Driving home from work today, I finally worked out what had happened. Let this be a lesson for you.
So, we started the 205 and 255 together. A big bunch ~300 riders, guided by a cop on a motorbike. I stayed in the front 10 or so, which was fine. We dropped into Uriarra Crossing, went across the mighty Murrumbidgee, up the other side of Uriarra crossing – at the top we had about 100 riders. 10 km up the road, Extreme riders go straight, Epic riders turn left, down Mt Mcdonald and onto the course proper. We had about 60 of us in the front bunch. After Pierce’s Creek, we still had at least 40 riders. It was calm out to Fitz's almost nothing happened. Except two kangaroos that tried to hop through the front of the bunch, a guy who dropped a bottle right in front of me, and one rider who missed the right hander at Tharwa and crashed in the gravel. I didn't see that one, just heard it. I had a bar, and a gel about 6 km before Fitz's. I had minor issues with indexing, changing from the 28 to the 24 and 21 was messy, requiring a double shift. That continued all day.
I was riding with a good mate, Pete, who I ride with regularly. We both needed a comfort stop, and stopped for one minute opposite Apollo Rd, 3 km from the base of Fitz's. How long does it take to pass what felt like 3 litres? We then went hard to the base of Fitz’s, the pack were in sight before the climb. Nevertheless we rode the climb hard, I did it in 14.30, Pete a minute faster. Second fastest up Fitz's on the day was James Brinkhoff, doing the 255, in an incredible 11.34, for 9th on strava.The guy who beat him was doing the 165. So Pete was up the road, I passed a few, Pete passed more out to Rendezvous. At Rendezvous 4 riders had turned and were up the road. Pete had waited, I just filled water and we rode off, 5th and 6th on the road. I checked strava, I was stopped for 80 seconds. It lasted like that for a little while, but on the second hill Pete got away from me, and that was that. 7th, 8th and 9th passed me. I felt the headwind for the first time, and got some cramp in my right thigh going back up the other side of Fitz's.
At the top of Fitz's, the first 165 riders were coming through. There was no one near me. So I had the whole road, and descended alone with about 200 people watching me... or perhaps not watching me but in their own private world. Anyway, I enjoyed it. Back at the bottom it's 3 km to Apollo Rd. An ambulance went the other way. Don't know why, hope whoever it was is OK. I started feeling a bit flat, and once the climb started I struggled... Getting from km 113 to 115 on the garmin took a huge amount of time, and I could feel a cramp in my thigh getting really bad. The slowest 2 km took 11.55... it's a tough climb. No one went passed me, but someone got very close and then disappeared again. It flattens out, and then goes up again for a short while, to the stop. The first riders came through at the flat spot, a guy in white and a guy in green and white, riding together. I reckon the first 6 were descending before I got there. Pete was 5th. Fill the bottle, eat a bar, comfort stop, total 5 minutes stopped, then riding again, 10th on the road.
Apollo Rd is a fun descent. Or it should be, there is one thing you can stuff up, which I managed. It's basically flat for a km or so. Then it starts downhill, and steep, and there's a cattle grid. So you set up for the cattle grid like rail lines, bike nice and straight, no worries. But straight after that there's a right hander. I hadn't set up for the right hander, and as my bike edged slowly to the side, I had visions of a collar bone and an ambulance. Luckily I got enough speed off and finally dragged it around... but FFS! The guy behind me went past. I'm 11th.
Anyway, the road from the bottom of Apollo to Tharwa is generally downhill, for that 10 km I averaged 28, with one minor climb I did at about 14. That section is between 128 and 138 km, which is nothing special in terms of distance. I felt really flat, with no energy at all and wondered how I was ever going to complete the ride. My right leg was really bad, with cramps on every slight rise, and my shoulders, neck and back were all aching. My belly was aching, a sure sign of trouble brewing. I could hardly move. And the wind was a strong headwind, that was really knocking me around. Some Classic/Orange riders were coming through, guys I could easily work with in any normal circumstances, or at least take some shelter. I rode with one guy for a couple of kms, but I just couldn't get going. Feeling extremely flat I finally rolled into Tharwa at 12th on the road. At Tharwa I did the following - ate a cheese sandwich (not the official lunch, one I brought with me). I had two nurofen. They work well. Filled one bottle and put formula in the other, in the hope that a few electrolytes would help. I stretched a bit. My stop at Tharwa was at 138 km, took 6 minutes, and was my 4th and longest stop of the day. No purple (Epic) riders came through.
So back up the road I go, still not feeling great, the nurofen kicked in after 10 minutes and I was OK. But not fast. Orange riders passing me regularly. Some guy rides up next to me. "Josh" Me: blank look. Who is this guy? "Josh, it's Josh right?" Umm.... Stu! Lives near me, and I've ridden with him a few times. He was doing the 105 km ride with a mate (the 105 turns at Tharwa) but they had added a totally optional "side" route to the top of Fitz's. Anyway, we rode together, with another 205 rider, to the Corin Rd turnoff, and I started feeling better. It's great to ride with someone you know, and have a bit of a chat. Even if i'm not that talkative. Anyway, I turned off and went up to Woods Reseve. I saw Pete at the bottom, descending, nearly 30 minutes ahead of me. Based on the two riders behind him, I assumed, I think correctly, he was third. The first half is definitely the easy half of the Corin Forest climb. Did it 2 minutes faster than last year, although last year I still had 5 awful km to go at that point. Stopped for 3 minutes. There were four of us there, 8th to 11th on the road, In that time I filled a bottle, drank some, filled it again, ate 2 orange quarters, 3 bits of cake, stretched, and shoved three jelly snakes in my mouth; 8th to 11th were there, 12 and 13 arrived as I left. Descended quickly, 9th on the road. The two guys who had rolled in as I left Woods Reserve were wearing "Le Spit Cyclery" kit and soon caught me. We worked together and caught the next group, containing about 6 riders doing the 165, and a 205 rider. So the group contained 8th to 11th.
This group worked well, went reasonably hard over the continual climbs and descents back to Mt McDonald. I was climbing well again by this stage and was comfortable, if not fast. The Epic rider who had been in that group disappeared at some stage, leaving the group as me and the two Le Spit riders, plus about 6 Classic riders. I had a gel somewhere here before the two downhills to Cotter and the Brindabella Rd turnoff. The two Le Spit riders and most of the Classic riders stopped at Mt McDonald rest station (leaving me 8th on the road, but it's not a race
), I kept going, with a Classic rider to keep me company. He was strong and led up Mt McDonald. Once it flattened out, we worked together to the turn onto Uriarra Rd, but the head/cross wind was strong here. This was one of the sections that I did much faster last year. Anyway, we were caught by the two Le Spit Riders, and picked up some 165 riders and ended up with 5 or 6 of us rolling off turns into Uriarra Crossing.By this time, apart from my right thigh, I felt fine, and climbed the 3 Sisters well, and found myself alone. One Le Spit rider had been with me, but waited for his mate, who had cramp. At the top of the last sister, there is 10 km to go, so I went into TT mode. It climbs a rolling 120 m in 8 km (with some downhills), before descending for the last 2 km. I went past 7th, and held it to the end. I did the last 10 km at 32 km/h and finished 7th, in 8 hours 5 minutes, 7’49” riding time, completely shot. Anyway, I had 16 minutes of breaks over 5 stops, the longest of which was Tharwa at about 6 minutes. Average HR was 148, but my HRM didn't work for the first hour, for the last 7 hours, it was 152, or 79%. At the end, my right thigh was completely seized up and I couldn't get off my bike for a minute or two.
A great day out, and a day later, I feel fine (my feet and toes are trashed, my back is sore and I'm a bit sunburnt, but my legs are fine).
But the dreadful empty feeling, which started up Apollo, and continued to Tharwa. What was that all about? I said at the start, I worked it out driving home from work today. I'm a bit slow. I am pretty sure it was the gel I had before Fitz's. It worked Ok out to Rendezvous, and part of the way back, but once the sugar hit was gone, I just had nothing. The way I felt, and the error on the Honeysuckle descent, were a sure sign of lacking blood sugar, which is a result of taking too much sugar 90 minutes earlier. The cramp in my right thigh was likely related to a new cleat (which btw eliminated some knee pain I had been feeling). The formula, which has some electrolytes, helped with that, but didn't eliminate it.
Pete finished in third, in 7 hours 37, with an unbelievable 7 minutes of stops, which included waiting a couple of minutes for me at Rendezvous.
