[This post has taken me ages because I have been trying to get on top of the technology to put in lovely graphs and maps and photos ... I am learning]
I had been planning to do this event for months, but I didn't manage to do much specific training for it. I was not too worried as I knew I could do it, but I was not sure how to pace myself or how much exactly it would hurt.
The race was part of a lovely weekend down at the South Coast. I rented a house at Broulee on the headland and it was so nice. Tom and I stayed there on Friday night and Bronwyn, Lina and John joined us on Saturday. We had a fantastic feast for dinner and after packing ridiculous amounts of food and fiddling with our bikes we had a pretty early night.
The start was at 7AM in Mogo and we 4 started together right at the back of the bunch. It was a cold morning and I had on arm warmers and full leggings over my knicks. The first 5 or so k were on bitumen and it was really fun whizzing along on the road in a big peloton of mtbs. Soon we got to the dirt and the comical sight of people walking on the first hill! I had some "mechanical" problems to start with, which turned out to be just the noise of my very solid home-made powerbars rattling against my bike in my bento box. Once I figured out this mystery problem I had been separated from the others and settled in to ride my own steady pace for the day.
I felt really good in the first 30 kilometres. The hills were easy and my newly fitted disc brakes felt great. There was some really lovely singletrack and fun bits. At about 35k I met up with Libby and we rode together chatting which was nice. Libby was putting in a good pace on the fire-trail and could go much faster than me especially on the descents, and then I took the lead on the single track. We reached the 50k half way point back in Mogo in about 3hours 10 mins and I was pleased with that. We both stopped and had a quick toilet and food break. I had not drunk much of the water in my CamelBak which I had should have worried about and I also did not bother to fill it up - stupid!
As we rode away I said to Libby that it was really nice to ride together but she should not wait for me, and so that was the last I saw of her. Shortly after that I stopped to make a phone call and also to SMS Tom. This either amused or concerned those around me.
At about 60k one of the marshalls said: "You are the 7th girl." For a moment I wished she had not said that because I felt pressure to keep up my pace. But then I figured that was stupid - for all I knew there were only 7 girls in the race and I was last, so it hardly mattered.
Shortly after passing the 75k aid station and not stopping I ran out of water (stupid!) and started feeling pretty flat. I told myself I would be okay with the half bidon of sports drink I had left, but that was delusional - I would have been cactus. Very fortunately I remembered there was another aid station at 8ok. I got there at 1pm (6 hours riding) and I filled up my CamelBak and guzzled a Lucosade, fruitbread and some lollies. After that I felt heaps better and sent Tom another SMS saying I was feeling good and would probably be another 1.5 hours to the finish.
Just past the 85k marker I suddenly got a painful cramp along the inside of my right thigh. A few seconds later my left leg cramped up too. Uh-oh. Riding with cramping legs was pretty tricky. Specifically pedalling was a problem. At one point I fell off my bike and could not get up and another time I went to throw my leg over and it seized up and I kicked a tree. Fortunately at 89k there was a really sweet single track section that flowed downhill so I did not have to pedal and it put a big smile on my face. It was so fun I was almost tempted to ride it again.
Once I was inside of 10k to go I didn't worry too much about the pain and just rode as fast as I could without cramping, which was extremely slow. It was a good feeling to return to the Mogo oval and cruise across the finish line. I finished in 7 hours 20 mins. The Garmin said it was 96k which was slightly disappointing, but close enough. I was 7th women out of about 20. The fastest guy finished in 4 hours 20 mins - just amazing.
Bronwyn and Lina finished with big smiles - yay! And Libby got 2nd in the Open women category and 4th overall - nice. I scored a lucky prize of a new Netti jersey which I earned by having worn no less than 5 separate items of Netti gear on the day (knicks, longs, jersey, armwarmers and headband) - not on purpose either. Afterwards Bronwyn drove me back to Canberra and I was so tired and hungry I got takeaway for dinner and just crashed into bed. I was pretty tired and sore for most of the week after.
I really enjoyed this event and can't wait to do another 100k mtb. I think next time I could go faster. My main limiter is my skills rather than fitness. I am embarrassingly slow on the descents. I was also STUPID about my hydration and probably did not have enough salt either, hence the cramping. I am not sure why I thought I did not really have to worry about it, as its a long event. Next time I will pay more attention to that.
