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My full fling report...


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By Truthman - Posted on 12 November 2007

Re: This ride meeting: 
2007 Highland Fling

Hey all! Was nice to see a few Nobmob jerseys around at the race! Didn't get a chance to meet up properly with anybody... I came late on Saturday with Raymov... I had a bit of a chat with Bruce on the ride, and thanks Shaun for the shout-out at the finish line Smiling Yeah, and was nice to have family waiting at the finish line.

I had quite an enjoyable full-fling. A few times I thought I would have to retire... First, about halfway the chain got stuck really bad in between the front chain rings and the frame, took around 10min to fix. Would have only taken a minute to fix if I had one of those "quick release" chains.

Second time I thought I was finished when my calf cramped up pretty bad after a cold water crossing about 25km from the finish. Then while trying to massage and soothe my leg my neck cramped... had to lie down for a while, and everything eased a short time later... the rest of the race I took a bit slower pace to avoid cramping again... so had a bit of energy left and almost sprinted on the final bitumen section... Never really had cramps before, so quite interesting... somebody told me to have lots of Magnesium for several days before the race to avoid this, I disregarded the advice... probably should have taken it.

Diet wise, I had a few buckwheat pancakes with maple syrup for breakfast, half an energy bar, and some orange juice. During the race I had a few energy bars, 2 sandwiches, a banana, some glucose tablets, some homemade electrolyte juice, and some almonds (mainly to get rid of the taste of energy bars, tablets, and juice) Also had half of one of those free GU gels at a water station... tasted awful... also went through between 5 and 6 liters of water. I think the best advice I got regarding eating, was get lots of energy (food) before you get hungry or start feeling low on energy... So I was pretty much eating stuff though I didn't feel like it...

According to interim results my time was 7hrs 14min, which I was very happy with, considering the only other time I have mountain biked over 100km was the Dirtworks race this year. Which I did find harder, and I did enjoy the Fling much more... Anyway, I think I could shave some time off with a lighter bike... the Specialized Enduro felt quite heavy on the up hills, but so sweet on the downhills!

Overall a great race, nice tracks, beautiful scenery, and praise God for the fantastic weather!

Terje

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