Scott 24 hour...

Amazing how time just sneaks past...  One day I had plenty of time to prepare for the Scott 24 hr and associated travelling, the next day it was time to pack up and go!  As usual I totally over-packed, with plenty of ‘just-in-case’ clothing and other items!  I had a pile of lists to tick off and was still panicking about what I might have forgotten!  Mind you, for someone that used to have to go back and check that I’d turned the heater/stove/dryer off at least once after leaving the house, it’s hardly surprising.  We did, however, make it to Aus intact, relatively calm and with everything that I’d intended to pack.  We’d decided to ride  the day of our arrival – made for a long day, but would hopefully ease my mind about the nature of the course.  The plan was for a recce of the Red lap, with a quick look at some of the Blue if there was time.  I was pleasantly surprised by the tracks – they seemed much smoother than I remembered, with far less alligators hiding amongst the rocks.  I was a bit worried about the section that used the DH track – for no reason!  There were some cruisey nana lines – and the gap jump was to be closed off for the race… otherwise I would have hit it, honest!!  The first not-so-happy piece of track that I met was Blackberry Climb.  Not steep, but early on there’s a corner in to a short pinch up a rock…  not tricky if you’re committed, but rocky pinches are a real struggle for me.  I finally managed after a few goes and some very unladylike words!  From there, we headed back to the car park via the Red lap. The second time down the DH descent I rolled down the ‘B’ line – which was to become the ‘A’ line for the race – with the help of my dropper post.  I decided to use the chicken line in the race, but it was fun (and scary) to bounce down in practice.  Highlight of the day was the huge gathering of ‘roos, just hanging out watching the silly humans!

 

Then it was off to the camp ground to get settled in, find food and decent coffee!  I really struggled to find brew that I liked when we were here 2 years ago – not the case this time!  We went back to Café Essen several times during the week… they did pretty damned good food as well!

 

The next day was cold, but fine.  Time to get out and attack both laps!  The red lap went smoothly – I really enjoyed this part of the ride, just being out and riding with Shane.  Then I met the blue lap!!  It wasn’t too scary, just had plenty of my favourite rocky pinches, a couple that I struggled with, and a nice long rocky climb that looked worse than it was.  The trail was called Deep Creek – you can guess what I renamed it to!! Most of the technical riding needed a bit of commitment and momentum; both of are on my ‘work in progress’ list!  I’d tentatively planned to do a lap at night, but after 3 hours of riding, sifting and looking I decided to rest my legs instead. 

Drove to the airport to meet Charlotte, then dragged her off to do a lap of the track in the rain!  I thought Australia was supposed to be dry and warm?  I managed to clear the sections I’d struggled with on Wednesday – the rocks were surprisingly grippy in the wet, unlike the ones that I’m used to.

 

The next day’s ride was a little less successful.  Charlotte’s bike decided to go on strike, I rode not very well and had a particularly plonker-ish fall on a rocky corner as the line I’d been using had disappeared underwater.  I also found that the rocks, while grippy in the wet, were not so grippy with lots of wet dirt/sand dragged up on to them!

 

Throughout the week I was getting more and more nervous… not about the results, but about whether I could perform well enough to justify the cost of the trip and the effort put in by Shane and Charlotte (who’d given up any hope of a birthday bash to come and help me out), plus all of Gav’s work on my bikes and my amazing coach, Jess. 

 

I indulged in a little retail therapy – there were some seriously good bargains on CORC branded clothing, plus event shirts from 2010 (when I was there last).  Nothing like shopping for bike stuff to take your mind off things.

 

Race morning!  I was utterly hopeless, luckily I had people around me that knew what needed to be done!  Shovelled some breakfast down, then headed for the venue via the mall for some last minute supplies.  Shane arrived back at the car with a gorgeous little fluffy cat toy that reminded me a bit of our cat…  I cried happy tears, I was just so emotional and wound up – then cuddled the poor cat pretty much until the start of the race!  Best news of the day – no Le Mans start!  I downed a coffee (pre-race essential), then spent far too much money on bargain clothing – purely for stress release, you understand!

 

All too soon it was the countdown to race start – and we were off!  The solo riders had a 5 minute head start, so we avoided the usual mayhem of a 24 hour start.  The whippets headed off in to the distance, while I joined the procession through the muddy but rideable singletrack.  It takes me a good hour to warm up, so I was quite happy to settle in and get used to the course.  First red lap was uneventful, I felt slow but OK.  My drink tasted vile – like mould – but I forced myself to choke it down anyway… the laps were long enough that I couldn’t afford not to eat for that long.  I thought that I’d possibly not cleaned my bottle out well enough, but it turned out to be an ‘off’ tub of Perpetuem.  I’d taken my own with me (unopened) as the Australian stuff tastes different – and threw my poor crew a massive curve ball as they had to try and locate something to keep me fed (I had enough for most of the race, but possibly not for the whole 24 hours). 

 

I ended up in a really strange and unhappy headspace for quite a while – I was convinced that I was going far too slowly (even turned my speedo under my bars so it wouldn’t upset me) and was walking far more than I should have been, that I was letting everyone down…  I kept apologizing to Shane and Charlotte for how badly/slowly I was going – not believing them when they told me I was doing just fine.  Turns out I was travelling faster than we’d estimated and they were both pleased with how things were going… the effort that I put in on the bits that I could ride was obviously working.  Then it started to rain.  The slightly slushy track turned to mush in a lot of places, plenty of hike-a-bike – even the team riders were hiking some sections.

 

Flat tyre # 1.  I’m not sure how long it was partly flat for before it got bad enough for me to realize what was going on (rear) – re-inflated it with my trusty pit-stop, then swapped bikes so Shane could check the tire and sort the pressure out before my next lap…  bloody thing went down again next lap.  I put up with it flapping away on the climbs, then stopped and used another pit stop before the downhill section of the lap, figuring that I could handle a half-inflated tyre up the fire road climb, but not a singletrack descent!  This time we just swapped the wheel out for Shane’s spare rather than risk another deflation.

 

Night laps – headed out on a red lap, having trouble seeing and realized that my helmet light was dim.  Not wanting to do the lap by Braille, and not 100% sure of the rules about leaving/re-joining the course, I ran/walked back to the pits, grabbed another battery and stomped back to my bike to carry on.  Well – it wasn’t the battery as it turns out, it was the connector on my ay-ups that was failing!  By halfway around the lap my helmet light had faded to almost nothing while my bar light was dimming as I’d taken too long on the lap and gone past the time I needed to change it.  I walked at least half of the lap, riding only on the fire roads and crit track.  Grr.  I lost track of when and how often I fell off – I took a couple of heavy hits to my ribs overnight, in the same section of track!  A few spd moments plus the results of some general muppetry and tiredness left me feeling pretty beaten up.  Strangely enough, all of these hiccups only made me more determined to keep on going, to keep giving everything that I had to give. 

 

I had a great chat with a bloke called Josh during the night – he wasn’t that fond of night riding, so was quite happy to follow me around for a lap!  I have no idea what kind of crap I babbled at him, but was grateful for the company.

 

At one point I was off the bike and felt brambles or prickles pulling at my legs – I remember thinking “can’t worry about that now, but it’s going to hurt later”

 

Charlotte was giving me hot food – I need to learn to eat faster!  I don’t think she believed that it was possible to eat mashed potato that slowly!

The first hint of the new day came with the sound of the birds singing, chirping and squaking… (a pleasant change for the constant croaking of the toads!) – they seem to know when it’s about to start getting light.  Once the sun finally came up I managed to pick things up a gear and start riding harder.  I could see lines through and around most of the rhino pits I’d been avoiding at night; although I was still walking several rideable rocky sections due to having stacked so many times.  The end was in sight, I was still going, sore and tired but still had some gas in the tank thanks to my lovely crew being spot on with my feeding.  Towards the end I was told by Charlotte that I had 2 laps to go – I misheard Shane and thought he said I probably only had to do one – so spent the entire lap talking myself into it being my last lap!  I was tired (well, d’uh!) –

I’d crash on another lap, I wouldn’t have time…  etc.  Apparently the lady in 3^rd place had put in a couple of fast laps and there was a chance that she could overtake me if she did a last lap and I didn’t.  I hesitated before going out again… but if they said I had time, then it was worth a shot!  I put even more in to this lap than I had on what I’d thought was my last lap – destroyed myself up the fire roads, gritted my teeth on the downs and walked what I felt I needed to… never really believing that I’d make it back in time.  When I saw the 10km to go sign I knew it was possible, but only really started to be sure when I had 5km to go.  The last section of the blue lap was endless – a series of tracks with ‘gum’ in the name that wound their way down the hill, taking forever… until I popped out in the event village – trying not to get too excited, I could still crash or get a flat…  Whee – over the finish line with a few minutes to spare!  Yes!!  Hugs all round, then I staggered back to our site, eased myself in to a chair and I was done… that is without a doubt the most broken I’ve ever been in my life, and I was so glad to feel that way! Stoked that my crew made me go out again – not for the result, but for allowing me to dig deeper than I ever have, or ever thought that I could, and find that I still had more to give.

Overall I'm pretty pleased with how things went... but still plenty to work on for next time!  As mentioned earlier, but really can't be said enough, - thanks to Gav for getting my bikes in to race shape, Charlotte for being A1 support crew, tolerating my whining and generally being wonderful and organised, the amazing Jess Douglas for coaching, mentoring and believing... and finally to my incredible hubby, who got me in to this silly sport in the first place & continues to support me in every possible way.

A Weekend of Opposites

Saturday – There was a strange glow in the sky, which I eventually recognised as the sun!  After a week of heavy rain the weather gods had decided to grant an early preview of spring... but my program called for a night ride!  While considering this I dropped Shane off to go exploring in the Tawatawa reserve area and parked by the beach to enjoy the rare treat of reading a book in the warmth of the sun!

Eventually I decided on compromise, so headed out along the coastal trail at QE park  towards Raumati at around 4.  I chose this route as one least likely to be knee deep in mud, as well as to not cause any damage to the waterlogged trails.  From Raumati it was back to the main gates of QEP, then up the hill through Whareroa Farm.  Splash through the stream, slosh through a short muddy stretch, then climb, climb, climb up to Campbells Mill Rd, then on to the forest gate.  It was pretty hard to keep breathing and admire the scenery all at once, but I managed OK.

I was treated to a beautiful sunset on my way back down, then finished off with a final loop of the Coastal track as darkness closed in.  Nothing like a ride in the sun to recharge my (solar) batteries!

The rain started at a scarily early hour on Sunday and never really stopped!  The forecast was for clearing skies in the afternoon, so I waited... and waited...   yep, still raining!  Oh, well – a good opportunity to test my new waterproof socks, if nothing else!  (I find this kind of weather hard to dress for, as being comfortably warm on the descents usually means baking inside my own personal sauna on the climbs! So – today’s option was minimal layers with a waterproof outer.) I headed out from home for a modified version of yesterday’s ride.  Funnily enough, there were very few people out and about (no bikers) compared to yesterday!  Between the weather, the damper surface and my slightly toasted legs the riding was much slower today – but it was still good to be out and about rather than on the wind trainer!  The little stream that I splashed through yesterday had doubled in size, so I decided to wade through rather than risk total body immersion!  FYI ‘waterproof’ socks aren’t designed to cope with this kind of treatment!  My feet were wet, but warm, for the rest of the ride!  Slosh through the muddy paddock, slog up the wet clay climb, along Campbell’s Mill road, dodge the big scary cow/bull/dinosaur hiding in the corner (I wasn’t game to hang around to find out for sure!), turn around and head for home.  No photos today, just find something grey to look at and that pretty much sums up today’s viewing!  Finished up tired but satisfied...  and rinsed all of my wet weather gear in the shower!

Santoft Sizzler

Leading up to race day I was a little apprehensive – although the Santoft course isn’t really technical (and unlikely to have wheel-grabbing alligators hiding in the sand) I was worried about how I’d go and  whether I would let myself down  after my last not-great outing at Pukeora.  First good point of the day was the weather – not raining!!  Even better, the track was pretty much dry.

I’d come down with a mild dose of germs during the week– just enough to notice when pushing really hard which, combined with a haze of pollen, meant my throat felt like it was closing up when I was breathing really hard. No problem, just make my legs work harder instead, right?  Being a short (relatively) event I planned to support myself while Shane sifted around, took photos and generally had a relaxing day out.

 

The first lap was pretty congested – I wasn’t willing to push hard enough to get a good spot on the start loop, so I mostly followed the train through the first single track.  The novelty of a track with no mud more than made up for my lack of top end pipes (probably made very little difference to be honest) and I thoroughly enjoyed the next few hours – passing, being passed, everyone on the track was polite, friendly and out for a good time.  I even won a spot prize because I was smiling going past the timing tent!  I also got to watch the Female Solo winner (Sasha) zoom past me, wheels hardly touching the ground – I guess flying is much faster than riding!

For some reason I had it in my head that the event ended at 5 hours, so when I came back around at 4 hrs 50 I thought I was finished.  Wait, what?  I can do another lap?  Surely not!  This was confirmed by the girls in the next-door pit.  I’d had enough, and was pretty sure I was done... until some friendly encouragement from Megan D to “finish it off”.  Oh, well, I’ve still got coke in my bottle, so best I head out again – and I’m so pleased that I did!  No, I couldn’t continue at the same intensity, but by backing it off a small amount I could keep going quite happily.  The extra lap made no difference to the results, but made a big difference to how I felt about the day!  Worn out, sweaty, smelly, dusty and smiling... success!

Pukeora and Monsters

I dragged myself out of bed in the middle of the night (aka 5.00am) to head out to the 4 hour race at Pukeora.  We were too early for the coffee cart at Otaki, so ended up with a spectacularly average brew from Wild Bean instead.  Being up at that hour does have its rewards, though, as we got to watch a magnificent sunrise climbing through the Hawkes Bay fog. 

According to plan, we arrived in time for me to head out on a warm-up/practice lap.  (Shane had not been feeling well for the past few days and had decided not to race).   Last year I struggled with the course, plenty of walking. This year I was pleased to see that the tracks were drier, and that there were some fun sections.  I fluffed a few corners in that lap – re-rode the downhill ones with better lines, leaving the uphill ones to sort out later. I got more and more anxious as the lap went on (a visit from my friend the ‘scared’ monster) but tried to ignore it. I got back just in time to join on to the end of the start, and we were off! 

It felt like I’d left my legs somewhere on the warm-up lap... I had no power and was grovelling up the hills behind the kind of riders normally pull away from.  Oh, well... time to do the best I could with what I had.  The ‘scared’ monster was a little pissed off at being ignored, so decided to stick around for the next lap and a half...  this lovely little beastie convinces you that Something Bad is going to happen Very Soon.  You’re never sure what it is, just that it will be Bad.  OK, ignoring it wasn’t working, so I tried talking to it directly (yep, I’m nuts, never denied it!) “I’m going on this ride, you wanna come along as well, that’s fine, but we’re still going no matter what you say!”  Soon I was back in my happy place, still feeling slow but enjoying some of the lovely whoops and swoops that make up the Pukeora Loop.  I started my 3^rd lap, pausing to grab a bottle from Shane, who was pretty disappointed at the (lack of) pace I was showing.  (I realised later that my seat had slipped down quite a way – my own stupid fault for not checking and tightening the clamp after we’d been mucking around with the dropper post.  D’oh!)

It was it this point that I was joined by two of the ‘scared’ monster’s mates: the ‘I suck’ monster and the ‘I quit’ monster.   I’ve met these slimy little horrors before... and no way were they getting the better of me today!!  The ‘I quit’ monster could go to hell – I was going to get more laps in than last year and make sure I got out on the final lap!  Take that!  The ‘I suck’ monster took a bit more dealing with.  It would tell me how painfully slowly I was riding, I countered back with the fact that I was now riding the corners I’d fluffed in practice... and that my seat wasn’t at the correct height, so even if my legs were having a good day I was never going to fly.  (maybe I should have been carrying a set of allen keys?)Anyway, I was having fun and enjoying being out on my bike, something that upsets the 'I suck' monster a lot!

 Speaking of flying, Megan caught me fairly early – was good to see that her Cape Epic/World Champs legs were still on form as she disappeared in to the distance!

From there it was all about just keeping going, pushing myself to keep riding the tricky bits, putting all of my energy in to the climbs (although I think I saw a snail go past me at one point!) and making sure I got that final lap in.  Yep – had plenty of time to get back out before the course closed.  Final swoops and whoops, smiles for the marshalls – even the ones removing the course markings – then through the finish chute and done. 

As far as riding performance goes, it was a pretty bleak day out.  More important for me, though, was the fact that I’d managed to get the best of 3 nasty little monsters that have beaten me in the past – take that, you nasty little beasts!!

Moonride 2012

Moonride 2012...  a long and muddy day at the office.

The lead up to this year’s Moonride was surprisingly smooth – thanks to Shane and Gav my bikes were ready to go well before we left, I had planned out the day leading up to the race and had nothing really left to do except ride.  We arrived in Rotorua on Thursday night and headed straight for the Redwoods to do a final shakedown/test of bikes, tyres and rider (the event venue was off limits until 4pm on race day).  Shane and Dean then headed out for a night ride, before indulging in my favourite pre-event meal – pizza!

The motel we were staying at has the heating on full time – cosy, but not great for a solid night’s sleep.  After a night of tossing, turning, not sleeping and worrying about not sleeping I wasn’t in a great state on Friday morning.  Added to the stress of being tired was the rising sense of panic that I wouldn’t manage another night without sleep... time for plan B, which was a short-acting sleeping pill.  I then forced down some breakfast and headed back to bed.  Four hours later I was rested, refreshed and feeling much better about life! I still had plenty of time to get myself organised at a relaxed pace.  I got the chance to catch up with the second member of my crew, the amazing Charlotte – awesome endurance cyclist and good friend.

Registration was interesting – and also where I made my first mistake of the race.  I saw who else had entered and realised that the race was mine to lose... not something that I’d really thought before.  This played on my mind a lot and probably distracted me from the things that I should have been focussing on, although I was still committed to enjoying the event.

I headed out for a lap of the course to see what I was in for – it was a little damp, but nothing that I thought would cause problems (ha – little did I know!) and a couple of fun sections.

As the start got closer, I followed my pre-race checklist, making sure that I had everything that I wanted or needed with me or on my bike, figuring out what clothing I needed for the start and might need as the temperature changed...  the routine is pretty familiar by now, but I still find it comforting to follow a list!  I’d missed the pre-race briefing, so just followed the flow of riders to where we were going to start.  I found a comfy spot towards the front but out of the way of the ‘racers’ and tried to ignore the backflipping butterflies in my belly.

“Go!” And we were off at a brisk pace around the start loop – until the first climb, anyway!  I think the climbs were still rideable on the first lap, but didn’t stay that way for long.  I was feeling fairly sleepy earlier than I was happy with, so tried to distract myself by singing.  Mid way through ’10 green bottles’ I had a close encounter with a tree – I suspect it jumped out in front of me to shut me up!  I got to grips with the slushy mud – point, shoot and pedal hard seemed to be the best method, although even this produced a fair number of horizontal rest stops J  I had a couple of chats to Jim during the night – we’d grizzle to each other about the mud...  which seems to happen every time we’re in an event together!

I had some low points during the night – I was riding less of the climbs, with the usual feelings of self-doubt creeping in alongside the fatigue that comes with spending a lot of time on foot!  My crew kept me going with hot food, hugs and a stand-up comedy routine that had me cracking up for most of a lap at one point!  I was enjoying some of the less slippy downhills, going “Wheeee!” on the way down... until I almost crashed into a rider at the bottom of the hill who was doing just that!

The melodic screeching of the magpies announced the imminent arrival of the sun.  Daylight tends to lift the spirits of any 24 hour rider, and I’m no exception to that rule.  Although it’s not even half way through, it’s nice to ditch the lights and see what’s going on around you... not so nice to see the damage to the course, though!  I had a quick stop for breakfast and coffee  - not quick enough to avoid the start of the 6 and 12 hour event, though!  I was only a few minutes in to the course when the faster riders began to stream past.  I got to say ‘hi’ to Ken, soloing on his CX bike... who had been hoping for a nice, muddy course!  I was also passed by the flying Kim... who gave the whole 12 hour field a demonstration of pure class endurance riding.

The track quickly deteriorated with the addition of several hundred riders, I was having a lot of trouble with traction on the climbs and the sheer effort needed to get up them time after time, along with the unaccustomed slog of pushing my bike up muddy hills.  I had to keep reminding myself that this was fun, that I chose to be out there – and that it was a privilege to be out, doing what I love, no matter how hard it seemed.  The laps seemed to blur together in a mixture of smiles, lollies, mud and unrepeatable humour from the pits!  Shane and Charlotte encouraged me to finish my bottles out on the track to reduce my lap times at one point. This woke me up a little and I started to work harder on my riding, attempting some of the 50/50 sections that I’d resigned myself to walking, pushing harder again.  The first lap with my lights on, I finally lost the mind game and began to focus on how absolutely exhausted I felt... wondering if I had the strength to go any further.  I’d planned to do one further lap, but when I called in to the pits for a break I started shaking and couldn’t face the thought of another lap.  I asked my crew for permission to quit, although I guess I’d already made the decision.  I was pretty sure I’d done enough to win... but was it the right call; could I have gotten going again with a short break and some food? Had I really left everything I could out on the track?  I’ll never know now, but that’s my aim for the next 24 hour – to leave no questions unanswered!

Huge thanks to my ever supportive, tolerant and patient husband Shane, mechanic extraordinaire Gav, the incredible Charlotte who managed to stay upbeat and unflappable (and make me laugh) the whole race despite having had a crazily busy and stressful week... and finally to my coach, the inspirational  Jess Douglas who has reignited my passion both for 24 hour racing and riding in general.

Photo Credit: Pete Marshall