My Half Fling 2008

As I broke a couple of ribs in the Angry Doctor I hadn't been able to train as much as I wanted for the full fling so decided to give the half fling a go.

I started about half way down the pack and made a serious effort to clamp my pace at the start, however the overall pave felt a bit slow so I started passing people on the way to the first hill. Happily many people where pushing on the first steel hill so I passed a lot there, I remember it being quite hard but not too long. I passed Craig in one of the fields and started to push harder from there on, my legs felt good and my heart rate was well within check. Apart from dropping my phone on a single track section and having the compression rebound setting a bit slow making the fields pretty choppy everything was good. I got to the first water stop, had plenty of water and could tell I was on a good time so carried on.

The next part was mainly fire trail and I was able to plug my motivational music in and get into a rhythm. Despite the unwelcome rider hitching a tow for 10 minutes (lost on a manic downhill section) I started to feel pretty good, a really decent time was on the cards. When I could see the 50KM punch up on the computer, I got the top of the hill and gave the downhill everything I had to the end... except it wasn't the end! That's when I saw the "5km to go" sign - opps. I had very little left and started bonking on the techy rocky hill (the wall?), I had stopped drinking my magic concoction in the excitement and started cramping. I must have been passed by 8 people on that hill, I had worked so hard to pass them earlier on. I kept going to the end to a time of around 2:57. My target was less than 3:30 so I was pleased but I knew I could have done better. Still I learnt another lesson about pacing and nutrition, it was also great sitting in the sun with Andy, Bernd and Craig (and Gary?) I was still a bit out of it ) soaking up the atmosphere.

Things I liked: The bike - brilliant as always (although I did notice that my seat post had "sunk" by over an inch at the 40K mark!), seeing Gordo cross the line and fall off his bike after setting a mental time, the fantastic atmosphere in the town including the kids drawings, the Dash and the musicians.

Things I disliked: The sand, the hitcher, my bike computer!

A thoroughly enjoyable weekend.