What a ride, I was in this one for fun and training and that is what I got. I must admit I was tempted to go for something longer than the 105k but considering my schedule I think I picked well.
With a most relaxed start I wanted to stay to the front of the pack down to the cotter as I hate descending in big groups. The climb out of the Cotter was a solid effort, I was just hanging onto the wheel in front, not putting in a huge effort but just to stay there but realized at the top there was only 5 of us left. We rode to Tharwa, turned around without much of a break and headed back to see the gap. It was not much only 1 minute, and it was not long till we saw Karen, it was quite funny really seeing little Karen leading this big group of about 30 guys behind her just sitting on her wheel.
The last climb before heading to the Cotter Mr McAvoy put a bit of effort in and split us up. I really was not ready for it at the back and dropped right off. I noticed the group was split into 3, 2 groups of 2 and then me. I had used all my power beans when it was my turn at the front, so I rode the last 25k off my base hoping that the following group would not catch me. But I did manage to get in contact with the 4th rider at the last checkpoint but it did not last long. I ended up finishing in 5th to a big cheer from the Mumnuts (onya girls), all done in just over 3.5 hours. Jase finished 2nd, behind a guy that did no work at the front, one reason to hate road race’s ;).
After the ride I promised a mate (Brownie) I’d come back and ride the last section with him. So I headed back after re filling my bottle and grabbed a couple of softies. By the time I got to Uriarra it was heating up in a big way, so I drank my solo and kept going. I got to the intersection at Brindabella road saw a couple of riders in the shade and that was a good excuse to stop for a bit. I kept going but saw Brownie only a few km’s down the road and was keen to get back out of the heat. I was expecting a nice easy cruise back but Brownie had other idea’s smashing it along the flats, he must have got a bit of extra motivation from somewhere. But heading back up the 3 sisters was hard it was 42+ degrees’s and was glad when a volley offered to refill our drinks as I was running out quickly. So we were back on it again and finished it off. Close enough to 150k’s for me and a little de-hydrated and sunburnt but it was all good fun.
As it seems the ride revealed that I have not yet solved the issue I had at Worlds, although I have no pain it is obvious my preventions are not working. So hopefully with a few emails I can find out some answers. It has come at a bad time with the 100mile fling this weekend and hopefully it will be OK and come good, but I need it sorted before the Kona for sure.
Other news I entered into Worlds last Sunday, having another go at my age group. No doubt it will be the toughest 24 hour competition the Worlds has seen so it is bound to be a beauty.
No comments:
Post a Comment