It doesn't matter who you are, 24 hours of riding is tough according to world champion and winner of yesterday's Australian 24 Hours Mountain Bike Championship Jason English.
''I couldn't take it easy at all. It was tough racing the whole time but I just had to keep pushing, pushing and pushing right to the end,'' an exhausted English said.
The Port Macquarie rider held off a host of Canberra's best riders at Stromlo Forest Park, including Ed McDonald (second place) and Andrew Hall (third), for his fourth win in the race.
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''It was such a tough race. It came down to the last four hours and who had the legs left at the end of the day,'' English said.
English will have no time to savour his victory, as he heads back to Port Macquarie today to prepare for a race in Perth.
McDonald's strategy was to go hard early in an attempt to unsettle English, the favourite for the race.
''We knew we would have to give English a run for his money. There were a couple of us from Canberra, we were talking about how we would work together and give him a challenge,'' McDonald said.
But the strategy backfired, with McDonald tiring towards the end of the race.
''I started in a very silly way, got sillier and paid the price in the last five hours,'' he said.
However, McDonald was proud of his podium finish and was in no doubt how he would celebrate.
''I'm going to have a nanna nap and a big meal ... a pub meal I think ... a burger.''
AT A GLANCE Australian 24 Hours Mountain Bike Championships, yesterday: winners: men's solo: Jason English; women's solo: Courtney Shinn; male pair: Jesse Carlsson and Alex Denham; female pair: Danielle Salvestro and Ronja Hill-Wright; mixed pair: Ben Kaiser and Laura Marshall; solo male over-40: Jason McAvoy; solo female over-40: Kathryn Stolarski .
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