The dust and the heat

The sun was not even up yet that the temperature was already around 20, we had breakfast with the amazing CBD crew and drove to the start which was 11km away. I felt not too bad, my legs were fine, I slept well, I had a beautiful dinner cooked by Damo the food magician the day prior so all was going good for me. I knew that this race will be a hard one, I never ridden the course and some really strong girls would be racing. I had a crazy goal of finishing the course under 6hr which I thought was hard but a manageable goal. I was looking forward to ride and to know where I would stand compared to the rest of the elite women’s field.

First 50km: Booo
The start was fast and you needed to fight to get your place into the single track. Strait at the start my gears were making strange noises and every time I was pushing hard or going up the hill the chain was jumping and did not want to stay on one gear. I had the voice of Gav in my head saying “V, I changed your gear cables you should ride your bike and change your gears a lot as they will stretch and we need to have it sorted prior to the race” Mmmm He was right the cable was stretched and I had no idea how to fix it (I know it is not hard ☺) I rode the whole first 50 with a bike making horrible noises. So I walked almost all the hills of the first 50, when I did try to ride some of them I dropped my chain at least 3 times. I was so angry with myself, I should have listen to Gav. Of course, the top 3 girls were gone.
I looked at the Speedo and thought I can not ride 100km with the bike not working. At the 30Km mark I lost the chain again at the bottom of the hill just before the drink station, put the chain back again and rode through the stupid noise (I really thought that I will break the chain) half way up the hill I said really loud that “GEARS SUCK!”. I knew that it was not helpful to lose the plot but I had not only a bike problem, but I also couldn’t get the HEED electrolyte from my backpack as the tube was stuck so no electrolyte for me for at least 45km until I finally managed to fix it. I calmed down and carried on riding to the 50km mark (I knew that my friends Chops, and Hugh from CBD would be not far and they would be able to help me).
At the 50 km mark Chops gave me water and food when Hugh was on my bike fixing the tension of the cable. When I jumped on the bike it was another bike, the gear were changing smoothly, YEAAA. My bike was going well so my head was more focused on the track and the race.

Second 50Km: Yeaaaa
For the second 50, I felt good I was happy to be on the bike and I was trying to bridge the gap between me and the front girls. I passed Steve01 who was cramping really bad and other people that were on the side of the track stretching or pushing their bike, it was hot I was cramping too but I could carry on riding through the pain and it actually disappear and drinking HEED I think helped me a lot. At the 80 km I saw my friend Adam from CBD, he was tired and his feet were hurting, I grab some water and carried on. I passed many people that was suffering so bad from the heat, it was not only really hot but also really dusty, the dust was stuck on my sunglass and with my dirty gloves I tried to make them a bit cleaner so I could see better. The track was so much fun, the snake track was just amazing but was hard to be smooth with the strong head wind working against you.
And then I crashed through a sharp corner I was going too fast and did not realised it was a corner, OTB and stopped just in front a sharp pointy piece of wood not far from my eyes …..booo scary. I picked myself up and then wanted to carry on but realised that I had a front flat tyre! I took my back pack to grab the CO2 canister but I had NONE. Good job V ! you silly girl!!! Yeaa now you have 12km to go and you have a flat and no pump no gas canister!! A minute later someone else crashed at the same place than me, it was Adam !!! yeaa he might have a gas canister as he is a sensible man. He took off his front wheel put it on my bike and said to me a simple word “GO” but …just “GO” …Ok… I took off as fast as I could and tried to give 100% I lost so much time that I did not think I would make my target time.

Finish line
I crossed the finish line a bit confused when Megan came to me saying “V you took 5.42 to do the 100km!!” I said “REALLY are you sure???” and then The Nobmobers were around me happy it was good to have them with me at the finish line!! I was honestly surprised as I really did not have a clear run and I thought I would be around the 6 hr and a bit. I was really happy with the time I did and I finished fresh compared to others. I finished 4th , 15 min off the first girl and just 5min from 3rd, I can not say if blablabla because having problems during races is part of racing ! I know that for the next races I will check everything, I will be wiser and stronger ☺. I learned a lot from this race! I would like to thanks Hugh and the CBD team for their amazing support, Hammer nutrition for their magic yummy apple/cinnamon gels, HEED electrolyte, and recoverite. I would like to thanks, again Hugh for fixing my gears at the 50Km mark, Chops alias James for his cheering and help at the 50km mark, The front wheel man; Adam for his help at the 88km mark and my partner Gav who I should listen to way more.