Relaxing Long Weekend? Not quite.

We had a long weekend down under with the Queen's birthday on Monday. And so as you would do after a long and busy week at work, I slept in and relaxed most of the weekend.

Not quite.

With a friend of mine, Pierre, we decided during the week to go to the Blue Mountains for a mountain bike ride.  I love this beautiful place, close to Sydney (~1hr drive) which has plenty of mountain bike tracks. While I have been there several times to do the famous Oaks trail, Pierre organised the ride which included both the Andersons trail (30kms) and the Oaks trail (30kms).

Pierre tracked it with his app, you can see the itinerary here.

So Saturday, I woke up at 6am (as you do) and went to pick him up before heading off to the blue mountains to do some mountain biking. 

The weather was perfect, sunny with no clouds, but chilly with temperatures close to 0 degree celsius. We got to Glenbrook around 7.45am after one hour drive, parked close to the Visitors centre (strategic location due to the proximity of its toilets) and rode to Glenbrook station to take the train to Wentworth Falls.

It's always great to see so many people waking up early in the morning, coming with their families, mates and jamming the train with their mountain bikes.

Bikes in the train

We got off at Wentworth Falls, and Pierre took the lead as we had to ride a little prior to getting on the actual Andersons Trail. There was some construction work on the way and following Pierre onto the road, I got really scared when we found ourselves in the middle of the freeway with literally no lane for bicycles! Pierre then crossed both lanes to get out on a bicycle/pedestrian path. After a big fright, we then rode to the start of the trail and had a great time.

The Andersons trail is really a great track, with an adrenaline charged rush down a steep downhill. The downhill ends up in an icy cold creek that you, sadly, have to cross and get your feet wet!

After this, is a dreadful 3km steep uphill! I did not have much fun there with my old bike.

We then got onto the famous Oaks trail, that I love and we had a blast.

I discovered half way through the track that there was steam in front of the lens of my GoPro (checking back home -  the videos are just no good). Thankfully, for the best part of the Oaks trail after that (the fast section, single trail and technical bit at the end) there was no steam. I will have some great shots/videos to share after the editing is done.

Amazing time, great company and great weather! Will definitely go back there with Pierre and do some more shots too!

After relaxing for a few hours at home (and yes I did do a few stretches), having a massive (and not so healthy) pizza for dinner, I then decided at 10pm on Saturday to enter a 14kms race on Sunday at 6.45am. 

My girlfriend was not so impressed with me as:

• she was going to be woken up another day at 6am

• we had to go to a friend's 30th surprise birthday party at 12pm sharp. 

The 14 kms running race was taking place around the Iron Cove and the Leichhardt Park, a flat, fast and scenic race. I will update the post once the photos are published so you get an idea.

Race itinerary - Copyright Sri Chinmoy

The race was really enjoyable with great views of the cove, people rowing and the city in the background. The organisation was great and so was the weather. 

After riding 60kms the day before, not having really prepared physically, mentally and nutritionally, I was actually happily surprised with my time. I completed the race in just over 1 hour. 61 minutes and 48 seconds to be precise (which equates to 4m40s per km). The results are available here.

And for those wondering, yes, we did make it on time to our friend's 30th surprise birthday party and I did make it up to my girlfriend (bringing her delicious French pastries for breakfast).

And finally, on Monday morning, both my girlfriend and I had a well deserved sleep in (and did I mention that I also slept 14 hrs? ;)

MS Fun Run & Training for a running race

In my last two posts I shared with you that I was preparing for the MS Fun Run, which was yesterday.

Having been down with a flu-type viral infection in the last few days I was in no shape or form to run it and decided not to do it. It was a smart move as pushing my body through the race would have certainly extended the sickness and I would not have performed as best as I would have hoped. The good news is that I now feel much better and will be able to get back to work tomorrow.

One of the best way to prepare for a race and especially a running race, is to get the itinerary from the organiser's website and actually run the course prior to the race.

It might not be easy to train for an adventure race (due to the time it takes to do the race and/or the gear required), but it is much easier for running races. Especially as the itinerary generally does not change from one year to another (unless there are roads specially closed for the event).

In the last few weeks I went to run the actual course a few times. This helps planning and managing the race (how to negotiate the course, where to run, when to cross the road, cut corners, when to accelerate, slow down, etc.). You will see that for every training session you run on the actual course, you will shave off seconds and minutes as you get closer to the actual race. 

Last Thursday, I actually ran it close to the time it was scheduled on Sunday (early morning), this is the best way to prepare as you can fully assess the gear you will need to wear and how easy or hard it will be (based on the light, temperature, etc.).

If you are able to run the course a few times prior to the actual race, this will give you a really good advantage and idea of your final time (though you will not have the adrenaline and push from running against other competitors)!

Despite not running the race on Sunday, I am happy that my entry fee and donation went to a great initiative to raise funds and awareness around Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and that the event in Sydney has raised over half a million dollar! If you also want to donate to this great cause, go on the website anytime: http://www.mswalk.org.au/nsw/

Out of curiosity, I went to check the race results on the website and saw that my best running time of 31mins 52s corresponded to the 7th position overall and 3rd position of my category.

My training time having been more around 34 minutes lately, that would have corresponded to 15th out of over 600 participants which is not bad and something to aim and beat next year!

Kathmandu Royal National Park Race Debrief

Yesterday my teammate Glenn and I completed the Kathmandu Adventure Race in the Royal National Park (RNP) in Sydney.

It was a great race, very well organised with a great weather. 

Nothing like my very first adventure race in the Royal National Park three years ago where it was pouring rain and so cold! Check the pictures below:

Covered in mud but smiling

  

So happy to cross the finish line!

This time the sun was out and the temperature was perfect for the race.

The organisers actually changed the bike drop location, and maybe a great omen, the picture featured in their email had Glenn and I rushing from the starting line!

The two guys with the white caps and the sunnies in the middle, that's us!

Copyright Maximum Adventure

After registering and grabbing our registration bag and bibs, we discovered that we were going to do the grey course. This involved the following legs:

• Run
• Bike
• Run
• Canoe
• Run
• Kayak

After reviewing the instructions and writing critical information on the map (I am planning to do a movie on this later on), we cut away most of the useless bits to keep the map as small as possible and then contacted it. While I bought a waterproof map holder, I don't find it very useful when racing.

Glenn, having built an awesome map holder for his bike, we decided that for the first leg, he would not only do the navigation but also dip the timing chip at the bike checkpoints. Being faster on the bike, he would make up the time lost stopping and dipping the timing chip while I would continue riding with my old mountain bike. This worked well, Glenn did an amazing job and we did a very strong bike leg. I was actually very happy and surprised with my performance on the old bike! As you will have read/seen in the previous post (Crushed Bike, Last Patrol & Adventure Racing), I crushed my beloved competition mountain bike and so was back to riding the old mountain bike I used three years ago in the RNP race!

For the people new to adventure racing, being able to adapt and balance the strengths and weaknesses between you and your team mate(s) prior and during a race is really important.

After that, we ran a short leg to the start and then to the boat shed. Thankfully we did not have to row a boat as done in the last few years (gosh these boats are horrible and you feel like in a huge pinball or bumper car going from one river bank to another). 

Got really annoyed with Glenn a few times as paddling he was watering half my body and shoe with icy cold water. I felt like hitting him with my paddle on the head but decided not to as this would not have increased our chances of winning.

Not sure if Glenn has been watching too many "Starsky and Hutch" on TV but for the last checkpoint with the canoe, he decided to jump off the canoe, run to the checkpoint under the bridge and jump back onto the canoe. It was not that smooth and a team overtook us in the process but at least we did not capsize!

Anyways, back on the firm ground, we ran up the infamous "Honeymoon Track", a seriously steep track with lots of steps to start the main run leg. I did the navigation and sadly did a small navigation mistake that costs us 10 minutes and then lost some more time looking for a very tricky checkpoint (#18) towards the end.

By then, we had been racing for 2h30mins, my quads were starting to cramp and Glenn's knee was starting to give him grief.

After a steep run down Honeymoon track (so much easier than going up) encouraging people on the way up with "Good job!" and "Keep going! Nearly there!" generating several smiles on the go, we got back to the final transition at the start/finish.

We jumped into a kayak, paddled frenetically to the last two checkpoints and crossed the finish line with a massive smile on our faces in 3 hours and 18 minutes.

We finished 9th overall out of 188 teams and 6th for the male category. Not bad!

For more details, check the results HERE on the Maximum Adventure website.

The best is always at the end, eating a delicious and freshly grilled burger sitting down in the sun going through the race with many other competitors and sharing each other's pains and funny moments.

This was definitely a great workout and without my two mistakes, we would have been sub three hours (a time we are normally more used to) and closer to the podium. Next time!

While I do enjoy a few days resting, my next race is coming up next Sunday with the MS Fun Run. The MS Fun Run is a great initiative to raise funds and awareness around Multiple Sclerosis (MS). It is a great run, in the words of the organisers: "A challenging route through picturesque harbour-side streets from Milsons Point to Balls Head Reserve and return. Finish with a sprint down the famous Luna Park boardwalk".

I have created a profile and I would like to invite you to sponsor me to raise funds for people affected by Multiple Sclerosis (MS) by clicking on the image/link below:

Kosciuszko - Part 6: Prepare - Gear

Your gear is the most important and the trickiest item to prepare for this hike.

Due to the unstable and sometime rapidly changing weather (ie cold, rain, fog, wind, etc.), you need to make sure you have the appropriate gear.  Rather than long explanations, just check the two pictures below:

Start of the track on Saturday  

  

End of the walk on Sunday

It started super sunny and finished cold as, raining and foggy. Better be prepared!

To make it easier for you to prepare, I took a picture of the gear I packed for the weekend:

You can buy most of the items in your local camping/outdoor store. Most of my gear is from Kathmandu and was perfect for this adventure.

There are 4 categories of gear:

• Clothes (white group)
• Pack (orange group)
• Personal  (green group)
• Food (red group)

As you can see, there is quite a lot of gear to cover. So please use the hyperlinks above to go directly to a specific group or section!

Clothes (white group)

1. Cargo / Zip-off Pants
2. Fleece 
3. Waterproof / Gore Tex jacket (compulsory)
4. Breathable / Sports top 
5. Socks /Undies
6. (Board)short 
7. Long sleeve thermal top
8. Skins / compression gear (optional)

     Not shown – beanie (compulsory)
     Not shown – hiking boots or trail running shoes

You need to take with you a Gore-Tex/waterproof jacket in case it rains or gets cold. The last thing you want is to be caught in the middle of the walk and suffer hypothermia.

Make sure you pack warm clothes (thermal, beanie) for evenings and also for cold/rainy/windy weather and light clothes for sunny weather. Zip-off pants might be a good idea to be used either as pants or shorts.

At night time, the temperature drops close to zero; make sure you wear a beanie to stay warm.

Also make sure your shoes are broken down or you have used them for long walks. I have used trail running shoes which was fine for the entire trail and great to run up to Mt Townsend!

Compression gear might be a good idea to accelerate blood flow, reduce build-up of lactic acid, stay warm and prevent chaffing. To be worn during or after the walk to recover.

Pack (orange group)

9. Big backpack (65L) 
10. "Camelback" bladder (2L)
11. Inflatable mattress
12. Tent
13. Sleeping bag
14. Day pack

A good backpack is paramount. The light daypack will be great after setting up the camp to go to Mt Townsend with only a few things with you.

The inflatable mattress will ensure you have a good sleep (especially after a long day trekking!) and ensure the cold is not transmitted through to your body/back. You do not need a full body length one, as long as your back is not against cold hard ground, you are sweet.

An easy to mount and light tent will be best to pitch at the end of the day.

Camping in the valley

 

Personal (green group)

15. Topographic Map – Perisher Valley 85252S ~$9.95 (compulsory) & Wildwalks Notes
16. Waterproof map case (optional) 
17. Compass (compulsory) 
18. First aid kit (compulsory) (here in waterproof bag) 
19. Purification tablets (preferable) 
20. Emergency matches 
21. Sunscreen (compulsory) 
22. Sunnies (compulsory)
23. Hat / cap (compulsory) 
24. Insect repellent (preferable) 
25. Cleaning wipes (preferable) 
26. Toiletries bag with what you need (contact liquid, etc.) 
27. Bepanthem (to prevent chaffing) 
28. Toilet paper 
29. Trowel 
30. Head torch 
31. Camera / GoPro!

Not shown – Telephone

Not shown – Towel

Ok lots of critical items here! 

First aid kit, map and compass are compulsory. Protection against the sun as well.

To find out where you can buy topographical maps close to where you live, click here. I went to Map Worldin Sydney CBD to purchase the map, and was really impressed with their customer service. Very helpful if you plan on going off-track. Otherwise you can buy a mini map for ~$5 from the visitors centre in Jindabyne. I also recommend reading/printing/taking the notes from Wildwalks on this trek, they are very useful.

There is plenty of water around but it’s preferable to boil/purify it before drinking. Make sure you have means to do either. Also you need to be able to create a fire in case of emergency, so equip yourself with either a small/light camping stove or emergency matches.

Bring a telephone. While in many parts of the national park you do not have coverage and you CANNOT rely on your mobile as an emergency communication device, I found that on higher grounds with Telstra I had several bars and could place a call. No idea what the coverage is with other carriers. If you go alone, it might be worth considering renting an emergency beacon from the visitors centre in Jindabyne.

Cleaning wipes are the bomb for your personal hygiene. They are cheap, do not take much space and are super refreshing. Again, take your rubbish with you!

Food (red group)

32. Metal Pot
33. Spork (a combined plastic spoon, fork and knife)
34. Leatherman / Swiss Army knife
35. Stove (preferably with piezo so you do not need matches to lit it)
36. Gas canister
37. Dehydrated food (Back country cuisine)
38. Snack bars
39. Lollies / dried fruits / nuts
40. Tins (soup / bakes beans / tuna)
41. Cup
42. Tea bags / Instant Coffee
43. Rubbish bags (compulsory) 

Not shown – Water

Based on my experience with this weekend trek, just get snacks, a medium pot and dehydrated food. The metallic pot will be good to boil enough water for your meal and to fill a water bottle.

Tins are cheap but bulky and heavy to carry, and after eating them, they are messy/sharp and still take a lot of space. Sandwiches might be a cheap option but it might be difficult to find time making them, keeping them from being squashed in the pack and staying fresh with the heat!

Dehydrated food is a bit more expensive, but just boil water, put it in the bag, wait a few minutes and you can then directly eat it from the bag (so no dishwashing!). I was happily surprised to see that it’s pretty good (though after a long day walking any warm food would be considered good ;). It is light to carry before and after eating it and it does not take much space. Your back will thank you.

As usual, take your rubbish with you!

Let me know if you found the above pictures and tips helpful and in the next post, we will see pictures and videos of the actual walk.

Kosciuszko - Part 2: Prepare - Fitness

G'day!

So you want to go to the top of Mt Kosciuszko and Mt Townsend but now you are wondering how fit you need to be?

Well, while going to the top of Mt Kosciuszko is nowhere close to the effort required to climb Mt Blanc, it still requires a decent level of fitness and endurance.

The Main Range Track is a 28 kilometre loop from Charlotte Pass with a 1,259 metre climb (remember that you will be carrying a big backpack). This took us exactly 24 hours with an overnight camp. Better to plan for a day and a half walking at a comfortable pace (back to the car around/after Sunday lunch).

Walking with a big backpack

The Main Range Track Loop

Not to be too dramatic, while you can go by yourself, it's more fun to go with friends and preferably by group of three (or more) to be safe (if someone gets injured, one stay with the patient and one go to get help). The advantage is that you can also share the load and travel lighter!

If you exercise regularly and can bushwalk for a day with a 10/15kg backpack or you do adventure racing (like the Kathmandu Adventure Races), you should be fine.

While there are some elevations, most of them are gradual and not extremely steep. Apart from the weather (if it is too hot or raining) I think the most difficult part might be carrying a heavy backpack. 

If you are unsure as to your level of fitness, or you are not used to carrying a backpack, go for a day long bushwalk with friends. Load your backpack with 10/15kg of stuff (up to you with what ;) and see how you go. That should be a pretty good acid test to assess if you are fit enough/ready or not.

In the next post, we will talk about when to go and the weather!