Convict 100km – St Albans

The Convict100km (formerly DirtWorks100km) is an iconic 100km event based out of the sleepy town of St Albans and the sandstone escarpments of the Hawksberry river valley.

As with Capital Punishment, I had stepped up a notch and entered the elite division of the event rather than age-category, and yet again it was the start that had me scared. Unlike Capital Punishment, where a self-seeded top 100% start with elites, Convict has a pure elite start, which meant five girls and about 25 men would be heading out 10 minutes before the rest of the field. Now the first 8-10km of the course is fairly flat sealed and well-maintained dirt road so staying in the pack gives a distinct advantage.  That was exactly it – whichever girls could hold the pace of the elite mens peleton would gain an advantage as they were towed to the bottom of the first climb.

Oh yes the first climb…. Infamous! In fact the week before the event I had a panic about the first steep climb, which has a 900m section with an average of 17%! I had only ever ridden the climb on a 26er with 3x9 gearing and online calculators were telling me that a 29er with 2x10 was basically going to have me pushing a much harder gear up the hill. In a panic a begged my mechanic for more gears so they dutifully ordered me another (smaller) front chain ring but it failed to arrive before the race.

Sometimes Strava gives you too much to think about!

So there it was, I was on the start line at the back of elite crapping myself about falling of the back of the bunch, walking the first climb and generally making a fool of myself. In the end only one of the two happened – I got spat out of the back of the bunch but at least it was out of sight of the start line. I also wasn’t the first with Nienke Oostra (Marathon MTB) going backwards through the group just slightly before me. Unfortunately for both of us that meant a long slog alone while the other girls got a fast ride to the bottom of the climb. Neinke was out of sight behind me and the bunch was out of sight in front as I turned onto the farm track toward the first climb.

Reaching the bottom of the climb I was totally alone, I reasoned that at least this meant I wouldn’t be seen to walk the hill if my gearing proved too much and I started the slog up. Having the track to myself proved useful, I could pick and choose my line and even take a few zig zags over water bars where required. My memory of the hill had embellished it, and while it is nasty, steep and hard, I did manage to ride it and crested the top still totally alone but with cheers of encouragement from the photographer stationed at the top.

I knew I was in 4^th place with Nienke still behind me; Jenny Fay (Sell Specialized) would certainly be off in front with Naomi Hansen (Marathon MTB) and Imogen Smith (previously Cannondale MTB, AIS road athlete) somewhere in the mix trying to chase her. My aim was to hold 4^th, I knew from Capital Punishment that Neinke and I were pretty evenly matched, so it wasn’t going to be a clear run home.

Around the first feed station the front runners of the next wave start started coming through, it was great to see some familiar faces and offer and receive encouragement from the likes of fellow Cheeky rider Andrew Lloyd. Still all these boys had gained 10 minutes on me and so there wasn’t much hope of hanging on their tails, I was essentially still riding alone.

After around 30km of smooth-ish firetrail, the Convict100 course takes a sharp right hand turn onto the Old Great North Road. This is where the fun begins with the eroded sandstone providing ledges, steps and channels along with a smattering of loose baby head rocks and patches of sand. Tim had just caught up to me having started 10 minutes behind and I let him pass only to find myself sitting right on his wheel through the rough the stuff. I started to wonder about calling track only to think that he’d gained 10 minutes on me so surely I wasn’t going to be faster than him. After a while he missed his line on a rocky section and spun out his rear wheel forcing an unclip, I scooted passed and let the Lapierre do her thing over the rocky ground.

Elevation profile for Convict shows the two major climbs out of the river valley...

Having raced the course on a 26inch hard tail the passed two years, it was heaven having a 29er dually to bomb through the rocks. I cleaned lines I had struggled with in the past, and was suddenly riding the same speed or even faster than the men around me who had started 10 minutes behind me.

Coming through the 50km feed station I was stoked to see myself on track for a faster time than previous years, and wondered when Tim would catch me again considering the gentle climb out of 10 mile hollow. Sure enough he caught me near the top of the climb but once again the Lapierre allowed me to pass him again once back into the techy stuff before Shepards Gully. Riding hard along through the rocks in the section I was surprised to come across a large group of Asian tourists out for a walk. My initial annoyance with them for being on the track soon disappeared as they jumped to the side and started madly cheering and clapping for me. I broke into a grin as one guy yelled, “go number 5, number 5 go, we are so proud of you number 5!” … I even gave him a high five as I passed and had to grin he reacted like I’d told him he’d won the lottery and I could hear his jubilant laughter and cheering fading back into the distance for several minutes… random but cool.

Arriving at the river crossing, with the new addition on a walking bridge next to the riding bridge, I dumped my Camelbak at the feed station and tackled the infamous ride across the kayak bridge.

Riding the bridge isn't for everyone!

Despite a gut-lurching wobble near the end I made it four out of four and hit the ankle deep sand on the other side. Once on the road I teamed up with another bloke and we pulled turns on the tarmac section, being joined half way along by a few more to make a train.

Then at 72km there’s a right turn and the road goes up… and up…. and up some more. And people around who haven’t done the race before start asking people around them “when does this hill end, how far to the top?”. Tim passed me again not far into the climb but staying with him was never going to be possible so I just kept grinding, pedal stroke after pedal stroke. It was now more than the first climb that I missed having an extra granny gear, with almost 4 hours in the legs there were times I wished I could just spin an easier gear, but I still made the couple of steep pinches and eventually the 85km point appeared with the welcome right hand turn onto the descent track.

One beer at the finish and I was tipsy!

Now I realised that my goal of finishing in less than 5 hours might be achievable, but it was going to be close. I pushed as hard but kept things sensible down the steep descent of Jacks track, then popping out onto the river valley floor I tried to hold a good pace along the undulations to the last creek crossing through a sandy creek bed and shallow water. Once on the other side the 100km course joins the 50km for the last 3-4km into town and suddenly I had a lot of riders around. Unfortunately most were riding slower than me but I did get a few wheels for a while to help maintain speed. Then all of a sudden there are parked cars on the side of the road, and tents, and houses and a sharp left hand turn into the finishing straight and under the arch…. 4 hours, 59 minutes and one second! I had broken five hours; that time alone would have had me on the elite podium the two years previous but unfortunately not this year – I was 7 minutes off the time of 3^rd place Imogen Smith.

Even without a podium I was happy with my race and my time, I would have won my age category by half and hour and I simply didn’t have another 7 minutes in the tank.