Castlemaine local Courtney Shinn recently won the solo female category at the 2011 Scott Australian 24 Hours Mountain Bike Championships in Canberra. Congrats to Courtney and her support crew on her win. We caught up with Courtney to hear from her about the race.
How did your recovery go (physically and mentally)?
I recovered a lot better than my previous two 24’s, I was back on the bike after 2 days rest however soon realised that was a bit keen and had a few more rest days!! I am having 3 weeks of just easy recovery rides and then I’ll get back into it with some harder rides and a few races. Mentally it has been hard to not ride my bike and to take it easy! I spent March – July injured. I wasn’t able to do one single ride in 5 months and ended up having hip surgery. Having that massive break I came to appreciate just how much riding is a massive part of my life. Not being able to ride and then having only 12 weeks of training under my belt I guess this race didn’t have a toll on me mentally. Physically it took a few days for my hands, wrists, back, butt, thumbs, shoulders and feet to recover!! The course was so rocky that it was more my upper body that copped a hammering in the race.
During the race what thoughts are going through your head at 3am?
The only time I remember feeling a bit low was very briefly at 2am, I was starting to feel really tired and began to worry that I was going to fall asleep riding and have a massive stack. It was during that 1 lap that things started to feel a bit “slow-mo” and I started to think how nice it would be to be tucked up in bed. Those thoughts didn’t last long however when I remembered my support crew were probably doing it tougher than me; at least I got to ride my bike!! I knew that Dave, Loki and Al had put in serious time, effort and belief in me and I couldn’t let them down. That was my slowest lap and when I came in to the pit my support crew decided I needed a 15 minute recharge break, so I sat down and had a big bowl of gnocchi, a neck massage and a no-doz. After that I was wide awake and loving it again.
How did you feel at first light?
First light’s always a good time. I absolutely love riding at night but I guess you do start to look forward to first light when you’ve been riding in darkness for close to 12 hours. I guess first light was also a bit nerve wracking in that my race plan was to feel good at 6am and then up the tempo and go harder. I knew I still had 6 hours of racing left and that’s really when the race began. I figured I was going to have to put myself in the hurt box for those last 6 hours!
In your mountain biking future is The Tour Divide still a possibility (4400km race across Canada and the USA)?
Absolutely! The plans are already starting to be made for that race, we were planning on racing it next year however in light of winning tickets over to Italy we’re going to do Ride the Divide possibly the year after. Our training for Ride the Divide has already started as we have been heading out on overnight bike packing trips. We are going on a bike packing 3 week trip over Summer in New Zealand and in July myself, my husband and a close friend are going to ride from Adelaide to Darwin in 15 days to raise money and awareness for Bicycles for Humanity, an organisation that sends bikes over to Africa to help people become more self sufficient. I guess those trips involve spending lots of hours in the saddle which will help towards getting prepared for Ride the Divide.
You’re entitled to compete at the 24 Hour World Champs in Italy. Will you go and if so what are your ambitions?
I think I’d be silly not to make the most of that fantastic opportunity. We’ll head over in May, they have the solo race followed by a team’s race the next weekend which I’d love to do with my support crew. In terms of ambitions I’ll be seeing how the next few months pan out and be a lot smarter with my training to ensure I don’t get injured.
What are your words of advice for anyone contemplating a solo 24 hour?
For anyone contemplating doing a 24hour solo my advice would be JUST DO IT!! The nature of the race is great in that you can stop and have a break for as long or as little as you like, you’ve really got nothing to lose and everything to gain by having a go! If you want to do well in a 24 hour all you need to do is PACE yourself and get the right amount of energy in! It all comes down to hydration, nutrition and pacing yourself. Its crazy the number of people who go nuts for the first 6 hours and then are passed out in their tent for hours!! Even if you go 10 minutes slower each lap you’re going to do a hell of a lot more laps if you’re out there riding most of the time. Also, having recharge breaks whether they’re 5minutes or 30 minutes will help. At the end of the day it depends on what your goals are as to how you’ll ride or race but just get out there and have a crack!!
What races are you next competing in?
I’m heading up to do the Gravity 12 hour in two weeks, not sure if I’ll race it solo or in a pair. At the end of January I’m racing Wildside in Tasmania, and then Otway Odyssey and I’m keen to do as many of the Victorian State Enduro Series as possible. Looking at the race calendar for next year there’s so many races including 100km’s, enduro’s and stage races there’s loads to choose from so I can’t wait!!
What’s your favourite trail in Castlemaine and when will be see you next?
That’s a hard question, there are SO many AWESOME trails in Castlemaine. My parents live about 100m from the water race trail so I ride that a lot, and love doing the GDT to the chocolate factory in Daylesford. However Jubbaland certainly holds a special place, I have spent a lot of time practicing my skills there. I remember trying to go up a rocky climb and it took my 27 goes before I finally got up without unclipping! Also, going over the A line drop off there is still one of my greatest achievements on a mountain bike! It took me nearly 12 months to build up the courage to go off the thing!! The Baco trails and the Pineys are wicked fun also; pretty much any ride with Rocky Riders crew is awesome fun! I’m taking a group of students on the Great Victorian Bike Ride so will be in town for the finish of that at the start of December, but will only have the roadie. As soon as the school term is over (22/12) I’ll be straight back home and hitting the trails!
By day you’re a secondary school teacher. How was the news of your win received by your students?
Yeah they were pretty pumped, some of them had seen the interview with abc on telly so were excited to know “someone famous.” Orbost doesn’t have many cyclists so they don’t really get what it’s about. I went and spoke to students at the School for Student Leadership which is an outdoor ed school in Marlo where we live and they were pretty impressed, the girls had loads of questions and seemed really motivated afterwards which was great to see.
If you’re in town on a Thursday will you come and join us at a Dirt Crit?
When I see the Dirt Crits posted on facebook every Thursday I get sad that I’m not in Castlemaine. I really miss not being there and being able to ride and race on such amazing tracks with such awesome people. (We are trying our hardest to get our butts back there in the near future to live). Living in a town where there’s no cycling club, trails and it’s not really valued has made us appreciate how wonderful Castlemaine is!
Some quick stats about Courtney’s race:
- Completed 24 laps, 2nd place did 23 laps and 3rd place did 18 laps
- Covered 336km’s which included 6km of vertical climbing
- Stopped for 5 mins at 8pm, then 15 mins at 3am
- Didn’t hit the lead until 6.30am
Read more about Courtney’s race on her blog.
