Hints: The bike - The Course - Repairs - The Body - The Training
The Contact Epic is an iconic journey into the back country. You need to be prepared to get the most out of this event and enjoy the wilderness. Personal responsibility is a theme of this race and below is a few helpful hints from a few local experts to help prepare your body and your bike.
The Bike
Doug Hamilton is a local MTB legend from Wanaka and has written a few pointers for you to consider.
This event is a major undertaking for all entrants and bike preparation is as equally important as body preparation. Your bike should be in top running condition, having been serviced no less than two weeks before the race start. This amount of time will give you more saddle time to get used to any changes made to your bike and to make 100% sure that everything is working perfectly.
Ideally, your bike should be a good quality ‘Cross Country’ hard-tail or short-travel dual suspension bike. The majority of the ride is on fast surfaces, sealed road, gravel road and 4wd tracks, so fast rolling tyres are the go, but there are some rocky, technical descents in there too. A light weight higher-volume tyre works best for this mix of terrain.
The Course-How to Ride it
The 125km ride starts with 20km of sealed road, with one big hill along the way at about the 15km mark. It then turns off the highway onto a fast gravel road to reach the 95km start point. This first part of the course will be on public roads, so normal road rules apply. No more than 2 riders abreast at any time and you need to keep an eye out for cars coming from both directions.
After the 95km start point, and passing by Hunter Valley Homestead, the gravel road soon turns to a 4wd farm track and the second climb soon begins. The course is really like a big rollercoaster, lots of ups and lots of downs, but nothing very long. Most of the downs are fast, open 4wd tracks so keep your speed in check and keep to the left of the track so faster riders can pass.
Crossing the Hunter River is approximately the halfway point. This is a big river and the water height can range from shin deep to waist deep, depending on recent rainfall. It’s about 150 metres from one side to the other, usually crossing several braids of the river. You will have to carry your bike across this river. Trying to ride your bike across will end in you getting very wet and cold, maybe even losing your bike downstream.
Once you are on the other side of the river the course becomes a little more technical, with very rough, rocky sections where slips and washes have come down. This is a prime place to get a puncture, so take it easy. You are soon back on 4wd track and heading for Dingle Burn Station. More rollercoaster type terrain with a little more climbing than on the first part of the course.
The course runs through the Dingle Burn Station Homestead, signalling the start of the gravel road back to Hawea. This road is very narrow in places with vertical bluffs dropping down into the lake. Take care passing along here. There’s more fast riding with a few short, sharp climbs. The climb up from Timaru Creek is the last big effort and the road is mostly flat back to Hawea from here with around 5km of sealed road to ride to finish line.
It’s a long ride, pace yourself and don’t forget to look at the view!!
Tools and Trailside Repairs
You will need to carry a good tool kit consisting of a multi-tool, chain-breaker, spare chain links, 2 spare tubes, tyre levers, patch kit and a small bottle of chain lube.
On a long ride like this anything can happen to your bike, even if it was running perfectly at the start. There are many small creek and water crossings along the way, so the lube on your chain will get washed off quickly. Use a quality wet lube and plenty of it. Carry extra in your backpack. If you get chain-suck along the way, you will need your extra lube to stop this happening again. Bad chain-suck can break a chain and rip your rear derailleur off.
Practice how to repair a broken chain before the ride and how to use all your other tools as well. It will make life so much easier when you have a real break down to fix.
The Body
Dr Andrew McLeod, another local identity has competed in almost every major multi-sport event in the country from the Southern Traverse to the Wanaka Mountain 2 Mountain.Here are a few points on looking after yourself on the day.
The adventure ride round Lake Hawea is both spectacular and challenging. To get the most out of your day a few simple physical and equipment preparations will make your day more enjoyable.
The top end of the ride is well up into the hills beside the southern divide and is subject to major weather fluctuations. You could see a day with gale force North-Westerlies, blazing sun, drenching rain, sleet or all of the above. You will need to carry a pack with extra thermal gear (regardless of the weather gurus’ best guess forecasts), waterproof jacket, woollen hat and gloves. If the weather does turn nasty, or you or your bike suffer an injury, you may be sitting waiting for a while to be collected to get home.
Although there will be assistance around the course the essence of back country travel is the need to be self sufficient. You are expected to carry a first aid kit including as a minimum gauze squares and tape to manage simple flesh wounds, a couple of Paracetamol or Nurofen tablets, and an elastic crepe bandage, sunscreen, and most important of all anti-chaff cream.
Food and fluid for the day requires careful planning. The water in the side creeks at the top end of the lake is probably safe to drink but water from creeks lower down may be contaminated by cattle. The lake water is safe and refreshing to drink. In hot conditions you may need to drink as much as 750ml per hour and some of this fluid should be in the form of an electrolyte drink to replace salt dripping off your brow.
Muscles need sugar to operate, if you are in a hurry the various commercial gels are convenient but if you are going to take time for some photos and a good look around there is nothing wrong with a few sandwiches, fruit, chocolate and cake. Treat yourself. You are burning up a few extra kilojoules! Bottom-line don’t skimp on the food. Take items that are appealing and tolerate being squashed.
Recognise that this ride is long enough and hilly enough to require a good level of fitness. The Pro Active training suggestions below will have you strong enough to tackle this event.
The Training: getting to the finish line
The team at Pro Active Gym in Wanaka have prepared an 8 week training programme to get you to the finish line and are available to help with any personal training plan, injury management, core strenghting and cross training so you can achieve your personal fitness goals, whatever your challenge may be.
Contact Epic 8 week training programme, 22nd Feb - 24th April 2010
| WEEK | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Total Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
All comers welcome, group ride 5.30pm at Pro Active Gym -Wanaka | |||||||
22-Feb Into |
Rest/Stretch (Body Balance) |
Strength RideHills) 1hr15 |
Gym session 1hr incl. Stretches |
10km Time Trial / RPM |
Cross-training 1hr |
Endurance 2hrs |
Technical Ride 1hr |
7.25-8.25 |
1-Mar Easy |
Rest/Stretch (Body Balance) |
Strength Ride (Hills) 1hr15 |
Gym session 1hr incl. Stretches |
10km Time Trial / RPM |
Cross-training 1hr |
Endurance 2hrs |
Technical Ride 1hr |
7.25-8.25 |
8-Mar Build |
Rest/Stretch (Body Balance) |
Strength Ride (Hills) 1hr 45 |
Gym session 1hr incl. Stretches |
10km Time Trial / RPM |
Cross-training 1hr |
Endurance 3hrs |
Technical Ride 1.5hr |
9.25-10.25 |
15-Mar Build |
Rest/Stretch (Body Balance) |
Strength Ride (Hills) 1hr 45 |
Gym session 1hr incl. Stretches |
10km Time Trial / RPM |
Cross-training 1hr |
Endurance 4hrs |
Technical Ride 1.5hr |
10.25-11.25 |
22-Mar Easy |
Rest/Stretch (Body Balance) |
Strength Ride (Hills) 1hr15 |
Gym session 1hr incl. Stretches |
10km Time Trial / RPM |
Cross-training 1hr |
Endurance 2hrs |
Technical Ride 1hr |
7.25-8.25 |
29-Mar Build |
Rest/Stretch (Body Balance) |
Strength Ride (Hills) 1hr15 |
Gym session 1hr incl. Stretches |
10km Time Trial / RPM |
Cross-training 1hr |
Endurance 4hrs |
Technical Ride 1.5hr |
10.25-11.25 |
5-Apr Build |
Rest/Stretch (Body Balance) |
Strength Ride (Hills) 1hr 45 |
Gym session 1hr incl. Stretches |
10km Time Trial / RPM |
Cross-training 1hr |
Endurance 5hrs |
Technical Ride 1.5hr |
11.25- 12.25 |
12-Apr Easy |
Rest/Stretch (Body Balance) |
Strength Ride (Hills) 1hr 15 |
Gym session 1hr incl. Stretches |
10km Time Trial / RPM |
Cross-training 1hr |
Endurance 2.5hrs |
Technical Ride 1hr |
7.45-8.45 |
19-Apr Taper |
Rest/Stretch (Body Balance) |
Strength Ride (Hills) 45 mins |
Pre-race sharpener session |
REST | Leg losener ride | RACE | Recovery !! | 1.75+race |
10min warm up 5min race pace 5min easy 5min race pace 5min easy 5min race pace 10 cool down |
5min warm up 5min race pace 5min spin stretches |
BodyBalance is a fantastic Stretch class run at ProActive Gym. BodyBalance combines the best of Yoga and Pilates building flexibility and strength, leaving your body feeling refreshed and balanced ready for your next ride!
RPM is the indoor cycling class run at ProActive Gym. In RPM you take on the terrain with your inspiring team coach who leads the group through hills, flats, mountain peaks, time trials and interval training - a proven formula for success!
Endurance ride
Your endurance ride is all about riding at an intensity that you can comfortably maintain for a long period of time. You should be able to have a conversation with your training buddies as you go along. Each week the duration of this ride is increased so that your body is continually having to adapt in order to get stronger and fitter and get you to that finish line.
Strength ride
You need to be hitting the hills during your strength rides as you’ll come across plenty of these in the Contact Epic. The more work you put in here during training the less it will hurt/the faster you will be able to go on the day (depending what your goals are with this one!) Strength riding will improve your muscle efficiency meaning that you can do more work for less effort, ideal considering what we are aiming to do here. If you aren’t able to get too far from home just pick one good hill and go up and down it a few times! If you can’t find any decent hills just put your bike into a high gearing (more resistance) and keep pushing hard with the legs. If you start experiencing knee pain during these sessions reduce the resistance and pop in to your favourite bike shop and get your bike set-up checked.
Time Trial/RPM
With 10k time trials you go as hard as you can for 10k and make yourself hurt. This ride will make every other ride seem easy so they are well worth it. Aim to do 45mins to an hour total so you should include a 10min warm up and at least a 10min cool down to spin out those legs as it is going to be lactate central! For something different get into our local gym, ProActive on Plantation Rd, and try out their spin classes. They are guaranteed to increase your fitness and mental fortitude!
X-Train/Rest
X-training sessions give our cycling muscles a rest but continue to push our cardio fitness. Make sure these are low impact sessions ie. Limit the jumping around and opt for something like swimming, kayaking or hop onto a x-trainer at the gym. If you need a rest make the most of today as tomorrow is your big ride. Make sure you really listen to your body, if you are tired, cranky or a bit under the weather a rest will probably do you good.
Gym Session
This is a pure strength-based session that incorporates the use of body weight and equipment to load specific muscle groups required for mountain biking. Things such as lunges, single leg squats and step-ups are all great. Include some core work in these sessions and you will also find some upper body strength will help you heaps with your uphill riding and technical work. If this sort of training is unfamiliar to you get advice before starting. Pop into our friendly local gym, ProActive and get set up with a training programme specific to you as we all have our own strengths and weakness. Make sure you have a good stretch after these sessions and you may find it helpful to spin your legs out on the bike for 10mins as this will aid in the clearance of metabolites and lactate.
Technical Ride
This ride is used to increase your confidence and bike handling skills. The terrain should be a bit rough with a few tree stumps, roots, stones and tight corners to navigate around. Remember to focus on where you want your bike to go not what you don’t want to hit. Whatever you fixate on is where you are going to end up! Intensity wise this ride should not make you feel completely stuffed, take your time, enjoy your surroundings and try not to be afraid to push the limits a bit. Better to find out in training than on race day. Gradually increase the difficulty as you gain confidence and come race day you will be a smooth more efficient and confident rider. These rides can end up being heaps of fun, go with a few mates and have a laugh. You are likely to take a tumble at some stage, pick yourself up, brush off the dirt, leave the blood there because it makes you look tough and get on with it!
Nutrition
Your training and race nutrition is going to be vital in getting you to that finish line. You should be carrying water and electrolyte with you on all your rides as at this time of year it doesn’t take long to dehydrate. For any session over an hour and a half you should be taking food with you. This could be things such as energy gels, bananas, honey sammies, muesli bars, anything that has a high carbohydrate content. The more you practice with food whilst riding the better off you will be race day. Things to think about are how you are going to carry all this food, the number of drink bottle carriers/camel pack volume you will need, what agrees with your stomach what doesn’t, if you start thinking about this now you’ll be good to go come race day. If you need more advice on this the guys at your local bike shop will have plenty of good ideas or the personal trainers at ProActive will be able to provide you with a nutrition plan. Nutrition is just as important before and after your session. Try to have something to eat at least an hour before you head out and get something onboard as fast as you can once finishing as this will aid your recovery.
Final Notes
A few things to remember are… quality training is better than quantity training. Anything can happen race day, practice your tire changes, think about your clothing, what if it’s hot, what if it’s not? If you train in all conditions, mentally you will be far better prepared come race day if the weather turns to custard. Have fun and enjoy it! Remember there are heaps of people able to help you all you have to do is ask. Good Luck
