WOW... the race I vowed 2 years ago that I would never ride again!
Two years ago the conditions entailed copious amounts of mud and mud, hard on the bike, the brain and the body. This year was a dream in comparison, but still super tough none the less. Andy and I arrived Melbourne Friday afternoon, jumped a hire car and headed direct to Apollo Bay, flying straight past Forrest en route. This is only significant when we reach Apollo Bay and realise that registration was actually at Forrest (so much for reading the race brief... my bad!)
Saturday morning was surprisingly DARK! and the elite girls due to set off 30 minutes before the rest of the field, 0645. I had planned this race as a meet and greet with Bec Locke (my Cape Epic 2010 partner) and a gauge as to how training was progressing.....this is what happened....
The race started into a stomping head wind, east out of Apollo Bay and left to the first climb (timed climb). It was great riding with girls, no craziness, until Bec decided to attack and again. The group was split, Bec L, Katherine O, jo W, Peta M, Judith A, me with a margin on the rest of the girls. Sweet!! The thing to remember about this Odyssey is that the first climb is just the start of many and in reality the climbing finishes only at the start of the red carpet ride and even then only temporarily, restarting directly out of the 87km check point.
So we were climbing and climbing and then there were two. I looked back and it seems Judith and I had a mini break away, on paper a 3 minute margin had developed...SWEET!!. I was thinking maybe I could hold this and place second, somewhat delusional as I realised there was a good 20km of single track ahead that was definitely not my forte. Anyway it was nice while it lasted.
I felt great, Judith was holding a good tempo and riding was good, for a while, then my legs started to feel heavy. I tried to recount my food intake and it was suboptimal, I started chewing bars and sucking down gels but too late as I watched Judith creep away... doh!
All watered out I stopped to refill at 58km check station, feeling very average. I reached the red carpet and the single track leading to the 70km check station still in second. I was thinking maybe I could hold on but i knew Katherine would be stomping through the single track hunting down first place. Then she caught me and my brain was switched to off as I tried to negotiate the trails with as much finesse as possible. Focus....focus....focus...... too late...
Peta caught me at 80km but fortunately for my brain she never really crept out of sight. I was glad to be finally rid of the single track as I passed through the 87km check, now in 4th. The stairway of fire trail that marked the final climb to home seemed to go on and on and on. The frustration was seeing Peta and not having the legs or brain to actually initiate an attack.
I finished in 4th, 2 minutes down on 3rd, 9 minutes down on 2nd and a mere 14 minutes from 1st. Thanks to Santa Cruz I actually did better than I expected through the single track and climbing was a sinch. A valuable nutrition lesson was learnt, one would have thought I should know by now but the season is early and it is better to make this error now rather than Cape Epic which is only 3 weeks away.
Awesome race Rapid Ascent!!
