DW100 2010

What a great ride the DirtWorks 100 course is! This was my first ever race/event and overall I loved it. It was however a very long day and I was pretty much exhausted by the end of it.
I got up at 3:00am to drive out there Sunday morning as I was worried about encountering traffic and delays on the ferry at Wisemans. In the end I was there by about 5:15am! Way too early...

The start was good and the road section enjoyable and good for a warm-up. That first hill however is very steep and never ending! My calf muscles were burning by the time I walked to the top of it. The next bit was good and I was feeling quite strong but pacing myself. Interestingly though I thought I was good at climbing hills but judging by the number of people that passed me on the climbs I think I need to do some work here. I found I was easily able to catch those who passed me on the downhill and flat though (and I thought I needed work on downhill skills.)

Unfortunately at about the 45km mark I had to dismount quickly to avoid a rider who fell off in front of me and my leg immediately cramped. From there on it was a constant battle with cramps.
I made it to the 50km stop in about 3 hours, but spent 20 minutes there trying to drink lots, eat something, and stretch out my legs. Didn't seem to help though and I then spent the rest of the race in a constant battle with cramps. Front of leg, back of leg, calves, side of knee, even some muscle joining leg to hip in the front I've never felt before! For even the slightest hill I had to drop back to granny gear and spin away, unable to put any pressure on the pedals. Getting off the bike to walk immediately brought on the cramps necessitating a stop for a few minutes, and I actually found it easier to ride than walk.
The rest of the course I dealt with section by section. I rode the canoe bridge and got a wrist band (after spending 10 minutes thinking about it and talking myself out of it), and the last 30km are a bit of a blur apart from that blast down the hill!

In the end I crossed the line in 7:02 hours. My goal was to better 6:40 (avg speed 15km/h) but I'm still stoked that I finished it!
The bike was perfect all day, and I came out of it without even a scratch or bruise (which is pretty amazing for me )
I'll be back next year.

As for the cramps - I don't know what happened there. I hydrated well before the race and had drunk about 3 litres of water or powerade by the half way point. I've never had problems with cramping before either. Something to work on I guess.

Many thanks to everyone involved in running the event, and a big congratulations to all who participated regardless of what time you did or even whether you finished or not. I walked around after the race looking for NoBMoB people but only saw one familiar face so left part way through the presentation hoping to avoid the queue at the ferry. That didn't work though with the queue already very long so I kept driving and come home via Peat's Ridge. That was a very easy drive and probably quicker than via Wiseman's.

Cheers,
Jon

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