BMC100 2009

DNF @ the 54km mark. (Entered 100kms)
Stomach arched up, which has never happened before, nausea, stabbing pains. Stop out on course for a nature break (hoping it’ll cure things), felt dizzy & kinda stumbled about abit (???).
At the 32km water/rest stop I wolfed down some watermelon & a ‘nana, took a few minutes out. Rolling off I was back to 100%, but that only lasted until the pines section @ 40kms. So when the singletrack near Wombat dam turned left onto the gravel road, I turned right & headed back to the Start/Finish where I spent a good half hour of portaloo time.

Cool, drizzly start. It was actually delayed 30mins – to 7:30am for the 100kms Elites – because of the log jam of cars still trying to get in/park, they should sort that out for next year – alternate entrance for cars into the car park maybe.
The start was: first Elites @ 7:30am, then Age categories for those riding for a podium, then Age categories for those who finish mid field & then everyone else ‘out for a ride’. I actually got caught up chatting with a few riders & ended up starting in this last group for the 100kms.
It was still drizzling as we rolled off down the gravel road east towards the Wombat dam area. There was a fair amount of open gravel road to spread the field, but getting into the first bit of long tight singletrack – the Pines at Wombat dam, it was a congo line as far as I could see. This pine section was damp from the drizzle & I found the exposed roots at right angles really slippery & I just found myself just riding out of the saddle & letting the bike do its own thing under me. With the traffic it was difficult to ride through/over the bumps/roots as I had to trail the brake so I would not connect with the rider ahead.
There were some open gravel road climbs that actually got me into the granny in this section too.
Out of the pines & into regular bush, this is when I started feeling – not the best. But there were some good singletrack sections here & we were all bopping having a good ole time.
The first rest/water stop @ about the 32kms I hung about to pull myself together, while I was there I ran into J9 & Tim MTB (from BV forum) as well as a few blokes I know from the Westgate dirt crits.
Off again with more of the same, a fast decent followed by some climbing, repeat. Short gravel road sections between singletrack. I could feel that my kms where numbered as my nausea wasn’t being offset by my motivation, which was waning, to keep going. I started to look for reasons to stop, on 2x occasions stopping to lend assistance with tools etc to riders attempting repairs.
I rolled through the Wombat dam singletack & then hit the gravel road back.

Sitting here now I’m regretting it all, pulling out like that. Piking. Choking. Going soft. I could have just stopped for a bit & probably gone good & had a great afternoon.
But it just means that I’ll be hungry to get out there ASAP & get one down to put this one behind me.

Points of interest:
Seemed like a big turn out.
Car parking problem needs solving.
I like the ‘timing chip’ set-up that each rider has with them.
Thought I saw a camera & flash set up out on the early Pines section singletrack that was automatically taking photos of riders as they go by.
I think there were lots of singletrack for the kind of event it was.