BMC 100 Race Report

So race day finally came around and after a great night’s sleep I was ready to go. The organisers had to delay the start twice as cars were queued up on the road which was to be the start of the 100km course.
So at 7.30 we were underway and I was holding about 40th place in the 1st wave of riders that went off after the elite. I was riding along quite comfortably and felt my pace was good. About 10km in I had a slight mechanical and stopped to check the rear wheel, all seemed ok but it was making some noises. So the 5 or 6 people I had just ridden past all went by and I had to catch them all again, so after doing that and passing them all again, I made a wrong turn, and dragged Jeff Williams along with me. We did about an extra 2 minutes in a circle and connected back to the trail, and went down the correct track second time around.
So now I had go past all the people that had gone past when I wrong turned. As we rolled along on fire climbs mixed in with some pine forest single track I slowly began to go past people, with the odd person going past me. At the 35 km mark I was really looking forward to getting into the Wombat trails and riding some fast single track and off the fire road climbs. I would get one but not the other.
After filling up my water bottle at the 32 km mark I missed the water spot at the 40km mark. This would prove to be a very bad mistake as I was now going to have to ride for 60 kms with a total of only 2 bottles of drink. I had decided to ride without a bladder, and just fill up ay the drink stations
Once into the Wombat trails the riding was awesome so many great tracks and fast riding. I was riding along in a bunch of 3 or 4 guys and I was on the front. I must have ridden for about 4 or 5 kms at a good pace and then I heard a gap open up and we came to a fast downhill section so I let the Virtue do its thing and gapped the bunch I was with. Within a couple of minutes I had ridden up to another bunch and sat on for a few kms until we popped out onto a fire road, which was the road we started on in 08 race. I knew this climb was a long and steady one, so I left the bunch and chased down a few riders I could see ahead. Approaching the 50km mark I was feeling great had eaten a recovery bar, had had a gel and was ok with fluid, at this stage. I still had 10km to the next drink station and was almost out of drink.
In spite of this I thought I would be ok kept pushing hard. I would have been in about 70th place overall including elite at the 50km mark. My best riding for the race happened between the 50 and 70 km mark where I was constantly overtaking people, ride with a small bunch for a few kms, then ride away from them catch the next bunch. This section of riding also included some great single track. It was at the 60km mark that I made another small yet costly mistake, as I got to the drink station I was riding with Nathan, who I know from Adventure Racing and wanted to try and hold his wheel. I stopped in to fill up and in my rush to get out, did just that filled up and left. What I should have done was gulp down half a bottle and then refill, as I had not drunk for about 6 or 7 kms.
So after the 60km drink station it is back into more single track and some of the technical obstacles. There were a variety of bridges to ride over some quite narrow and very high at least 2 or 3 meters. There were also a couple of log rollovers that had very steep ramps on the exit side. Again this section was great riding single track and a few really fast fire road descents. It was coming along a section of single track at about the 68 km mark that I was approaching a fast left hander, with a slight berm that I hit the corner hard and.......................................................................................









More to come later