Full Fling 2015

Living in Sydney allows an early morning drive to a couple of the bigger events depending on how far you are willing to drive and how early you want to get up. I decided to drive up early morning, so a 3.50am wake up was followed a quick shower and out the door I went for the 1.5 hr drive down to Bundanoon arriving at 5.45am.Pre -race was pretty straight forward with registration and getting the bike and my nutritional supplies all set up. Just past 7am I was up at the start line wondering if there was waves, however we all went off about 7.25am in a one group.
Stage 1
· Start was pretty mild compared to a few other races I have done which suited me.
· Plan was to ride my own race even if it meant periods alone and would try and work with others on the open fire trails.
· There were some tricky mud sections that I had a grin on my face going through as I was adamant I was going to end up on my side still clipped in, however made it through.
· Minor sketchy experience when I had to take the outside line due to other riders around a fire trail corner and came in a bit hot. Thankfully stayed upright and after a bit of a push on the pedals for 100m or so I was back with the group.
· Got this stage done and was happy with the time and effort I had expended with an average HR of around 150 BPM.

Stage 2
· Hit Wingello with 1 other rider, whom I suspect was a roadie based on the hand signals he was using, half I had no idea about, but I know enough that an elbow flick means I’m up.
· Single track started and shortly after the Elite train came through, I jumped out the way and let a group of about 6 of them through. As you can imagine it would be challenging even as good as they are dodging riders on ST full gas.
· Having spent a fair bit of time riding the red/yellow loops I found the configuration of the course interesting as they explored other trails or even went up things that you normally went down. This also meant that it was hard to get your bearings, as I clearly remember thinking “oh shit I know where we are, were about to hit half way hill”.
· Towards the end of this stage coming along the fire trail back into Wingello I was pretty cooked and only just managed to hold onto a group of 4 other riders coming back into the transition area as the Garmin crept towards 76km.
· I restocked fluids and looked around with no one in sight exiting transition, which I figured was ok considering I was not feeling great and was best to set my own pace.
Stage 3

· Started comically taking the same wrong turn as last year after the left hander off the first road section of trail, went to the right hand side of the bus instead of a sharp left along the fence line. I just laughed and thought maybe I might get it right next year or go for the trifecta.
· Really was a mixed bag with energy levels and sensations in this stage, started feeling good for 5-10km and then would hit the wall again. Maybe it was those slow and fast release carbs they speak of in gels ( I had no idea and didn’t really care) but just keep sucking on them. That pretty much summed me up in this stage slow and a bit faster.
· Noticed that the strap on my saddle bag had broken (the one attached to the seat post), thankfully there were still two other attachments to avoid losing my spares but it did lead to some interesting noises coming from the back of bike coming down some of the rougher terrain.
· Got through the technical rocky area fine and was thankful to be running tubeless through this area.
· “Your Call” ended up being “His call” as I was trailing a rider at the time and figured I would go which ever way they went. I was kind of hoping right, damn left, oh well here we go legs.
· In the last few km’s I was still with the rider from your call and he was starting to fade a little, or may have been foxing to get a draft, so my mind made the executive decision to put the pedal down and hoped my legs would follow to carry me to the finish.
· One thing I found last year and this year again is the finish is tough, with that creeper of an incline about 300m after the rocky section just sucks the last bit of energy out of the legs.
· Looking at splits from my Half fling the previous year, I was only about 3min slower in stage 3 this year, which I figured was a win considering I had an 50kms more in the legs leading into it.

Summary

Time: 5:39:57
Distance: 107.22km
Calories: 2912cal (Garmin)
Average HR (146 BPM)
Post ride Recovery : KFC twister combo (my go to food following 5+ hr rides). Any ride under 5 and KFC is off the menu.

As you do I'm currently looking at what I did ok and where I can improve, but at the end of the day i'm there for an experience.