I was happy with the ride. Time to get 'off-road fit' for Hobart...
The short track on the Sunday was good, right at the top of the mountain. My good mate Dan McConnell took it out. He got me with three laps to go on the main pinch and I couldn't real him in. Ben Hendo rounded out a 'good mates' podium. A fun day!