Or as I renamed it, the Anaemia Epic. 2 days before the event I got the result of some bloods and found that I am anaemic, which goes some way to explaining my extreme fatigue. I know that work has been stupidly busy and I've been doing some pretty ridiculous hours and travel, but if anything these results have been the kick up the bum that I really needed. Firstly though, a run down of the Epic.
At registration I bumped into an old Albury mtb friend Jukka. After a brief catch-up Jukka ended up crashing in my spare room for the evening rather than his van. Lots of pre-race mountain bike and dog talk, with the only thing missing being his lovely mtb-ing wife Julie.
The start time and race location was just perfect for me - 11am just 1 minutes ride from my house. And guess who was last on the start line?...yep, me! I was really looking forward to the event simply to ride my bike, socialise and do a 50km mtb that I would not have otherwise done. The course was in the best condition it could ever have been, and although it would have been nice for the temp to be a couple of degrees warmer than 15 degrees, I couldn't complain - it was still nix and a jersey with underlayer.
I sat with Jo Lythgo for the first 10km until I started to drop on the climbs, then catch her on the descents. Eventually her climbing pace was beyond my ability to sustain, so I dropped back to my pace and enjoyed the ride. I ate and drank as I should do, chatted with other riders briefly, and enjoyed myself.
By the 35km mark my legs started to say 'no'. No cramping, just tiredness and breathlessness. With a greater understanding of my fatigue (anaemia) I was able to accept the level of fitness and strength I had, rather than berate myself for being so unfit. I started on the carbo shots and continued on these to the end which helped immensely.
With 9km to go I heard a rock hit the front rim - not a good noise when you're running a tube on the front. I monitored the front tyre and at the 7km mark I noted that it was slowly deflating and started to panic. With 6km to go I thought this through - I didn't want to stop and change a tube at such a late stage in my race unless I really had to. So the only thing to do was put in everything I had to try and get as close to the finish as possible before it went down too much to ride. I decided at this point that if I had to stop and pump it up enough to get me there I would, but I'd try and get as far as I could before this. So I passed two people who I'd been pacing, then passed another one in the last kilometre. The front was gripping very nicely in the corners! Though I had to take it easy in the rocky sections. I pushed with everything I had in that last kilometre and right to the end. The tube hung in there and so did my legs.
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| What was I laughing at? Beep wanting to join me on the podium - a few seconds later she did! |
3 hrs 13 minutes and I was done. I hung around chatting to friend, rode home on an almost flat front tyre, showered, ate and walked Beep back to the event for presentations. And in a huge surprise I was called up as 2nd Womens 40-50 age class! Did not expect that at all - all I did was ride!
A great day - thanks to Bendigo Mountain Bike Club for their time and effort - the volunteers for giving up their riding to make the event happen - and the sponsors for supporting the event. And to all the riders that were a great, patient bunch out on the course.
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| Enjoying myself at the GTE 2015 |
