To say my training has been up and down since the Great Southern Brevet would be a huge understatement. While the event itself provided a huge learning curve the recovery time following it was also full of learning experiences.
My knee took a long time to get better and then just as it
was almost 100% again, a small knock during a slow speed crash on the MTB flared
it up and I was back to square one again. This was an ongoing niggly injury
that would come back to haunt me at Naseby. Coupled with this, I was struck
down with a couple of colds and a stomach bug. The combination of still being
slightly immune compromised and Elsie starting day care and bringing germs home
meant I never got a good consistent training block.
Despite all of this I rolled up to Naseby 12 hour looking
forward to the challenge that lay ahead. I had never ridden Naseby solo and it
had also been a while since my last 12 hour race, so I was keen to get stuck
into it. Arriving on Friday evening Nick (support crew extraordinaire) and I
went out for a bit of a recon on the course before it got too dark. As it
turned out, it got too dark about half way around the course so we had to bail
early and head back to camp. All in all the course was running well and was the
typical dry Naseby ridding conditions. Oh how this was about to change. At some
stage during the night it started to rain and when I emerged from the tent in
the morning it was clear to see that the track was going to be anything but dusty.
The first lap of the course was carnage with people losing
control everywhere in the wet conditions. I was happy to sit back and cruise
knowing that I still had a long day ahead. The mud was terrible and I was
reduced to only a couple of gears until I finally did a lap on Nicks bike while
mine got a clean. Slowly lap by lap the course started to dry out and parts
even started to ride really well as it started to bed in.
Around about the half
way mark I started to feel my knee and achilles from the GSB. I was holding 3rd
place and just focused on hold a 'steady' pace and chipping away at the laps. As
the time ticked by my knee was getting more and more sore. By the final 2 hours
I was struggling to put any load through it. I was glad to hold on to 3rd place
and finally get a chance to rest the legs as I rolled in from my final lap.
All in all a good day out in the mud. Now it is time to put
some focused effort on getting my injuries 100%.
Photo credits: St James Mountain Sports
