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..