I have been looking forward to this event second time around hoping to better last years time. However, with some changes to the course (more single trails, yeehaa!) and a badly timed injury meant that the goals I set out to achieve have flown out the window. Reset, new goal was to get myself to the starting line to get walking again and able to ride a bike.
The Wednesday before the race I tested myself on the trainer with an hour session to see if I could ride a bike without any pain. The Session was a success and I declared myself fit to start the race. Props to the young physio at Newington Family Medical Centre who worked very hard in getting me to the start line for this event.
All packed on the Saturday and I got a lift down to Bundanoon with Mic Thaler and Craig Moroz. My original plan was to go down with either Howard Fu or Ronnie Ioia however both of them pulled out of the race citing various reasons. The trip down was uneventful and we rocked up to Bundanoon to the hall for registration. Hassle free and we stopped to have dinner before heading to the Pony Club to set up camp.
We found our spot for the night and we started to erect the tents. Craig obviously was a pro at erecting his and I struggled a bit with mine in the dark. What made matters worse was that it started to rain and this parking attendant sledged and giggled at us throughout the process. I suppose when you see 4 grown men frantically trying to work out which way the top fly should be positioned over the tent while the rain was coming down harder by the minute was a sight to be seen. Managed to get the fly in a position that will keep the inside of the tent dry and I left it at that.
After panic, everyone retreated to the confines of their tent as the rain had set for the evening. It was a muggy sort of night, too hot for a sleeping bag as I unzipped it fully and just laid it over my stomach. It was also my first time using an air mattress. Felt very odd and unusual. It didn't help much as my injured leg started to throb during the night. I took a couple of Nurofen to ease the pain and drifted off back to sleep.
Morning came and the skies were clear, thank goodness! Although, it felt like it was going to be a very warm day ahead. The prediction was correct as it was roasting out in the pine forests!
Getting ready was quite easy this time as I didn't really fuss around with food or doing last minute adjustments to the bike. However, I did manage to lose my registration pack that contain my number and transponder somehow. The last I saw it was on top of Mic's car bonnet the night before. Craig to the rescue, he retrieved it when the rain started. Crisis solved!
Feeling not too bad, I went over to the Start/Finish line for the briefing and seeded myself towards the back. Wasn't too sure what to expect for the race but the plan was to chose one gear lower than normal and spin more. I stayed pretty true to that for the whole day as I did not want to risk injuring my calf even further by putting the power down.
The race started at a cracking pace and I didn't buy into that as I trying to adjust my gears on the fly as it was skipping badly. I managed to resolve the gear skipping issue and proceeded to find a good rhythm. To my surprise it didn't take long to find a good one and I even managed to pass some poorer climbers on easy inclines on stage 1 to Wingello.
Saving as much energy as I possibly could on the first stage to put me in a good state for the longer stage 2, I did reasonably well coming into transition for stage 1. According to my Garmin, I cranked out 1hr34min. A quick refreshment break and I was off to start stage 2. The first part of stage 2 I felt reasonably good and tried to hitch onto the back of two riders in front of me. I managed to stay with them on the flats but then my world fell apart. Missing those final two weeks of training has really put a dent into the fitness and the ability to put any power down. I struggled big time on The Wall as it was the first of 3 hills that I walked up. Craig doing the Flying Threesome with Mic caught up to me at this stage (started 30min behind me). He asked how I was going and I replied "Shit house!" He retorted, "Yeah, you you don't look too good". After gathering myself together I followed Craig down the single trail and try to get a tow along. I didn't take long before he dropped me and the ever increasing heat and the amount of inclines were putting pay to my lack of fitness and injury.
Not feeling the best at the Riders Lounge (1/2 way through stage 2 and contemplating of pulling out) I refueled and went on my merry way. Got stuck into all the down hill and single stuff and slowly ground my way up hills. I had a good ding dong battle with the top 2 unicyclists all day along. I know
we are nuts doing this sort of crazy shit but there are even more nutters in in our riding community, I digress...
By now I pass or get passed by this group of riders, so I figure we're riding around the same pace albeit differ between downhill, uphill and the single stuff. I had some conversations with this Fling virgin and he even managed to see how I felt after seeing me on the side of track looking quite sorry for myself. This was the lowest point for me in the race. I never felt this bad ever before on a bike. We both asked the SES volunteer how far to go and he said if you back track you can get to Wingello within 7k or it's about 15k to go by the race route. My new acquire friend was suffering from cramps big time and decides to tough it out and plough on to Wingello. After 10 minutes or so on the ground I recovered enough to complete stage 2. I gave my new mate a head start of about a minute or so and I caught him within 2kms. He
struggled even more than I did on the climbs. Unintentionally, this is where I managed to get ahead of him. I was hoping that he could stay with me so that we could work together.
Getting back onto the flats on the way back into town, I tried to put the hammer down as best I could so I could beat the cut off time. Arriving back to Wingello completing stage 2 I manage to beat the cut off time by at least 15 minutes. By then, my body had had enough as my legs could not take me any further. I contemplated in sticking it out but I remembered the course has been altered from last year and it involved doing the roller coaster in reverse and that there was a grass hill climb towards the end. It wasn't worth the risk and pain in doing myself any more injury and decided to withdraw from the race. I went over to the timing tent to inform my withdrawal and got my transponder removed. Sadly, I made my way over to the bus stop for the Sag Wagon to transport the DNFers back to the start/finish.
Most happy about: The amount of single trails and my single trail skills for the race.
Now time to recover from the injury and the race. I think I might spend some time on the surf ski out on the harbour for a while.
Next planned event is the Mont24 in April 2011.
Official results here.
GPS Data here.
A Big thanks goes out to Mic for the lift down and Kieran for the lift back home.
The 2010 Highland Fling is fast approaching, matter of fact it's happening this weekend. Preparations for the race has been interrupted severely this year in the lead up to the race. From 6 weeks out I was getting good mileage into the legs from the commute to work and back with nice hard and intensive rides. Since then, I have changed jobs and moved house which put me on the back burner for 2 weeks of inactivity.
As soon as we settled into the new abode I started back commuting into the CBD to my new place of employment. A little longer in distance, duration and a little more hillier. A good recipe for the Fling one would think. Regained some much need fitness and got to a point where I was happy where I was in my riding conditioning as I even managed to have some mid-week lunch time running sessions thrown in.
A couple of wet weekends have put a downer on some much needed off track workout as well a broken spoke at beginning of a training ride up the Oaks and back. The sun came out at last a couple of weeks ago and I managed to get up to Wentworth Falls to do Andersons and Oaks. I was going solo as Howard and Ronnie have pulled out of the event citing personal reasons.
The ride was going really well, albeit I had too much air in the tires. I stopped after 15minutes on Andersons and let out what I thought was enough air. However, that wasn't enough as I struggled up the climb out of Bedford Creek. The rears were slipping and spinning too much. I was in no state in letting any more out at that point in time as I was struggling.
Recovered well enough to make it out of Andersons and go to the start of the Oaks and had a quick stretch and a shot of gel. Ripped off down the Oaks hoping to put in a decent leg. I was meaning to have a break at the helipad but for some reason I did not stop. I knew it was all downhill from here and I thought I could smash it to the gate without a break.
Downhill section down and I approached the gate and feeling a little tired. For the second time I did not stop as there were a few riders there waiting for their mates to arrive. So I hit the single track and doing a fairly solid job after not being on the the MTB for donkeys! Half way through the single track I remembered that I still had too much air in the tires as riding became a lot more treacherous on the slippery stuff.
It had to happen, a combination of fatigue, loss of concentration, too much air on the front and not being on the MTB for a long have me coming unstuck. The front slid out on me and the next thing I knew, I was over the bars and the MTB came crashing down ontop of me and smashing into my right calf.
Layed proned on the ground for a while, initially, I thought I broke my leg and that started the whole scenario thinking that I would need to be air lifted out! As it happened, not 2 weeks before hand one of my mates MVU came a cropper not too far from where I stacked. He managed to brake his right clavical and right wrist. Luckily, he was riding with someone and manage to get a lift out of the National Park to a waiting ambulance. I digress...
After what seemed an eternity, I manage to hop up and removed myself from the riding line and luckily no one came through from the time I went over. Did a quick check of all limbs and I was still intact, however, the leg didn't feel too good. Fixed up the steerer as it was crooked and I tried to mount the bike. So far so good. A couple riders came through by then but didn't stop. I got back on and continued down the single track. Able to keep peadlling I knew I could get back to the car back at Glenbrook Station.
I knew this was going to be a struggle as evertime I had to get off the bike the leg killed. I toughed it out with only granny ring left as the fall wrecked the front shifter. All good, that's all I need to get up the climb out from the creek crossing. I even manage to complete the extended rocky single trail section as I need to hone my skills albeit at a more sedentry pace.
Back at the car, I knew I was in trouble as I started to cool down and standing up was a struggle. Stopped at the bakery to get something into me befoer heading home. Thank goodness for my dear wifer who looked after my gear when I got home as I need to attend to myself.
I was laid up all day Sunday barely able to walk and made sure I followed the RICE principal. Monday was the same and I could not get to work. i got myself to the physio to begin treatment right away.
So far, I yet to be back on the bike and had 3 physio sessions. The swelling has gone down however, there's a massive hard lump in the calf and the leg is still sore. The physio and myself are determine to get me to the starting line this weekend.
Thanks to Ronnie who came over on the weekend to help me out in replacing all my cabling and shifter and getting the MTB back into a rideable state. Also congrats to him on annoucing his engagement and soon to be father!
I'll let you know how it all fair after the race. Stay tuned.
