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Hmmmm lets do that again :)


jdb's picture

By jdb - Posted on 23 October 2009

Re: This ride meeting: 
CORC 24hr 2009
Status: 
Finished
Laps: 
15
Time: 
23:35:39
Position (Overall): 
24

On finishing the Angry Doctor feeling fresh and ready to keep riding I felt ready for the Scott 24hr race. The Angry Doctor also signalled how fast the race was approaching and began the panic of getting everything organised, luckily almost everything turned up. Big thanks to Gavin, Vanina and City Bike Depot for organising a spare bike for me.

I left for Canberra on Thursday morning to make sure to get a good position for the race. Also hoped it would mean everything would be sorted well before the race, this was not to be. Saturday morning went so fast, with my support crew only able to get to Stromlo at 11am Saturday, it was a mad rush to explain what would be needed and get ready for the race at the same time. In the mad rush found myself lined up at the start line without a bidon, luckily realised early enough to grab one.

With the countdown starting my heart rate started to rise, the nerves had started to hit it was now me versus the clock. The race started with all the solos setting off at a decent pace, and then to my surprise we were suddenly attacked be a swarm of team riders, I missed the briefing and didn’t hear that the 5 minute team rider delay had been cancelled. The first lap was over away too fast! Got back to my support camp and had barely touched my bidon and not touch the food at all. They acted quickly unloading a couple of bidons into a camelback and I was off. Headed into the second lap knowing I needed to slow down, but second lap still turned out to be too fast.

The first big change to my food plan happened at the end of the third lap, after having spent three days carbo loading which included lollies, couldn’t handle them anymore. There were a number of other options available to so this wasn’t a major setback.

From the third lap the nerves had calmed and started to ride at a good relaxed pace, concentrating on keeping my heart rate low during the 5km climb. Loved it when the lap distance read 7km, the fun was about to begin. The day lap was awesome, double dissolution was my favourite part, got to love blasting past team riders pass during the climb. My best moment was on this section, overtaking a team rider that had told me at the start of the descent that solo riders were slow. He didn’t like it when I called track on him, then left him for dead.

The first 6 hours went by super fast! It surprised me when the lights had to be put on before the start of the next lap. The night time lap was enjoyable up until the point you went over the bridge the rocky descent wasn’t much fun. I’m glad the No doz, red bull and cola combination kept me alert all night long. Stopped a few times during the night laps for some nice hot pasta, it was fantastic. Never felt like stopping during the night, but did delay my lap in the morning about 20 minutes to make sure the day lap would be open again.

With the sun up it should have been time to speed up again, but wasn’t to be, started feeling sick on my first lap of the morning, guessing due to too much salt during the night. Was still managing to do laps but found it hard to eat anything during transition. Relating to this at about 9am both shin muscles cramped caused while running back from the bathroom in a hurry to get out for another lap. Doh! The cramps didn’t cause too much discomfort until, the 30 minute delay before the start of my fifteenth and last lap. This ensured I’d be crossing the line after 11am to complete the race. The climb on the last lap was hard, encouragement from passing riders was great and helped me make the top, once there it was really enjoyable racing down the descents one last time and slowly spinning up the remaining hills.

Loved my first 24 hour race, must be crazy!!! Had no moments where thought why am I doing this for, this is mental and it is time to stop. It was great staying down there Sunday night, went to dinner with John and his family where I picked up for some great tips for the next race. Worst bit of the 24 hour race, was getting home and trying to unpack the car, after getting half of the car unloaded the stairs won the battle, the rest would have to wait.

Recovery has been slow, my legs were pretty sore for three days after the race. When on Friday my shin muscles were still sore and rock solid, went to the get a massage after 15 minutes on each one there was finally some good blood flow and they started to recover. During a ride on Sunday with John, Gavin and Vanina found I could spin easily but when needing power from my legs they were saying no. Had another massage on the legs on Wednesday hopefully should be able to put in a good effort at the WSMTB race on Sunday, then some easy rides to work next week before the Fling.

I’m already signed up to ride solo at the Sydney 24hr in February, looking forward to it.

Rob's picture

Mate - you're mental but it was a very impressive result. Awesome job!

Stay off the lollies mind - too much sugar is bad... mmmkay.

And as for the team rider who said solos were slow... what a numpty!

LadyToast's picture

Well done mate - epic effort!

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