Punishment with a Capital P

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To stay upright you've got to keep moving.“
- Albert Einstein

That's the story of my life. In order to feel like I'm living purposefully, I've got to be doing something, preferably something keeping me moving. It just so happens that one of these activities is mountain biking, and in the past five weeks, upon returning from a month overseas, preparing for Capital Punishment 2014, an event that I was determined to make up for my dramatic experience in last year with a podium and a smaller gap between myself and the winner than all previous competitions.

BACKGROUND

After returning after a month in Thailand, I mentally prepared myself a rather structured “Get Fit Fast“ training program that would see me ready for CP and beyond five weeks later. Instead of an essay on the training regime, I‘ll just share a few highs and lows of the lead up to the race:

+ Being able to fit in many extended road training sessions despite a killer start to uni
+ Completing my base training with an 80km on and off road the week before
+ Spending the week before in recovery and not feeling pressured to ride hard

The lows unfortunately were more numerous:
- Getting sick with stomach cramps the day after returning from Thailand making it hard to even ride for several days delaying the start of my training.
- Getting a boil on the top of my leg a two weeks before the event making it impossible to sit on my saddle meaning I had to do all training standing for several days.
- Running my front road wheel into a drain the Wednesday before giving my a bruised and bloody knee and a flat tyre and my spare had a hole in it.
- Having my rear tyre get low after a casual ride at Stromlo the day before, and having to rush to the Rubena stand at rego at 8pm to see if they could help me. Luckily they gave me a new tyre and their hand pump sealed the tyre but was not the ideal time for it to happen! (But better than the event itself.
- Leaving my toolbag open on a training ride and losing a tube and my favourite multitool.

THE RACE START

Whew! Despite all prior mishaps, here I am in the first wave ready for 100km of pain. I‘m fresh and the bike is finally ready.

BANG! We‘re off. As always, it's a bit of a bottleneck at the start, particularly at the first singletrack. I find myself just behind Wayne Dickinson (Dicko) for this segment. Several kms later is a large hill to the Kowalski‘s Sideshow, which, along with The Luge/Skyline, is one of my favourite sections of track of all time. Now with Dicko just tailing me we head down the very curvy and fast 2km downhill section.
I keep heading along at a decent pace with several others - passing Jenny Fay - and over to Sparrow Hill when I realize Dicko is gone. Really? I wasn't THAT fast, was I?
Eventually I'm in a group of five including SS champ Brett Bellchambers curving through Sparrow Hill. These early stages of races always feel surreal and put me in a sort of a trance (despite riding a Superfly) and I always feel good on this gently descending (or even ascending) track.

And now there are four. Brett‘s chain has come off and he's dropped. Since when did chains come off on Singlespeeds come off?
The four of us stay together for the next fifteen to twenty kilometres, taking turns taking the lead. Nobody's in sight in front or behind. I MUST not get dropped. When it happened in the ‘Fling it wasn't good. It's lonely and much harder to keep a pace.
And now there are two. One of the rider‘s bars came loose so he and another rider pause to tighten them at the the 41km feed station.
And now there are eight. A bunch of others catch up at about 45km, just before crossing a major road. I feel more secure now but don't want to let them get ahead.
As great as the singletrack is, it is now at the stage of punishing me, particularly after the very steep section of it around 48km, and it is a relief to reach the fast firetrail on the defense land.

We speed down it in a group and the kilometres fly by quickly. Unfortunately someone behind us had a pretty spectacular OTB on a fast sandy corner, and I get dropped as I quickly pause to see if he's okay (luckily for me, another rider physically goes back to check... I really don't want another CP where I have to suffer because of someone else's tribulations). With my ability and willpower, I pound on the pedals and after a couple of kilometres I've hooked back on and can keep rolling.
Rolling, rolling and rolling. Pedaling, pedaling and pedaling. Shoving any remaining fluid and gels down. And at the top of a steep hill, THERE IT IS!

Transition. Time for a rest. Sort of.

TRANSITION - The Untimed Section, 60-70km

Having 55 minutes to get 10km, one could well be tempted to have a lie down. But life isn't like that. As Einstein said, you've got to keep moving. Don't let the muscles get relaxed, otherwise it'll take more energy to kick them off in the last 30km. So I briefly stop at the untimed section, refill, eat and think about what to do. Dicko rocks up shortly later and complains how he lost me because his toolbag fell off and could see us in the distance but couldn't quite catch up. Also arriving soon after is fellow rider from Turramurra, Mike Israel, and we, among several others shortly head off together for the remaining bit of the untimed part. Quite pleasant actually along the cycle paths - could almost be a Saturday casual cruise judging by the pace, chatter and relaxation between the group of about ten of us. Such, I am sure, will be needed for the subsequent 30km of punishment.

RACE PACE - 70km to the end

Several small groups of riders, including Mike, head over the line as I wait just behind it with Dicko and several others Hopefully we can work at tailing each other to make it less painful. That's not the case - I plow up the first painful hill on the mountain and drop Dicko and the others in the first 500 metres. So here I am, alone. Not completely, thought; I start to overtake those riders in front of me gradually as I head over the difficult tracks on the mountain, and on the subsequent cyclepath. Each rider gives me a small break as I tail them for a little while before overtaking them so it's better than nothing. The big hill about 78km in is a killer (you know the one I'm referring to) but I keep it going. Just pedal, roll and drink; that's all it takes. Despite becoming painful, the relatively smooth terrain makes the next 10km fly by quickly, and soon enough I'm at the entrance to Stromlo, 88km in.

Stromlo is good and bad. I know the Cockatoo Switchbacks - Skyline - Luge loop like the back of my hand, but am well aware that the next 7km is basically uphill. I grind up and a brisk but steady pace, knowing that at 95km the race is basically over as it's all downhill from there, but now the cramps are forming. I stand up, and they dissipate. I approach several other riders and pass them near the top of the climb, including Mike, who left transition several minutes before me. That's a good sign that I'm getting a lead.

And finally, finally, I'm at Echidna Gap junction, the highest point on the mountain. I let loose on an adrenaline fueled frenzy on one of my favourite sections of track. The fast bumps and dips on Skyline give my legs a chance to recover, though the Luge completely stiffens my hands on the countless berms and switchbacks. Definitely worth it though. Though nobody is around, I grind it down to the bottom, knowing that this could still affect my placing.

And onto the blacktop I go. Thirty more seconds of pounding pedal strokes and I'm over the finish line.

AFTERWARDS

Speaking briefly with Jonathan (jp), who had done decently in CP 50 and seeing Wayne cross shortly after, there were several important things that needed to be done. First: Change clothes. Tick. Get food. Tick, had a nice pizza. But finding my result was difficult. Due to the untimed section, placement crossing the finish line is very different to the overall placings. And someone had managed to forget the printer so there were no results printed.

But eventually I found out over someone's phone that I'd placed 29th overall and first in my category! Brilliant. So I stated for another two hours to wait for presentations, where I was given two tyre vouchers. That's after I just bought two new ones yesterday!
Well, I guess I won't need any new tyres for a while...

So now the first marathon of the year it's over, it's time to think about my next challenge... Convict? It's on the cards, but will there be something else beforehand? Time will tell. Either way, it's back to training next week!