Photos from BTS Caloundra Ride 14/05/11
I think the previous weeks events at the half ironman caught up with me. I started the week feeling unmotivated, tired and generally over the whole training thing. I have to say this is probably the lowest point of my 20 weeks training to date. I just wanted the next 4 weeks to be over. To make matters worse work has been really busy.
I started to feel like I was coming down with a cold and left work on Monday night with a headache. I was in no frame of mind to do my 30 minute run. My feet were hurting and it was really cold. I also pulled the pin on my 2 hour run on Tuesday morning mentally I just couldn't do it. I was feeling guilty about skipping 2 training sessions in a row but I reminded myself I had done 90% of sessions to date. I also missed my Tuesday night swim.
Brett said to me you have only got 4 weeks left just push through.
I turned up to the squad ride on Wednesday morning in a slightly better state of mind. Mark asked how my long run had gone on Tuesday morning and I had to confess about my training meltdown. Despite feeling a bit more positive I had a shocker of a ride. We went up quite a steep street somewhere in Fig Tree Pocket. I was in the wrong gear I couldn't get unclipped in time or change down and came off. Lucky I only took a bit of skin off my knuckle no other harm done. After this mishap my thoughts turned to the 190km Brisbane to Caloundra ride on Saturday. I said to coach Mark are there any hills as steep as this? Do I need to get in the support car now? My mind started running overtime, I had been more scared of this ride than the Challenge Race Day. Was I going to make it. I didn't want to be the first BTS person unable to complete the ride. With this woeful display things weren't looking good!!
Finally Saturday morning arrived and it was time to start the much feared 190km ride. My GCTS buddy Berlinda who is also racing the full at Cairns caught a lift to the start with us. The main squad rode as far as Mt Mee with us. Pretty early on people were zooming past me however I realised that I had 120kms more than most people in the squad to ride so I needed to just take it easy. Berlinda and I kept each other company and chatted away. The ride up Mt Mee was quite nice. Once we hit the top of Mt Mee there was quite a bit of wind around, which made some of the rolling hills interesting as we were descending into a cross wind. I was hanging to my bike on occasions as I was being blown all over the place. Before too long we rolled into our first stop just outside Woodford. Our wonderful support crew Sarah H, Alicia and Brett were there armed with home baked muffins, chocolate cake and banana bread. How spoilt were we. They fed and watered us then sent us on our way. Coach Mark warned there were a couple of climbs heading our way between Woodford and Landsborough. Not long after turning off the Woodford road Berlinda got a flat. We had a couple of goes with gas canisters but soon we were on our way. The first real climb was about 10% gradient. It was fine. This stretch of the road is lovely and pretty soon we could see views of the Glasshouse Mountains and the coast, just gorgeous. At last we rode into Landsborough. Brett was waiting for us with supplies. I was a bit worried about the climb up the hill from Landsborough to Maleny. Brett said just peddle you will be fine. The climb was long and slow. In total about 5kms of climbing. Whilst I never felt like I had to get it off it was just a constant grind up the hill. I felt sorry for a Japanese man on a touring bike with fully laden panniers. I reckon it must have taken him about 3 hours to ride up as he seemed to be stopping every 500mtrs. I called out a cheery hello as I rolled past.
Just before Maleny we turned off on the road to Montville. Whilst my parents live in this area when you are driving you don't take as much notice of the roads. We hit the first of 3, 10-12% gradient hills. Let me tell you these are not nice with close to 120kms of riding in your legs, but we pushed through before long our lovely support crew were there to meet us in Montville and then we only had other 10kms of hills before our decent down the range at Mapelton.
I am not very good on descents and I was so scared coming down the first part of the decent. The road is steep and full of pot holes. I was hanging on trying to keep my bike under control. On the last part of the decent I let it get away from me, my arms were fatigued and my bike started to get the speed wobbles ( my garmin clocked me doing close 70kms per hour on this part( I check this after I downloaded it at home). My mind was panicking and had visions of myself skidding along the ground. I was yelling at myself to calm down and keep it together. I remembered to hug the top tube with my knees to gain some stability. For once cars were considerate, I think they could sense my state of panic as I turned behind to see a row of 8 cars waiting patiently behind me and not one person had beeped!
The last 30 mins of the ride between Nambour and Caloundra seem to drag on but finally we made it. Not a world record but we completed the ride in about 8hrs 30mins ride time. I was lucky to have Berlinda along the way for company. We chatted and the day went so quickly. We had a 30 min run straight off the bike. Whilst I felt pretty crappy to begin after about 5 minutes I was into a nice running rhythm and think I will be ok for the run at Cairns once I get out there. It was so nice to run along the water at Caloundra. There were 7 of who had rode that day and we all had pizza for dinner and a few well earned treats of ice cream and chocolate pudding ( care of Kristen) and recounted of stories from the day of riding. It was a huge mental boost to get through the day and it has given me the confidence to know that I will get through Cairns as the ride is unlikely to be as challenging. I am lucky to have such a great group of people to train with as we supported each other through the challenge of the weekend, it was great to see the sense of achievement on every ones faces as they finished the ride.
We had the unpleasant task of riding back to Brisbane, this time the flat way on Sunday morning. Another 85kms on the bike was the last thing we felt like. I couldn't get comfortable and even the smallest hills felt like 10% climbs. I think my butt will need at least a week to recover from the 280kms of riding I have done this weekend.
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