When Peta Mullens contacted me earlier this year to ride alongside her and Katherine O'Shea on a female team at TDT this year I was very very very excited (to say the least...). I rode TDT 2010 and loved the course, the people, the scenery, the race atmosphere and the challenge... TDT is unlike any of the other stage races I have completed, it is really, really hard and should not be entered into without some serious gear and body considerations. The difficult nature of the race is not really the riding, it is due largely to the remoteness that is Timor and the logistical nightmare that the race organisers have to deal with every single day. Life in Timor occurs on 'Timor time' which rarely correlates with Garmin-time, everything seems to take that little bit more effort and extra time. Once you accept this fact, life in Timor is easy.
That said, my race prep was a little complacent and I didn't actually view the course profile until the week before I was to arrive in Dili... not only was there an extra day but each day appeared longer that I remembered....interesting..!
Soooo I arrived in Dili and caught up with team mates Peta and Kath a few days before race start, we were staying in a 'villa' at Timor Lodge. Funnily enough by day 4 of racing we saw our Villa at Timor Lodge as being 5 star rated. Team tactics were discussed pre-race and a team name decided (NGCCOT) ... team tactics were discussed again and againa dn again and ultimately we decided on the good old ad hoc approach.. see what happens each day and take it from there... the aim was to try and ride together, we were hoping for 1-2-3 in the female overall category and a win in the female team category.. at this stage none of us realised how unlucky our team was going to be...
Day 1...Dili>Laclubar (122km)
Peta smashed this stage and claimed the pink jersey with an amazing turn of form... I had a shocker playing the yo-yo at the back of the bunch... dropped and back on.. dropped and back on... dropped....not so lucky as it was into a smashing headwind along the coast. Peta managed to hang with the guys to the base of the final climb. Kath and I where, sadly, dumped on the 50km KOM...I more prematurely than Kath....but I did manage to catch her up by the end of the final climb and at the end of stage 1 team NGCCOT placed 1-2-3 stage 1.
Day 2...Laclubar>Beacu (109km)
Fortunately for me, this stage started up before going down so we three managed to get a bit of a gap on the other girls before the descending started... Mel Jackson and Kelly Bartlett are wicked descenders and would have been hard for me to hang onto without the tricky little ups that evened the playing field. With Peta in pink and Kath and I placed 2 and 3 respectively we simply had to stay ahead of the other girls.. easy?....not so as Peta stacked, go up and managed to stack again.... shame... her pink jersey all torn and a nasty abrasion to her right thigh she rode X-rated and a little more conservatively for the rest of the stage... Mel rode strong, Kath and I attacked her on a few occasions but she somehow managed to always be there when we turned around... until finally Kath attacked on the flat and got away.. I conceded second to Mel for her strong ride through the day and Peta straight to the Medic tent....1-3 stage 2 with a few scratches and bruises...
Day 3...Beacu>Illiomar (69km)
We started this stage with a real plan.. "hang with the bunch until the last climb"... it was the hardest day. The road was flat but very very bumpy and the bunch was motoring thanks to the "search to retain guys" driving the pace at the front.. When we reached the final climb we were the only girls to have survived the bunch... yeah... this meant a good time buffer and an easier final climb..:).. I was allowed this stage as the stronger climber but it was a tough up and long... team placed 1-2-3 on this stage and extended our lead by 16 minutes on Mel (the 4th female rider)... only now does the pain endured at the bunch pace seem worth while...Camp was set in a beautiful village in the hills which allowed some respite from the heat of the coast.
Day 4... Illomar>Com (72km)
Today the plan was to maintain, ride safely andconservatively as Peta was bruised and Day 5 was destined to be a big 142km day... alas it all came undone on the final descent.. Mel attacked, Kath followed... I tried to follow and wrapped my chain around my crank.. DOH!!...Thanks Rhino for being my knight in shining armour.... Peta followed only to stack over a wall into some pretty spiky looking foliage on the side of a big bend.. thanks Neil for extracting her from the bushes..... minutes lost but still safe in GC... Peta finished and straight to the medic tent (again) while I lined the bikes up at the mechanic for a check.. we were back on the coast and in a resort with running water (showers and real toilets...stoked!!)...Peta had a bad night following her medic visit she had an emotional moment and forgot to eat.. back in the medic tent with low blood sugar.. a quick glucose shot in the leg and off to lunch...only to return to the medic tent following dinner with some nasty retching.... Peta was having somewhat of a difficult first mountain bike stage race...
Day 5... Com>Manatuto (142km)
So the plan today was to stay together until the climb, being the strongest climber on team I was then to climb with the boys and take the stage... all nice in theory but this is what actually happened... We all stayed together until the climb as planned and I smacked the climb as planned managing to climb with a nice group of guys... spitting distance from the KOM and it all went horribly wrong.. my rear derail hanger snapped off...in hindsight I suspect I bent a link on day 4 with my chain catch around the crank issue and that link sought retribution today... Lucky for me I had a hanger in my back pocket but in replacing the hanger it all got confused and the chain was definitely not as it should be... with some assistance from the locals and a very nice rider (Jeremy) we broke the chain and re threaded it... on our way some 20 minutes later... I forgot to mention Peta flatted at the bottom of the climb and was planning on waiting for me at the KOM.. which she was but with another flat and no spare tube.. my 29 tube was no good so I left her to flag down a friend.. she was talking crazy that she was out of the race.. Kath had ridden on with Mel after seeing Peta with a flat and my broken hanger thinking that the team was doomed.....
By some small miracle we all finished the stage... Peta found a spare and maintained her lead ... I only lost 13 minutes to stay in 3rd by 3 minutes... PHEW!!
Day 6... Manatuto>Dili (88km)
The last day and all we had to do was maintain our positions for the duration of the stage.. I was the most concerned as I had a mere 3 minutes and Mel was riding so strong that I was less than comfortable... There were two climbs which gave me two opportunities to get away and I did... I managed to escape the rest of the girls on the first climb and stay with the lead bunch only to have some regrouping occur on the flat... I hit the second climb with vengeance and again managed a gap on the other girls...following the final climb we took a tour of the streets of Dili and finished along the river bed, down the esplanade and into the Kings palace... I maintained my lead on the other girls until the final 500m when the chasing bunch caught us and we finished in a big mass.... Kath won the sprint and I crossed second....
Another awesome stage race completed in a very unique part of the world... thanks ADIDAS for my eyes, NBSfor my clothes and CANNONDALE, INFINIT for my fuel and Andy for moral support...XO
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