A short article about my fundraising for Soldier On for this year’s upcoming Battle Of The Beasts Mountain Bike Enduro has been published in the 18 July 2013 issue of the Australian Army News.
Tag: Mountain Biking
Training Week In Review – Week 4
Week 4 was going to be a larger week for the numbers from the get go. I needed to break past 150km; a weekly goal I had only achieved once in the past three weeks.
I had decided I was going to spend more time on the road bike, but also knew I didn’t have the endurance to smash out the long rides I wanted to do. My fitness has improved dramatically over the past few weeks but my quads are constantly screaming at me for a rest. The only option was for some good paced commuting to work.
Monday I took the roadie to work along the short commute racking up 18.6km in the chilly Canberra morning air. On the ride home I took in a more scenic 30.1km around a bit of LBG and exploring some of the bike paths near my suburb.
Tuesday was the day my beloved Kate was booked in for her first service at Onya Bike Civic. I had experienced a fair bit of gear skipping during the previous Sunday’s CORC XC race at Kowen Forest. As always the service, both mechanical and customer, was first rate and I soon had a singletrack eating machine firing at 100%…. Well for a about 6km of Bruce Ridge actually! I managed to clip a stray fallen branch and snapped a spoke on my Crank Brothers Cobalt 29er front wheel. After cutting my ride short at 7.1km I managed to fix the spoke with a spare included with the wheels.
Wednesday was a short commute to and from work on Zooey my Giant Anthem X 29er… Not a lot to say about this apart from riding a 29er dualie on the road is a lot harder than sub 10kg road bike running 110psi. I earned those 38.6km!
Thursday’s commute to work was on the roadie in subzero temperatures. I was relatively warm in my leg warmers and wind-stopper; but still had ice on my legs when I arrived at work. The commute home was a shit-fight of epic proportions; twin punctures, spat at by a bogan and a small stack due to a moron who didn’t have her inbred dog on a leash. <end rant>
Friday saw a ride to work in subzero temps and some incredibly thick fog! There was even plenty of ice on my legs and crotchular region!
The ride home was almost as big of a fail as the previous day. The dirty little secret of Canberra cycling community is the abundance of glass littered in cycle lanes and cycle paths. There is a stupidly large amount that never gets cleaned up because TAMS (Territory & Municipal Services) couldn’t give a rat’s arse!
<end rant>
After copping my fifth puncture in two days I called the girly and got picked up 2km from home.
Saturday was supposed to be a few laps of Mt Stromlo with some of the guys and girls from The Berm, but alas due to an oversight in forgetting my front wheel thru-axle that plan was aborted and I ended up riding in the afternoon.
My ride around Bruce Ridge and to home pushed me over my 200km goal for the week.
The close of the week saw a ride into Bruce Ridge and a spin around the grippy singletrack before the usual breakfast at Edgar’s and a steady ride in the pouring rain to home.
By the time my all my bikes had been cleaned and stowed away, I had amassed 250.3km for the week. All in all I didn’t push myself too had and despite a few mechanical issues with two of my bikes I was happy with the end result.
Battle Of The Beasts – Update #2
It seems my updates are now a tri-weekly occurrence. So three weeks after the inaugural Battle Of The Beasts Update. I present to you Update #2.
The fundraising for Soldier On and raising awareness for veterans support services has been going quite well after a few hiccups. I’ll be the first to admit I was a bit naive with my requests for industry and business support. I had approached several Defence related companies and numerous local Canberra businesses for support and sponsorship. Because I believe in this cause so much and understand the good it does for so many I was incredibly dejected at the amount of rejections I was receiving.
Out of the sixteen requests I submitted I have received eleven rejections and five no replies. I find it incredibly difficult to understand how a business which makes hundreds of millions of dollars from Defence contracts cannot donate money to charity. I understand that I am one fundraiser, a very small cog in a very large machine, however some of these companies DO NOT DONATE ANY MONEY TO THE DEFENCE COMMUNITY. OK rant over and I’ll move on!
I’m still hopeful of hearing back from some of the local Canberra businesses and have been given some advice from friends that have done this sort of thing before. Social media is really helping especially friends sharing on Facebook and retweets on Twitter. There are a lot of people out there that support our wounded veterans.
To date $1’665 has been raised thanks to some very generous friends. I need to thank Craig Passante for his massive $500 donation. Craig has been very supportive of my fundraising this year and last year and continues to be a very strong role model for young veterans like ourselves.
So with a little over three months to go before The Battle Of The Beasts, I’ve got a fair bit of work to do to reach my goal of $6’000. I’ve got a few media stories and interviews in the works for newspapers, MTB magazines and hopefully TV & radio if things go to plan.
Some keen eyed readers would have noticed I’ve started a training regime working up to the BOTB in October. Last year I rode the event not knowing what was ahead of me and to be honest I was overwhelmed physically and mentally by the enormity of the ride. Since last years race I’ve been able to complete a couple of big endurance races with relative ease.
Through trial and error I have worked out with the right nutrition and hydration plan I am quite capable over long distances on the bike. This year I aim to be fitter and better prepared for the challenges I will face during the climb-heavy race. While I will never win a race of this magnitude I want to race against myself. I have a few on course goals I want to achieve and a few people I really want to leave in my wake.
So I am juggling not only my home life, upcoming Wedding, work, fundraising and veteran’s advocacy; I am slowly working my body into what I need it to be to tackle the Namadgi ranges for a second time. I will need to be better at endurance climbing and able to focus my mind on the ride and not on the pain and kilometres remaining in front of me.
So before the Battle Of The Beasts I have a few CORC XC races, countless commutes and training rides; and a couple of 3hr XC races to keep me honest. And as always I will be proudly wearing not only my Soldier On jersey but also my team kit displaying my beloved The Berm name and logo.
It’s been a tough couple of weeks for me on and off the bike. I’ve had a few big set backs with the fundraising and would like to acknowledge a couple of people that have been a huge help: Carly, Scotty, Nat P, Dylan H, Mel C, Argo, Ben H, Nigel J, Roger H and Pete A. These are the people that have given me invaluable advice and kept me focused on the big picture. Thank you!
Rocking my Soldier On jersey at Round 3 of the CORC XC Series
Training Week In Review – Week 3
Week 3 started off well. I commuted to and from work on Monday; the short way and shortish way respectively. Tuesday saw an early start at work and the need for me to drive in. I put the XTC in the back of the car in the hope I’d be able to hit the trails after work. Thanks to be oh-dark-hundred start I made my way out to Sparrow Hill for some quick fun on the immaculate trails.
I cheated on Wednesday and put the roadie in the back of the girly’s car for a quick commute home. The ride itself was fairly standard except for the now infamous bike pump versus car bumper incident.
Thursday I strapped on the Shimano MTB shoes and took Kate in with the intention of taking her for a spin around Bruce Ridge on the way home. The weather was a bit ordinary with 80km/hr wind-gusts that tried their best to knock me off the bike and into Lake Burley Griffin. So I rode home via Belconnen and around Lake Ginninderra.
Friday was meant to be a medium length ride around Kowen Forest and Sparrow Hill on my Giant Anthem Zooey. But alas it was not meant to be thanks to a single phone call.
Saturday was a rest day/bike maintenance day spent preparing my XTC for Sunday’s CORC XC Race. I replaced the standard Shimano rear derailleur in favour of a Shimano XT Shadow to reduce the annoying chain slap. This didn’t quite go to plan and I was left with about four non-slipping gears for the race the next day.
I wasn’t feeling the best before this race. My heart wasn’t in it and my head definitely wasn’t. I woke up early and decided I’d give it a go. I’m glad I did. I managed to pull in fifth place and pushed myself further than I had before on a short course race. I went out fairly easy at the start and picked up the pace quite considerably for the second lap finishing almost 3 minutes faster than my first.
At the end of the race I was 149.9km for the week… 100m short of my 150km target. So after my shower I took out my single speed flat bar and rode a quick 500m to reach my 150km goal. At the end of Week 3, I had some ups, plenty of downs and one hell of a good time at Kowen Forest racing.
Training Week In Review – Week 2
Week 2 was never going to be a big week for the numbers. The weather was very ordinary early in the week, work was fairly busy and I was interstate over the weekend. I set a goal of 150km and achieved 121.4km for the week.
My first day on the bike was Wednesday afternoon. I rode from work to Mt Stromlo and relished in the chance to push my Giant XTC up the switchback climbs. I’m not the fastest rider downhill due to my aversion of death by bike; but I do enjoy being able to climb quickly with confidence and endurance. As sunset approached I headed home and covered 65.1km with a vertical gain of 656m.
Lake Ginninderra at sunset
Thursday afternoon I took the roadie home and was feeling a little bit of pain in my quads (more training needed).
Friday I took the XTC to work and managed to chase down a few roadies en route. By lunch time I had packed Kate into the back of the car and was driving down to Melbourne for some wedding prep over the weekend.
Saturday I had the chance to ride Lysterfield Park with a good friend and although he suffered a flat and we had to walk back to the carpark it was a good ride.
Week 2 of my planned training regime didn’t go to plan, but with a few quality rides and a good catch up it wasn’t a total loss.
Training Week In Review – Week 1
Almost two and half months ago I crashed during Round 10 of the 2012/2013 CORC XC Series at Mt Stromlo. Leading up to that race I was probably the most cycle fit and confident I had ever been. This (over) confidence lead me to attempt a tail whip ride at the end of the race; a decision that ultimately ended in face full of gravel, blood and a grade-2 tear in my left pectoralis major (a torn muscle in my chest along with some ligaments).
Over the past two and a bit months I have been riding with recovery in mind and doing my best not to aggravate a very touchy injury. There were days I could barely get out of bed let alone ride a bicycle. A poor sleeping position would mean I couldn’t move my neck and shoulder. I still I have pain after waking up but surprisingly I’m very comfortable on a bike when wearing my chest brace.
The hardest part for me being off the bike was the disappointment at being injured and the boredom I was experiencing. I was at a point in my riding where I was ready to step it up a notch; thus the CORC XC Races.
So after six weeks of recovery rides, including a couple of XC races, I decided to formulate and implement a gradual Training Program. And this week was the first of many to come.
I aimed for 150km of good solid medium intensity riding for Week One. I completed 120.6km with 58km of that being some quick singletrack at Kowen Forest/Sparrow Hill and Mt Stromlo. Although I didn’t reach my target goal for the week I was very happy with the average speeds over the distances I rode and the Mt Stromlo climbs I completed with relative ease.
Plus the one and only David Blucher got a photo of me riding Kate in my Soldier On jersey on Duffy’s Decent on Mt Stromlo on Saturday afternoon.
Battle Of The Beasts Videos
Recovery Week In Review – Week 6
It has been two months and two days since I crashed at Mt Stromlo during Round 10 of the 2012/2013 CORC XC Series. During that time I’ve been trying to get back to my pre-injury fitness by slowly building my strength and endurance levels. Between 1 January 2013 and 14 April 2013, when I crashed, I was averaging 250km per week on the bike. I had ridden in the Mont 24 Hour, 100km Capital Punishment, some short course XC races and plenty of 70km+ rides on both the roadie and MTB. In total I had ridden 2’242.4km in just over four months.
It’s no secret that I ride bikes as a form of therapy and rehabilitation. Exercise is an amazing tool to soften the edge of anxiety and depression. Mountain biking is something I can fully immerse myself in; the riding, the technology, the competitiveness and the social scene. Canberra has an amazingly inclusive and tight-knit mountain biking community. One of the reasons why I have enjoyed riding so much these past nine months (the first time I ever road singletrack was on 9 September 2012 at Bruce Ridge) is because of the people I have met and ridden with from The Berm. It doesn’t matter if you are a novice or an elite rider, if you enjoy riding you are welcomed with open arms.
So this week was supposed to be the start of my new training regime. The plan was to restart my daily commuting on the roadie and get as much singletrack in between as the girly would tolerate. I have a lot of ground to make up and the weather in Canberra is not very accommodating; we have had a lot of rain and sub-zero temperatures. This past week I have woken up, checked the weather on my iPhone and walked onto the balcony to gauge my tolerance of the early morning temperature. Only once did I brave the cold and ride to work.
I did however use every opportunity before and after the heavy midweek rain to ride my new Giant XTC 29er 1 – Kate. I managed to get a couple of rides in at Mt Stromlo, two at Bruce Ridge and two at Sparrow Hill/Kowen Forest. For my sixth week of recovery riding I ended up having my second biggest week in the saddle since my crash. After today’s 66.6km road ride around Lake Burley Griffin I amassed 209.1km.
So after six weeks of Recovery Riding I am now transitioning in Training Riding.
My SOLDIER ON / Battle Of The Beasts Donation Page
My SOLDIER ON / Battle Of The Beasts Donation Page
Later this year I will race in the 2013 Battle of the Beasts MTB enduro & try to top last
year’s amazing $5’702 raised to help wounded servicemen & servicemen.
Blogged Down By Life 