Taupo 2014 - Backing up

Stats:
153.1km  4:56:24 Moving Time  1,812m Elevation (?)

Avg                           Max
Speed 31.0km/h       70.2km/h
Cadence 92               127

Calories 4,000
Temperature 15℃
Elapsed Time 4:57:41


The day started almost exactly as the MetService had forecast, a cold start (around 7-8 degrees), strong and gusty southwesterly winds and possible showers, however the road was completely dry at this stage. I rode down to the start with Trace, Carl and Mondo. Already the wind was whipping up the lake making the easy ride in, not so easy. We went straight to the start chute, dropping Trace off with the DOC guys she was riding with and lined up near the front of group 2. Luckily the wind and cold didn’t seem so bad up on the main street (surrounded with hundreds of other cyclists) and the 50mins of standing around waiting to start passed OK but it still one of the worst parts of the event (you just want to get going!).

My basic plan was to go with the bunch and see how I felt.. and happily I found the pace not too hard and got myself near the front (15 – 20 wheels back) and tried to settle into a rhythm. I’d forgotten my HR strap so didn’t know how hard I was going (which might have been a good thing? ;-) Carl was right there with me (usually in front by a few bikes) but unfortunately didn’t see Mondo again after the start. The first 75k of the ride followed a similar pattern, sitting in the bunch, trying to keep near the front (but not too far forward to do any work ;-), save as much energy as possible, keep out of trouble and chat to Carl when possible.

At about 40k I said to Carl “hey that looks like Phil up there” and sure enough (and sadly for Phil) it was. He started a group (or 2?) ahead of us but already wasn’t enjoying his day. We both tried some words of encouragement (I assume Carl did ;-) as he slid back through our bunch. We didn’t see Phil again until after the ride. Waihaha climb was the first major climb test of the day and again I didn’t seem to have to go too deep to stay with the bunch (perceived effort that is) and Carl was up ahead of me but only 50 odd meters max (but always better positioned than me if the bunch had split.. some foreshadowing here ;-)

I had been analysing previous Taupo rides on Strava all week at work, so knew certain split times we needed to be on target for a Sub 5hr time and the Kuratau interchange was one of those spots. Last year 2.30, this year 2.24 so all was looking good.. apart from I’d just run out of water (finished my 2 bottles ahead of schedule and would have to wait 30mins until the Waihi water stop to refill). Approaching the hard left hand turn that leads to beginning of the Kuratau climb, I realised I had slipped a little bit back from the front of the bunch (and Carl) so attempted to move up but as soon as the climb started a gap appeared. I tried to bridge but failed and probably pushed a little too deep attempting to get across. At the top of Kuratau I was with other riders who had been dropped and I should have sat up and waiting for the bulk of the remaining bunch to sweep me up (only 30 – 40 guys had gone off the front and I’d estimate the group was at least 100 strong at the beginning the climb).

Eventually (it seemed like a long time but was probably 5 mins) a group of 8 – 10 rides came past and I hooked up with them but it felt like I’d spent a lot of energy for not much reward and on reflexion this 20min period of effort and no water came back to bite me… When I got to the Waihi drink stop (92km in) I got a real surprise to see Carl still there. He had filled his water bottles but also attended a call of nature at the porta-loos and was just about to head off when he saw me come in. In conversations after the ride Carl said he’d never seen me so flushed and his first thought was “he’s done” ;-)   I quickly got my bottles filled, dumped a cup of water on each leg and one over my head and got going again. Split to here was 3.03 compared to 3.06 last year and hopefully a helping wind to get me home to a PB?

As soon as I left the drink station I started guzzling water and gels.. and as soon as we hit the flat Carl went to the front and I tried to hang on as best I could. I was telling Carl to ease up (which he did) but I was already struggling to hold the wheel. By the time we got to the Turangi turn I told Carl if a bunch turns up, you jump on and don’t wait for me.. and sure enough a group of 4 or 5 came past, Carl got on but I had to ease up as I could feel cramp coming. From here I was pretty much survival mode, holding onto small groups when I could, keeping a high cadence, catching up on nutrition and stretching.. preparing for Hatepe.

Surprising I climbed Hatepe fine.. with no cramps. Yes it was a minute slower than last year but also a minute faster than 2011 and 2012. I also did a time check at the bottom of Hatepe : 4hrs 10mins, identical to last year so knew a sub 5 was still in the balance. I’d finished my water bottles again by the top of the climb (I’d drunk 2 bottles in about 1hr 15mins) but didn’t dare stop for a refill with only 20k to go. However my cramp was soon to return as I tried to up the pace on the long descent from the top of Hatepe, this time my right calf starting going but I just pushed on trying not to activate it by locking my ankle on the pedal stroke (but that didn’t really work ;-)

Luckily I found a couple of guys to work with on the run home but it was only when I was over the final small hump and about 3k from the finish that I thought it was in the bag (had about 9mins up the sleeve).. but I made really hard work of it. That last 2 – 3kms is right along the water front and the wind was whistling off the lake, and I had just let a fast finishing group go thinking “I’ll just cruise home from here..” but once I’d lost momentum it was impossible to get any back, with my speed getting down to 20kph at times. So after a momentary panic attack (“I’m not gonna make it!”) I  got over the line with just over 2mins to spare.

So the positives to come out of the ride :

The enjoyment of sharing 75% the ride with Carl 

I cracked 5hrs again but this time without the pacing of the Mt Eden group (which was always the big question mark over last year’s Sub 5)

I put myself in a position to post a 4.40 something time (as shown by Carl who did 4.45 riding in the same group)

I’m getting excellent at managing cramp (which I’d rather not be.. Trace reckons I should go to the Doctor and get some bloods done?)

Negatives :

Cramp and unfortunate that both Phil and Mondo didn’t have great days out. It was classic when Mondo found Carl and I after the ride, he walked over and looked completely shattered (probably what I looked like 5mins previous and 2 beers ago). Certainly no doubt that they both left everything out there on the day but just didn’t fire.. sometimes the hammer, sometimes the nail ;-)

Lessons :

Take another water bottle and if you get dropped, ease up straight away and wait for a bunch to catch you (ala Mad keen cyclist advice)

K2 - 2014 - No excuses.. but no mistakes

186.1km Distance 7:32:19     Moving Time 2,526m  Elevation

	Avg		Max
Speed	24.7km/h	-	83.9km/h
Heart Rate	148bpm	-	169bpm
Cadence	82	-	121
Calories	4,632 Total
Temperature	24℃
Elapsed Time	7:42:43

Another failed attempt at a good K2. Things started really well, easy going on Manaia and Kerata, caught an huge group down the coast to Kopu, let them go and took it easy up the Kopu climb (dropped my chain a couple of times on the inside of my cassette as the new shifter cable bedded in).

So after seeming to do everything right, still had cramp coming on from 90k in! Frustrating! Told the others (Carl, Phil and Mondo) to not wait for me as I was done (the group idea had worked well.. ish) but Mondo was done too.. and it was a cramp fest till the finish.

Average temp for the ride was 24 degrees (according to Garmin) and hitting 30 in places! Now investigating Quinine (in Tonic water) and a hopeful helper for cramping.. (cross fingers)

100k Flyer - 2014 - Headwind and avoiding a BIG crash

I didn’t have any real expectations going into this ride and wasn’t at all nervous as I’ve ridden this course 4 times before. The last time I rode the Flyer was in 2012 and at the time I was recovering from a fall which resulted in a pulled groin. But even with only 6 weeks recovery from injury I managed a time of 2:56 so I assumed that a time of under 2:50 should be my target this time round. And also knowing that the course is relatively flat, my Xmas excess shouldn’t slow me down too much (I’m still around the 76kg mark compared to the 72kg I was at Taupo).

Weather conditions were forecast to be fine, maybe overcast with a light southerly, so sounded pretty perfect for a fast ride. The actual day turned out very similar except the light southerly wasn’t so light which meant we had a headwind for pretty much the entire ride.

Mondo and I lined up near the front of the 2.45 – 3hrs group and I think we got away in the 2^nd wave. Having ridden this ride before I knew your starting bunch really dictated your race overall so was keen to get in a large bunch early. After making the turn onto the main road, I could already see splits happening so I turned to Mondo and said “let’s go” and proceeded to try to get on a good looking bunch (that was the last I saw of Mondo ;-) The bunch I did latch onto wasn’t terribly large (maybe 20 -30) but once I was on there was already a 50mtr gap to the next one, so settled in with my lot. We were working reasonably well from the start and they seemed to be a group similar to my ability. The first 15kms are largely uphill but nothing steep, just a constant 2 – 5%. Felt like I was working pretty hard from the start but also knew that once you’ve finished that first 15-20k you get a good 15k of mostly downhill and then 50-60k of rolling flats, so I pushed on.

Nothing special to report in those next 60k, bunch worked well for most of the time, not too much surging etc, picking up a few stragglers and probably dropping some but I just stayed near the front, rolling through for my turn when required but nothing heroic ;-)  I remember at about the 55 – 60k mark feeling really good (even though my HR seemed to be constantly in the high 150’s). Then around 65k a massive bunch caught us from behind.. and all hell broke loose. Riders were passing up the inside, outside, over the centre line, basically they completely swamped us. The pace might have increased but I was just concentrating on keeping out of trouble. I went from being constantly in the top 10 wheels from the front, to being 30 – 40 wheels back.

The next 10ks was very edgy, lots of surging, braking, close calls, yelling.. and eventually the inevitable happened, CRASH! Luckily for me the crash occurred over towards the centreline and I was riding on the left. Don’t know what exactly happened (it was 3 or 4 wheels in front of me) but 10+ riders must have gone down, in a pile of carbon and bodies with tyres going off like gun shots.. I had to unclip to get around the mess and then took up the chase to get back on the remaining bunch. Probably took 1 to 1.5k to catch back on (working with a couple of other guys) and this sent the HR into the 170’s and with the final climbs coming up soon, I don’t think the HR saw much under 170 from then on. The final climbs are very similar to the starting ones, nothing steep, just constant 4-5% but long drags. As soon as road started up, the remainder of the bunch blew apart and I just tried to keep on any wheel I saw that was going forward.

All I remember at this stage was lots of pain, just working as hard as I could, following any split but happily the legs were responding, only issue I had was a bit of cramp in the right calf. I do remember the wind being quite strong at this stage and whenever you hit the front of the bunch it felt like a brick wall and was great when someone else came around ya. The final couple of K is downhill and we were flying along averaging about 50kph. A couple of guys sprinted past me at the end but I prefer to let them go than to risk crashing, but still finished quickly (and safely).

So in reflection, I don’t think I could have done anything else to get a faster time except from starting further forward on the grid, and was happy with the result in the conditions (even though I didn’t break 2:50).

In comparison when I did the race 2 years ago, 2:56 was good for 390^th place out of 1573 finishers, 362^nd of 1204 males and 99^th of 292 age group (35- 44).

This year 2:57 got me 152nd of 1087 finishers, 145th of 845 males and 43rd of 183  age group (35- 44).

Seems like an improvement to me? ;-)