I
jokingly sent this ride report to Carl last Thursday, "Rode smart, stayed
in the bunch, beaut conditions, got a PB" and that's nearly exactly how it
played out but that's getting ahead of myself.. lets start with the weather.
A
week out the forecast was looking good "warm and overcast with a light
Nor-Easterly wind, possible rain around or after lunch" and that forecast
really didn't change all week and when we arrived on Friday it was sunny and
hot. Luckily the day itself was true to the forecast and it was overcast but
around 14 degrees even at 7am. I'm pretty sure it's the first time ever I've
arrived at the start line with only one layer on, no warmers, shoe covers or
vest... just bibs and jersey and the usual headband to mop up the sweat.
Carl,
Gus and I said goodbye and good luck to Mondo and Tim and lined up at the back
of group 1C. I noticed there was a large number of FFC kitted guys around us, a
small group of Lone Star riders and coach (former Pro cyclist) Tim Gudsell just
in front of us. Carl mentioned that Gudsell was in his bunch last year and was
a calming influence, advising the leading guys when to back off etc. I took
that as a good thing and hoped he might take the lead of our bunch today.
Soon
enough we were off and the pace wasn't too hot, we slotted in near the front of
the bunch about 6 to 8 wheels back. Carl's wife Vicki had brought the kids up
to the intersection of Acacia Bay Rd and Poihipi Rd and they shouted out plenty
of encouragement as we rolled by. When we turned on Whangamata Rd the pace
still felt fine but as we took the first long descent I noticed a fair few of
the FFC boys riding to the front. Once we started the peaky rollers of
Whangamata Rd the pace definitely hotted up and although I was staying in the
bunch, a few spilts appeared which I had to ride around and the legs started
feeling the burn. Gus was sitting well up in the group (as he did all day) and
Carl was 3 - 4 wheels ahead of me.
The
turn off to Tihoi Rd means you've almost travelled 40kms (1/4 race distance) so
is the first major check point. We were already averaging 32.5 whereas last
year my average to this point was around 30, so I knew we were definitely on
for a good time... if I could stay with the bunch. Around 50kms in Carl
remarked "We've picked the right group, we're catching the bunch
ahead" and sure enough they were coming into sight. When we hit Waihaha
(the first of the 3 longer Taupo climbs) our group swamped the bunch ahead,
and Phil was in it.. we gave him a quick shout out as we passed by. The first
half of the climb was quick, as we made our way through the different paced
riders but the second half of the climb settled down as the bunch took it's
shape again.
From
here until Kuratau climb (and 2nd big climb) the bunch settled into a good rhythm
but the road is repeatedly up and down, not large climbs but repeated short
hard efforts and I seriously wondered how long I could keep this pace up. At
the base of Kuratau, Carl and I found ourselves behind a split and had to jump
across a gap to the bunch. I totally expected the hammer to go down on Kuratau
but we soon found ourselves safely in the bunch, climbing with the leaders...
so had they sat up a bit or was it just one of those good leg days?
After
cresting Kuratau still in the bunch, I started to reaccess my drink strategy. I
totally expected to have been dropped by now and my plan was to stop at the
Waihi drink stop and refill the bottles (as I've done every time I've ridden
Taupo). I only had 2 bottles on the bike (full of Powerade) and a 400ml pump
bottle in the back pocket, full of Redbull (the boost to get home ;-). I had
around half of one bottle and hadn't started the Redbull but quickly decided I
couldn't stop now... I'll push on and if I fall apart, so be it... but also
reasoned that we were so far ahead of schedule that if I did blow up I could
still go close to a PR. Carl asked me what time should we have at the Waihi
drink station, last year I did exactly 3hrs, this year 2:45!
The
biggest descent of the day, down to Turangi flats went without incident (or
cars slowing us down) and the bunch settled into a strong but steady pace
(around a 40kph avg 😉) I found a good
wheel to follow and was surprised how fresh I still felt. After about 20kms of
flat, I turned to Carl and asked him how he was feeling, "really
good" he replied with a smile and I said "I don't want to jinx it...
but me too". As we hit the rollers just before Hatepe I could fell a bit
of cramp creeping in so did some riding out of the saddle, took a large swig of
Hotshot (the cramp stop stuff that I use) and that seemed to keep it at bay. I
also stuffed most of my remaining food and drink into me, at least as much as I
could handle.
Before
we knew it, Hatepe hill was looming large (the last big climb of the day). Again
for comparison, last year to this point 4hrs, this year 3:40. As soon as we hit
the climb, Carl took off towards the front of the group, in pursuit of Gus (who
was having a great day at the front of the bunch, we hardly saw him but knew he
was up there). I settled into a rhythm that I hoped I could hold and latched
onto a couple of the FFC guys. I was thinking if I can hold their pace at least
I'll have guys to ride to the finish with. One of the FFC guys had a boom box
in his back pocket and was blasting out some Shihad, which I appreciated. The
climb went as well as it could (no cramp, yay!) and I crested with a couple of
FFC guys behind me but the main bunch was already 500mtrs up the road. I
pedalled easyish for a bit and soon enough a train of FFC riders came past,
surprisingly about 8 - 10 of them and they were honking. I quickly got back up
to speed and jumped onto their coat-tails.
As
we dropped off Hatepe, I got myself into a good tuck and hit my fastest speed
of the day (just over 80kph) and moved up in the bunch, just behind FFC who
were taking turns on the front. I could see we were reeling the main group back
in and soon enough it was "grupo compacto", so I positioned myself
near to Carl to let him know we had come back. The last small obstacle of the
day is the airport hill. In the past this bump has nearly broken me, and cramp
almost always arrives... this year I hardly noticed it as the bunch powered on
up the slope. By this stage we knew that we had smashed our PR's and no matter
what happened from here, we were going to be well under 4.30. Then disaster..
about 5kms from the finish we saw Gus pulling out of the bunch, looking down at
his crank and chain.. I yelled some encouragement as we sped by. Somehow he had
shipped his chain and had to pull over to get it back on. Luckily it only took
a minute to do but by then our bunch was gone. It would have been great to
finish together and was a shame as Gus had ridden a perfect race all day.
In
the final handful of kms, a few guys were dropping out of the bunch (or we were
picking up slower riders and spitting them out) so we had to do some weaving to
keep ourselves near the front. Carl said to me, "if we keep in the bunch,
we'll go sub 4.20" so I thought right, lets gets some of that.. and made a
final push along the water front. Luckily the bunch seemed very sensible
heading into the final corner and there was no way that I wanted to try to
sprint for the finish, having never seen the front of the bunch all day. But
apart from that, what better way to finish than side by side with your training
partner (for the 2nd race in a row) and that's exactly what happened, side by
side with smiles for the camera (as Vicki had position herself and the kids
perfectly just after the finish line, for the money shots ;-)
Final
stats, time 4:18, avg speed 35.4, HR avg 152 max 175.
Obviously
it couldn't have gone any better for us but the day was deflated with the news
of Tracey's crash.. the only good point was she didn't break anything. I never
thought a time like that would be possible for me, I was realistically
targeting 4:35, a sub 4:30 was a stretch goal and I honestly would have been
happy with anything under 4:40… so “happy” with the performance doesn’t
quite cut it 😉
