We had seen the forecast from a number of days out was
predicting the worst and unfortunately it delivered, wind and rain… but having
said that, the winds were no-where near as bad as 2011.
So it was wet and windy but surprisingly warm, around 17 – 18 degrees.
I lined up with Carl and Tim in Group 2 (4.30 – 4.50) and my
goal was a sub 4.50 time (having done 4.56 and 4.57 the past 2 years). Even
though it was wet and windy I still thought the goal was doable as I don’t mind
riding and descending in the rain (but clearly others do.. more on this soon)
and the wind didn’t seem too strong. While we were in the starting chute it
looked like we would be right at the front of our start bunch but the marshalls
changed their minds at the last minute and we were off.. right at the back of
the group.
Pace up the first climb seemed hard and steady (as
expected), what I didn’t expect is as soon as we started descending, some guys
were riding their brakes.. and I mean all the time, even in a straight line..
and it always seems like the guys who can’t descend climb brilliantly! So
a pattern soon emerged, fight for position on the climbs (trying to move up and
bridge across splits etc), then get held up by guys braking on descent, then
fight again on the next climb while the good climbers passed me.. so instead of
steady pace, it was very stop-start and impossible to get any rhythm and I
couldn’t use my descending skills to get some free speed (which I love ;-)
After only 30ks or so, the repeated efforts caught up with
me… when the next bunch split happened I had to let it go but I had already
burned a lot of energy. I was going to pay for those efforts for the rest of
the ride.. (on reflection I might have given up earlier but every time I tried
to check my HR my glasses were too foggy to see my Garmin.. reviewing my ride
on Strava showed I was consistently in the 170’s and hit 180+ a couple of
times).
Now it was time to attempt to recover, find some guys going
my pace and settle into the ride, which I did. Wasn’t long before I was in a
group of about 10 -12 and I camped out at the back trying to use as little
energy as possible. The good thing was at 40kms the course starts to head
mainly south so we were getting a good tailwind from that point. Around 55k is
the Waihaha climb and although I kept with my new bunch, my legs already had
that twitchy feeling I know all too well, cramp wasn’t far away.
Kuratau is the next big climb and by then I was already
cramping in the quads but keeping it at bay by spinning a smaller gear as
possible, digging my thumb into the muscle when free-wheeling and backing off
when required, like on the climb. This meant I lost my bunch but I knew in the
bigger picture it didn’t matter as I was planning to stop at the Waihi drink
stop in 10k’s anyway. I felt particularly bad for these 10kms, didn’t seem to
be able to hold anyone’s wheel and felt really slow (NOTE: I always hate that
part of the course ;-)
I got to the Waihi drink stop my average speed was sitting
just under 30kph so I knew I was still a chance for a sub 5hr time, if I got a
good tow along the flats to Hatepe. I had a quick stop for water but as soon as
I got off the bike, the rest of the legs started cramping… tried to stretch the
quad, hamstring went, tried to stretch the hammy/calf, quads would go, so just
got back on my bike asap. Only stopped for about 40 secs. After the drink stop
there the best downhill of the day taking you onto the flats towards Turangi.
My plan on these flats is always go easy for as long as you
can… but if a bunch comes along jump on it and then hold on as long as you can…
well I didn’t have long to wait before a train of about 10 -15 came along, I
saw them coming, got up to speed and pushed in about 3rd or 4th
wheel (you can see my HR spike around 100k mark with this effort) . It turned
out that only one guy doing all the pacing and everyone else sitting in. He was
working for a women behind him so only went as fast as what she could hold
onto.. which suited me as that seemed my pace as well. I stuck with these guys
all the way to Hatepe. Once we hit Hatepe I knew that if I could stay with the
chick, then I’d get a free ride home, and it worked out exactly that way. I
basically marked her all the way up the climb, then dropped in behind her and
the guy over the top (along with about 7 - 8 others) and got my tow all the way
to the line. I’m not proud of it but it was a sound strategy ;-)
All the time on the flat, up Hatepe and in the last 20k
charge for home, I was cramping off and on… but have become pretty good
at managing it these days but I must have been very close to full leg lock and
shut down.
So in the end I was happy with the time (4.57) but not with
the way I rode.. on reflection I think experience got me through, knowing when
to ease up and when to burn a match or two. That’s my 7th Taupo and
3rd Sub 5hr time… next year I’ll go Sub 4.50 ;-)
P.S. I also have a theory of why my cramping was way
worse here at Taupo than compared to K2 this year (where I was nearly cramp
free). After K2 I had pain/stiffness in the back of my left knee, which usually
suggests your saddle is too high, so I dropped it a couple of mm’s… which took
the pain away from the back of my knee. However a side effect of a lower saddle
is loading up more power on the quads, so that might have contributed to
burning them up and cramping earlier? But certainly the early hard efforts took
their toll as well.
