Dirtworks 100

[USM TOM]

just got home from the dirtworks 100 and man am i rooted
personaly my race was little dissapointing.
i had a fair crash around the 40km mark going down a rocky ass hill and went over the hangers and landed on a rock with heaps of people behind watching
then i cramped superbad at around 55-60km and finished in 7hours and 6minutes

there was a couple a real bad crash's and i think at least 1 person was airlifted out

the winner set a new record of 3hours and 55minutes which is insane.


the tracks were about 10x harder then i thought they'd be and im a big girl going downhill as millions of people just flew past me and been on a crappy hardtail didnt make it easier
IMO this was way harder then road riding

[alchemist]

I went out there expecting to be out on the course for for 8 to 9 hours so when I came in in one piece in around 7:22 I was stocked.

A few pictures
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9 ... e7e863e7f1

[ruscook]

You did it, didn't you??? That's a huge effort - well done!! 100k on dirt is much more effort than road, and this was a race!
(I wish I could find an applause smiley).... Congratulations

Russ

[leximack]

I went out there expecting to be out on the course for for 8 to 9 hours so when I came in in one piece in around 7:22 I was stocked.

A few pictures
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9 ... e7e863e7f1

A cyclocross bike fixed for 100km , your one tough nutter Rob, congrats on finishing and in a good time also

[leximack]

i was out today for a little ride also.
Will post up some more comments later. Was an ok race for me, started off nice an easily, but got HUGE cramping at 55km mark which didnt want to go away and also a puncture, so a slow second 50. I think my official finish time will be 6hrs 40min (i think).
I didnt crash though so good news there, bike ran well (apart from flat), so have completed the double centurion, got my jersey (looks and feels sweet ) and i also rode the dreaded bridge, unfortunately they ran out of special arm bands that say you rode the bridge, hope they send them in the mail, will post some pics up when the official photgraphers post them.
Garmin stats here http://connect.garmin.com/activity/4566717

Don

[NotFlyingScot]

All I can say is you MTB guys sure are tough cookies And I thought 20 metres of paving at Homebush this morning was a bit rough compared to the asphalt
NFS

[USM TOM]

i was out today for a little ride also.
Will post up some more comments later. Was an ok race for me, started off nice an easily, but got HUGE cramping at 55km mark which didnt want to go away and also a puncture, so a slow second 50. I think my official finish time will be 6hrs 40min (i think).
I didnt crash though so good news there, bike ran well (apart from flat), so have completed the double centurion, got my jersey (looks and feels sweet ) and i also rode the dreaded bridge, unfortunately they ran out of special arm bands that say you rode the bridge, hope they send them in the mail, will post some pics up when the official photgraphers post them.
Garmin stats here http://connect.garmin.com/activity/4566717

Don

nice time mate

sounds like you cramped near where i did
luckily some nice chick put some powder in my backpack bladder which i dont know what it was but almost tasted like pure salt
it helped the real bad cramp go away but any pinch hills or technical climbs i had to walk otherwise i'd cramp again

i pussied out and walked the bridge

did the first 50 in 3 hours and the second blew out to over 4 hours
amazingly on the longer non technical hills i was still cruising past people even with the cramps
but my MTB skills are lacking and i lost heaps of time on the downhills

Did you guys see the the dude on the single speed with the monster truck wheels on it????
he finished just before me so he must be one fit SOB
Also did you guys walk the first climb?? I did

[alchemist]

The start of the Elite was interesting, with Gary forgetting to remove the road closed barriers, despite some frantic pointing and yelling from the front row of the grid as the start was counted down. Barriers at the start - perhaps a good omen for the crosser.

Eventually I lined up with Madge at the back of the last start wave with expectations of a very long day out.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2 ... =682321156

The hooter went off and we rolled gently across the startline into the mists. Slightly supprisingly there were a few people choosing to granny gear some of the "hills" on the road section before the Wrights Creek turnoff - they were going to be in for a long day.

At the hill no one in this group was even trying to ride.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2 ... =682321156

On one of the first little descents there was a guy who looked like he'd busted a collar bone, Madge went back to offer him drugs but it seems he had plenty. Next there was a guy with a busted derailleurtrying to SS his HT so we were obliged to show him the one true way. He'd taken to his chain with the breaker only to discover that he'd also broken the chain in the derailleur, so now had two breaks in the chain to fix, so I gave him a link and Madge hung around to help, expecting to catch me on the next descent.

Into the halfway point, and readjust the brake levers which had slipped down on the rocky descents, fill up with water then roll out. Along the great North Road section I caught and passed Joey. Shepards Gully was interesting... Fortunately I found Jen English on the side of the track and stopped to have a chat and rest my arms. "just a little crash" she said, before turning around with blood pouring out of knee. Someone else asked if we were OK and she said "Don't worry it's worse than it looks". Patched up she rolls off again.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2 ... =682321156

Got to the bridge, with a big line up so a short reprieve, I think walking across was probably harder than riding (even though I didn't quite make it all the way last year)
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2 ... =682321156
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2 ... =682321156

Smashed it out along the road, before the final big climb which was walked to the feed station. Caught back up to Joey here and it was the last I saw him all day. Jen also passed me through here, and Madge rolled in just as I headed out.

Along here on one of the climbs was a guy in a bad way, that they were planning to chopper out, supposedly broken ribs.

The descent down Jacks Track was the scariest part of the race. Even with the brakes on I couldn't pedal quick enough on some of the concrete bits and the rear was skidding to the left then to the right.

Last little bits of road, along the flat parts I was fine, but on a couple of the small hills I had to walk, but still managed to shoulder the bike and run across the river for the photographer.

In the end 7 hours 25 minutes - a lot quicker than I expected but wont be in a hurry to do it again.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/epis ... ue=8131944

Rob

[USM TOM]

The descent down Jacks Track was the scariest part of the race. Even with the brakes on I couldn't pedal quick enough on some of the concrete bits and the rear was skidding to the left then to the right.



Rob

that was the only descent i felt somewhat comftable on
i was never really that comftable on the rocky area's

[leximack]

Also did you guys walk the first climb?? I did

yep, i walked the first hill, rode the hill upto the 72km drink station
Some hills got me between 72 and 90km mark so walked some there also.
The first hill the garmin recorded at one point as having a gradient of 20% that is steep
I was too stuffed to cehck the gradient on the hills at the end and i didnt want to see my avergae speed going lower and lower

[leximack]

The descent down Jacks Track was the scariest part of the race. Even with the brakes on I couldn't pedal quick enough on some of the concrete bits and the rear was skidding to the left then to the right.



Rob

that was the only descent i felt somewhat comftable on
i was never really that comftable on the rocky area's

i think alchemist struggled on ths descent as he was fixed so had to peddle, no freewheeling at 40-50km/h like the rest of us.
that is one fine descent though, could be very, very bad if things went wrong

[USM TOM]

Also did you guys walk the first climb?? I did

yep, i walked the first hill, rode the hill upto the 72km drink station
Some hills got me between 72 and 90km mark so walked some there also.
The first hill the garmin recorded at one point as having a gradient of 20% that is steep

i rode up that hill to the 72km stop aswell but the short steep hills after that had me walking aswell
i was in the 3rd group aswell so even if i wanted to i couldnt ride the first hill as every one was walking or they were riding and falling over

[leximack]

Also did you guys walk the first climb?? I did

yep, i walked the first hill, rode the hill upto the 72km drink station
Some hills got me between 72 and 90km mark so walked some there also.
The first hill the garmin recorded at one point as having a gradient of 20% that is steep

i rode up that hill to the 72km stop aswell but the short steep hills after that had me walking aswell
i was in the 3rd group aswell so even if i wanted to i couldnt ride the first hill as every one was walking or they were riding and falling over

the first hill just destroys your legs, its so long and steep, its not worth it unless your name is Jason English or Matthew Fleming and have legs of steel, but i hear that even some of the elites didnt ride the whole hill.

[USM TOM]

the first hill just destroys your legs, its so long and steep, its not worth it unless your name is Jason English or Matthew Fleming and have legs of steel, but i hear that even some of the elites didnt ride the whole hill.

yeah i found it quite hard just walking up the hill so i dont think i would have rode it anyway
the second hill wasnt any where near as insane

[Spiza]

Hey alchemist, You did this on a fixed SS! Is that correct???

[alchemist]

Yup SS fixed.

As for the hill, even in the Elite bunch a lot ended up walking/running.

[Spiza]

Yup SS fixed.

As for the hill, even in the Elite bunch a lot ended up walking/running.

Dude that's insane!!! You truly are mad Well done.

[USM TOM]

the results are up on the dirtworks site now

[alchemist]

You mean the Maximum Adventure site, not Dirt Works

[USM TOM]

yeah thats the one
i didnt even know there was a actual DIRTWORKS site
i just thought that maximum adveture site was the only one

my first split was ok and the second was garbage
and jason english had splits that were exactly the same down to the second which is amazing

[black4tress]

I finished it in 7.25, I believe about 20 seconds behind Alchemist who must have been the guy on the single speed drop bar that I was shaking my head in disbelief everytime he past me throughout the race.

Was hoping to be under 7hrs which I could have done if I didnt waste time making my tuna sandwich at halfway point and then losing a glove and the wait at the bridge. Ended up going Michael Jackson the rest of the way with one glove. I did prob 90% of the hills which I am proud of even though some of it was at an 8km\hr snails pace up them.

All in all a great weekend and would love to thank the organisers and locals for producing an awesome event.

Tony

[alchemist]

I finished it in 7.25, I believe about 20 seconds behind Alchemist who must have been the guy on the single speed drop bar that I was shaking my head in disbelief everytime he past me throughout the race.

So was that you that was drafting me on the very last road section? I was all ready for the big sprint up the hill to the finish line and was a bit surprised to see the timing mats just around the corner.

Alchemist - who did a fair bit of drafting that day

[black4tress]

I finished it in 7.25, I believe about 20 seconds behind Alchemist who must have been the guy on the single speed drop bar that I was shaking my head in disbelief everytime he past me throughout the race.

So was that you that was drafting me on the very last road section? I was all ready for the big sprint up the hill to the finish line and was a bit surprised to see the timing mats just around the corner.

Alchemist - who did a fair bit of drafting that day

No, definitely not me - was not in any hurry to go fast. I didn't draft anyone that whole race. I had a few of the guys do it to me though. There was another guy who past me about 2-3kms from the end, must have been him.

Yes, I did see you do it from time to time.

[mountain tamer]

Sounds like a great event!, shame I missed it , I'm definitely getting in early next year what do you guys reckon the pro:noob ratio is at the event?

[alchemist]

what do you guys reckon the pro:noob ratio is at the event?

0:Lots