Taupo 2013 - MEC Bunch

Day dawned overcast but fine and the wind was a light Northwesterly (which wasn’t to last long..).  We met up with the MEC bunch just up the road from McDonalds and it was apparent straight away that I was going to be a big group. At least 40-50 here and more seemed to join on our way to the start line. Standing on the start line I sent Carl a final text on conditions and it was still overcast, light breezes but dark clouds on the horizon.

Bunch started steady (actually quite slowish) but I wasn’t complaining as I wasn’t at the front doing the work. I reckon Mondo and I were at least 30-40 riders from the front and because of the size and ability (some other rides had worked their way into the group) there was a lot of breaking/surging going on and a seemingly perpetual  call of “slowing”. This made it hard to get any rhythm on the climbs and frustrating on the descents as couldn’t let the bike run. Once we turned onto Whangamata Rd I expected the pace to increase but it didn’t but it was clear that the wind was building quickly, slowing our progress. At around 30k it started to rain as well and at that stage we were only averaging 25-26k so Sub 5 looked a long way off.

Turning onto the main road (Tihoi – about 40k) we finally got the wind over our shoulder and the pace instantly lifted and the bunch started splitting regular intervals so I was making sure I was keeping my wheel in front of me, bridging any gaps and generally working my way up the group. I also lost Mondo about here but the last thing he said was “if I drop off, don’t wait for me.. “ so obviously he wasn’t feeling great and his sickness of the last couple of weeks was taking its toll.

I climbed Waihaha with the bunch and was still with them coming into Kuratau but got dropped as the pace was too hot (and I was still 2mins faster up here than last year) , the good news was I still felt strong. Unlike “the plan” the bunch didn’t stop to regroup at the top of Kuratau but I managed to solo back onto them, making up ground on the decent (top speed of they day) and up/down the next couple of rises.

The Bunch then stopped at Waihi for drinks and so did I, filling both my bottles with Electrolyte and tipped a couple of glasses of water on my legs (a tip that Phil gave me, cheers ;-). I had a quick stretch and was ready to go but the main bunch was still waiting so I decided to go ahead here, taking the descent at my own pace and ride the flat easy until the bunch caught me up again. This worked out great and I teamed up with about 5-6 others who had done the same, and we just eased along in the low 30’s (kph), enjoying the drop in intensity but constantly looking over our shoulder waiting for the main bunch to catch us. We actually got well past the Turangi turn off before they did, and they were motoring! I managed to jump in at about 5-6^th wheel and quickly watched the km’s disappear.. my overall avg at this stage was about 30.4 (including stops) so I thought if I could hold on until Hatepe hopefully the avg would be more like 31ish and if I could manage the climb ok, I might squeak home under 5.

The flat ride along the coast was great with the MEC strong men smashing it out but I was on the lake side of the bunch and as soon as we started turning more Northerly, I was getting hit with the winds and was really close to cracking a couple of times.. but just managed to hang on. Hatepe arrived quickly (and so was cramp) but knowing the ride was in the balance I just sucked it up (along with a couple of electrolyte pills.. a gel.. more drink.. anything I thought might help), focused on technique and keeping the cadence up. This time the Bunch were waiting about 300mtrs after the top of the climb so I pulled over to join them. I figured I’d have a go at stretching the cramp out.. bad move. Soon as I stopped, the quads went, so tried to stretch them, hammies went.. tried to swat down, hip flexers went.. so jumped back on the bike and kept going, knowing the bunch would catch me but hopefully I’d be able to jump on again.. and I did just before the steeper part of the Hatepe descent (again about 4-5^th wheel but on the lake side..).

My avg was back down to about 30.5 when I set off again (after being 31.1 at the base) and knowing I needed an avg of 30.6 to break 5, I still wasn’t out of the woods, so had to hang with the Bunch as long as possible… on the flats we were sweeping past lots of slower bunches which gave me some shelter from the wind and luckily a few people jumped in on the left so I moved across to the right, which was definitely easier (although at this stage nothing was easy).

The last 5-10ks were terrible as lots of people were trying to catch a lift off us to the finish, so lots of riders pushing in, half wheeling, changing line, surging.. but once I was over the last couple of hills and the avg was 30.9, I knew I was home and actually finished with the Bunch. So that was a very satisfying feeling but also very relieved.

Plenty of Kudos to the MEC guys for pacing things so well and for Mondo inviting me along, it obviously worked for me ;-)  Still planning on taking a break from cycling events but certainly not “retiring” just yet.. 

K2 - 2013

Didn’t really feel like writing this one up as obviously it was far from the result that I was after but as the good old sporting cliché goes, you learn more from your defeats than victories, so let’s see what I learnt..

Saturday dawned fine but it was already windy, from the south-west, so knew the Thames coast would be hard but should get a cross-tail from Kopu home (mostly). Met up with Peter Coveney on the start line, as well as Steve Lawrence and his mates Deon (Dr Speed) and Dennis. Plan was for Mondo, Peter and Myself to stick together, help each other when it got tough etc etc.. well that plan didn’t really happen.

First hill was Kuaotunu which was hit pretty hard and the bunch split within a couple of km’s.. I was still climbing with Peter and Mondo, looked at my HR and it was 175! But I thought, well it’s early days and the pace should settle once the faster guys get away and we form a bunch of riders of similar ability, which it did. The next 30ks is all up’s and down’s but I still felt that I was climbing well and not pushing too hard.

Whangapoua is the big climb so I was trying to go as easy I could there but without losing momentum and keeping a good cadence. Again it seemed like I wasn’t pushing too hard but on a climb like that, 9% for 3.5kms, you’re gonna have to use some energy. Peter was climbing ahead of me so I let him go and Mondo was just behind and as we crested, Mondo said he’ll grab a banana and a drink and we agreed to meet at the bottom as I was happy with food and drink.

The descent off Whangapoua is awesome and I just let it roll, unfortunately got held up in a couple of corners by some slower guys and had to break harder than I liked.. the last 2 corners are a 25k and 15k (speed warnings), and as I was breaking for the 25k, pssssed, the front tyre blew.. luckily I was already slowing as it went flat real fast and I was breaking on the rim.. but stopped without incident (but with plenty of expletives ;-) I’m assuming it had to be a heat flat, carbon rims heating up too much and the tube just went? Didn’t find any cuts or debris in the tyre but on the positive side the tyre went back on the rim really easy as it was nice and warm.

While changing the tyre Mondo came past and checked if I was Ok but I said just go, I’ll be fine. Tim must have passed me in this time as well. Once I got going again no-one was around. I spotted a DOC guy just up the road so caught him up and we worked together till Manaia. Head wind was nasty. Started climbing Manaia nice and easy but then some fast guys caught up so I thought if I go with them, they will drag me to Kereta, which they did but I used a lot of effort to get the draft. I knew I couldn’t stay with them up Kereta so let them go straight away and climbed at my own pace. There’s a drink stop at the top of Kereta (in the saddle) and here I realised I had only drunk one bottle (in nearly 2.5hrs of hard hilly riding.. not good).

I started the long flat of the Thames coast on my own but soon found a couple of guys to work with but was still doing long turns into the wind.. by the time I got to Thames I could feel that cramp wasn’t far away so was trying to get lots of food and drink in to keep it at bay. Just coming into Thames we caught another group that Tim was in. He said he was cramping too so I gave him some Endurolytes. We worked together (Tim just hanging on) with the bunch and once we hit the Kopu turn the wind definitely helped and was at our backs. I started climbing Kopu not too bad and soon dropped Tim but by the time I reached the top, I wasn’t in great shape. I stopped at the drinks station near the top, took a comfort break and got the bottles topped up with Electrolyte and carried on but knew the damage was done.

From here it was pure survival mode, bombing the descents, trying to high cadence the flats but grovelling up the hills. Anytime I tried to push, cramp. I tried everything that I’ve ever heard to help with cramp, banging the muscles with your fist, biting the bottom lip, Electrolytes, and even the pickle juice ;-) but nothing really worked. I was blown. Tim re-passed me not long after the Kopu descent and seemed to be going fine, ticking along in a bunch.

Not much to say from here, just kept focusing on the next 5k and counting them down. Pumpkin hill was really hard as I cramped while seated about 50m into the climb so the only way I could go was standing. Must have looked funny, just rocking back and forth in my lowest gear, up a 6% gradient doing about 6kph. Really felt like the guy with all the gear and no idea (with my new bike and the carbon wheels on..)

Finally started to feel ok about the 170k mark and luckily the last 10-15k must have been a tail wind as I was sitting on 35kph along the Whitianga flats. So ride time was around 7.18 and gun time 7.31.

So what did I learn? That group 6 was too fast. That I still have no idea about pacing myself. That cramp really hurts. That carbon wheels go really fast down-hill but unfortunately heat up a lot under breaking…

What the ride has done is question why the hell I do it? It’s supposed to be fun but all I end up is disappointed, tired, grumpy and broken (seems like 50% of my rides end up this way.. so is it really worth it??) I’m not thinking of giving up riding but definitely thinking of giving up events.. for a while. I really thought I was well prepared for this ride and I suppose the expectation was high but the confidence has really taken a hit.

P.S. I will still be doing Taupo as I’ve already booked the house and friends are coming who don’t even ride, just for the catch up, so can’t back out now. Also the last paragraph is just an honest rant of how I’m feeling right now (so please don’t shower me with sympathy) and give it a couple of days and I might change my tune completely.. ;-)

P.S.S. To cap off a crappy weekend, I left my Garmin at the house we were staying at. Good news is the lady has found it and sending it up to me.

And apologies in advance for the bad grammar but I can’t be arsed re-reading that.