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Crew Issue 22

ED NOTEI t would be remiss of me not to acknowledge that, as

Enduro 22 goes to print, the world of professional road cycling is in the middle of a pretty serious meltdown. A lot

of people are saying a lot about it. Cadel is telling us to keep the faith, Wiggins is telling us that Lance is like Father Christmas and Cycling Australia is a bit tongue tied as it grapples with the fact that it has had ex-dopers on the books for some time. Well, this is what I have to say about it.

Having been a long-time sceptic about the cleanliness of riders at the top of the sport, I thought I was somehow insulated from the blow that reading Tyler’s book and USADA’s reasoned decision would deliver. I had raced in Belgium and heard rumours of other riders on the team having a “private area” in the communal fridge, of riders being handed drink bottles during the race from one of the team’s soigneurs and not being able to sleep for 24 hours after the race. I figured, if some of these guys were doping, the guys at the top of the sport were likely to be as well.

I thought it was a dirty, level playing field at worst, but it turns out I was wrong and the skeletons that are making their way out of the closet are pretty ugly, not least of which are the living, breathing, skeletons of UCI presidents Hein Verbruggen and Pat McQuaid.

Rightly so, corporate sponsors are taking action and cutting ties with cycling. While initially it looked like this might only have an impact on Lance’s retirement funds, it has started to impact mountain biking with long-time cycling supporter, Rabobank, pulling the plug. The announcement was made just as Fabian Giger (Rabobank-Giant Offroad team) was putting the finishing touches on a brilliant victory in the Langkawi International MTB Challenge. He was left with the bitter-sweet experience of sailing across the line to win the tour in what was potentially his last ever ride in the Rabobank colours.

While this news hit a bit closer to our mountain bike home, it wasn’t until I got a message from a physio friend who was looking after Fabian in Langkawi at the time of Rabobank’s announcement (“Things are not so cool in the Rabobank camp today…”) that I realised how far reaching the effects of Lance’s inglorious downfall actually are; it’s not just the professional road cycling world that is being affected, it’s mountain biking, mountain bikers, mechanics, physios, soigneurs…

It’s very easy to think of doping as a road cycling problem, but recalling the names of busted mountain biking dopers such as Chiotti, Dupouey (RIP), Meirhaeghe and Sheppard makes you realise

that doping (or the threat/temptation of it) is not far from home (even if these guys were all busted in the pre-2005 hey days).

But, dear reader, as you know it is my obligation to you to end this Ed Note on a high (pun intended). Nearly all of us are involved in endurance mountain biking…well, for the ride. We have the great fortune to be involved in this incredible sport in which the thrill of dragging ourselves over epic courses, enduring obscene conditions, being there for our mates and having mates to rely on, experiencing magical landscapes, nailing technical trails, fighting the demons of fatigue and self-doubt, experiencing unadulterated elation…are what we seek and in which we find our rewards.

I hope you enjoy Issue 22 of Enduro and that it reminds you of why we love mountain biking!

your humble editor with a true hero of the modern era, 2008 cyclocross world champion-turned roadie, lars boom. vuelta españa, september 2012.

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The UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships were held in France on the 7th October. As marathon racing has been a massive goal for me this year, and as the current national mara-thon champion, I decided to step up and see how I would fair against the Euros. Initially I was going to be joined by a monster on the bike from short track to marathons, Chris Jongewaard, but unfortunately Chris broke ribs in a crash in China the week before, leaving me as the sole Australian representative….this is my story.

rnans is a small town in the department of Doubs in the Franche-Comté region. The town has a really characteristic French charm with a lazy care-free ambiance, beautiful old

buildings and chateaux. There is also plenty of natural beauty with the village sitting in the Loue valley, which features the crystal clear river of the same name snaking its way through town and is overlooked by dramatic limestone cliffs.

The area is probably best known for its Comté cheese, but Ornans is also synonymous with mountain biking as it hosts the annual Extrême Sur Loue mountain bike marathon. The event, which is currently in its 12th year attracts 3,000 riders and transforms the valley into mountain bike mecca for one weekend of the year, and in 2012 this event doubled as the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships.

When I arrived in Ornans the week before the race, the town was pretty quiet with just the odd team car rolling around to indicate something was on. As the week progressed the town got completely over run by teams and riders and it was all about the race. All the shops had special displays in their windows and the town really did seem

proud that they were hosting the World Championships.

Early in the week I settled in and checked out the course. While riding the course was really enjoyable I will admit that I was a bit scared of a few downhill sections and I definitely developed a healthy respect for how physically tough it was going to be. The course is really challenging compared to those we get in Australia, both physically and technically. At only 84km it doesn’t sound hard, but with brutally steep climbs, several hike-a-bike sections, steep and slippery downhill sections and weather that is typically

wet at this time of year, it is a recipe for a very hard day out.

In the days leading up to the race, the forecast was favourable. Maybe it wouldn’t be as tough as we’d feared?

The night before the race it rained absolutely non-stop. The course went from mountain bike tracks to mud wrestling arena. I knew this meant that everything would be even tougher, but if anything, I was even

more excited to race; I had done the training, prepared myself well, I knew what I had to do…now I just had to get out there and hurt for five hours.

The former Australian mountain bike coach Neil Ross gave the Aussie team some great advice in our team meeting the night before the 2009 World XCO Championships in Canberra. He said: “For some of you, the race won’t go to plan and you will have problems. But no matter what, ride like the rider that you want to be.” This advice came in very handy on that occasion and helped me to have a ride that I am proud of with no

regrets. For my race at Ornans, “not going to plan” would be a complete understatement, but with Neil’s advice still rattling around in my head I am pleased to say that I got to the finish without yelling at anyone or throwing anything in anger.

It all started pretty well. I was called up 113th out of 135 starters and made my way to the start in the light rain. The first 97 riders called to the line were those with

o

"the first 97 riders called to the line were those with marathon World Cup points, followed by UCi XCo rankings, so i was back

with the ‘riff-raff’ like XCo fastmen sergio mantecon, stephane tempier, maxime marotte and mathias Fluckiger".

words by andrew blair | photos by Julien barety: Xtreme sur loue & sportograf

ENDURO 22 30

early on, things are looking good on the team blair front, with andy even managing a smile on the narrow laneway climb | photo sportograf

ENDURO 2231

Marathon World Cup points, followed by UCI XCO rankings, so I was back with the ‘riff-raff’ like XCO fastmen Sergio Mantecon, Stephane Tempier, Maxime Marotte and Mathias Fluckiger. Even the number #1 defending champion Christoph Sauser got stiffed by the UCI’s seemingly irrational seeding which had him called up in 49th.

My plan was to be smart and not waste too much energy early on. In a wet race like this, most of the field would have a bad day and it is more important to do a quick second half of the race than have a fast start. Having said that, I don’t mind starting pretty quick so I decided that if the opportunities arose to move up without using too much energy I would take them.

Then we were off. During the first 5km of flat narrow fire road I had managed to move up really well. I could see the front of the race and was probably sitting top 50 without having burnt too many matches to get there. Just before the first climb there was a hairpin turn, I went on the inside and braked late making up another five positions. Feeling relatively pleased with my progress at this point I got through the corner to see the entire back of the field completely shortcut the turn. This put me back about 30 positions and was a not so subtle reminder of what European racing is all about.

Without panicking, I rode the first climb at a solid tempo whilst being careful not to go into the red. The first descent was a bit of a conga-line with people yelling and taking some stupid risks to try and overtake. It was super slippery, with heaps of guys crashing. I was happy to just sit in the line, recover as much as possible and stay upright.

The first feedzone came at the bottom of the second climb. Just as planned, I took a bidon of electrolyte to drink and one of water to hose my drivetrain. At second feedzone in Longueville at the

19km mark, I looked for my support crew but they were nowhere to be seen. I didn’t panic. We had expected the support convoy to be very hectic and predicted that getting to all the feeds might not be possible, so I just put my head down and kept eating away at the third climb of the day. The next big descent was very rooty and technical. It was pretty loose and I wasn’t winning any awards for style as I made my way down with more tripods than a camera shop. Despite my lack of grace, I managed to pass quite a few riders.

I was relieved to make it to the third feedzone at the 27km mark. I could take on some more fluid fight off the dehydration that felt like it was just around the corner. Again I looked for my support crew and again they were nowhere to be seen. I hoped that being quite cold and wet dehydration would not be an issue. I didn’t really have a choice, other than get down and start licking my top tube.

I continued to move up through the field slowly and told by a spectator who was counting places I was in 70th as we topped out in Mouthier Haute Pierre. I was reasonably happy with that position, considering that I was heading in the right direction.

The course then tipped down another crazy steep and slippery descent. I managed to tripod my way down which was pretty scary, but it looked easier than trying dismount because I passed several people on their arse who were trying to walk.

Shortly after this, disaster struck…I took a wrong turn! “How is that possible in a world championship?” I hear you ask. Well in this case there were many circumstances that contributed, but ultimately it is my fault for not keeping my head up and for that I take full responsibility.

It was the usual case of riding at the back of a group and following the guy in front, in this situation I was behind two Danes and an Austrian. Poor vision also contributed to the error thanks to the rain and mist as well as the mud which was spattered all over our glasses. In addition to that, the UCI had said in the team managers meeting that in the event of bad weather they would modify the course in two sections to avoid the most dangerous sections. So, when we found ourselves on a track that wasn’t familiar, at about the point where one of these two alternative sections were supposed to have been inserted, we assumed that we were on-course. Our assumption was validated by us continuing to pass by the white bunting that marked out the rest of the course.

So when we noticed that we hadn’t seen any yellow course

“For some of you, the race won’t go to plan and you will have problems. But no matter what, ride

like the rider that you want to be.” – neil ross

ENDURO 22 32

arrows for quite some time, we realised that the white bunting was to mark the route for the support convoy. By the time we realised that, we had descended a huge hill and had to ride back up it to re-join the course.

Cruelly, in taking a 15-minute detour, I missed my support team at the fourth feedzone at the 42km mark. It turned out that my support crew completely missed me at the second feed zone due to the chaos surrounding the support convoy, so they decided to cut their losses and go directly to the fourth feedzone instead of risking missing me again. When they didn’t see me there (while I was riding off course), they became worried that something had happened to me and they started talking to the race staff to try and locate me. The organisers had no means of communication with the marshals, and my support team were told they had no record of me having passed feed two or three but that one rider had been taken to hospital (they didn’t know the name, nationality or race number of that rider though). Concern soon turned into mild panic and motorbikes were dispatched to search for me between the first and third feedzones while I continued my thirsty trudge through the mud.

I approached the fifth feedzone at the 52km mark hoping desperately to see my support crew, however, given that I hadn’t seen them since the first feed I wasn’t hopeful. When I saw that they weren’t there

again I looked for a neutral source of water, but there was none. I pleaded with others to donate a bidon, without success.

I had been pretty good at keeping my spirits up to this point, but after this feedzone it became very tough. I was suffering from dehydration and my drivetrain was losing the battle with mud. Shifting was getting hard, putting significant power down on the pedals caused the chain to skip, and mud was continuously clogging in my fork and behind the bottom bracket. I was constantly

stopping to clear mud from these areas by hand. I could feel that I was starting to slow at this point.

At the sixth feedzone at the 63km mark, I decided that if my support crew weren't there I would stop until I got some water. They weren’t there and no one seemed willing or able to give me any until eventually I convinced an Italian to give me some out of the big container he had. I filled an 800ml bidon and continued to ride.

What a huge relief! I gulped down the precious water, anticipating how good it would feel and keen for my body to absorb it and start to feel good again. As I gulped, I noticed that the water tasted like petrol! I

think I had filled it out of his pressure washer that must have been used to store petrol or a solvent at some stage. After some serious deliberation, I was pretty sure that the benefits of drinking the petrol/water mix that I had would be outweighed by the negatives and concluded that I shouldn’t drink what I had…this was probably my lowest point in the race. I was fading fast and riding really slowly by this stage, the taste of petrol still hanging around in my mouth.

At this low point I started to have some

dark thoughts, but kept my head up, ensuring I was on course and looking for any source of water, trying despite all the odds to ‘ride like the rider I wanted to be’. At some point between the sixth and seventh feedzone I spotted a huge tent not far off the track which looked like it was associated with the citizens’ race. It was an oasis-like vision and thankfully as I approached the big tent full of sports drink and nibbles, it didn’t disappear.

It turns out I had discovered the ‘ravitos’ which were the neutral feedzones for the citizens’ race. When I arrived they were excited to have their first customer but were very surprised that I was actually in the world championship race. I couldn’t actually talk by

Top left: Periklis Ilias victoriously flies the Greek flag |Mid Left: Thomas Dietsch negotiating the greasy descents | Bottom left: The Great Dane Annika Langvad salutes the finish line crowd. Note the ripped out lockout cable; this was a tough race

| Above: Hungry & dehydrated, Andy somehow continues to ride out of a very dark place

“The next big descent was very rooty and technical. It was pretty loose and I wasn’t winning and awards for style as I made my way

down with more tripods than a camera shop."

ENDURO 2233

this point, I just skulled cup after cup of sports drink and to their amusement I preceded to make a pile of empty cups in front of the table. I tried to refill my bidon but the lid and my gloves were so covered in mud that I physically couldn’t open it. I grabbed a handful of dried apricots and kept going. Mental note…..dried apricots are amazing!

The seventh feedzone at the 70km mark was in the town of Ornans at the 15km to go mark, about 200m from where I was staying. I had requested a bidon of Coke here and I was sure that they would be there….but they weren’t. “This was probably my second lowest point in the race, as I was pretty smashed by this stage and desperately needed that Coke.” Again, none of the other support crew were willing to donate a bidon or fill mine up. Just when I was about to trudge off out of the feedzone with head hung low a Japanese supporter offered to fill my bidon. It took us about a minute to get the lid off due to all the mud, as she was about to screw the lid on I noticed that during the process the contents of the bidon had become so soiled (literally) that what I now had was a bidon of diluted mud. I had a few sips but couldn't bring myself to have anymore.

A couple of kilometres later I came across another ravito so I once again stopped to smash a dozen cups a sports drink and entire plate of dried apricots.

Having got a bit more water in me, “I was starting to feel human again and was actually enjoying the descents, but my bike was so covered in mud that I could no longer shift into the small chainring when I needed it. As a result, I was having to do a lot of running and stopping in order to clear away some of the debris from the bike.“ I passed two guys on the last descent into Ornans and crossed the line with a sense of relief that it was over. The finish marshal said to me: “your support crew have been looking for you” to which I replied “I’ve been looking for them too!”.

I never like to put things down to bad luck. I believe that planning, preparation

and the decisions that you make during a race are the biggest factors that determine your result. By accepting accountability it is possible to learn from bad experiences in order to avoid, or cope better with, issues in the future. In this case there were probably a few holes in the Swiss cheese that lined up to make things a bit worse, but I take full responsibility for my result and I am proud at being able to finish the race despite my setbacks. I have certainly learnt some valuable lessons and, who knows, I might even put those lessons to good use next year at the Marathon World Championships in Austria.

German Wolfram Kurschat holds onto Blaireys rear wheel on the ascent. Kurschat would not finish the race | Photo Sportograf

ENDURO 22 34

Words byshaNE taylOR

photos:aDam mcgRath

Entertaining - and consistent - bicycle blogger, looooong rides fan and all round nice guy, Ed McDonald is building a reputation for consistency in longer formats of racing. He's also open minded enough to leave his beloved single speed at home some weekends in order to mix it up with the big dogs of the Australian marathon and enduro racing scene. Perhaps that's what naturally happens to someone when they design a 200km race course from Canberra to Bateman's Bay...

You've clearly stepped it up a gear (in more ways than one) over the last 12 months, is that a logical progression for you or a concerted effort to keep Jason English honest?

The last twelve months or so have been pretty fantastic, that’s definitely true. In some ways, the development has been a fairly logical progression. I’ve become more disciplined with riding, more attentive to nutrition and have been able to build progressively on experience, particularly for 24hr racing. I had a very interesting conversation with Andrew Hall one Sunday morning at Stromlo three months out from the Scott 24hr, where he convinced me that actually taking Jason on was possible. He basically argued that, even though it would take a severe mechanical or a big crash for us to beat Jason, just having a go at it was worthwhile in its own right.

Jason’s dominance is a bit ambivalent for the sport in general. One the one hand, it makes it fairly boring having a rider with such relentless consistency at the top of the sport. On the other hand, he’s pushing the standard continuously higher, both in terms of the racing speed, but mostly in terms of the consistency throughout the night.

The last three 24hr races I’ve done were very much about trying to demonstrate the racing aspect of 24hr racing and riding with an every second counts mentality. I loved racing the Scott and Jet Black 24hr races with recklessness and stupidity and I think having Jason to chase made me lift my level much higher than I would have done otherwise. What most people missed was that Jason went away over summer and made a big effort to lift his 24hr pace again. His ride at 24hr Nationals this year was a much higher level than I’ve seen him race at before, particularly with his pace through the witching hours of the night. It was a demonstration of dominance!

You finished a very credible 11th at the Marathon Nationals recently...a mere 10 minutes behind some very big names - (and in front of a host of others - will you be looking to have a serious crack at that format too in the future?

I think so. I really enjoyed Marathon Nationals, particularly the climbing-heavy nature of the course. I made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot from the fast guys, so it was definitely a good experience to have. Unfortunately I was on the wrong side of the split in the first section of singletrack and that made life a bit harder but I guess that’s the lesson of pre riding the course and maintaining proper position in the bunch. I’ve also had lots of fun racing XCO a bit in the past year...I think I just love all of it!

Having said that, I don’t think I’ll ever develop anywhere near the same power as the Andy Blairs and Dylan Coopers of the world. It is good fun though and great racing without the horrendous recovery time of the really long races.

So are 24hr races still the main focus for the time being?

Yep, the focus is still on 24 hr races! It’s an addiction. It does also seem to be my strongest discipline on the bike, or my speciality. I think it’s because you can compensate for a lack of talent with stubbornness in 24hr racing. I also think my propensity for pulling all-nighters at uni has given me a perverse tendency to become very productive in the witching hours! I usually have a mental switch flick on at 2am where I embrace the madness of having been on a bike for 14 hours and I can roll with that at least until dawn.

Worlds in Canberra next year?

This race will be an interesting litmus test as to the ever contentious viability of a 'World' 24 hour championship. It seems that not many fast Europeans actually came out to play at WEMBO in Finale, although I’m told that the event itself was a great start. I’ll be very interested to follow the results from the 24 Hours of Adrenaline race in Canmore given the amount of effort Stu Dorland’s made to attract the American racers. I’m not really sure where the competition will come from for Jason in 2013 for the WEMBO race in Australia, although I think Canmore will clear that up. At the moment, I’d pick Sam Chancellor to be a real favourite in 2013...he’s cleaning up the Victorian Enduro Series and put in a great ride at Marathon Champs.

There’s a lot of scepticism surrounding the 24hr World Championships from fast riders, particularly those who’ve competed against the European professionals in the UCI World Cups. A lot of it is warranted. However, Russ Baker and CORC are making huge steps towards earning the “Worlds” title – and the lack of professional riders can mean a much more level playing field with fewer barriers to entry – and a form of racing that is much less dependent on your start seeding.

However, for the time being, the national title still holds a much bigger attraction for me because it lacks this contention and no one can question its viability, particularly given that the current men’s champion has won a marathon national title and stood on the podium at XCO national titles. It’d also be great to see some of the critics of 24hr racing have a crack either at Nationals or 2013 WEMBO. Jodie Willett in particular has proven that XCO racers have all the physical capabilities to do the 24hr races too.

Is there any focus at the moment or are

you pretty much just having a crack at whatever takes your fancy?

Hah! At the moment I am focusing on the Scott 24hr in October. I had a couple of months of inconsistent riding between a knee injury and sickness in April and May so I’m compensating by going nuts in June. I’m trying to build up a bigger base over June and July so I can tap a bit more out of my body in the last six hours of the Scott. I think Sam and Scott Chancellor are both coming and I’m sure Jason English and Brett Bellchambers will be racing, so we’ll have a good field.

In the meantime, the other main race goal is the Chocolate Foot SRAM Singletrack Mind Series. It always provides great fun, single track heavy racing...and some great racing with Andrew Hall – we’re very evenly matched and I’ve never seen him crack!

However, there certainly is an element of just taking random cracks at races all over the place. Spontaneity is great! The best thing about Canberra is that any club XCO will produce some awesome riders such as Brad Morton, James Downing and the emerging star Ben Comfort, so I’m really enjoying that too.

Goals for the future?

My big goal is to win a national 24 hr title – I’d love to wear green and gold stripes. Having said that, I had a great race at Easter this year and if that’s the closest I ever come I can still walk away very happy with that achievement.

I’d also love to win Singlespeed Nationals. In the past few years, this race has been won far too often by Kiwis. I’m told that my beer drinking skills are very deficient for this task though, so I might have to do some training in that capacity!

Most riders go from more gears to less but you've gone the other way, what’s the reason behind that?

In 2011 I won the single speed 24hr national title. It’s a nice little story so I might elaborate. I went pretty hard through the night of that race and managed to pull a lap on Brett 'Jeebus' Bellchambers at about three in the morning. He had a master plan though: when the sun came up, he started punching out outrageously fast lap times and unlapped himself, a veritable “Jeebus” resurrection on Easter Sunday morning! In the meantime, I lost about 80% of my vision due to hypoglycaemia and really struggled to lift the pace again. Trying to keep away from Brett, I came within three minutes of catching Stu Brown for second overall!

I was loaned a geared pre-production 2012 Trek Superfly for the 2011 Scott 24hr and it certainly helped me ride at a higher level. I realised after that race that I’d achieved everything I wanted to on a single speed

Shane Taylor sat down for a coffee with Ed and found a thoughtful guy with plenty of insights into the machinations of the national and international mountain biking scene.

and although my heart would always be in it – and 90% of my mountain bike rides are still done SS – gears were a logical way to go forward and I’ve seen that quite clearly this year. Thankfully, with support this year from Trek and On the Rivet Cycles in Phillip, the costs of maintaining a geared race bike for endurance racing have been greatly reduced.

Besides the racing, in which you are doing quite handsomely at the moment, you are pretty keen on the whole bike packing/touring thing. Can you explain a little about the annual C2C that you arrange every year?

I was lucky enough to do the Kiwi Brevet with some mates in 2010. This is a 1100km New Zealand version of the Tour Divide. It was an awesome, life-changing experience. I really like off-road touring, it is mountain biking, exploration, adventure, and one massive food binge all combined together. It’s made stage racing feel a little artificial and contrived for me comparatively!

C2C 200 was my own interpretation of this whole movement in mountain biking. It’s a modified route of the classic Canberra to Coast theme, taking in the best of the Mogo/Bateman’s Bay single track and some big,

remote mountain passes en route to the coast via about 200km. The idea was that it would be a bit along the bike packing lines, but it quickly turned into a bog-standard race with some navigation challenges. It’s currently on hiatus for a bit while Jason McAvoy, the co-founder of the idea, and I work out what direction it will go in for the future. Stay tuned…

The most current scheme is to try Canberra – Tumut – Canberra in one single hit. It’s about 300km, 50% dirt, and some enormous mountain passes in each direction.

What do you do when you aren't riding? What's a typical week in the life of Ed McDonald?

I’m currently in a transitional period from being an engineering student into the world of working as an engineer. Because of this my recent weeks haven’t been typical at all! Studying brings a very inconsistent work flow: sometimes you have all the time in the world, and at other times, you spend 40 hours straight working on some stupid group project. Obviously full time work is much more consistent and makes monster cycling weeks a lot harder, but I’m very happy to be leaving weekend casual jobs behind.

It’s only in a magazine like Enduro that I’d admit that almost my entire social life revolves around cycling – hopefully the readers of this won’t laugh as much as most 23 year olds do when they hear that! I like going on social mountain bike rides or epics with my friends, and so many races act as a great way to catch up with the cycling community.

Outside cycling, I still play a bit of cricket, play the guitar, and really enjoy writing complete rubbish on my blog. www.edridesbikes.wordpress.com

What sort and how much riding/training do you do in an average week?

Well, for the foreseeable future, I will be on three days a week of work and part time study, and then normal full time work thereafter. I’m lucky enough to be able to commute by bike and Canberra is well set-up for this. I aim for a minimum of a one hour commute each way, mostly on bike paths and on a beat-up fixie. Commuting is a great way to relax and think very, very slowly and a good way of ticking over consistent miles. This is usually supplemented by some social MTB night rides.

On the days off, I’ll aim to do either at