So far everyone has noticed significant improvements in their energy & strength levels and will start to see some fantastic physical changes over the next three weeks.

Major focus for each competitor has been nutrition & meal planning (see our online meal planner!), along with solid group training sessions.  Everyone is on target with their eating and their training, its great to see.

Must pay a mention to Catrina who has already lost 1kg in the first week.  Great result Catrina and well done!

Brett
Strength and Conditioning Coach

Do you want to lose over 10kgs but just don’t know where to start???  Tried all the pills and shakes that promise to work but then end up putting all the weight plus a bit more back on???  Are you frustrated that you are exercising but not seeing the results you want…    Lose Flab Look Fab is the answer that you have been looking for!!!!    Run as a 6 or 8 week Challenge you will learn the ways to eat to rev up your metabolism and burn fat, when is the best time to exercise and what type of exercise for you body type, Plus all the support and motivation that you need from fitness and weight loss experts. Weekly meetings and assessments are included in the program to help keep you focused on your personal goal.

Time for a quick dash out to Mt Stromlo and take some items into the pits before the gates are locked…the tents are all going up and many are moving into camp sites for the weekend.   I take the opportunity for a last ride of the course and satisfy myself that the bike is set ready to race and I am familiar with the track.

Solo Camping

Moving into Pit Row

2pm race to riders briefing…its mandatory that myself and my Pit Manager (Andrew) are present.  Dangers whilst on the track included a swooping magpie and kangaroos…(slightly different to the bears we were warned about in Canada ’08).  Have to agree kangaroos are as dangerous to cyclists as they are to cars – they wait till the last minute and jump out either on top of you or take out your front wheel.

Briefing over, finish shopping for all the food I may feel like eating during the race as well as  M & M’s and TimTams for the pit crew.

Hogs Breath is my choice for pre-race dinner – yummy tender steak, veges, curly chips as well as mashed potato…for once I can lots of carbs Mmmmmm.

Sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep….

Another tyre to change....

Time for a quick ride round the course…I decide to just ride the ‘porkbarrel’ and and a couple of other challenging sections and finish with the ‘skyline’ and ‘luge’.  After going through with Mark yesterday it is soooo much easier today.  The new wheels are nice and stiff, and the different rear tyre much more suited to my riding style.

Just about to leave for dinner with coach Fenz from FPT Training and all his clients who he has trained for the Worlds when Rod arrives.  Rod has ridden his motorbike all the way from Maryborough to help Andrew and Davo in the pits whilst I race, so we drag him out to dinner with us.    As arranged I catch up with my great mate and fellow ‘Cougar’ Jacqui over dinner.  We have orgainised our pits to be side by side so we can support each other whilst racing.  Great to catch up with everyone, dicsuss race tactics and generally have a good laugh – one of the downsides to 24hr racing is that after the race everyone is so exhausted that we just go and sleep.  The night ends up being a little longer than planned…

And then we entered the section of the track they call the ‘porkbarrel’.  Rough descents over huge sharp rocks with nowhere to stop if you get into trouble…it is crash or ride!!  So rough you really don’t want to use the brakes as too much will send you hurtling into something solid and not so very nice, but if you don’t brake a little you probably won’t get round the sharp corners either.  This is where the ’07 World Champion ‘Gordo’, crashed and broke his collar bone just a few weeks ago…unfortunately he will miss out racing this year due to his injury.  I’m wondering what this section of the track will look during the night after a few thousand  bikes tear it up …definitely no chance of sleeping whilst riding anyway!!

After the porkbarrel I’m loving the firetrails that climb back up and over Mt Stromlo even if they are steep and loose.  During the night the steep climbs take their toll and can break you mentally so I spend time breaking down the climbs into small sections and look for the easier parts to rest on…that way I focus on the rest ahead as a reward rather than think of kilometres of hard up hill climbs when I’m tired.

The view from the topof Mt Stromlo is fabulous, you can see all of Canberra which is lovely and green at the moment.  The track takes us right across the mountain on a trail called ‘skyline’, my favourite section – smooth and fast, no need to pedal, we stand, pump and go with the flow straight into the ‘luge’, a series of fun switchbacks we twist and turn all the way back to the start…what a rush!!!

Mark and Davo at the top of Mt Stromlo

The weathers quite hot today, so we finish the day with a BBQ.

Mt Stromlo

Fast, flowing track

We still have a mechanical issue with  my rear shock, it won’t hold air.  After chatting with my mate Jacqui in Sydney, she has a chat with her bike mechanic, Adam who proceeds to see if he has any more luck getting a new shock than what we did in Maryborough before leaving.  The results are the same…there isn’t one in Australia, but he then proceeds to phone round Canberra until he finds a mechanic who is familiar with the shock.  End of the story is that now I have a usuable shock.  I owe Adam big time, and still haven’t met him.  He will be on Jacqui’s pit crew at the Worlds so I will make sure to catch up with him.

Have an hour or so to duck out to Mt Stromlo and ride the track.  Just about to go out and I see Anna from Italy, I remember how encouraging and supportive she was at the Worlds in Canada ’08.  She tells me she is now the Italian 24hr female champion – that’s great she is such a happy, positive person.

The track is sooooo much fun!!  I think just perfect for Australia-hard and rocky surface.  There isn’t anywhere comfortable for a crash landing the motivation is there to stay upright at all cost. We ride the first hill section, a really nice flowing gradual climb full of switchbacks great for daytime riding, however I think may become tricky at night when tired.  We ran out of time to complete the whole course today, but descended down the Luge.  Very fitting name-no pedalling needed here, a collection of flowing switchbacks but need to watchout for rocks, washouts and wheelruts.  Davo simply flies down the mountain, making me work hard to keep up with him. We all finish in what will be the pit area just like kids getting off rides at the show, with huge smiles on our faces and checking the time just in case we can do it all again…unfortunately it’s almost dark and starting to spit, you can see it raining across the valley.  We will have to wait for tomorrow.

We drop in to see Mark at work at Onya Bikes to pick up some tyres suitable for the track and to tee up a time to ride with him.  He is also racing the Worlds, and I’ve asked him for a technical skills session on the track as it’s his home territory he knows all the best lines.  Conserving energy is important so knowing when to put the gas down or what line is smoother especially when the track wears after a few hours all helps.

I’ve been having issues with stomach cramps for a few weeks, especially after eating.  This is becoming more of a concern as whilst racing it is necessary to continuously eat so I’ve come to the point where something needs to be done.  I decide I should do a gall bladder cleanse…definitely not the best time, but right now I’m feeling kinda desperate!!  So off to the shops for some epsom salts, olive oil, ruby grape fruit…  Looks like today I won’t be out riding the track.

Whilst I’m inside torturing my body, Davo and Andrew are outside doing a complete swap of the 3 bike wheelsets and converting them all to run tubeless.  Racing at Mt Stromlo is notorious for pinch flats from all the rocks.  Sounds a simple job, but as the wheelset I ordered to race on from the UK hasn’t yet arrived and the wheels I currently have on my bike have just had too many races in them we’ve decided to put the wheelset from my spare bike onto my race bike, the wheels from Andrews bike onto my spare bike and sadly Andrew now gets the old ones off my race bike…Phew what a headache, but they also need to change the cassettes and rotors.  I feel very grateful to have both of them willing to assist in any way.

It was my turn driving when we were pulled over in Armidale for a routine breath test-not a big deal unless you don’t have your license with you!!  Hmmm luckily a very nice officer who suggested I staple it to my forehead (or maybe he didn’t feel like giving me the $90 on the spot fine?) He then nicely informed us it was the middle weekend of the NSW school holidays as well as a long weekend.  We had no idea that meant overnight accomodation was going to be virtually impossible…

Happily we continued our journey to Tamworth where we thought would be a nice place to spend the night, however after dropping into a few places followed by a thorough ring around realised we would just have to keep driving (not the solution we wanted)  Lucky for me, Andrew drove and I snoozed until 10.30pm he found some accomodation in Muswellbrook – such a huge day!!

Sunday there was time for a little but much needed sleep in and a short drive to Newcastle to visit my Dad then onto Canberra, but not before a quick stop into my favourite bakery in Goulbourn for a potato pie (yes, every now and then I do enjoy a good pie)

So finally we have arrived in Canberra, the next few days will be spent riding the track and organising equipment ready to race Saturday.

If you were missing your outdoor training sessions, get ready they are back starting Friday 16th July, and include a variety of cardio, resistance and toning exercises. It is a fun and effective way to work out. Participants are encouraged to work at their own pace so sessions are suitable for all fitness levels. Come along and train in a fun filled environment with dynamic trainers rather than go solo in the gym.

Adrenalin sessions are available as a 17 session pack or 8 session pack (one a week choose either tuesday morning or Friday afternoon)

See reception for further details and prices.

Adrenalin Sessions are FREE for

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