The 24HR World Solo Mountain bike championships took place in Armidale Australia this past weekend. Australia has long been the hotbed for 24HR racing and was a country I had yet to win a 24hr race in having gone 0 and 3 in previous attempts. With this years race being in Jason English’s backyard, and fellow Aussie, Jon Odams, who won the Australian 24HR Jersey off of Jason last year also in attendance, it was going to take a big effort to extend my streak to 5 in a row.
Heading over to New Zealand mid October for the Whaka 100 (New Zealands Marathon Champs) kicked off this Oceania trip. It was a great opener after having a couple productive months of training back home in Canada. Training is good, but there is nothing like a race effort to get the body firing. After a solid Bronze medal at the Whaka, it appeared the engine was ready for the big show down under.
The first week in Australia was spent on the Central Coast with my long lost Austrian friends, Juliana and Martin from Rocky Trail Entertainment. We had some great Kangaroo BBQ’s, nerf wars with their son Cosmo, and some bike rides, although the constant storms made it tougher then planned. October 30th my buddy Leighton, flew in from Canada with 68 lbs of supplies including the 2nd Kona Hei Hei, 15 lbs of F2C Nutrition and other gear needed for Worlds. We drove up to Armidale Monday afternoon to settle into our Airbnb, a house built in 1878. Preps went well for the week, riding the course a few times, hanging out with our friends Martin and his supporter Steve, and adjusting to the area. The challenge was neither of us could sleep very well in the house. We eventually determined it was haunted. Friday morning I relieved this problem and moved camp to a nearby tiny house on a ranch outside of town. Martin thought I was crazy, but having done enough of these 24Hrs beforehand I know the energy levels needed and that wasn’t going to happen with another haunted sleep. The night on the Aussie farm paid off with a pasta/buckwheat meal, fire, then 9 hour sleep. Waking up saturday morning it was go time!
The race fired off at high noon with a parade lap around the soccer fields then straight into the 14 km course which was 95% tight twisting singletrack. It’s not the type of course I’m used to but you gotta adapt to whatever is out there so I took the lead early on to set the pace. Taking the “A” lines up an early climb, Jon Odams bobbled one, opening up a 10 second gap. Seeing this, I upped the tempo a bit to put some pressure on. He’d catch up mid lap, then we’d ease up a bit with Jason catching up to form a lead trio just before the lap ended. Heading into the 2nd lap Jon went ahead to set the pace, quickly breaking his chain on the same A line he bobbled the lap before. That sucked for him, but he had set the high pace and and I wasn’t going to wait around. Jason followed and we kept the pressure on as it was going to be a tough track to bounce back on as there was no where to really open the throttle. With the tight track, it was easy to see other riders, and we could catch glimpses of Jon every lap around 15 minutes back, eventually this started to expand.
Jason meanwhile was using his premier and very smart pit placement to put pressure on through the pits areas and opened up a 2 minute gap at one point. It was mentally challenging to be behind on this course with over 170 turns a lap, the harder you pushed the more you wasted energy braking into every corner. This was enough motivation to use a burst to catch up to Jason, and immediatly put in an effort to gain a gap, a gap which would slowly extend over the next 10 hours, eventually nearing 40 minutes in the middle of the night. The night laps were great on this course. It was a video game out there with kangaroos hopping around, night owls flying above, large black spiders on the track and all sorts of weird Aussie night sounds.
With the large gap, I started to get complacent and stopped for 10 minutes to change kits, this slowed down the momentum and pretty soon Jason caught wind he was gaining time back so went into top gear. He’s a multi time World Champ for a reason and when he smells blood he is tough to slow down. With still 6 hours to go, alot of time was on the table, so I decided to open it up for a few laps to hopefully demoralize Jason when he realized the gap was no longer closing. After a couple 46 minute laps it became clear I was gaining around 5-6 minutes a lap on him. I was now fired up to lap him. Leighton talked some sense into me, telling me to just hold it steady as the race was in the bag unless I managed to take myself out at this point. Leightons been one of my best friends and has always been a calming influence and the perfect support for these 24 World Champs. This year I had two of the best in my pit with my friend Tarren from Australia also joining him. Hiran was in there looking after the Radical Lights. It was the dream team and we had the pit stops down to virtually nothing, operating as a well oiled machine.
At 10 am, a few minutes down from lapping Jason, it was in my head I’d have to do 2 more laps to secure a 5th straight title. Ideally I’d catch up to Jason and we could enjoy a few laps together, but with his large gap on 3rd, he opted to end the race early. It was the first time ever I was a bit disappointed a 24HR race was ending. With time on the clock, I had to keep a close eye on Jason as he could still sneak out and get back into the race. This has happened before in a 24 event, but it was more of a joke then a worry given the respect we have for each other.
Stopping a few hours early was actually pretty nice, giving some extra time to enjoy the atmosphere that only a 24 hr race can bring as you watch the emotions of riders coming across the line after being through hell and back. The Elite womans race had been great to watch with 5 riders battling it out over the course of the race. Kate Kellet from Australia would eventually have to ride into overtime to secure the Victory.
Riding 371 km, about 350 of it on trail, with 176 corners per lap, x 27 laps, it was certainly the most I ever turned a bike’s handlebars in a ride. 4752 turns later is all it took to secure the W.. The prep had been great leading up to the event, the Kona Hei Hei bikes ran flawlessly, the F2C nutrition was on point and the support team was A+. It was probably the strongest complete 24 HR I’ve done, not perfect yet, but the goal is to keep improving this each year as the competition isn’t getting any softer!
After a few days celebrating with Aussie Champagne and cook outs on the Central Coast it was onwards to the Pearl Island, Sri Lanka! This was where the first 24 HR World Champ was Celebrated over 6.5 years ago after winning it. It was amazing to have an opportunity to do it again. As far as Tropical paradises go this place is the real deal. My friends at Sri Lankan Airlines have been a great allies over the years and theirs some plans in line to show the World just how amazing the biking opportunities are on this gem of an Island. Stay tuned, for now it’s back to some recon missions then a few rest days on the beach before tackling the adventure season laying on deck ahead!
Picture Credits: Outerimage AU
Loved the read mate and keep up the commitment to the sport. Can’t believe it’s 10 years since we rode Mongolia!! All the best
Thanks Peter Mcutchen! Yes it’s hard to believe it has already been 10 years!