Josh Carlson: CT Blog

Well the countdown is well and truly on ladies and gents! In just over a week now, and I'll be on my way to the land of chocolate and 'spartacus' (Cancellara), Switzerland! The past few weeks have been a little boring on the story front but I've been getting some great training done thanks to ftptraining.com and the preparation has been going awesome!

 

A couple of weeks ago I raced the capital punishment Canberra 50k enduro man what a race!! Standing in the car park 15mins before race start in the pitch black and pouring rain trying to decide whether it's worth attempting to warm-up or pack it up and head for a hot coffee and treat at Goulburn bakery...  I decided to warm up and put my handbag down and get amongst it! What made the decision easier was the fact that I was there to race and survive the 50k rather than survive and struggle through the 100k in what was no doubt going to be a race many wouldn't forget in a long time!!!  (Also hard to forget cause it would take 3 washes of the bike before it stops sounding like a meat grinder every time you spin the wheels or cranks)

 

After a frantic warm up and reluctance to part with my GIANT jacket and knee warmers, it was off to stand in the rain and await the start. An approx. 3k fire road climb got the riders started for the race which was kinda good because it helped you maintain some kind of feeling in your legs before we hit the single trail of Majura.

 

45k later and there was only two of us left and no feeling left in most body parts due to the drop in temperature and drizzling rain. As we rounded the Stromlo trails and headed for the final decent my hands were so cold climbing up to the observatory at the top of Stromlo, that I physically couldn't even push my xtr shifter hard enough to change gear... Ot oh!!

 

By the top of the climb I just managed to get it into the big ring and headed for the decent. With young Trenton Day hot, well probably just as cold as me, on my tail I attacked at the top of the decent and sprinted the 5k decent for the finish and the hot showers! Stoked with the win and stoked I didn't do the 100k option!!

 

The last few weeks have consisted of 4am training sessions, big weekends and trying my best not to eat everything in sight including my homemade sticky date pudding... delissh! My weight has come down to where I want it, my GIANT xtc xtr equipped hard tail if fully prepped and rearing to go so now all that left is trying to stay healthy and to go and show the euros how it's done! ;)

 

At the moment I’m full of excitement and keenness to get over there and get amongst it! First stop will be champery, Switzerland for 2 weeks before I race rd 4 of the cross country mountain bike world cup on the 25th of July. We'll then head down to Italy to Val di sole for the week to race rd 5 of the world cup series on august 1st before heading back to Zurich, Switzerland to fly home on the 2nd. It's going to be a whirlwind trip and I'm sure I'll have some hectic experience to gain, some foreign curse words to learn and some stories to tell! and hopefully have plenty of photos for you guys to check out.

 

Till next time, I hope everyone is getting amongst it in the cold and riding lots!

 

Luv your work,