If you’ve never been on a mountain bike, you’re missing something special.  And if you are a mountain biker, but have never ridden really good singletrack, then you’re also missing something special.

The Angry Doctor is a 100km mountain bike enduro set in the beautiful forests surrounding Mogo / Batemans Bay - down the south coast, about 350km south of Sydney.  The official website can be found here: Angry Doctor.  The race is actually part of a weekend of fun in the mud - there is a 11km time trial on the Saturday afternoon (the “Nasty Nurse”) followed up the next day by the Angry Doctor (100km) and the option for the softies - the Irate Intern.

I raced the Angry Doctor last year on my geared GT Zaskar hardtail and the race lived up to it’s tagline - it surely did “tear my legs off”.  The plan this year was to race the Angry Doctor on my rigid single-speed Niner One9.

The Course

If you’re interested in details of the course, check out the official website.  This has to be one of the sweetest 100km rides going around - the overwhelming majority of the race is on single track and double track and the trails are in many places beautifully sculpted - berms everywhere so you can throw the bike into a corner.  It is not a course for the faint-hearted however - over the 100km of riding you’ll cover 2,800m of vertical ascent - there are almost no flat sections along the course - it’s pretty much all up hill and down dale.

The Race / Ride

Sunday morning rolled around and I rolled out on the bike with my mate Rob who was doing the ride with me.  Lots of familiar faces out there, and I even bumped into a guy (Steve) who I led astray last year (I took a wrong turn, he followed me, and we ended up adding a nice long climb to our ride before realising!).

I wasn’t really out to race - just to roll through the course and have a blast.  My focus was on having fun, but there’s always that competitive edge lurking in the background.  I clocked through the 50km in 3hrs flat, and the full 100km in just shy of 6.5hrs.

I got a horrid cramp at 65km and I was wondering whether I was going to be in trouble, but after a quick stretch I found myself in good shape and the cramps didn’t come back.

A flat at 75km put me in a hole - the key with these events is to fuel up and just keep going.  I spent 10 minutes fixing the flat, and my body just shut down.  Have to say - km’s 75 to 80 were horrid as I struggled to get the engine going again.  A can of red bull and a bunch of food at the 80km aid station put me right, however!

The Bike

Whilst the idea of riding a rigid single-speed for 100km may seem lunacy to many, I’d have to say it was the perfect choice for me for an event like this.  With such well constructed trails, suspension is a luxury and far from a necessity.  What you give up in comfort pays you back in spades when it comes to climbing and riding twisting singletrack - there’s nothing like the flow you get on a rigid bike.

All held up really well, except the gearing was probably perfect for a 50km event, a little big for a 100km event.  If I were to do it over, I’d fit a 19 tooth to the back.

Nutrition

The race was really well supported by Gu, Red Bull and Be Natural energy bars - there was an abundance of food and hats off to Red Bull for also supplying sugar free Red Bull.  I find sugary drinks put a bit of a spike in my blood sugar, so sugar free Red Bull is great because it gives you the caffeine kick without the sugar rush and subsequent bonk.

A mate supplied me with Science in Sport (SIS) energy gels for this race and I’m a convert - these have got to be some of the best energy gels going around.  Relatively thin in consistency and a mild taste, I could have raced all day on these without getting that “blah, can’t eat another energy gel” feeling.  I’ll write up a more detailed review, but if you’re looking for a great gel - give these a go.  Notably, these gels are made up such that you can down one without any additional fluids and not run into trouble - I can verify this to be true from my experience racing.

Recovery

I had the opportunity to try out some new 2XU compression tights and a full sleeve shirt.  A race like this not only takes it out of the legs - it knocks about your upper body a lot.  Like any review of compression garments, it’s hard to be definitive about the benefits - but with almost no muscular soreness the next day (still rode to work) I have to say that I’m keen to use these lots more for my up-coming ironman prep.

A few pics from the pro-photo guys out there on the day:

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