Cycle 86km (Grey College 150 Years Memorial Race)
Time: 2:21
Average: 37.4km/h
Average temperature 21 C (max 27/min 17)
I'm not sure what I did in this race.
No: 1 I should have pulled out my third water bottle and stuffed my Trek tool bag in the holster to at least minimise the drag. Since I bought the new bottle cage holder the bottles are more aero but there is no place for the bag, so it's lying just above the wheel. Terrible. Anyway, that was the least of the day's mistakes.
Right off the bat the guys got off to a cracking start, and I see on my notebook that my heart rate shot up about 5 or 6 times to way over 160, in the first 10km. That was all fine, I was nicely positioned, often just 2-3 guys from the front.
Then I did something really whacko. 2 people had broken off the front and had a gap of about 500m. My intention really was to get out of where I was and just get to the front 5. But as I slid up the field, they seemed to slow down, and there was this small little bridge, with a longish downhill, and my Spinergy is a Demon on a downhill. So I thought I'd play, and seize the day, and try to reel in the 2 in front.
I very quickly got a gap of about 200m, but the next 100m was slow and hard, and the wind just battered me. I got to about 300m from the front, and about 150-200m from the two in the lead. Then the fatigue hit, because the downhill eased into a very very long uphill. So I looked back, and I looked forward, pushed again, and didn't seem to do anything except weaken myself. So I sat up and let the bunch catch me, and tried to recover.
Unfortunately the uphill was really really long, and we were only 2 thirds up it when the last of the main bunch, the front pack, left me behind. I thought I'd catch them on the downhill except the uphill just went on and on. Finally as we got over it, I organised a group that had also fallen off, and told each guy (there were about 6 or 7 at that stage), I said: "Let's rotate." That means each takes a turn to work at the front while the others rest in the slipstream. The bunch was only a minute, maybe 700m ahead. With a good surge, a cumulative effort, we could catch them.
But only one or two guys did any work, they were very erratic. So I powered when I could, rested, powered again. Really couldn't believe how dumb I'd been. Where's my patience, strategy, conservative effort?
So we pursued almost all the way to Glen, and then hit a long straight area on the N1. Our efforts weren't nearly enough, because we could see they were just gone. So I gave in at that point and then just rode fairly relaxed with the other guys.
There was a really dangerous incident as we hit the N1 proper, where a guy was changing his tyre, then the guys swerved out the way, off the shoulder, and I was just coming on the outside to the front, and we ended up being 4 guys side by side, with me way out in the middle of the road. I felt my hairs prick on the back of my neck, and just then a Hilux shot past, going wide, it's tyres biting dirt and stones just off the road. If the driver had been less brave, and a less good driver, he would have just taken me out. On the other hand, he had no business driving that speed with so many cyclists everywhere. Lucky escape for me though, I feel.
The cycle back was quite relaxed, but after all the work (I did about 70-80%) I was starting to feel the strain, especially on the uphills.
If this cycle showed me anything is that I am seriously heavy! I don't know if my body is tired, but I also feel like I overestimated my strength today. I wonder if I had not done that damaging surge into the wind whether I would have survived the whole way with the bunch. Maybe, if I kept out of the wind the whole day.
Anyway, to add insult to injury, with about 10km to go we went up another long uphill and 5 of the 8 guys went forward, and I fell off. The second bunch! Unbelievable.
Then I teamed up with a Saeco guy - also riding a red Cannondale, and we worked together nicely the whole way back, all the way to the finish. We reeled in the 5th guy right at the finish, and I don't think the other 4 were that far ahead, but what a terrible ride. Things just falling apart energy wise.
My average heart rate: 154 (maximum 170)
This ride actually felt tougher than Free State Champs triathlon.
With about 2-3km to go, the Saeco guy commented that our average was 37km/h, and he added that that is brilliant given the number of hills. So that was some consolation.
There's a 100km ride next week, and a 110km ride the week after. No fancy tricks in any of those. Just going to try to hang with the main bunch for the duration. And in the meantime, need to get a bit slimmer so I can fly uphill.
Interestingly, in the Half Ironman in Choerwon, I did a 90km time trial, and my time was 2:21, average speed 37.9km/h, that's faster than today's, and I did that without slipstreaming anyone. So I have a long way to go to get into that kind of form again.
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