gassyndrome
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And pretty dark and moist at Majura. It will be fine after about ten minutes though so I think your gear sounds about right.
Capital Punishment 2012
- Thread starter Steve_N
- Start date
.. in my opinion...... [all bets off if it rains]
RACE FORECAST
Weather: Fine
Track: Fast
Tyres: Kenda 8Block
Air: 35psi @ [me 89kg]
Time: 35 mins
Rode the Majura pines this morning [all direction arrows and tape in place] …. nice! Only got passed by two dudes in full team race kit and their [bike] spare parts tatted on their calves.
Was sunny early but cloudy with chilly breeze by 9.00am. I rode with a long sleeve wool Icebreaker top under a light weight wind jkt, long fingered gloves and worked up a nice sweat. I didn't have a computer on the distance, maybe 8+k but had the stopwatch on and reckon I averaged about 12kph [my best single track race pace]
The track is in super fine nick, with some remedial work on rough areas making a nice improvement. It follows a bit of last years loop, some of the Easter 24hr loop, has a few gully drops and a couple of tree hops [with teeth marks on the bark] but should flow nicely for the 100k riders. The 50k riders, if down the back, will just have to be patient as it will be a conga line for much of it. Of interest [to 100k riders] is the 55k marker a couple of k's into Majura. This is a lot earlier [maybe 10k?] than last year and would indicate that the Stromlo run down to DoubleD [Uriara Rd] after The Luge has been deleted or shortened.
The Kowen single track, allegedly including some of The Mont 24hr loop and 6k of Sparrow will be in pretty similar nick. I did 100k of fire trail out that way last week and it was as fast [not a shred of dust] as I've seen it all year…. hence my choice to go with 35psi of air…..
BOM Weather forecast looks good, but we might have to punch into a headwind across the open country between Kowen and Majura.
Good luck to everyone……. if I pass you you'll be going too slow!
RACE FORECAST
Weather: Fine
Track: Fast
Tyres: Kenda 8Block
Air: 35psi @ [me 89kg]
Time: 35 mins
Rode the Majura pines this morning [all direction arrows and tape in place] …. nice! Only got passed by two dudes in full team race kit and their [bike] spare parts tatted on their calves.
Was sunny early but cloudy with chilly breeze by 9.00am. I rode with a long sleeve wool Icebreaker top under a light weight wind jkt, long fingered gloves and worked up a nice sweat. I didn't have a computer on the distance, maybe 8+k but had the stopwatch on and reckon I averaged about 12kph [my best single track race pace]
The track is in super fine nick, with some remedial work on rough areas making a nice improvement. It follows a bit of last years loop, some of the Easter 24hr loop, has a few gully drops and a couple of tree hops [with teeth marks on the bark] but should flow nicely for the 100k riders. The 50k riders, if down the back, will just have to be patient as it will be a conga line for much of it. Of interest [to 100k riders] is the 55k marker a couple of k's into Majura. This is a lot earlier [maybe 10k?] than last year and would indicate that the Stromlo run down to DoubleD [Uriara Rd] after The Luge has been deleted or shortened.
The Kowen single track, allegedly including some of The Mont 24hr loop and 6k of Sparrow will be in pretty similar nick. I did 100k of fire trail out that way last week and it was as fast [not a shred of dust] as I've seen it all year…. hence my choice to go with 35psi of air…..
BOM Weather forecast looks good, but we might have to punch into a headwind across the open country between Kowen and Majura.
Good luck to everyone……. if I pass you you'll be going too slow!
stinkytodamax
Likes Dirt
Rode Kowen this morning and the wind chill was pretty bad. Garmin said 8-9 degrees.
I felt very comfortable in my wool base layer, wool jersey, wind vest, arm Warner's, knee Warner's, Knicks and shorts.
Some puddles were on the trail but overall it wasn't the big that the mont was. Super grippy an fast in all sections.
Beat of luck to everyone doing the 100km you should have a great time just stay rugged up.
I felt very comfortable in my wool base layer, wool jersey, wind vest, arm Warner's, knee Warner's, Knicks and shorts.
Some puddles were on the trail but overall it wasn't the big that the mont was. Super grippy an fast in all sections.
Beat of luck to everyone doing the 100km you should have a great time just stay rugged up.
DaSchmooze
Likes Bikes
Thanks for the update locals. It's made me rethink what I was going to wear.
pharmaboy
Eats Squid
Yeah , thx - thinking l ll stick with just the 2 layers, and if I get cold , ride faster and dont stop 
I think in the Scott a couple of years ago I had the great idea of riding in long tights for the early morning lap and nearly Spontaneously combusted! - I don't want to be the charred torso at the side of the trail who over dressed
I think in the Scott a couple of years ago I had the great idea of riding in long tights for the early morning lap and nearly Spontaneously combusted! - I don't want to be the charred torso at the side of the trail who over dressed
Checked the BOM forecast for Canberra and its said 1deg with frost patches for Saturday, so it'll be cold up there in Kowen at the start.
I was very happy to see on the profile for the 100km that the course goes straight down the hill at Stromlo so its really only a 95km race! with a 5km finishing blast. Looking forward to seeing the route this year.
Canbaroo where did the 100km course enter Majura?
See you all on the track on Saturday, good luck to you all.
I was very happy to see on the profile for the 100km that the course goes straight down the hill at Stromlo so its really only a 95km race! with a 5km finishing blast. Looking forward to seeing the route this year.
Canbaroo where did the 100km course enter Majura?
See you all on the track on Saturday, good luck to you all.
I think they took those few kms off the end so they could route the beginning through Sparrow Hill - for a 6km loop I think I read in the latest newsletter. So bump that back up to 100km - sorry
Kowen and Sparrow were in pretty good condition yesterday, especially all that fire trail. But the low ground between east and west Kowen south of the east west fire trail is as wet as, big bogs and puddles below the dams. But then after that it's quite good again for the most part from what we saw.
Kowen was really freakin cold and windy yesterday, temp maxed out at 9 degrees up there during the middle of the day and the wind chill was pretty bad, so be prepared if it looks like being a windy day again.
Kowen was really freakin cold and windy yesterday, temp maxed out at 9 degrees up there during the middle of the day and the wind chill was pretty bad, so be prepared if it looks like being a windy day again.
Yeah I know it's a 100km race its just that I don't consider riding down Stromlo via skyline, luge etc as hard work. So the hard yards or "race" for me is up to the top of Stromlo the last bit is just great fun and the second best reward at the end of a 100km race from any organiser.
Looking rather chilly indeed! I'm going to go with a thermal underneath a short-sleeved jersey with arm warmers and full finger gloves. I'll probably go with slightly longer knicks as well. Hopefully, that's enough to ward away the chill!
Thinking I might ride back from Stromlo to the 50km start.. probably not a bad cool down. What are the roads along the way like though? Are you allowed to cycle on the Tuggeranong Parkway, Parkes Way etc? Or, is it better to just follow cotter road all the way through Deakin etc?
Thinking I might ride back from Stromlo to the 50km start.. probably not a bad cool down. What are the roads along the way like though? Are you allowed to cycle on the Tuggeranong Parkway, Parkes Way etc? Or, is it better to just follow cotter road all the way through Deakin etc?
Looking at the elevation profile, you enter Majura at the 50k mark [known as the horse gate] and come out the same gate at the 60k marker. So it looks like 10k of single track through Majura…. 2k more than I reckoned… puts my average speed up to a crazy number for me. Hope I can be going that fast after 50k on Saturday!
Below is a Garmin trace from last year [not mine]…. set it to metric and 'check' the Km Markers box and the horse gate is just near the 57k marker [on the way out]…….. only 3k difference, not the 10k I thought when posting yesterday.
http://connect.garmin.com/course/660642
On closer inspection the 100k Elevation Profile on the AROC website is cropped at about 95k so maybe we are going to ride short, or there is a 5k mystery loop not shown on the profile….. maybe a few laps around the Crit track
...... and Jubas.
Easy ride back... not on the Tuggers Parkway though. Head back on Cotter Rd and then on to Adelaide Ave [Deakin etc] is fine or hook back on to the cycle path [it's a little part of the CP route as you race to Stromlo] and you can cruise back to the city over Scrivener Dam around the edge of the lake.. nice ride.
Unreal - thanks for the info mate
guestimating here:
rest station at 38km is after Kowen and Sparrows so tipping maybe 30km of sniggle or a bit less depending on how much firetrail is used.
then majura maybe 10km, think last year was about 8km
Stromlo about 10-15km again...
so I'm tipping around 50km of single track
looks like with the sparrows loop that we cut out some stromlo stuff, so we should finish straight down skyline, luge and back down via homeview jnc rather than going out into the boon docks like last year.
Is this stuff we're riding? I the tyre question evokes much eye-rolling but I'm trying to work out whether to check something with some knobs on the front or run the racekings front and back. I ran race kings at the Mont this year as was fine with them, but muddy slop doesn't suit them so well.
Last edited:
paul_sm82
Likes Bikes
Is this stuff we're riding? I the tyre question evokes much eye-rolling but I'm trying to work out whether to check something with some knobs on the front or run the racekings front and back. I ran race kings at the Mont this year as was fine with them, but muddy slop doesn't suit them so well.[/QUOTE]
The muddy stuff in central Kowen which is mentioned above in the thread was only a couple of few hundred metre (if that) sections of single track in and out of firetrails near a couple of small dams. I rode it on Monday when the tracks were probably there wettest for this last week (ie STILL NOT VERY WET) or so and it was pretty similar to how I remember it last year. So think a couple of small sections like how Bliss Out was in the night in the MONT this year. So you can get through it easy enough without need for wet weather tyres.
There are a few puddles that were pretty wet/muddy in the West Kowen/Sutton Rd singletrack which is the 5km or so of mostly singletrack after the 38km feed station at the bottom of the Kowen escarpment just before we cross Sutton Rd into the military firetrails. My bet is even with a great sunny day today, very windy day yesterday and tomorrow looking similar to today that this section will still have a few sloppy corners which will catch people out particularly the few wet bits at the bottom of downhill corners which are more like runoff ruts now.
There is one low grassy section in Majura down near the road/carpark which has one big puddle which has been wet for a couple of months now. The rest of Majura will be awesome.
Stromlo will be dry as with a few runoff ruts again still around from the huge rains of early March etc.
I am running Maxxis Ikon EXO on my 29er hardtail which will slip slide in the few muddy bits but otherwise be great. If your want some more front end grip put something like an ignitor on the front and you will be sweet.
The descent from the top gate in the Sparrow section has not been ridden much at all so rides a bit choppy if that makes sense. As are a couple of the not ridden often single track sections in central kowen. The early Kowen singletrack is awesome and a lot of it the 2012 MONT 24hr course backwards.
Hope this helps. See you all out there on Saturday.
The muddy stuff in central Kowen which is mentioned above in the thread was only a couple of few hundred metre (if that) sections of single track in and out of firetrails near a couple of small dams. I rode it on Monday when the tracks were probably there wettest for this last week (ie STILL NOT VERY WET) or so and it was pretty similar to how I remember it last year. So think a couple of small sections like how Bliss Out was in the night in the MONT this year. So you can get through it easy enough without need for wet weather tyres.
There are a few puddles that were pretty wet/muddy in the West Kowen/Sutton Rd singletrack which is the 5km or so of mostly singletrack after the 38km feed station at the bottom of the Kowen escarpment just before we cross Sutton Rd into the military firetrails. My bet is even with a great sunny day today, very windy day yesterday and tomorrow looking similar to today that this section will still have a few sloppy corners which will catch people out particularly the few wet bits at the bottom of downhill corners which are more like runoff ruts now.
There is one low grassy section in Majura down near the road/carpark which has one big puddle which has been wet for a couple of months now. The rest of Majura will be awesome.
Stromlo will be dry as with a few runoff ruts again still around from the huge rains of early March etc.
I am running Maxxis Ikon EXO on my 29er hardtail which will slip slide in the few muddy bits but otherwise be great. If your want some more front end grip put something like an ignitor on the front and you will be sweet.
The descent from the top gate in the Sparrow section has not been ridden much at all so rides a bit choppy if that makes sense. As are a couple of the not ridden often single track sections in central kowen. The early Kowen singletrack is awesome and a lot of it the 2012 MONT 24hr course backwards.
Hope this helps. See you all out there on Saturday.
pharmaboy
Eats Squid
Maaate- thats a very good point! All i need now is disposable clothes (travelling light)
Maaate- thats a very good point! All i need now is disposable clothes (travelling light)
I hear black garbage bags work well!
cam-o
Likes Bikes and Dirt
I hear black garbage bags work well!
Nah, go the old school road pro trick - newspaper down the jersey