I have a collection of weird and wonderful helmets, mostly hand painted to suit my mood. I’ve lost count of the amount of times they have saved my life or my brain & skull. Some of them are in the Gallery below….

This leg (above) belongs to Lukie Dale and he sent it in to show even though he is fair skinned & red haired (affectionately known here in OZ as a “ranga”) he manages to get a cycle tan. WHY this champion cyclist, all-round-nice-guy is on a ‘vintage’ stationary bike and in the nude has yet to be answered.

ITN (in-the-nude) riding but with arm & leg warmers will erase the line of your cycle tan. Time spent in jail with no sunshine for indecent exposure will also help!

Sun baking in cozzies and arm & leg warmers is a safer way to eradicate tan lines from your cycle kit. Don’t worry about the ‘weird factor’ here -we look silly enough with our cycle tans or in our lycra cycle gear to worry about that now.

This was sent to me by Fiona from Chocolate Foot Single Track Mind Series.

This is my team mate Tommy – and I was out racing. Team of 2. 8 hour race. VERY hot day at Awaba MTB park (46 degrees in the shade) and the heat was incredible. Tommy loves getting a tan and was pissed off he wasn’t…so he whipped off his gear and raced in his Speedos and gardening gloves. NO tan lines. I don’t even blink when I see his outfits anymore.

3 cups of dried Fruits, Nuts & Seeds (or trail mix)
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup Chia seeds
3/4 cup flour (Wholemeal wheat, rice, oat or barley)
1/2 cup Honey
1/2 cup dark brown sugar

Method: heat over to 200 degrees, line a cake tin with baking paper, mix flour with fruit/nut/seed mix.
Heat honey and sugar in a saucepan and stir on a low heat until dissolved. Bring to the boil then remove from heat.
Pour into nut mix and mix thoroughly & quickly. Press mix into cake tin, using damp fingers to spread. Bake for 30mins.
Leave in tin until cool then remove and cut into squares. Keep refrigerated.

I ride because I really love it. It feels good (mostly) and makes me happy (mostly). *  So the theory was if a little bit feels great then 100kms will feel amazing?

Well, there’s incredible new trails to experience and beautiful views in a lot of these races and the GRANDE adventure of it, but it does get to a point where I usually can’t wait for the finish line, when the pain will stop and I promise NEVER to do that again. But somehow I forget all of that and I line up again and again…and again. Maybe it’s the romance of the race and the marathon distance, the camaraderie of the training with your buddies. It’s good to do one to experience it…but then you’ll be hooked. It’s addictive.

I’ve done quite a few 100km+ MTB races now on a Single Speed, Hard tail MTB.  Also, a lot of 24 hour races where we (my team of 2 SS buddies) have ridden well over 120kms each, in rain, mud & dark. I’d like to do one in extreme heat one day, my forte. I’ve just entered another one yesterday, The Husky 100  and I’ve got 3 weeks to get ready, fit enough to finish it without too much pain. I’m not at all scientific about my training and do it mostly to suit how I feel and to fit in with family & work. My main rule is to try & have fun, listen to my body & ride as much as I can.

I try to ride every 2nd day through the week with a long ride on the weekend. It’s Winter here in Sydney and it’s been raining a lot and the trails are wet & muddy. I ride my roadie because it’s easier to do kms and saves me from cleaning and replacing parts on my MTB. I  get bored easily so I vary my rides with different routes. They all have hills, but once a week I’ll do hill repeats or a hilly course. My average ride is 50 kms or roughly 2 hours. If it’s really bad weather I ride my trainer indoors and do an interval session: different cadences, gears & effort.

The weekend long ride is kinda weather dependent and I alternate bikes & routes. If it’s wet weather I’ll do a road ride aiming over 120-140 kms and if it’s dry 70-80kms on the MTB. Last summer we had 2 months of consecutive wet weekends when we were training for the Otway Odyssey Race (over 3,000m of climbing) and we did train on the wet trails ending up having to replace every bearing on our bikes before the race -even in the headset -that tells you how deep the trails were in water! We also did long hilly road rides on our MTBs, doing hill repeats and just aiming for longer, faster rides.

Getting your nutrition right while racing 100kms is crucial. It doesn’t matter how hard you train if you don’t get this right -you’ll be rolling on the ground in agony with cramps. I had great teachers, my training & racing buddies when I first started ultra running & adventure racing used to ensure I ate and drank constantly before I got thirsty or hungry. Their rule of thumb was to eat a gram of food for every kilo you weigh (50gms food for me at 50kgs) and roughly 500mls of fluid (with electrolyte replacement) per hour.This is dependent upon temperature during the race of course. The hotter it is the more fluid you’ll need to consume. We look a our watches and every hour whether you’re hungry or not, you eat & drink.

An old saying is “Eat before you’re hungry, drink before you’re thirsty” and if you do that, you’ll be right.

Memorize where the drink/food stations are in the race and work out where you’re going to refuel and refill your pack with electrolyte and grab more food if you need it. I have a little pouch on my strap across my chest where I put food I can eat while riding and also some painkillers so I don’t need to stop, take my pack off and eat. I have back-up food in my pack to move into the pouch if needed at the water station I stop at. I try to only stop and refill once.

The first 100km race I ever did was with my 2 friends and we stopped, ate, chatted, joked and added at LEAST 1.5 hours to our times. I try not to stop these days, only to refill the bladder in my backpack and add my own electrolyte. I eat while I’m riding usually when training so you get used to it. Try to pick a fire trail that’s smooth & wide so people can pass you if needed….and stuff your food down fast! Uphills are hard because you’re gulping for air as well.

I’ve just done a long ride today, with a headwind both ways. Slow, steady, lots of hill climbs and just under 100 kms. I explored a little going on roads I’d never ridden on and did a few hellish-hills I’d never been up on a bike. Lombard Street -if you’re ever in the area -do it for the experience of hauling yourself up with your handlebars in granny gear. It feels almost vertical. It’s a tour of the Northern Beaches and very scenic. I’d recommend this route for anyone wanting to see spectacular scenery. It’s a hilly route though. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/328381663

Nearly Home…the view was so good I had to stop & photograph it.

*Sometimes it hurts and sometimes I get really, SUPER crabby & irritable when I’m tired.

SO good. In every way. Great Protein Bar to eat while cycling or running….or to eat with your coffee afterwards. EASY to make. Easy to eat.

1 cup almond meal (I roast and grind almonds to a fine meal in a Thermomix)
1/2 cup Cocoa Powder
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 cup coconut milk
3 tablespoons honey
1 egg
2 scoops Chocolate or Vanilla Whey Protein Powder

Heat oven to 200 degrees, line a narrow cake tin with baking paper. Mix all ingredients and spoon into tin. Cook for @ 20 mins until firm. Test with a toothpick -if it comes out clean when pushed into the bar -it’s done.

Turn onto cake rack and try to let it cool down before you eat it. Slice and store in fridge.

As a child we’d go camping to the Warrumbungles and my mum would bake a huge tray of pumpkin pie with short crust pastry. It was unreal. I’d eat nearly the entire tray ’cause the other kids wouldn’t eat it when they were told (by me) it was made outta pumpkin. I’ve played around with the recipe to make it firmer and not need pastry. I’d eat a tummy full of this and go running the trails all day. Good energy food. Great snack.

1 cup (200 gms) rice flour (I grind brown rice into flour in my Thermomix)
2 tsp cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
1 tsp mixed spice
2 tsp vanilla essence/ 1 scraped vanilla pod
2 eggs
1/2 cup (80 gms) Brown Sugar
1 cup (290 gms) cooked pumpkin flesh
60 gms Skim milk powder OR Soy Milk Powder OR (2x 30gm scoops) Vanilla Whey powder

Blend all ingredients together and pour into a baking paper lined tray. Bake in a moderate over for @ 30 -40 mins until browned on top and firm to touch. Cool on a wire rack, slice. I wrap mine in cling wrap and keep them in the fridge ready to throw into my cycle jersey pockets for long rides.

* you can substitute any other grain for the brown rice flour such as oats or barley. The rice flour makes it quite dense and moist.

Eating Pumpkin Pie @ Church Point on a long bike ride. Yum.

Ingredients: 250gms reduced fat cream cheese, 100gms (1/2 cup) brown sugar, Juice (roughly 1/4 up) and zest/grated rind of small 2 lemons, 100gms (1/2 cup) Wholemeal plain flour, 1 cup chopped dried dates, 1/2 cup chopped Almonds,1/2 cup chopped dried Apricots, 1 cup muesli.

Method: mix cheese, sugar, flour & lemon juice together in blender. In separate bowl mix all the dried ingredients. Combine both, mix then spoon into baking paper lined tin, flatten and bake at 200 degrees for 35mins. Cool before slicing into squares.

* Wheat flour can be substituted for any other flour. * Other dried fruits & nuts can be used. Chia seeds can be added. Sugar can be left out or replaced by any other sweetener.

Sally Lynch: Inov-8 Road X-Treme 158 I love my Road X-Treme because they are light, bright, fast and built to last! Im currently wearing them up to 10 km and plan on running the CP Ultra 50 km in them next September.

Sarina from Cycology: I alternate between 2 pairs: my ‘best’ shoes the Inov8 X-Talon I save for races and  running rough bush trails because they’re SO grippy. I don’t want to wear the tread out on them! I know when I land on mossy, wet, slippery surfaces these shoes will stick. I feel like Spiderman. I adore these shoes. So light it feels as though you’ve got nothing on but ultra grippy sticky feet.

My 2nd pair are Brooks Pure Connect: which are wonderful and fit like a glove. They hug my feet, are lightweight and also super grippy.

Tom: loves his Newton shoes because they make him land on the forefoot ‘pad’. He says they’re light and comfy. He’s run quite a few trail ultra -marathons (over 100kms) in them. He buys 3-4 pairs in different colors at a time & mix & matches them.

Dr. Joel Mackay: exceptional ultra trail runner. Multiple Winner Great North Run 100miler, Mulptiple winner Trailwalker’s all over the world. Adventure Racer, Champion Rogainer…..

Blue ones:These are my running slippers. 155 g each from Innov8. Fun for short jaunts to make you feel fast.

Asics ones:These are my “do everything” shoes – trails, roads, whatever. Have been wearing Kayanos for at least 10 years and they have been good to me. Do 60-100 km per week in them and chuck them after ~8-900 km.

Grey Salomons: These are my specialist rogaining shoes. Not so many shoes stand up well to 24-h rogaines that are off-trail. These do a good job and are stable and comfortable (bit heavy though). Backup for rogaining are Innov8 315s.

Shaun Phelps: Elite Obstacle Course Racer:v8′s are my shoe of choice for my sport of OCR because of their grip, drain ability, comfort, cost, flexibility, variety of choice for different terrains and and awesome colourse my shoe of choice for my sport of OCR because of their grip, drain ability, comfort, cost, flexibility, variety of choice for different terrains and and awesome

TrailRoc 245′s in the photo above

X Talon 190′s in the 2nd

FLite 195′s in the 3rd

Jonathon Worsick: fondly known as the man who can talk uphill, underwater or thru wet cement! He runs everywhere and anywhere but his results speak for themselves. Overall he has run 10 trailwalkers (8 wins). Below are results from the past 2 years.

2013

• 1st vet 2013 North Face 1st vet and male category,
• 6 hr act rogaine, team*2
• - 28th Six foot Track
• 3rd, convicts and wenches, 50km

2012

• - 1st sydney trailwalker, team*4
• - 1st brisbane trailwalker, team*4
• - 1st washpool 50km
• - 2nd surf coast century
• - 3rd – Australian Rogaining Championships, Flinders Ranges, SA, Team*2
• - 5th – Mt Solitary 45km, Blue Mountains
• - 16th north face 100

Inov8 Shoes: the studs have a great grip on forest trails and also on rock, they are surprisingly comfortable on road as well (i am not suggesting you should run your next road 10km in them though). The sole is very flexible and as as usual with Inov8 it’s a light shoe. Not for everyone but I have fun in these.