SpoonBoy

“Do you want your matching Chris King top cap?” it was a tough decission, I’d grown attached to my top cap with the big 5g written on it. If ever you needed to know how heavy your top cap was, you could always look down and check “Phwoar 5 grams!”. Standing there waiting for the first riders through the finish for the Bundanoon Dash I had to think quick…. “Yeah alright… just need an allen key, oh hang on… I have my multi tool” and before you knew it, i was sporting a matching Chris King pewter top cap. I’m sure it was the extra weight of that top cap that cost me those precious few minutes, and yet another victory over dreggsy in the race that was to come.

We were in Bundanoon for the Highland Fling, having registered and received our free bannana (wow, isn’t this a posh event!) our attention was drawn to the boys and girls going hard for cash in the dash. Well, actualy our thoughts were mostly on the concept of Pizza from the local cafe, but with some of the usual suspects giving the 6km uphill sprint a go, and the proceeds of the entry fee going to the local community, entering then coming down and giving the guys a cheer (or heckle) seemed like a good idea before getting a bit of a feed.

The innaugrul Highland Fling last year proved to be alot of fun with alot of great trails through some pretty fantastic pockets of forest, so my entry this year was pretty much a given. Seems word had got out a little too with some 1100 riders signing up for the challenge. Having done a fair bit of riding since last years race, I had settled into the idea of a pleasant 5ish and a bit hour jaunt through the southern highland country side. That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to go hard, or hand an easy victory over to dreggsy after his crushing defeat at the Scott 24hr though! :)

Setting up camp in the pony club next to Dave McCook, Madge and Ray Giddins, was time to break out some post dinner drinks and nibblys before taking an early one ready for the 5:30-6am wake up call.

Mmmm Coffee…

“Hey rob, you getting coffee?” “Yep, but I won’t be coming back for a bit…”

Gah… 5:30 am, it’s a bit cool, still dark and I’m awake. Time to throw some clothes on and stagger over to coffee van. It’s always surprising how short the queues are at this time of the morning, usually only countered by the fact that there is a queue at this time of the morning. With the piper just turning up for the morning wake up call, I half suspect the coffee queue was about to get alot busier! Even this early, cars of cyclists were starting to converge in and with everyone in camp starting to get ready in time for the 7am breifing, the pony club field was about to become a hive of activity.

The coffee really didn’t last long, and my first attempt at breakfast resulted in bowl of cereal and sour milk. Meanwhile, Rob and Madge had returned with hot pancakes from across the road which was awfully tempting. I also had UHT milk in the esky though so binning the sour milk affair, it was into the uncle tobys and a bit more of a relax before heading over and racking up.

I wasn’t sure if I was all that fussed, but I was never going to live it down if Dreggsy beat me, so spotting him and Dunk early, and managed to sneak past towards the front of the “faster” bunch. If I could get a break on him before the first set of potential bottle necks then that was probably going to be worth a good few minutes in that first stage, and with the 2nd stage being a fair bit more hilly last year, he was undoutably going to catch me through there. This would leave me to power through on the slightly flatter final stage home to Victory! (or something). Clearly I must have cared, watching the official clock tick over towards 7:30am and my heart rate monitor go off the dial… or was it just interference from everyone else? yeah… that must have been it! *cough*…

…And with the clacking of 700 riders clipping in and the sound of bagpipes wafting through the air, the race was on!

Instantly my mind goes into race mode, what’s my heart rate doing? what is everyone else doing? As we bustled down the dirt roads some of the guys were pushing hard through the crowd. We were fairly clipping along as a bunch, and to have some guys do some silly things to get through was a bit unnerving. There were also a fair few clearly working, panting hard as they pushed through to which I couldn’t help but think “Long race ahead guys…”. With some expectation of a time in the lower 5’s I knew I could push a little harder, after all I didn’t need legs for 8 hours or more, but I didn’t want to blow up in the first stage either! Trying to ignore the goings on around me, I just tried to settle into a rhythm and maintain a reasonable average speed.

The first stage took us through dirt roads, winding single track and open paddocks. Even with a a fair swag of the old penrose single track missing, there was still plenty of great riding. Huw had also spent some effort to get rid of some of the bottle necks early on in the stage which meant I think the stage flowed pretty well. Dreggsy finally catches me pulling out of a paddock into a fire road. I was still pushing pretty hard at this point and could only really let him go and hope he blew up later. I didn’t have to wait long as barely 15mins had passed before passing him with a flat at 45-50km/hr through one of the many fast penrose firetrail descents! Finishing the stage off with a few km’s of dirt road I ended up riding through transition with Juzzy (on a single speed!) in a bit under 1 and half hours, still on target if only just.

…And the suffering begins

Stage 2 was to take us deep into Wingello forest with more fire trails and four wheel dirive tracks. I seemed to pop out of tranisition by myself which meant pushing out along the transport section of dirt road alone which was a bit unfortunate. It wasn’t untill the trail started getting a little more technical and the gradient a little less friendly that I managed to catch a small group, including Juzzy who had managed to get out of Transition nearly a minute before me. And then the suffering would begin…

The Forest stage last year was pretty hilly, but not too bad. This year this stage seemed a hell of a lot tougher but also alot of fun! Slow grinding hills led to fast grown over descents, including a few heart in mouth moments if you strayed off line into the leaf litter. As we rode deeper into the forest, occasionally the route marks would pop us into a fun bit of single track or more likely, another grinding ascent.

We eventually arrived at the head of a bunch of new sniggle I’d help to cut with Huw, Fi, Graham from state forests and a bunch of other volunteers. Having ridden it a couple of weeks back, I wasn’t sure how it was going to go. Man it was tough to ride, if only because it was still a bit loose and sketchy, but after 40-50km’s it really made you work for it. I think it actually turned out pretty good though and should be trumps with a bit more work and a bit of time. Otherwise, yes, if only in part, you can blame me ;)

I was still pushing pretty hard at this point but my average speed had started to dive off. If only to make matters worse, a nasty little head wind had kicked in which made popping out onto any open fire trail an out right chore. A small bunch of guys (including Juzzy) seemed to come and go which made things a little interesting as you got to recognise the bikes and jersey’s, You’d blast past some people on the down hillls and they’d grind past you on the climbs. It wasn’t till the halfway marker though untill I really started to suffer.

Halfway for the fling was the base of the longest grind for the day. It wasn’t terribly steep, nor terribly long, but after pushing pretty hard for the last 50+ km’s I was in granny grinding it out. Shortly after starting, Juzzy who’d been with me for a fair way was off walking, not long after that, Dreggsy finally caught me looking fresh and strong! Just to rub it in, he managed to push me up the hill some way. There was no way I had the juice to go with him and it just made me feel like I was suffereing even more. After really only about 20-25mins of climbing, we were at the top but the short fast descents that followed only gave you the smallest of respites as you hit another heart breaking grind on the other side.

With some welcome relief, the Gu water station seemed to just appear infront at about the 64-65km mark indicating if nothing else we were probably 2/3rds of the way through the stage. This stage was only meant to be 47km’s long, putting me about 10-12k’s from transition and after doing the sums, I decided to push on (mistake #1). 2km’s down the road, I managed to suck my camel back dry and with only electrolyte in my bottle I was probably not in an ideal situation. My stomach reminded me nearly immediately that sucking down Gu’s without water isn’t a good idea and with the temperature and humidity climbing, I was quickly going to run out of any reserves my body might have had. After a few more hills through the forest I popped out onto a dirt road with a small bunch of 4. We tried to work together in a pace line but would suggest we really only managed blowing eachother up. None the less, the 76km’ mark came and went, cramps were setting in And I was really starting to regret my decission not to stop for more water earlier.

The final haul

We eventually pulled into transition at the 80km mark to which I headed straight for the water truck, filled my camel back and pushed out (mistake #2). With a tail wind blowing it was an easy wind up out along a dirt road and back into the paddocks. I managed to catch a couple of riders along here and was almost feeling good untill the first climb… and significant cramps even having to get off and do a bit of walking till they subsided a little. It seemed at this point that out on the flat, slight rises, and even into a headwind I could power along just fine, but as soon as the going got vertical my legs just couldn’t cut it. Fatigue, and cramps were really starting to take their toll and I still had a fair way to go.

Making steady progress, even catching up with Leo Assandri and others, I was hurting and cramping but the end was in sight. At about the 95km mark I started to push. Shouldn’t be far to go now and it was time to burn up whatever I had left (mistake #3). 5km’s later I ran out of water again… and passed the 10km to go mark “The friggin what!?!?”. Instantly I knew I was in trouble but had no choice but to keep pushing. I stopped to give someone a power link I had been dicing with earlier in the race to fix his chain. He caught up a little later and, on hearing my plight, spared me half a biddon of water which quickly disappeared. with a definate 5km’s to go the effects of dehy were setting in, every hill I cramped on, even the flats and down hills were tough. I needed to eat, and downed as much Gu as I could but my stomach complained bitterly without water. By “you choose” I was in pretty bad shape I think and would have *really* struggled the final 3km’s if Tracy Angove (another person I’d been dicing with most of the race) hadn’t thrown the remnants of her Biddon my way. I felt guilty and bad that I hadn’t been able to manage my water, but I really needed it or I was probably going to be in serious trouble. Walking large sections of the climb here, cramping most of the way, we popped out the top for the final 3km’s mostly downhill to the finish.

With the sun beating down, and one final little climb I crossed the line, relieved, and reasonably dehydrated in 6hours 11mins, my computer reading off 111km’s (and not 104! ;) and some way out of my 5:15 target. Dreggsy was right at the finish line having only finished some 7mins earlier, and frustratingly just behind Leo who I’d passed earlier in that stage. For now though my First mission, water, sugar, and salt before collapsing in a heap somewhere out of the sun.

Tech & Tips

So, appreciating hindsight is probably 20/20, I made three major mistakes through this race

Mistake #1: I cruised past a water station more than 2hours after I last refilled. I did the sums and figured transition wasn’t far away, but didn’t think that I was actually nearly a half hour down on where I wanted to be at this point, nor did I actually stop to check what my water level was. With the stage being some 4-5km’s longer than I was expecting and it being a little warmer than most of my racing this year, I think this a pretty bad call and probably set me up for the water badness that was the last stage.

Mistake #2: Knowing that I’ve been running without water for a good 30-40mins or more, Stopping to *just* fill my camel back and heading straight out was probably not such a good idea either. I had lots of water there, probably having a good drink before heading out would have been a smart move. Also, I didn’t fill my biddon up either so pushed on without carrying as much water as I probably could have. I was expecting an hour and a half stage time though and would have thought that 2L’s would have been enough. Probably would have been had I topped up my ‘reserves’ before leaving transition. C’est la vie…

Mistake #3: Expecting a 104km race, I started to push for home with 10km’s to go, or so I thought. Seeing the 10km to go sign where I was expecting 5km’s to go, I quickly realised I was going to be cactus. You can’t really expect the signage to be there, so I guess the best thing here is to not burn the other end of the candle till you know you’re on the home streatch. In hindsight, if I’d had of thought about it, Stage 2 was maybe 4-5km’s longer than I was expecting, and I knew this stage was going to be about 29km’s from transition, so perhaps should have just thought a little bit more about what I was doing. I’d like to think I would have handled the Finale a little better, whether I would have is another question :)

Food: Gu… I can’t eat *only* gu for more than about 8 hours before bad things start happening, but with a 5-6hour race it seemed to last fine. I had 2 coffee Gu’s for the last stretch which may not have helped with the Dehydration but oh well. Also, you not having water to go with them leads to stomach badness. Not an overwhelming problem but can just add a little bit more to the pain… I went through about 10-12 gu’s for the race, and was pretty much craving real food by the end.

Summary:

All in all I thought it was a tough but fantastic race that took you through some great scenery. It was interesting that after about the first stage, I was mostly around the same people all the time which made for some great racing, and added to the atmosphere and comradre of the whole event. In the end, I don’t think I had a *great* race, but with the likes of Leo and Neil Dall not far infront, neither of whom are especially slow riders, I obviously didn’t go to bad.

One of the complaints if any from last year was it wasn’t as tough as some of the other events. I think that’s certainly been turned around with the race proving to be a definate challenge, but still have some fantastic riding. Hats off to Huw, Fi and the crew for a fantastic weekend!

With more than twice the climbing, the Otway Odyssey in February is going to hurt!

Total Distance:	Approx 111km’s (give or take 2km’s)
Time:	6hrs 11mins (6:0:50 adjusted)
Total Climbing:	Approx 2050m’s
Posn:	104th overall, 16th open men

Happy Trails!
Craig