You
don’t have to be riding on roads or tracks every day of the week
to be a competitive cyclist.
LSMT James Grant, 24, is proof of that.
James has been at sea in recent months as a member of HS BLUE
CREW on the hydrographic ship HMAS Melville.
He knew he had to keep fit to compete in the Crocodile Trophy,
said to be the hardest mountain bike ride in the world. It is
run from Darwin to the Daintree, north of Cairns, a distance of
1700km.
The race requires riders to travel along corrugated roads and
tracks, across sand and through bulldust in temperatures reaching
up to 45 degrees. And having to stop for cattle is not uncommon.
For three months while on Melville, James spent hours riding a
stationary bike in the ship’s cargo hold.
“The big catch is that I did all my training at sea.
Until two weeks before the race I was on board Melville. We had
spent three months doing survey operations in northern waters,”
James said.
“I would do basically on average an hour of training a day, with
the majority of my time spent on the mag trainer.
“If I had any extra time I would do some leg weights in the gym.
“Whenever I got ashore on short leave I would just ride.
One time we had a couple of days off in Darwin so I rode to Katherine,
340km in one day.
It taught me a lot about what I would expect in the race.”
James also went on a strict diet to loose 6kg before the Crocodile
Trophy.
The race began on October 16,. “Fifty riders set out – 49 men
and one woman – but only 26 finished,” James’ wife, Melanie, said.
“They formed teams of three. Some of the riders were the best
in the world.
“One team came complete with mechanics and masseurs.”
Heading James’ team, the Cairn’s Coconut Village team, was overall
winner Adam Hansen, a fellow Cairns local, and local environmental
engineer David Wood.
James’s team went on to win the race, with Adam finishing first
and James ninth overall.
“Our job in the team was to support our team leader,” James said.
“We did whatever was necessary to get him over the line first,
whether that be giving Adam our wheel if he got a flat tyre, or
chasing down attacks from other teams.” For James, the biggest
highlight of the event was on the first day.
“I made a breakaway from the peloton (main group) about 20km into
the first stage and kept away until the 120km mark. “I was time-trialing
through outback northern Australia at 40km/h in 40 degree heat
for 100km.
It was hard to believe that all my training on the boat had paid
off.
“There were a lot of good pro European riders behind me; it was
a good feeling.”
As a result of James’ break, the team’s main opposition, the “Dream
Team” (a team comprising paid athletes, including Tour de France
veteran Alberto Elie, was shattered thanks to some brilliant teamwork.
Team leader Adam went on to cross the line with a 10 minute-lead
on the nearest competitor, a significant lead for the first day.
“I paid pretty dearly for my effort.
It took two hours for the cramps to subside at the end of the
first day and the next day 200km of corrugations was hell, but
I finished,” James said.
Adam, David and James struck out towards Queensland.
Thirteen stages later they crossed the finish line in first place.
James has been involved with the sport of mountain biking for
just three years but has a big future ahead.
