The Challenge

Okay, for those of you who I haven't spoken to, here's how the ride went. Firstly, there were some mechanical issues. My HR monitor (brand new and built into my bike speedo) was playing silly buggers. One minute I was at 104bpm then 214bpm then 156bpm etc etc etc, so no data for me. Then the actual computer mount came loose and I had to borrow a screwdriver from the water truck driver at the first refreshment station to tighten it. Then my sensor wasn't 'sensing' the magnet on my front wheel, so I leant down to adjust it and the magnet ripped a whole in my finger. So a nervous start!!!!
But once we were out of suburban Adelaide and deep into the hills I started to have fun. The recon ride I did at Christmas and all the other trainig time served me well, and this time the 50km's through the hills went well and I managed to overtake a lot of people, especially throught the 1km King of the Mountain climb into Lenswood. Then it was a bit of up and down through Woodside and Mt Barker and it was downhill from there. Felt good at this point and managed to latch onto a group and hit 82km/h down one stretch, and I wasn't pedalling!!! But I think I used my front brakes too much as my rim heated and the tyre came unclinched and I heard a pop. I pulled over expecting a puncture but there was nothing wrong. So relived I kept going but by now my group had long gone.

Soon after I latched onto another group (see video) and we maintained a pretty steady 40+km/hr pace fo 30km's or so through crosswinds (you can hear it into the video), and I started to think I might crack the century (100mile/160km) in under 5 hours. But as we turned into a headwind nearing Milang, they began to cook me, and on one uphill I got dropped. Bugger! I'd bonked and there was still 30km's left.

I skulled a coke at Milang and pushed through the 60-80km/hr headwind (serious! there were tumbleweeds blowing across the road faster than me!!!!) for 20km's that was even Lance Armstrong'd downfall during his breakaway just a couple hours later - I'm glad we've got something in common. ha ha! That was tough and my arse was really hurting by then too, so I was a bit miserable.

By soon I saw the drink station 9km's from the end, and it was on. Just a few little hills, nothing to worry about, and I hit the home straight with an awesome tailwind and crossed the line doing nearly 50. Finished in 5h12mins for 160km's, so I was pretty happy with that.

Sub 6hours was my main goal, with 5h30min a realistic target, but I didn't expect to go that quick. If only for that headwind I would have broken the magical sub-5-hour mark. Oh well. Next year ay?

Anyway, big thanks to Mum, Dad and Abby for their en route support with food and water and coke and encouragement. Thanks to Fran for thrashing me around the gym to get ready for it. Thanks to Paul and James for the MTB rides that proved invaluable. And thanks to Lozza for the runs that kept me in shape when there wasn't enough time to go biking.

Next goal: criterium cycling and starting increasing the k's running and in the pool.