Last minute decision to do the Karri Cup made the Sunday before meant preparation was to be less than perfect. Neither Chris or I had had a go at this one before. Add to that an illness on Thur, quick trip to Geelong for a friends celebration on Fri night (Some say it was for the Avalon airshow but I guess you will never know), Western Force home game Sat night (we lost). Things were not adding up to a Personal Best performance. Time constraints and a lack of accomodation options meant Chris and I had to drive down to Northcliffe for a 8am race start. 02:15 the alarm made itself heard and I was a Chris's place and loaded for a 03:05 departure. Yes we were both pretty tired when we arrived at the start at about 07:10. The common comment from me was "this is gonna hurt!" Chris was giving all sorts of encouraging coments like "how bad could it be" and "it's no Otway". Caught up with Scott and Dave from SPR who reminded us about the chicken. I volunteered to carry it as I was predicting a poor performance, and we noticed a few other familiar faces at the start line. I was feeling remarkably relaxed, no expectations I think.
Stage1
Started mid pack, and we probably went out a little harder than we should have (that would be my fault and I would pay the price). But we had a great run through the Round-Tuit single track. Across some paddocks a couple of grass hidden holes made for a little excitement particularly with the rain making for challenging visibility. A couple of water crossings at speed, and some more nice single track at the state track. Pushing on I made the mistake of leaving off eating until the 25km stop. Turns out the 25km stop was at 31km, and I was getting hungry. Caught up with Clarie at the stop who had decided to pull out and ride back, a little later on I would think that wouldn't have been a bad option.
Stage2
After 10min or so we headed out again, and it was cold! Didn't know we were supposed to cross the same timing mat on the way out to start the clock again. We had a chat to the timing guy at the finish who was nice enough to accept our Garmin info and deduct 10min for our stop. I was feeling it by now and was glad stage2 was a little easier going than Stage1. My quads were aching already and where I was setting the pace on Stage1 I was happily letting Chris do so on Stage2. Truth be known I think I was still setting the pace, but doing so by Chris waiting for me rather than keeping up. We had a Masters rider jump on the back for a while and we all had a bit of a giggle when I hit a fast corner a little quick, somehow managed to stay upright and ended up stopped 90degrees to the trail. When we neared the lunch break Chris picked up the pace a little to overtake a few riders ahead. As soon as I pushed on the pedals to go with him my left leg cramped up and straight away my right leg thought it would go out in sympathy. This was not good! Not even half way and cramps already......This is gonna hurt! Lunch stop was very welcome. The rain had abated and the catering was excellent. We saw John Greg and wondered how long he was stopped for lunch, maybe we weren't doing so badly......turns out he was stopped for an hour and Chris Fisher snuck out before him. about 25min or so and we were off before we got comfortable.
Stage3
The 50-75km section of a 100km race is always where I find it the toughest, and this one wasn't any different. We worked out the timing mat thing and I very steep short hill to start the stage thankfully wasn't a sign of things to come. We pedalled on fairly conservatively and I was getting in as much electolyte as I could and eating when I could to try and bring my legs back to me. So far this wasn't happening, but I was still out there.....so far managing to keep the cramps at bay. Very pleased to see the 3rd stop. A couple of pain killers, more to eat and away again.
Stage4
Stage4 was basically the reverse of Stage1 without the Round-Tuit single track. Another steep little climb to start, and into a brilliant long slight descent/flat through the forest that seemed to go on for ages. The climb back up the paddocks was a little torturous, but by this stage I had ingested enough electrolyte and gel to bung up a small elephant and the cramps were behaving themselves. I was able to push on a little harder, and we managed to pass quite a few riders. A few 50km (aka cheats!) went past but I was pretty pleased with how I was going after how bad it was feeling earlier. The finish line snuck up on us this time and Chris and I crossed together with a couple of squeaks from the chicken. Made it, now just the drive home to Perth......another 4hrs in the car just for laughs.
Well, that was a lot tougher than I expected, haven't cramped up BEFORE halfway before and I was pretty pleased I managed to keep them under control. I bike wash from the friendly local firefigters aat the first stop and a bit of chain lube at each stop kept the bikes running well. A couple of chain sucks were the worst we had which spells a great day really. My bike in fact got quieter as the day went on much to everyone's relief....there were a few comments about the squeak each pedal revolution I wasn't able to eliminate pre-race. We packed up and got going. shame we couldn't hang around to see Scott and Dave finish, but as it was we didn't get home till 8pm.......a very long day, but an enjoyable one. Thanks to Chris for dragging my sorry arse around that race, I let him go through the 2nd and 3rd timing points first as he would have been way further up if I wasn't holding him back. I had fun and I think I'll be back.....but I won't be doing a day trip again.
5hrs 54min
Pete Open 38/117 total 102/292
Chris Veteran 40/108 total 100/292
Very pleased with the results considering. I stuffed my entry up and entered as an Open. Oh well no harm done.
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