I'd love to but the distance is the thing he's worried about, and at 260km its longer than the Grafton. Sure I can do the miles, but his thinking is that I'd be toast in a race environment, and even toastier if I raced any races (like the state masters champs) in the weeks following.

Me, being a noob, will have to cool my heels for a while. Sort like being a sprinter in a 4 month long road race, "just stay patient, just stay patient....".

maybe next year