A Belgian like Australian National CX Champs

Spring has sprung here in the southern hemisphere and it has been quite some time since the cyclocross season has ended here in Australia. I did not think I was going to do a write up about the racing back home. I thought it didn’t compare to the racing in Europe but with the National Championship weekend we had, it comes pretty close.

I had been focusing hard for this years cyclocross nationals as it was my last race in the under 23 category. Next year I move in to the elite category which I already ride basically all season in the national series (there is no U23 series category) but this was my last U23 championships so I wanted to make it a good one. My training had been going really well and with some races a few weeks before I was happy with my fitness. One week out however, I got hit with a nasty cold. I was inside all day, not riding and going through boxes of tissues each day. I was pretty gutted about this but I did everything I could to get better before the weekend to give myself the best opportunity. With my latest results my expectation for the champs was to come 5th, 4th would have been a great race for me.

Friday

We drove to Sam Miranda Winery where the race was being held and the course was showing just a snippet of what was to come. Some rain had come through and made a few muddy patches in the course but for the most part it was dry. I rode a few laps and got familiar with it to a point where I was happy with it. This was the same venue as last year’s national championships and I enjoyed the course then and this year looked no different.

Saturday

With some confusion about whether there was a U23 category for our national championships or not according to the UCI, the organisers finally decided to put us in the same race as elite but give us a separate podium and hope that they can talk the UCI into allowing the results to show separately between us (the U23) and elite men. Jump ahead in time, this did end up happening fortunately meaning we got points for our placing in under 23 not our placing within the elites. Back to the race, with many races being held before the elites at the end of the day. The course was very chopped up with all the rain that hit the course meaning it was going to be a very muddy and Belgian like race. I was more than happy with this as it meant it was more about your technical skills on the course rather than power so my sickness the week leading up to here was not as detrimental to my race. I had a good start within the elite men sneaking into 12th place or so and being about 5th out of the under 23 riders. The group quickly spread out as mistakes were made holding people up and creating gaps but fortunately I managed to avoid many of these hold-ups to keep a solid position and tempo. I found myself right behind 4th place in under 23 coming up to a long pedalling section so I decided to get in front and set a hard tempo. Unfortunately for the other rider he had a problem with his shoes so I was able to ride away from him and be pretty safe in 4th place. For a while I was racing on my own to my own tempo thinking I was riding to a 4th place which I would have been very happy with but coming past the pits one lap my dad yelled out to me saying I was in 3rd place (and he also yelled for me to keep riding hard of course).

Coming on to the finishing straight after riding through a deep mud pool with hidden roots and ruts. Photo: Andy Rodgers (@fameandspear)

I was very confused as I knew exactly who was in front of me in my race and there were 3 of them. However, not long after that I looked to see one of my competitors was walking his bike off-track, he had pulled out of the race. This gave me a new pair of legs and I kicked it up a gear to make sure no one could make a comeback behind me. After one hour and fifteen minutes I had finally crossed the finish line in 3rd place, my best national championships result and my first podium as well.

Andy Rodgers (@fameandspear) captured my feeling perfectly right after crossing the finish line

This result had put the icing on the cake of my best and most consistent season of cyclocross. I could not have asked for a better way to finish my last year as an under 23. Shortly after the race, the adrenaline and excitement had worn off and I was very cold and very wet so it was time to hose down quickly and get dry as I needed to be ready for podium presentations (a first for me).

A second national title in a row for Ben Walkerden (middle), a redemption ride into 2nd place for Will Ockenden (left) and a very satisfied third for me (right)

Since the race was held at a winery it was only fitting that the podium presentation was capped off with some fine prosecco. Although, not much of it was actually used for drinking.

The spraying seemed like a good fun idea until we were all freezing wet covered in prosecco. I also learned that I like the taste of prosecco as well

With the nationals weekend over there was only one week left of the cyclocross season finishing off with two UCI races at Broadford raceway. The UCI races turned out to be just as muddy as the nationals were meaning there was a lot of cleaning going on in the last two weeks of the season.

My final season as an under 23 was done and it was one that I can be very happy with. I had come so close to cracking the top 10 in Elite Men and was consistent throughout the season. Capped off with a 3rd place at nationals just makes me even more eager to start the next season again. But for now it is time for some road and mountain bike racing during the summer.

The Willo Enduro

In 2013 I raced the Willo Enduro in the juniors category which was 25km of some of the best single-track you can find. I found myself in the lead with 5km to go, but then I heard the worst sound possible. Air coming out of the side of my tyre after the side wall was torn by a rock. I put a tube in as fast as I could and to this day I think it was the fasted tube change I have ever done but it was not enough. I rode to the finish and only managed 4th place. After that day, 15 year old me swore to never do the race again.

6 years later, I found myself entered into the 66km elite race. I just could not resist going back to one of the best marathon races in Australia. Having an amazing new mountain bike also assisted in my decision to do this race.

It’s hard to resist riding this bike whenever possible. My first dual suspension mountain bike and it does not disappoint.

I left Canberra at 6am to get to the venue around 8am. This gives us plenty of time to register, change into kit and warm up before our 9:15am start. The course was 22km long with 50% being single-track and the other 50% being fire trail. Before beginning these 3 laps we had to do a small start loop all on fire trail to sort out the bunch before hitting the single-track. Not even 2km into the race and there was a crash right in front of me. Two people decided that fighting for a wheel to hold 15th or 16th position was the most important thing in this 66km race that they bumped shoulders the entire start loop until finally they collapsed under each other. I am still not sure how exactly I didn’t go down but I found myself jumping over the crash while my bike stayed behind the crash. I quickly grabbed my bike and jumped back on but the bunch was already long gone. I look back to see if there is anyone I can ride with but all I see is a dust cloud caused by the crash. This was going to be a long and lonely 66 kilometres. I went hard on the first lap thinking I might have a chance to catch the front guys, but quickly I realised that wasn’t going to happen so I settled down and got into my own rhythm.

David John Blucher capturing how hot and dry the day was

My first two laps were good and took close to the same time to complete but my third lap was very different. I was feeling good coming into the last lap but then only a few kilometres in that all changed. I am not one to usually suffer from cramps even during a race but today I got to feel what it was like to have some serious cramping. It got so bad that I could not physically turn the pedals so I had to stop completely and get off my bike to try and stop the cramping. Many times I tried to start riding again to soon and began cramping again. This was the story for the entire last lap but I finally made it across the line and finished. My last lap was 15 minutes slower than the first two.

Nearly at the finish but it seemed like forever with the cramping. Photo: David John Blucher

After the race I had to sit down for about 10 minutes just to recover. I had never felt so fatigued after a race before. Luckily for me, my mate Marc drove me to the race so I didn’t have to drive myself home which would have been a big ask considering how I was feeling.

A few days after the race and I was still feeling it. My form is not where it used to be and it was worrying for me but you can never be at the top all the time so for now, it is time to focus on some good training and just push through the bad form to get to the good.

Coming up next is one of my favourite road races of the year, the Blayney 2 Bathurst weekend. Last year I got a surprising 8th place but with how my form is at the moment, that was going to be hard to match.

3 Days of Cyclocross World Championships

Being my second time at the cyclocross world championships I knew what to expect and I was also expecting more from myself. To summarise how last year went, many of the best riders in the world said it was one of the hardest courses ever in 10 years. My race last year felt about the same, incredible hard and not very good personally. This year, I was hungry for a good ride, not a good result necessarily but just a good ride personally.

The mud of last year’s cyclocross world championships proved to be too much for me.

Friday

Today was the first day we would see the course. The course was open on Thursday, but we didn’t feel the need to go 4 days in a row when we could get enough of a look of the course on Friday. We left late this day for the 2-4pm training time so it was a relaxed morning for the Aussie team. Turning up to the course, one thing became clear quickly, it was going to be a very cold race. Bogense is a small town located on the north coast of a small part of Denmark so there is no protection from the wind. With a combination of this harsh wind and the cold temperature, it was not going to be toasty. The Aussie team rugged up in lots of layers to go ride a few laps of the course. Due to the low temperatures, the ground was actually really hard and frozen which made the course rough with every bump and the corners were incredible slippery and took some serious care to get around without losing grip. Either way we got around and all commented on how fast we thought the course would be. There were only a few technical sections that were nothing to be afraid of compared to other races like Namur, and there were many long straights to unleash some power and gain some speed. We finished our practice (doing about 5 or 6 laps) and got cleaned up and drove home. Being the day before a race for the Under 23 riders (Nick and I) we had the standard spaghetti bolognaise for dinner.

Saturday

An early morning for us as we needed to be out at the course and ready to do some final course practice at 9:30am. A quick breakfast and a sleepy goodbye from Chris and Tia (who woke up just to see us depart) and we were off to THE race. No surprises, it was still cold and windy. One nice change we found was on the course. After yesterday’s icy and bumpy ride, it seemed that the ground had warmed up and softened as the corners had more grip (not much though, it was still muddy) and the straights weren’t as bumpy. This was a welcome change for me as now I was more comfortable with the course and there was no section where I was really nervous. My excitement levels were rising to an extreme high. I put my headphones on, played my playlist and warmed up to get in the best mindset possible to ride my best race.

Getting a bit hot and sweaty while warming up for the race, better to be overheating than freezing at a cross race.

Twenty minutes before the start, I finish warming up, put on my helmet and other kit, bump fists with my mechanics and head for the start line. Before it is time for the call up onto the start line, everyone rides up and down the start straight to keep warm. This is when it starts to become real, both sides of the straight are covered with spectators in all sorts of outfits and bright colours, and young kids holding out their hands for high-fives. As they begin the call up I assume my position by waiting for about 5 minutes until my name gets called to line up at the back. At UCI cyclocross races, you get a 3-minute call, 2-minute call, 1-minute and 30 seconds before the start. At the 2-minute call, that is when everyone takes their zipper pants off exposing their legs to the cold as late as possible. 1-minute before the start and everyone’s jackets are coming off leaving just our skinsuits to keep us warm. Out of all the races I have done, this minute was the most cold and longest minutes I have had to endure. Shaking with nervousness and very mild hypothermia they call 30 seconds to go. This time is even worse as they play a heartbeat sound over the speakers which I have no clue what the purpose of it is other than to make the riders even more nervous. The lights go green and it is on! And I mean properly on, this start was quicker than any other I have done but quickly we reach the first corner and all the brakes lock up and everyone carefully navigates the corner without causing a crash on the first corner (this is a first for under 23 races). Our thoughts on the course being a fast one were correct. The leaders were doing laps in just under six minutes which for cyclocross is fast. Courses are usually about 7-9 minutes, seven being pretty short.

I’m not exactly sure what to say about my race but I will leave it to the end of this as I think it would be a better conclusion than me talking about how I spent Sunday. Hopefully by the time I get to the end I can think of something good to say.

Sunday

Showing the Aussies some love out on course. What we lack in numbers, we make up for in spirit.

Today was about supporting the Australian elite men Chris Aitken ad Garry Millburn. The guys arrived with plenty of time before they even needed to do course practice. So, for a while we watched the women’s under 23 race while sitting warm in a camper joking about. I met some old friends who I watched the elite race at last years world champs with. We set off to find somewhere to heckle the Australian boys and have a few beers. We were creating an atmosphere by being overly loud cheering guys on as they practiced, not even raced, but what else were we to do. With some smack talking and banter we entertained ourselves for two hours while staying in one spot to reserve our prime position on the course. The race finally started, and we waited in anticipation for them to come into sight. With the crowd’s cheers slowly getting louder we knew they were getting close and by the time they were upon us the cheers were deafening and it was pointless for ourselves to cheer as no one would hear us but that didn’t stop us. Once the top riders came past the noise died down but not for us. With Garry and Chris coming by 30-40 seconds after first place, we were yelling at the top of our lungs and losing our voice to cheer these guys on. It might not seem like spectators can do anything to make riders go faster but being a rider myself, I can tell you first hand that when you hear someone cheering you on, you get a little energy boost to just give it a bit more and it is one of the best feelings. With Mathieu riding laps in 5:30 there is not much the Australians can do to stay ahead of getting lapped by him, so they were pulled from the race three quarters of the way through. Just like that, another world championships were over.

My Race

Back to my race. I’m not going to sugar coat it and say I did great when people ask me how I did. When I get asked that, I normally avoid saying the exact result I got because it is usually never something to boast about. I got 62^nd out of 63 riders, that was my result at world champs. It doesn’t sound very good but, in my opinion,, it doesn’t have to sound good. I know I rode as hard as I possibly could, I didn’t crash or have a mechanical and I felt stronger than I had at most other races. I am just not good enough to keep up with the fastest and finish a world championship and that’s fine. Overall, I am super happy with how I went. After a disappointment last year, knowing I could do better, I came out this year and left nothing behind. 62^nd in under 23 is what that got me.

Home Stretch

After my time in Girona it was time to get back into the last 3 weeks of my European cyclocross journey. These weeks were not quite as busy as the Christmas period where every second day was a race, but they are some of the most important. Every Sunday for the next 3 weeks there was a World Cup race and then the World Championships, so these last races were big ones.

Pontchateau

First up was a round of the UCI World Cup in Pontchateau in France. Coming straight off the training week in Girona I was looking forward to seeing the effect it had. Arriving at the course it was a warm (well warm for Euro winter standards) and sunny so it was a nice welcome back to racing. It became clear pretty quickly during course practice with Garry Millburn (fellow Aussie racer and friend) that the race would be a very fast and pedalling course. With long straights, not many technical sections it was all about fitness and less bout skills. Saying that, there was still 80m of vertical climbing per lap which is heaps when you think about it. Elite men raced 11 laps meaning in 1 hour of cyclocross racing they had done about 880m of climbing. I however did not do 11 laps, I didn’t even do as many laps as the other U23 riders in my race. It was a bit of a disappointing race for me, I was not sure what was wrong but all of me was just not feeling it that day. I had to quickly move on from my disappointing race because Nick and I had to help Chris in the pits for his race (Elite men). I got changed, washed myself off and then met with Chris to begin my job of pit crew. Chris was parked far away from the course so after he had finished warming up we had a fair walk to the pits with the bike, wheels and tools. We made it with plenty of time to spare so we relaxed and chatted with some of the pit crew in the pit box next to us. The Elite men’s race started and quickly the sped past the first pits. Fortunately for us Chris is able to dismount and remount his bike on either side meaning when everyone was stacked on one side of the pits ready for a bike change, we were on the other side with a clear run. The course was pretty dry so in the end we had a pretty easy day, Chris had no mechanical issues so all we had to do was cheer him on. That was Pontchateau done meaning there were 2 more chances for me to put the Girona training to use. Next up, Hoogerheide.

During the week between Pontchateau and Hoogerheide, we drove back to Hof ter Kammen in Oudenaarde to spend the week there. The night we got there it was standard weather, cold and wet. By the next morning, looking out the window and it was just all white. It had snowed quite a bit overnight meaning that riding would be quite difficult during the week. This didn’t stop the Aussie team and I from having some fun in the snow. I hadn’t seen any snow in years so I was pretty excited.

Leaving my mark at Hof ter Kammen while also enjoying myself

Quickly though, the week was nearing its end and it was time to head for Hoogerheide. We left Hof ter Kammen but not before we took a photo with all the people staying there. Even though everyone has there own living quarters, you get to know them all pretty well and make some good friends. Meeting David and Maghalie was a highlight for me as Maghalie is Canadian and Pan-American cyclocross champion so she is pretty damn good. Also having Andrew Juliano (who we met doing the same trip last year) show up for a few days was nice. Always good to see old mates.

Some Aussies, Americans and Canadians staying in one bed and breakfast. Christian and Hilde are internationally known for their amazing hospitality.

Hoogerheide

Hoogerheide is a pretty iconic World Cup race. Being that last round of the series and the last race before World Championships the week after, it collects many racers who are preparing for the champs so the start lists are usually packed. The course is designed by Adrie van der Poel and if that name sounds familiar then you’re not living under a rock because that is he father of arguably the best cyclocross rider in the world right now, Mathieu van der Poel. Hoogerheide is local race for Mathieu and since it is designed by his father, you just know it is designed exactly for him to win. Long story short, he did not disappoint, he wont but it was not quite as convincing as many might have thought. Before that though I had my race to do. We rode the course on Saturday (the day before the race) and it was fairly dry, some rutted and muddy sections but mostly dry. This was not the case on race day. With rain overnight and rain during my race, it became a mud fest. Wet races are good fun but usually they are slower and the clean up afterwards is anything but fun. Early on in my race I found myself getting lines wrong and making small mistakes, but I managed to find my footing and by the later part of my race I was actually enjoying the ruts and mud. There was a fair bit of running each lap as the slight uphills were too muddy to ride fast (pedalling hard would get you nowhere). Once again, I was pulled from the race early as the leaders were closing in to lap me. You can’t always base how your race went by when you get pulled as all the courses are different. I was pretty happy with how I went, I felt better than the week before and considering I rarely ride in conditions as muddy is this I was happy.

The iconic Hoogerheide steps in the background of a muddy Adam and me. It will take some serious cleaning to make those skinsuits white again.

After my race I was back to helping Chris once again, but this time my job was to get video of the Elite men’s race for Chris to make a vlog out of. So, during the race I walked around places videoing Chris, and the front of the race hoping that my camera skills were up to his standards. I was expecting to see a race similar to many others, Mathieu leads from first lap and just increases his lead the entire race, but excitingly, this was not the case. Toon Aerts was riding with Mathieu and even got a gap of about 14 seconds. Mathieu who was with Wout van Aert at this time slowly dropped Wout and clawed back Toon with around 2 laps to go. From there it was classic Mathieu, ride away to solo to a victory. The better race was the race for the overall series win. Wout was in the lead but only by 3 points meaning whoever had a higher position today, won the overall. Usually it is Wout who would come out on top (being the 3x world champion) but after recent form Toon was able to take 2^nd on the day to claim the overall victory which he looked very pleased about.

If you do want to see some video of what we are up to here then I do recommend checking Chris Aitken’s youtube channel as he posts frequent short vlogs.

With Hoogerheide done and dusted, it is now time to put all focus on the World Championships in Bogense, Denmark next week. The last race on my journey. Everything will be put on the line and whether I get pulled early or finish lead lap, as long as I leave everything out there I will be happy.

Chasing the Sun

Watching the Australian road national championships while in cold, wet and windy Oudenaarde, Belgium makes it pretty easy to miss the sun and warm weather. It is hard to keep the motivation high to train when you can’t enjoy the ride due to bad weather.

photo 20-12-18, 11 07 51 am

Cold, wet and windy ride for our introduction to Belgium this year

During the European cyclocross, there is a gap from the 6^th January to around the 20^th where there is not much racing to do (for a non-European). For all Euro riders, they race their national cyclocross championships on the weekend in between (13/14^th). This means for me that I have 2 weeks of no racing to try and keep motivated, only training sessions. This is where my dad came up with a great idea, drive to Girona to get some sunshine, hills and just generally nicer riding.

I had never been to Girona and only heard about what a great place it is for cycling. Many professional road riders live here since the weather is never too harsh so they can happily train all year round. So off we went after my race on the 6^th in Brussels. After 2 days of driving we passed the sign for Girona. I jokingly said to my dad “how long do you think it will take for us to find a pro rider”, and sure enough not even 5 minutes later a pair of cyclists rode by, one being a Mitchelton Scott rider (Jack Bauer) and the other wearing Aqua Blue kit. This began a common theme of spotting professionals while roaming around the city.

After driving around and getting lost in small alleys and one-way streets we finally found a parking spot and settled into our apartment. One thing that was a bit of a shock to the system was how late everyone in Spain do things. We went out to look for some dinner around 7pm (this is late for us) and no restaurants were even open yet, they all opened at 8pm or even later. We finally found a place that were serving food and had our dinner. We quickly adjusted and tried to make all our meals a little be delayed so we could last until 8pm for dinner.

The Riding

Our first ride was a 53km loop with two hills in it just to get an idea of what Girona is like. We quickly got out of town and onto the quiet roads and then hit the first climb. Being based in Belgium for the season, the biggest ‘hills’ there are only about five minutes long and on cobblestones (not very pleasant), so it was a nice feeling to ride up a climb that was smooth and went for more than 5 minutes. We descended down and into a country area and then began the second climb to head back into town. The next day I had some step efforts to do (starting off moderate then getting increasingly harder) and dad thought that the Rocacorba would be a good hill to do these on. The Rocacorba is a pretty famous climb for professional riders. It is THE hill they use to see how fit they are at the time. On a quiet road that only has one way up and down it is pretty uncommon to see cars here and it is long enough for a 20-minute effort (standard fitness test effort). The climbs here are a bit different to what I am used to as they are not particularly steep but they are long so you just need to find a rhythm and then just keep it ticking along. This was an awesome feeling instead of grinding your easiest gear to get up a steep hill. It was an awesome climb with a nice view at the top that unfortunately we could not stay to enjoy due to ridiculously strong winds.

photo 10-1-19, 7 55 55 pm

After a few easy days and short sessions we set out for our big ride. This ride took us down to the coast just south of Girona. This also had two big hills in it but we had to go about 25 kilometres before they began. Once again the climb was a steady and winding road. It wasn’t until we got about half-way down the first hill that we saw why this loop is one of the favourites for anyone living or visiting the region. The views along the coast were amazing and the descents packed with just enough corners to enjoy but not so many that you can’t gain some speed. We stopped in a town along the coast for some food and a coffee but were limited in shop choice as not many places were open. We had an average coffee and croissant and then set off to climb the second hill then descend into Girona. After 98.9km or so we made it to the café near our place to have some much-needed coffee (good coffee) and food. Of course, once we were done, we took a long way home to get the distance up to 100km because it would be silly not to.

photo 15-1-19, 11 43 09 am

The view from the bottom of our first climb

The Cafes

There were two cafes that we went to about 20 times while we were but for good reason. La fabrica is a small café owned but ex-professional Christian Meier and his wife, so it is pretty well known for being the place to go for cyclists. In fact, Julian Alaphillippe posted on Instagram that he was there, but we unfortunately had bad timing and had already left before he got there. La fabrica is part of a trio of shops in Girona all owned by Christian. Service Course, a nice bike shop, and Espresso Mafia, a coffee shop that mainly does coffee with only a small selection of pastries. The other café is Federal. Also owned by a professional cyclist but this one is still riding, Rory Sutherland. This was more of a food focused place but still had nice coffee (can’t be a bike rider and owner of a cafe with bad coffee). Both highly recommended places if you’re ever visiting Girona, great coffee, good food and nice staff (who can speak fluent English).

After almost two weeks it was time to leave and head to France for the World Cup round in Pontchâteau. It was awesome to get away from the bad weather in Belgium but after two weeks of no racing it makes you eager to get back to the harsh weather to race and get muddy for some strange reason.

Racing Cyclocross – The easy job

Racing above your maximum threshold for 1 hour seems like one of the hardest things to do. This is what cyclocross racers do day in day out but in my eyes, we actually have the easiest job out of anyone at the race.

NCXS Round 1 - Dead — Although it may not always look like we have the easy job

Something that becomes clear very early on is that there is way more things to do before, during and after a cyclocross race in Belgium than a race in Australia. In Australia, we ride a few laps of the course to get an idea of what we are in for. Our bikes are usually no dirtier than when we started practice so no clean up is necessary. In Belgium, that is not the case

Christian is the owner of the bed and breakfast accommodation and he also helps Nick and I at the races that we do while over here in Belgium. Christian also gets his friend Frank to help out, since working for cyclocross racers is a two man job (at least). Christian and Frank have become Nick and I’s dream team for cyclocross races and you will see why as I explain what they do during a regular cyclocross race day.

Photo 2-1-19, 4 45 04 pm — Massive tent for us to warm-up and prepare in peace – pic: Christian

Before the Race

The day starts off by waking up at 6am or so as we need to pack the bikes into the car, have some breakfast and then drive up to 2 hours to get to the race venue. Christian packs the car with all other essential items while Nick and I relax and eat some food. He then drives us the 2 hours to the race venue and sweet talks the volunteers to let us into the rider parking and get a good park close to the course. When we are parked, the first thing Nick and I need to do is go register and collect our numbers, so with Frank leading the way we walk to get our numbers. By the time we get back to the van, Christian has set up a massive tent for us to warm-up in and hang out, our bikes are out and ready to ride and the pressure washer is set up ready to be used on very muddy bikes. So now Nick and I get changed and go to the course for practice. We tend to do two laps then head back to the tent. Once we are back Nick and I get out of our now dirty clothes and get into our race skinsuit which we have pinned our numbers on. Christian and Frank however, are cleaning and then drying our muddy bikes and shoes that we used in practice so they are good as new when we need them to head to the start line. They have also put our other bikes on the trainers ready for us to warm-up on. This is all before the race has even started!

Photo 2-1-19, 4 44 03 pm — Left to right: Gage Hecht (US), Me and Nicholas Smith warming up for Heusden-Zolder World Cup – pic: Christian

During the Race

As Nick and I ride to the start line, Christian and Frank walk to the pits with our bikes, a pump, bucket with sponges and a backpack full of things we they might need to use on our bikes. During our race, our bikes usually get covered in thick mud that makes the bike really heavy and not work as well as we want. So we enter the pits and hand our muddy bike to Frank and Christian hands us our spare (clean) bike so we are now riding a bike that is light and functioning perfectly. Straight after this bike swap, either Christian of Frank rushes to a section of the pits that has 8 pressure washers or so that every mechanic uses. They wait in line (or push in front) to wash our muddy bike as quickly as possible, take it back to our pit box and then dry the bike like they did after course practice. All this is done (usually) by the time Nick and I have completed half a lap of the course so that if we need to switch our bike every half-lap then they are there waiting to give us our now clean bike. It is hard to put into words just how hectic this process is as there are maybe 70 riders in a race all with mechanics doing the same thing and there are only 8 pressure washers max.

After the Race

Once the race is over, Nick and I get wash ourselves off with warm water than Christian had brought, dry off and get changed into some warm clothes. Once again, Christian and Frank are busy washing our bikes and shoes then drying them off. They then pack up the entire tent (including chairs, table and trainers that are inside) , washing station, bike rack and bikes into the car and trailer so we are ready to drive home.

Hopefully now it is pretty easy to see how Nick and I, as racers have a pretty easy job while racing cyclocross here in Belgium. All we do is ride the course, get changed into race kit, warm-up, race, get changed into warm clothes. This is something that no Australian cyclocross racer experiences while racing at home. Teammates and friends help in the pits during a race for you but you set up the tent, you get your bikes ready and you help pack up. So here is a massive shout-out and thank you to Christian and Frank for making us cyclocross racers have the easiest job possible.

Pioneer Journey – The end to a memorable week

DAY SIX – Stage 5: 86km, 2305m climbing

The last day. A day that we thought we would all look forward to. The profile looked to be one solid but rideable climbing, some smaller climbs that looked to be nothing to worry about and then a fast-flat roll into the finish. This was far from what we experienced. With Rohan and I sitting in 21^st we had some work to do to get into the top 20 on GC so we knew that we could not just cruise into Queenstown. The stage quickly rolled into the main climb of the day where I was feeling similar to yesterday on the climb, ready to smash it and move passed teams breaking their spirits. Rohan kept me calm which was smart as I had severely underestimated the smaller climbs that came later. Once at the top of the main climb, we once again went down one of the worst and roughest descents I have ever ridden. This one was different as it wasn’t as steep but to make up for the lack of gradient, they let us know that there were sink holes on the trail. When riding passed these sink holes, they weren’t just some holes that would make the descent even bumpier, they were proper holes that were deeper than we are tall. Safely dodging the sink holes and only just being able to keep grip of our bars we finally made it to the bottom of the descent where the aid station was poorly placed. We had come in at a high speed and passed the station before we even realised what it was. Deciding it was too late to turn around we decided to truck on to the next aid station which was not for another 30km. We turned into the second climb which looked like nothing compared to what we had just done on the profile, so I thought nothing of it. That is until it just kept on going up after turning each corner seeming like it would never end. Finally, we made it to the top and that was all the climbing done for the entire race. So, the rest was all on easy flat fast gravel trail into the finish, right? Wrong. After descending down to a river, we had a short jetboat ride across the river where we then got onto the Queenstown trail to take us back into town. Quickly, Rohan and I ran out of water and were still 10km from the last aid station. I quickly felt the affects of not having anymore fluid and I became weak and unable to ride on the front. Rohan had to do all the work to the aid station where we were overjoyed to be able to drink some fluids again. We quickly set off to complete the last 25km of the Pioneer. The fluids helped but unfortunately not enough. The entire week I had been so surprised and happy with how strong and fit I had felt but that had all caught up to me now. I was struggling to hold Rohan’s wheel as he was powering along the trails bringing us home strong. I tried to do the occasional turn to give Rohan a rest, but they were all short lived. Rohan proved to be the stronger man on the last day and carried me all the to the finish line where I didn’t even have the strength to raise the hands to celebrate what had been an amazing week. Quickly stuffing food and chocolate milk into me I congratulated friends who had also finished and debriefed my mum about how today went. Mum had been following the race, finding points along the course of each day to cheer us on and then providing food and drink at the end of each stage. I don’t know how I could have completed this without her help and support.

“Finally, we made it to the top and that was all the climbing done for the entire race. So, the rest was all on easy flat fast gravel trail into the finish, right? Wrong.”

As for results. We had bested our result from yesterday to claim 12^th overall on the stage and with the time gaps we created today we moved up to 19^th on GC overall. Mission accomplished. Well both missions accomplished. Rohan and I had come into the Pioneer with one goal, finish it. We believed this was going to be hard enough, but we quickly found ourselves at the pointy end of the field with an aim to get some results, and we did just that.

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Wade (cycling tips), Alby, Me and Rohan after finishing the last day

Just like that our Pioneer journey was over. We flew home the next day and enjoyed that wonderful first night’s sleep back in our own beds. This has sparked a flame inside of me giving me a desire to do more mountain bike stage races as that was one of the most enjoyable and satisfying weeks of my life. But for now, the mountain bike will be put in hibernation as I get ready for my trip to Belgium to race Cyclocross World Cups and Championships.

Pioneer Journey – up, up and more up

DAY FIVE – Stage 4: 68.9km, 2519m climbing

I should mention that each night we get a race briefing for the stage to come in the morning. The briefing the night before for today’s stage was not an enjoyable one. After believing the worst was over with on stage 2, we got told stage 4 is going to be worst. With more climbing packed into over 30km less distance. Well actually even less as all the climbing was finished by the 53km mark. Not only did that information make the briefing bad but we also got told that the extra mandatory gear was required as we were going to a higher altitude. This meant instead of only having to carry a light rain jacket, a merino head warmer, spares and a med kit, we now had to carry a more serious rain jacket, merino tights and a merino base layer. So, on the day with the most climbing we had to carry the most amount of gear. There were many sighs in the crowd.

Our biggest day of climbing, with 2500m of climbing to do which was all completed by the 53km point. This was the stage everyone feared. You could sense the nervousness of people not knowing what to expect or how they are feeling. We quickly started a small climb of about 300m climbing where Rohan and I lost contact with our group, but we knew that there was not point riding hard to stay with the group early on as there were some monster climbs to come. We rolled through some undulating terrain before we hit our first big test, a 10km climb that ascended 1000 metres. I begun today’s stage feeling absolutely crap, I was finding the pace hard even in the 2km neutral section, so I thought I was in for the worst day of my life. Once we began climbing though, something clicked inside me and I started feeling the best I have felt all week. Rohan and I were passing and dropping teams left and right. Our plan to hold back early on worked perfectly! After cresting the top of the first big hill we descended for a bit before our last climb of the day, Mount Difficulty. The name wasn’t too confidence inspiring. As per the last climb Rohan and I just found our tempo and picked off teams moving up places. After about 4km of climbing, looking at the barely readable profile stickers given to us, Rohan and I thought we had a short flat section which we could see before we climbed what looked like a wall to the top of Mt Difficulty. Obviously, our eyes were deceiving us but in a good way as we turned right instead of left which was to go further up and we begun our descent. This isn’t to say the climb was easy, I was glad the climbing was over earlier than expected as I didn’t know how much longer I could go for.

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Displaying some serious pain face as we get close to the peak of Mt Difficulty. Photo credit: Tim Bardsley-Smith

Shortly after we began descending, we wished we were climbing again as the descent was the most rough and steep trail we had ever ridden. Constantly on the brakes, getting bounced around everywhere on our hardtail mountain bikes, we were not enjoying this descent one bit. Finally, we made it to the aid station at the bottom. Stopping to grab some food and complain about what we had just come down we quickly left with another team to ride the last 10km together sharing the work. This was a perfect situation for us as we still go to go fast but we had more time to rest off the front as there were now two more people to ride on the front for us. The last 10km flew by and we were turning into the race village before we knew it and unknowingly rode to our best result yet with 15^th overall. We were quite pleased with that and rather loudly celebrated our achievement. This put us into 21^st on GC bringing back our hopes of a top 20 GC result.

Pioneer Journey – Stage 3

DAY FOUR – Stage 3: 79km, 2203m climbing

I woke up, walked over to the bike yard where everyone’s bike is kept overnight to find my bike and see a note saying my back wheel had been replaced. I was not completely surprised about this as I knew my wheels were old and the hubs were in bad shape, but I was hoping to make it through on it. Oh well, they had transferred all the parts on my old wheel onto this new one. The new wheel made the bike feel as good as new so I was ready to get started with today’s stage.

Today’s stage was supposed to be an intermediate stage that could be taken easy(ish) to let the legs have a break. The profile looked like one solid climb then cruising trails to the finish so once at the top of the climb then you could recover to get ready for the last 2 days. Similar to other days, the day started with some fast trails where we could just sit in the bunch. This was probably the fastest section and it was early on so our entire bunch was still together and it was much easier to sit on than drop off and work in the wind. The road widened for a short section and I thought I would take this opportunity to move up to my partner who was 4 or 5 people ahead of me. So, I click up a few gears into my biggest and wrenched on the pedals to overtake the riders. My bike just felt like it snapped instantly, and pedalling got me nowhere, so I assumed my chain had snapped. I look down and see my chain still fine, but my cassette lock ring had popped off letting my small cog spin freely meaning I now had no big gear. This was a problem as we were still on the fast section, so I was spinning like crazy trying to get back onto and then hold on to the bunch. I was frustrated, and Rohan asked if we needed to stop but I said there is nothing we can do as we needed a cassette tool, we needed to get to the first aid station where a mechanic would be there waiting to hopefully fix my bike. So, as we climb the main climb of the day, I go harder than I probably should have out of frustration and desperation to not lose much time. We make it and it takes longer than I had hoped to fix the bike, I stand there watching rival teams ride passed and out of sight only adding to my frustration. Finally, we get going again and slowly ease into a solid tempo trying to bring back some time. Not long after we begin a very rough descent, I hear my bike rattling again, but this time it was my chain guide that had come loose. Hoping I can roll down to the next aid station with it rattling there is moves back towards my rear wheel meaning I had to stop to take it off or it could’ve caused serious damage. More time lost. Not long after this while still descending a rocky trail my back tyre starts making the sound no one wants to hear, air leaving the tyre. I got a flat. We stopped to try plug the tyre which ultimately did not work so we were left with one choice, put a tube in the tyre and hope I don’t get a pinch flat for the rest of the day. Normally this would be easy enough, but these trails were rougher than anything I had ridden before. We finish the descent safely and ride to a solid pace moving through teams to finish to end what was the most frustrating day of the race for us. We rode in for 43^rd which bumped us down to 23^rd overall on GC. This wasn’t many places down on what we were previously, but the time gaps were quite large now. Before this stage we had looked and believed a top 20 on GC was possible but this brought that down to a slight possibility.

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My face here pretty much sums up how I felt about today’s stage. It was a day to forget about and move on. The thing about stage races is that days like these happen to almost all times some time throughout the week so ours was over with and we just had to capitalise on others having a bad day as well.

Luckily, I had booked the mechanics package as it had proved its worth multiple times already this race. I handed them my bike to work on overnight to replace the rear tyre and make it tubeless and to also fix the chain guide back on. For anyone thinking of doing a race and whether to book the extra packages, do it. I didn’t have to clean my bike after each stage as they did it for us which meant I didn’t have to stand for 30 minutes waiting in line for the pressure washer. Instead I was able to relax in the social zone and recover as best as possible while telling stories of the day with other riders.

Pioneer Journey – The Queen Stage

DAY THREE – Stage 2: 104.7km, 2223m climbing

Today was a big one. The Queen stage with 104km ahead of us and over 2000m climbing it was on a whole other level to anything I have done before. This would be my longest day on the mountain bike ever and it was only 1 part of multi-day event, so I was justifiably nervous. Luckily, after yesterday’s shoe problems I had packed both my pairs of MTB shoes I own so after giving my bike to the mechanics overnight to get the cleat out of the pedal, everything was ready to go.

We again set off on some fast gravel trails just trying to hold onto the front bunch while not using up too much energy. The bunch quickly split into the top 12 teams or so and then our group which was led by the leaders in the mixed pair category. With one person being a local to these trails and the other being an Olympian athlete, we were in good hands sitting behind them. We then began what was the nicest single-track climb of the whole week. Winding, flowy trails all the way up to the top of the hill. The pace that the mixed pair leaders set was hard for me but not too hard that it broke me for the rest of the stage, but it was faster than I would have liked to go. We made it to the top and stopped at the aid station for longer than the other teams, so Rohan and I were now left to our own devices. With some rolling fire trail climbs and 4WD track where we passed some teams and got passed by other, we turned into our last big climb of the day. To put it nicely, this was a b*tch of a climb. Really steep bumpy fire trail meant a lot of hike-a-bike. After 45 minutes of climbing (some riding, some walking) we finally reached the peak and descended into a town called Clyde. Once at the bottom there was a long section of flat sealed road and gravel road. Rohan and I caught up to the leaders in the mixed pairs who were coming 2^nd in their category at the time. We activated roadie mode and got low and powered passed teams taking the mixed pair leaders all the way up to a group with their rivals in it (not sure whether to feel good or bad about helping the leaders not lose time, sorry other teams). We caught up to some guys who we thought we would ride with until the finish as we were all working together nicely. With about 5km to go I was riding with some strong Belgian guys powering along a flat section before I here one of them yelling my name with a Flemish accent that I almost didn’t understand. I look back in confusion and see that Rohan my partner, is not with the group. Rohan hit a wall (figuratively) and was feeling today’s effort so he had to back off the pace to the finish as to not ruin his legs for the rest of the week. We rolled into the race village happy to have that monster stage over and done with. We bumped fists across the line and thought the worst of the Pioneer was done as that was the Queen stage. We were wrong. Keeping the result similar to the day before we got 21^st overall which made us think maybe yesterday wasn’t a fluke and we were actually strong enough to be in the mix this far up.