Poegaai
I was very tempted to ride with my Zipps today, as I have felt quite stale this week (mostly as a result of adding some running to the training mix). While riding with these lighter and faster wheels always feels better, you get less of the benefit (fitness and strength) from each race than you would riding without them. Yes - one of the main ways and probably quickest ways I improve my fitness is in the long, hard races on weekends.
I am focussed really on 2 races at the moment - the OFM on 2 November, and 2 weeks later, the 94.7. I'll be riding with the Zipps then. Today though, they stayed at home.
I arrived at the venue with 10 minutes to spare - literally - and joined the A/L bunch about 3 minutes before they left. I could feel my body still felt very tired, so I knew it was going to be a long 107km.
One issue I tried to avoid on this ride was my water bottle falling out the cage. It had happened in the previous two races, so I had used double-sided scotch tape on the carbon fibre wings (it's not a wire cage). The problem was, the side facing the bottle was now too sticky! So I sprayed the sticky surface with a teflon spray, but once it dried the stickiness returned. An experimental insertion of the bottle proved almost impossible to get out! So I placed some newspaper on the sticky surface and tore it off. This seemed to work. Anyway, I went into the race quite nervous that the bottle would fall out anyway, and on a 107km race that would be a disaster.
At around 15km I noticed the bottle sitting at an awkward angle and while fiddling with it, the bunch climbed away. From the graph you can see my hardest effort of the day was in the first half hour and in the final few minutes.
I noticed the bottle really wasn't going to make it, and so stuffed it into the back of my jersey where I already had another, smaller bottle. This wasn't part of the original plan, which is why I think I arrived home to find my credit card gone (probably jumped out while getting the bottle out).
So this bottle fixation also caused me to lose touch with a nice runner-up group, leaving me essentially isolated at around 20km. It occurred to me to turn the engines off and cruise the rest of the race - especially since my body was really not feeling fresh. I caught up to Mr. Allergic soon after and thought we might make a real effort to catch the runner up bunch. Except he turned out to be allergic to riding in front. On one of the few occasions he went in front he nearly knocked me off my bike. I think it was an innocent mistake, but I was pretty keen on getting as far away from him as possible. Then, 2 things happened.
1. A bee decided my head was an imminent threat and rocketed into it, stinging me immediately upon making contact.
2. A small group we'd past on the tough climb earlier caught up to us.
I thought the bee sting would itch under my helmet, but after two minutes or so I completely forgot about it. (I pulled out the sting at home, from a slightly swollen forehead).
The small group was composed of a nice bunch of riders, one of them being Rapunzel (a pretty young girl with a very long blonde ponytail, wearing a yellow MTN shirt). I thought we'd work together but it turned out I was one of the stronger riders, so spent quite a long time riding in front - even riding them off a few times. I didn't want to ride alone so I sort of hung around. At one point Rapunzel offered to do a shift in front and shot away.
We cracked a few jokes approaching Suikerbosrand (an area I had avoided altogether the previous year as I had ridden the shorter distance). One guy was saying we were about to climb Joburg's toughest climb, and 'even on your best day it's a nightmare'. Er...this definitely wasn't my best day.
So we started going over the roly poly first section, and round about here B/L caught us. I wasn't to chuffed as I thought it would be nice if our little group stayed together, but it was impossible with hundreds of riders streaming and weaving around.
After the first big climb only one guy from our group was slightly ahead of me, and much later, Mr. Allergic caught up and asked if I was ok. Not long after that he faded and I never saw him again. Rapunzel caught me on the final climb (called Eat Death Hill) and it is truly a hellish, interminable climb. It was here that I sort've wished I had my Zipps.
From the graph you can see exactly what sort of monster Eat Death Hill is. You climb as high as 1740m (from a low point of 1385m).
At the top I grabbed some water, and asked a girl rider who was sitting on the side of the road:"Are you alright?" She shouted: "NO!" It was quite funny because I just went on riding. She looked as though she had suffered a tubby puncture in her front wheel - something I couldn't have helped her with anyway.
Meanwhile, I shot downhill. My hefty 85kg slicing through the wind like a hot warhead through Iraqi airspace.
I caught up to Rapunzel and another group that was forming, and then up another climb she went ahead slightly again and I caught them on the downhill again.
On the other side I began to pick up speed but again, throwing everyone off just meant I was riding alone against the wind. A group of about a dozen riders including Rapunzel eventually caught me, and then first me and another guy, and then eventually four of us kept the train going.
I started getting a bit tired here. At about 70-80km I started letting other riders ride in front for a number of shifts. Then at around 90km the bunch broke into little pieces. We were assimilating riders and losing riders. The last few kilometres suited me perfectly and so I started working again in front. In the last 3 or 4 kilometres we picked up an MTN rider with his helmet pushed far to the back of his head. He was also A/L. We were also flying by a lot of riders that had passed us on Suikerbosrand. I came around the corner second or third in our bunch, and then the new MTN guy went hard, but far too early. At 1.5km I sailed by him, also very early, but it was impossible to sprint or ride in a proper group with the road as narrow and busy as it was. I got to the finish first of our group - I have a feeling they decided to ride in easily to avoid mishap. Rapunzel must have come in a few minutes after me. After picking if a Nando's burger I went to say thanks for (not sure for what really...?) - working with us, and then headed home.
The best part was throwing my corpse into the swimming pool's brisk water. WAH!
Stats:
Time - 3:25
Hr - 153 (167)
Distance - 105.8km
Speed - 30.8km/h (75.5km/h max)
Alt avg - 1475 (1757 max/1369 min]
Temp - 14 min 21 avg 28 max [Quite hot]
Ascent - 945m
KCal - 3533
2007 Stats:
Time: 2:23
Heart Rate average: 159 (Maximum 169)
KCal: 2628
Ascent: 600m
Temperature: 14/18 average/23
Altitude average: 1524m (1671m max)
Average speed: 31.9km/h (Maximum 97km/h - there were some steep fast downhills but that still seems a bit suspect to me.)
Distance: 76.8km
Note how much lower my heart rate average and even maximum heart rate was this year.
Read about my 2007 Race for Victory here.
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