There is nothing as good as stage racing. A week away with like minded cyclists, spending your time doing nothing other than riding, eating or sleeping. It is cyclist heaven 
This years Mountains to Beach was preceded by a week of some of the biggest rainfall the area had seen in decades, something like 400mm in a few days, it caused widespread flooding in the region and the evacuation of one of the towns the race goes through. All the other mountain bike races scheduled around this week were postponed or cancelled, but the crew from Wild Horizons doesn’t give up that easily. They were up until the wee hours every night, driving, walking and wading through crossings, finding us a course that could be raced every day. Where others had quit, these guys persisted and ensured we had a great course to race on every day.
Day 1 – Thredbo and Crackenback
I’d come to try and win Masters, and I knew it would take some tactical thinking to win it. Stage races are never won without a plan. The first stage was the Cannonball Run decent from the top of the chairlift at Thredbo, the stage is about 40 minutes long and offers plenty of places to fly off the mountain and end your week early (as some other unfortunate souls have found in previous years), so my plan was to take it easy and loose some time here, then make it up where it was safer in later stages. I dropped my tyres to 20psi to maximise grip and enjoyed the run. I was surprised to roll across line in 7th overall and took the stage win in Masters (giving me a 1:27 lead), apparently there were others in the field with the same cautious plan.
Stage 2 was a cruise to Crackenback with Ed and Gaz, lush rolling bitchumen and all downhill. We decided to scope out the afternoon’s single track, to see how wet it was…
Much of it was under water, but course director Wayne never gives up. He put together some awesome trail for a 1hr XCO race around Crackenback, delivering dry trails and an aggressive course which was ridden on the limiter. This was our first mass start stage, so it was interesting to try and hold the wheels of the top 5, which I managed to do until we hit the single track and then was dropped like a stone, these power and skill of these guys is amazing to witness. On my wheel where 4 or 5 riders, none of which I knew, but as they were right there, I knew they were going to be a problem
Liam skimmed passed me and Gaz went after him, then Tim. At this point I thought these new guys looked too young to me, so couldn’t be in Masters, so I wasn’t worried that they got past, but I should have been!
After the finish I would learn they were both in Masters and the week ahead would see us sharing equal stage wins, so this was going to be come close racing for the rest of the week.
Liam smashed me by 1:02 in the stage, shrinking my lead to a mere 25 seconds, which was not cool! 
Day 2 – Perisher to Buckenderra
After the easiest climb of the week, a lush ride in the Ski Tube to the top of Perisher, we started the biggest race stage of the week. With new threats discovered in the race I decided to with the elites for as long as could, which gave me a handy and healthy gap on the rest of the field. As we cruised on bitchumen I just sat in as long as possible, figuring it would be smart to get whatever advantage I could. At the bottom of the big climb for the day, I was firmly reminded of my place in this group as they all rode away from me up the hill and I was left alone to start the climb. Being a hopeless climber, I needed all the head start I could get on the big climb, so I was thankful for the tow. It wasn’t long before team mate Garry caught up to me with Masters Tim and Liam in tow, we were all climbing together in a group and the tempo was comfortable until Tim decided to attack. Weighing in at 58kg, almost 20kg lighter than me, this guy climbs like a mountain goat and he gapped me quickly, riding away with Garry, leaving Liam and I chasing together, gasping for air.
Knowing this was a big climb, I climbed to heart rate and kept it at low threshold, saving some beans for later. I kept timing the gap to the others every now and then. They would get a minute on me, then sometimes that would grow to two minutes, but then shrink to a minute again, so I didn’t panic, just kept my rhythm and pace, knowing I had a secret weapon ready for the summit…
At the top Liam had fallen off the back, but Tim and Garry had a 2 minute lead on me. I knew at this point I was no longer winning masters, but with a long decent following this climb, and long TT afterwards, I hoped I could catch up. Spooling up the aero ENVE 29er wheels on the Cannondale Flash does feel like cheating, but right now I needed an advantage! As the decent went on, I got sight of the boys and as we hit the bottom, I had caught back up, the bike had done its job. Gaz reminded me that the stage featured an up hill finish and Tim would surely beat me, but so long as I kept the gap under 20 seconds, I should retain the lead. We rode to the finish working together as a group and as predicted Tim did gap me in the sprint finish, but only took 7 seconds back from me. I had clung on the overall lead by the smallest amount. Coincidentally I was also a mere 1 second up on Radical Factory Racing team mate Garry in the overall standings for the week, which gave us a some material for an all night trash talk session
Day 3 – Buckenderra XCO
Getting up at 4am is never fun for me, and it’s less fun when there is no coffee in easy reach. Settling for 2 no doze and a caffeine gel I managed to roll up to the start line feeling pretty amped and ready for 2 laps of the XCO style course. It had rained all night, so the course was a mud bath, I knew it would be critical to get first run in the single track, so gave it everything to get there ahead of my rivals. Racing under lights is always a favourite format for me, so I felt quite at home and set about chasing down 16 year old Ethan, who was in 6th position in this stage, clearly loving the technical nature of the course. Half way through this lap I looked back to see where the chasers were and was elated to see nothing but darkness… we’d got a gap,
a good one. Riding the same muddy course on the second lap revealed that 100 pairs of wheels can really change the terrain! The course was chopped and slushy, all the climbs we’d ridden on lap 1 were now slick mud and unrideable, so it was time to crack out the cyclocross skills and start running some areas. Having a healthy gap meant I could go into insurance mode and I shut the pace on the descents down to a much safer speed and kept checking to make sure no one was catching me. No one ever did and I managed to get 6th place in the stage, my best result, but most importantly, I had put over 8 minutes into Tim, who was coming 2nd in Masters.
This was a pivotal point in the week, and the biggest margin any of us would gain. It was all down to the super bright Radical Lights which were clearly an advantage for this pre dawn stage, having clear vision when the trails are slick and dangerous is vital.
Day 4 – The Princess Stage
Today should have been the 90km queen stage, but flooded creek crossings reduced this one down to a more princess like 48km. With some massive climbs removed from the stage, I couldn’t have been happier. I am always happy when hills are removed from a race, but even more so when my opponent is a 58kg whippet Tim knew it too, so when Shaun Lewis attacked with Ed McDonald immediately after the gun went off, so did Tim. My tactic today would be to mark him and stay safe, but his tactic was clearly to try and gap me and sit on the elites for the long 20km TT to the base of the big climb. If he pulled it off, it could be fatal for me, so I grabbed a mouthful of handle bars and struggled to hold to his wheel while he tried to bridge to the Elites. It wasn’t long before a long uphill drag handed him the advantage he needed and I was dropped and he was catching up to Ed. Panic set in…
Behind me a group containing team mate Gaz and rival Liam had formed, and it also contained Ethan. These were guys I had ridden with all week and if we worked together, we could reel Tim and Ed back in, but it wasn’t to be, only one of the boys managed to bridge across to me, but I was in luck, it was my good mate Gaz and we formed a two man chase echelon, trying to reduce the damage Tim and Ed could do. At the bottom the climb I was looking forward to Gaz pacing me up there when his chain suddenly snapped and I was left alone. Tim was out of sight, but the finish was only an hour away, surely he couldn’t get the 10 minutes lead I had back in an hour, could he?
The climb up Numeralla Mountain is steep, over 20%, so I chose to run it. Running is not that much slower than riding at these gradients, but for the whole climb I couldn’t see Tim, so I was praying there would be a big decent on the other side (due to the course changes I wasn’t sure what the profile was). When I hit the top I quickly realised there was no big decent coming, instead, only bad weather came. Our first rain of the week started to fall as I made my way across some of the most water logged farm paddocks I’ve ever seen. The water was over half a wheel deep in many places and line selection became critical to make it rideable. About halfway across the first paddock I spied Tim in the distance… I was gaining! This was all the motivation I
needed and started to drill it to the finish. I rolled into the finish 1:36 down on Tim, retaining a 10 minute overall lead… since I had the spare time, I probably should have used some to stop to put on my rain jacket, but stupidly I hadn’t, so when I finished my body started to go into hypothermia. I couldn’t think straight, I had blurred vision, no co-ordination and a headache. Thankfully race director Huw saw I was in a bit of trouble and banished me to a nearby farm house, where the land owners took me in and fed me hot tea and got me back into useable condition for the cruise stage where warm food and dry clothes awaited us at the finish.
I’ll always be eternally grateful for that generosity!
A bus was used to get us around water damaged roads and down to the coast. I wished we were riding the decent down the Great Dividing Range as planned, but I was cold and thankful to be in a warm dry bus as the rain splashed on the windscreen.
Day 5 – Bermagui XCO
Usually we would race to the finish at Narooma today, but flooded creek crossings where deeper than some competitors are tall, so safety was the best option and we raced the first 11km and cruised the rest on the bitchumen and fire roads. With a solid 10min lead I was pretty keen to roll this one super safe and easy, there was no chance Tim could get back the required 10mins in 11km, unless he travelled 25% faster than I did, or I did something stupid and crashed or caused a mechanical.
The course was very muddy, and after Buckenderra, I knew it would be vital to be first to the single track, so I dug deep at the start and managed 5th in the single track, then shut it down to a very careful pace to ensure I stayed upright and the bike made it intact. Every time the bike shifted poorly in the mud, I backed off the power to avoid a busted chain and where the mud was super deep, it was time to run those sections and take no risks with fragile derailuers. It was a pretty soft approach to the stage, and by the end a couple of masters had snuck past, but neither of the where Tim, so I was happy to slink across the line in 3rd for the stage, because I had won the Masters by 11 minutes! Sweet.
The cruise to the finish was in beautiful sunlight and on dry roads and trails and we even got to roll down onto Narooma Beach and finish the event on the sand as planned which was a real testament to the hard work of the Wild Horizons crew. Where many other promoters would have given up, these guys worked tireless all day and night to re-route on the fly to give us a race every day and a great week out on the bikes, albeit in a little mud, but hey, what is mountain biking without some dirt and mud?
Thanx
Cannondale: The Flash 29er is the weapon of choice for this kind of racing. The bigger wheels were an advantage in the mud and over bumpy grass and the low weight (8.5kg from the factory) was a major help when trying to keep up with a road racing climber that weighs in almost 20kg lighter than I do. The bike was also way faster than others on the descents, and its super stable at those high speeds. The aero wheels are an advantage on those long flat time trial segments too.
VIE13: The custom racing kits were super comfy in all conditions, and trust me, we got to test them in sun, rain, mud, wind. Everything. They were great all week.
Radical Lights: For the 7 minute lead in the Dawn Raid stage, giving me my best finish all week and setting me up with an unbeatable lead for the rest of the week. These lights were an obvious advantage against my rivals, the proof of this pudding is the lap times.
Frameskin: After a week of racing in the mud, the bike should have some mighty scratches and damage, but after a quick wash, the bike is back to looking like new. The Frameskin protection had proven to hold up to the hardest conditions.
Hammer Nutrition: I ran the week on HEED and Hammer Gels and never felt flat. The caffeine gels quickly became my favourite.
Wild Horizons: For having the courage to run an event in conditions any other promoter would have run screaming from. We only had to ride in the rain for 30 mins all week and the daily course changes were fantastic, delivering a course that was awesome for racing while also being safe for all participants. That is amazing when you consider the amount of water that had fallen in the region. No matter what nature threw at you guys, you answered it with a slick event that never missed a beat all week.
