Back in the Alice!

It has been a very, very long time since I've posted anything on here. A month short of three years to be precise! A lot has happened between June of 2011 and May 2014 - including finishing up high school, a six month stint in Bogota, Colombia, as an assistant teacher, and surviving two years of college at Fort Lewis in Durango, Colorado. 

A little flashback action of my lovely house and roommates in Bogota

The nitty gritty on these happenings is going to have to wait as currently there's a little more important racing to talk about here at home in the Alice!

The Ingerreke Commercial Mountain Bike Enduro (ICME) started yesterday and so far has been nothing short of amazing after stages 1, 2, and 3. Having ridden in the race four years ago, the event run by Rapid Ascent hasn't lost any of its fun (both in the casual atmosphere and unreal trail choices)! With the support of the Ultimate Ride Bike Shop and Bicycle Centre I've been given the opportunity to ride a suped up Lapierre XR 529 while I'm at home which has proved to be a great bike so far for the race. Enough with the background info, here's a bit of a race report on how the race has unfolded so far:

Stage 1, Chifley Resort to Alice Springs Velodrome:

A very unfortunate start to the race for number one plate Ben Mather as the cop car escort through town ended in a brake slam instead of an acceleration, ending with Ben laying on the back window a little bruised and now an angry man. He showed this as he lay down a steady but very strong pace through the sand before getting to the Alice Springs Cinema KOM. By this time we had a gap to the rest of the field, and I wanted to see how Ben's climbing legs were going so gave it a big effort over the top to take the prize. 

Top of the KOM, photo by Shane Mulcahy

From here we settled in for a solid shred on the local singletrack keeping the power going through when a km or two before the water stop I burped my rear tyre. James Downing had a heroic chase and caught us on the descent into the water stop where I put CO2 in the tyre and, fortunately, Ben and James were gentlemen and slowed for me to get back on. 

The last part of the stage continued with more awesome singletrack, and the three of us stayed together until the second train track crossing where I was able to hop across like a kangaroo and put a tiny gap into the guys. After a little mistake at the bottom of Blair's Stairs, I put the hammer down and the dually handled the climb perfectly letting me descend into the velodrome with a slight gap over Ben in second and James in third. 

Stage 2, Anzac Hill climb:

After taking the stage in the morning, I wanted to capitalize on the small lead I had since time bonuses are on offer (20 seconds for first and 10 seconds for second). The short 300m climb is an all-out sprint, and I made sure my legs were nice and warm before heading to the start line 30 seconds after Ben. Everything went quiet as I watched the start clock tick down from 5-4-3-2-1… after that it was all over before I could think about it. With legs burning and barely able to get enough oxygen, Norm Douglas came over with his camera and said "sum it up in two words for me," the only appropriate thing that came to mind was "holy moley!" with a big grin having gotten up the hill in just under 44 seconds, barely two seconds quicker than Ben to take the stage win for the second time.

Cool little highlight reel here check it out here.

Stage 3, Telegraph Station to Lasseter’s Hotel and Casino:

Today was all about staying with Ben and James and not losing any time in the overall standings, going into the stage with just a 28 second lead. We got off to a relatively responsible start on the fire roads through and after Wigley's waterhole, with Ben and I gaining a little time through the sandy sections on the 'Roller Coaster.' We made it to the helmet (Ben's, after Ben Hodgson an ex-local strongman) with a group of four or five of the top guys and enjoyed the riding on some new singletracks before making it to the water station at about 25km mark. 

Tongue's out fun's out! Photo again courtesy of Shane Mulcahy

Ben continued to tap away pretty strongly on the pedals, and we would get small gaps to the guys behind before they would catch up in a bit of a yo-yo exercise. Coming along onto the final stretch of fire roads and bitumen with about 5km to go Ben put in some massive efforts keeping me on the ropes trying to get back on. Eventually it was back to four guys again, with Chris Hanson and Paris Basson mixing it up towards the last climb of the race. I misled all except Ben with my 'local' knowledge, and advantage was taken with Ben taking off again leading most of the remainder of the race spent in the red zone. Coming down Stephen’s Road to the finish, Ben was going so fast there was no chance to come around and try for the stage win again, and he took a well-deserved win after sitting on the front all day! 

The results of today's stage leaves the gap between Ben and I at 18 seconds after time bonuses. Unfortunately Mr. Downing had tyre trouble today and had a valiant effort after blowing through three CO2s and only losing three minutes! 

Highlight reel for stage 3 action click the blue underlined word.

Getting some rest now and watching a bit of Star Wars in preparation for tomorrow’s double stage. Looking forward to a nice massage from Pippa at Alice Springs Physio this evening as well!

Cheers :)

 -Ryan