BigMatt - The Blue Dot

Following on from the interesting Part 1 of an article by Dotwatcher.com about scratching from an Ultra and looking at how the prep and event may affect this as well as the feeling post scratch. It's a fascinating subject and anyone who has scratched for what ever reasons will have been through the post event analysis of the decision and trying to second guess yourself with hindsight. Here is Part 2 of the article. Enjoy.

https://dotwatcher.cc/feature/roundtable-scratching-from-ultra-distance-races-part-2

Roundtable: Scratching from Ultra Distance Races Part 2 – DotWatcher.cc Roundtable: Scratching from Ultra Distance Races. This two part roundtable aims to open up the dialogue on scratching, and debunk the negative stigma that it sometimes carries.

So it’s been two weeks since the Central Wheatbelt Ultra over in WA. It didn’t go as planned, but that’s sport for you. Sometimes you control everything you can control and something comes from left field and blind sides you.
That happened, I got sick on day 1 and scratched on day 2 with 433km in the bank.
But those 433km were amazing. It was very weird riding lots of roads I used to ride many times a week near my old home. In fact after putting the ride on Strava I was really pleased to find I rode my second fastest ever time up the Chittering Valley Road hill out of Bullsbrook on a fully loaded ultra race bike, this used to be one of my training rides.
But anyway this post isn’t about my race, maybe I will do that next week, I guess there is a bit to unpack and some real positives as well as a really cool bit and some great learnings. I made some great decisions under pressure too.

This post is about scratching from an ultra and how it often feels like a dirty word, finishing a race before the end and about how to deal with the feelings and logistics of a scratch. I found a great article from DotWatcher.cc which really resonated with me at this moment.

See below, it’s a good read.

Roundtable: Scratching from Ultra Distance Races - Part 1 – DotWatcher.cc Roundtable: Scratching from Ultra Distance Races. This two part roundtable aims to open up the dialogue on scratching, and debunk the negative stigma that it sometimes carries.

Around Another Bay 205km Audax (Permanent)

205km 1543m elevation in 8h 43m

Well this was a first for me, catching a ferry to the start of an Audax! So Cool. The ride itself is an anticlockwise loop around Western Port Bay, starting in Cowes on Phillip Island and finishing back where I caught the ferry from at Stony Point near Hastings on the Mornington Peninsular.

The ferry pulled up at the jetty at Cowes, it was a cool and overcast day but the forecast said no rain. Cowes looked like a nice little holiday town with plenty of cafe’s and places to eat and shop. But I didn’t have time for sightseeing as the start time was upon us and set straight off. Cruising out through the outskirts of the town heading for Ventnor, legs were feeling good and the bike felt dialled in.

I was soon out in the countryside and found undulating terrain through beautiful emerald green farmland, with hedgerows and stone walls in places and I was struck how much like England it is. I was soon heading into the wildlife conservation area that has Penguin Parade which is a tourist attraction showcasing the Little Penguin as Phillip Island is home to the largest colony of them in the world. Next the popular surf beaches of Shelley Beach and Cowrie Beach which even though it was pretty fresh were very busy with people indulging their hobby. Then finally the short climb up to the Nobbies Centre which is the home of the Antarctic Journey which promises a virtual journey through the Southern Ocean to Antartica covering conservation, climate resilience and what lives in those frigid waters. You can also view seals on the islands just west of the Nobbies Centre if you have some binoculars.

I retraced my path back past the surfers and saw lots of Cape Barren Geese with their distinctive bright green bill, they are big birds and one male bird decided I was a bit close to his mate and their goslings as I passed and flew straight at my head, I've been swooped by many magpies but never a goose!! Luckily it didn't bounce off my head as it pulled out of its ram raid but I had the thought that it was going to hurt when it hit.

I continued the twisting and turning loop of Phillip Island and was very impressed with it, I went near the Moto GP course but not close enough to see it. I was very taken with the island and would love to return nearer summer and stay for a weekend with my wife and the dogs. I was soon nearing Cape Woolamai and Newhaven and the bridge to leave the island to San Remo and the Bass Coast region.

The serious climbing started almost immediately as I headed to Kilcunda which had some great ocean views of the Bass Strait and after this the ride became a climbing fest, I headed in land through more lovely farming country and all the turns meant I kind of lost my bearings a bit and just followed the directions on my Garmin and got my head down and turned the pedals. This was a tough section but it was very beautiful visually. Eventually I hit Nyora which was the halfway point and stopped at the General Store to refill my bidons and grab some food as I was getting hungry. I got a message from my good friend Luke who is well known to Ultra fans as Beetlejuice, he had parked at the finish at Stony Point and was going to ride the course in reverse to me me.

More climbing followed and my world shrank to the patch of bitumen in front of my wheel and I don’t remember much until I had a fast long downhill somewhere near Lang Lang onto the plains heading to Koo Wee Rup. The scenery became a bit bland for a while and a couple of sections of highway didn’t help but I was covering the ground well after the slow pace through the hills. When I got to Koo Wee Rup I had a message from Luke letting me know where he was and I powered on, spurred on by the thought of seeing a friendly face.

Luke has been getting into powerlifting of late and hasn’t ridden much this year but he is still a powerhouse on a bike even if he isn’t up for big kms at present. I smashed out a further 20km through some intensive asparagus farming where the soil was incredibly dark and smelled very rich in nutrients. More boring kms and as I headed to a roundabout I saw Luke ahead grinning at me, a quick catch up and we were away again so we didn’t get cold. I took the front as I was the one riding the Audax and felt it wasn’t right if I took any benefit from having Luke ride with me. I must admit I was feeling tired at this point, 35km to go and the roads deteriorated and were surprisingly busy. There wasn’t much chance to ride side by side and chat through the busy lanes that gave the appearance of being rural but were full of acreage properties hence the traffic. The roads twisted and turned until I finally saw a sign for Cribb Point and knew I was only a few kms from the end. We turned through Cribb Point and cruised the final 3 km to the Stony Point ferry terminal and the end.

Final prep finished for the Central Wheatbelt Ultra in 2 weeks and some solid work in the legs. Once we’s packed up while chatting thoughts turned to dinner we had booked, a Japanese All You Can Eat buffet, but that’s another story. Let’s just say we had worked up and appetite.

*t

It's October already!

2023 has been a long year of focussed training and Audax randonneuring. I started at zero fitness after having 6 months with no exercise and quite major surgery. I have been used to carrying good fitness my whole life having been an avid sportsman, so this came very hard to me.

My year started on 1 January, no s**t I hear you say, but what I mean is that was the day I swung a leg over my bike to start my journey to return to fitness with a Functional Threshold Power test to set my baseline. It didn't go well. My lack of fitness and the anxiety I felt returning to strenuous exercise after a pretty serious health issue meant mentally I didn't push to the limit and I ended up pretty disappointed with the result and how I reacted to the effort.

But I persevered and set about dedicating myself to my training plan and structured some Audax rides into the year to supplement the training. It hasn't all been plain sailing but you get ups and downs in life that you have to learn to endure and overcome, that in a nutshell is the essence of ultra endurance. This actually turned into my most prolific season of Audax in the 3 years I have been riding them and my first qualification for some national awards. I have qualified for the Australian Super Series award, which requires you to ride 1,500 km minimum, comprising one ride each of the following distances: • 200 km • 300 km • 400 km • 600 km event and the rides must be completed within a single season and 3 of the 4 rides must be completed within Australia. The other award I have qualified for is the Audax Australia Annual award which recognises the cumulative total of Audax kilometres ridden in a single season. Award distances are as follows: • 1,000 km • 2,500 km • 5,000 km • 7,500 km • 10,000 km • 15,000 km, I qualified for the 2500km this year bearing in mind I have only ridden four events in each of the previous 2 seasons and accumulated less than 1000km of total km ridden.

Saturday is my final Audax of the season and sees me go over 3000km of randonneuring since early February, something I am really happy with and allowed me to really hone my bike set up and kit for ultra endurance racing. I’ll post about Saturdays ride at the weekend.

On Saturday 21 October my final event of the year starts over in Perth. The Central Wheatbelt Ultra is a 1020km ultra endurance race starting and finishing at Elizabeth Quay in Perth, WA. The race will travel in a large clockwise loop from Perth on mainly quiet roads during spring in the wheatbelt. The countryside will still be green and lush as the growing season comes to an end with the busy harvest period starting in mid-November. There is no support, no one can help us if anything goes wrong as per the Ultra Endurance Racing Rules. Drafting is not permitted either. The crazy fools who choose to ride will have a Dot on the MAProgress event page so you and other dot watchers, it's a thing and almost a sport in it's own right, can view where we all are. The link to dot watch is here:

https://centralwheatbelt2023.maprogress.com/

Personally this has been my main goal for the year, not to win or even trouble the front of the race but mostly to challenge myself, complete the challenge and see all my Ultra Crazy mates from the WA Ultra scene.

So don't go expecting me to be at the pointy end but I do intend to push myself and complete the ride as fast as I safely can, so I will be sleeping each night and taking care of myself out on the road while pushing long hours in the saddle.

Finally the photo is of my 2023 Focus Board in my pain cave where I do most of my training on my Wahoo trainer. I use this to steel my resolve to train when I am tired and show me my targets and achievements as well as some quotes that I use to motivate me, does anyone else do this?

*t

Hello Donna 200km BG Gravel Audax

205.34km 11h 48m 205.43km 2543m climbed

Needs must as they say. I had planned to ride the Mallee Routes 600km Audax this weekend, out in Hopetoun in far NW Victoria. That was until it was cancelled due to lack of entries, shame as the ride hub at the Bush Retreat looked sensational and the route would take in loads of silo artwork, which I am very partial to.

Anyway my only real local option was the Hello Donna 200km gravel Audax out from Kew in Melbourne and up the back of Donna and down the front. That’s Mount Donna Buang, a 1250m mountain out near Warburton, not too far from home. The back route is a closed gravel climb some 25km in length and climbing 1100m in those 25km!

Not really ideal BigMatt territory or something I was going to enjoy but great training for bigger fish. So I was in Kew at 6.30am on Saturday 23 September ready to go at the 7am start.

The route took us on some of the busy urban trails and cycleways out through Ringwood, Croydon almost to Lilydale which included a Park Run before an ascent up Birmingham Rd to Mount Evelyn. The whole route was very up and down but Birmingham Rd was bloody steep and got the heart pumping. A quick stop in Mount Evelyn to eat, drink and a nature break.

Next was the Warburton Rail Trail, I’d ridden this a few months ago and I knew it was beautiful groomed gravel passing through lots of little country villages with cafes and shops. I just got aero and found my rhythm and let my legs churn away. I deliberately came into this event fatigued to simulate multiple days riding and had done a killer 90 minute session on Zwift the day before and I could feel it in my legs.

It was a glorious day and even though I knew it was going to hurt I was having fun. The views in the valley were stunning but my eyes kept getting drawn to the hills, wondering which was Donna.

At Launching Place I left the rail trail and swung onto Don Rd, shortly after my Garmin pinged and told me the climb was about to start. Great! 18km and 880m of climbing.

Don Rd was pretty and after a few km the bitumen finished and it was on to the gravel, the gradient went up and seemed to hold between 5 and 8%, with some 10 to 14% kickers. Manageable but attritional. After 11km the route swung a right onto the closed Donna Buang Rd, it’s been shut and locked behind gates for a few years. I am not sure why, possibly the condition and danger from landslides and falling trees. Bikes can get through and do. The initial part is old crumbling bitumen that is covered in storm detritus but my gravel tyres just rolled over it, eventually the bitumen runs out and the gravel climb begins. It’s rough a rock and branch strewn but perfectly rideable even if it’s harder work than it could be.

I ground away, pleased I’d swapped to a smaller chain ring on my Curve GXR Ti that I call Marilyn. I stopped a couple of times to eat or take photos but mainly just ground away at 8 to 10 kph, as expected I was deep in the hurt locker. The view of the valley below from the hang glider launch pad is sensational but you won’t hear of me chucking myself off there anytime soon!

Just as I was over the climbing my Garmin pinged and said climb complete, 2h 25m. Hmmmm so where is the summit and the lookout tower? A short downhill of a km and my Garmin pinged again, climb about to start 6km and 260m, my heart sank and I may have muttered a few profanities.

So I settled back into the climb, again 5 to 8% with a few 10+% kickers. Eventually I rounded the corner on the Summit Rd and saw the car park and lookout tower, it was worth the effort, I think! I spent 15 minutes up there eating, drinking and taking photos. I even climbed the tower to see the view, not easy in cycle shoes with sore legs.

I finally pushed off for the 19km descent to Warburton, it was fast, scenic and bloody freezing and my hands were like ice at the bottom and I was shivering. My arms were pumped up from the braking for the tight corners and I had a bit of fun with a guy on a motorbike who couldn’t pass me such was my sp*ed. I don’t have fear on descents and trust myself to read the apex vanishing point and hang my knee out into corners to get the weight distribution right and the bike planted on the bends. Those years of riding my Fireblade taught me a thing or two racing my mate Johnny 5 up and down French mountains lol.

In Warburton I stopped at the servo grabbed and demolished some food and refilled my bottles and chugged a Gatorade for the electrolytes as I was starting to get cramps behind my knees when climbing. Then picked up the rail trail again and once at Launching Place retraced my route back up to Mount Evelyn, the legs were complaining but still compliant.

After a short fast descent into Monbulk I got a bit of a surprise, a couple of 1000m long, steep climbs up hills with 15 to 20% gradients, that was not fun and not something I had expected.

Finally the route turned to pick up the Dandenong Creek Trail and head for Melbourne. Still 30km to go and it was almost 5pm, it was going to be dark when I finished. I hadn’t thought that would happen but the trusty dynamo kLite was going to be used to turn night into day.

The urban trails to get back to the start were good but slow as they are full of dog walkers and families enjoying the beautiful weather, I always ride courteously and slow down letting people know I am approaching and saying thank you when I pass, I got lots of smiles and thanks which was lovely. Gardeners Creek Trail followed the creek and weaved through urban Melbourne heading into the city but also had a habit of just ending at roads that needed to be navigated or even sections of joining the traffic before rejoining the trail which was frustrating and very slow, I just wanted to be finished now.

Finally I neared the end but the ride had one more sting in the tail. The route took us over Victoria Rd Bridge, however the bridge and cycle path is shut, we were told this at the briefing, but I don’t know Melbourne very well and have never ridden the urban bike trails so a 45 minute frustrating detour happened as I had to keep checking Google maps to see where I could go to cross the river and ride to the finish. If I was the organiser I would have updated the gps route file for the ride to give non-locals a fighting chance at the end of a long gruelling ride. It’s not the end of the world but it created unnecessary stress and anxiety when all I wanted to do was finish.

Anyway I found my way back to the finish and my car, job done. I was really tired as expected but the training value was huge, I even enjoyed most of it and the weather was terrific. Then I managed to delete the ride file instead of saving it on my new Garmin, so lost the lot! I knew the times and grabbed the route and elevation stuff from another riders Strava, thanks David and thanks for the company for the kms we shared at various points.

Thanks again to the organiser and the weather gods, I know I complained about the detour but I was tired and frustrated by it, it’s not the end of the world and apart from that I had a fantastic day, thanks.

*t

Portsea Express 200 BRM Audax

Saturday 2 September 2023

Spring officially started on the 1st, the weather was gradually improving and a few flowers have been poking their heads out over the past couple of weeks. It’s been a long winter of randonneuring and at times at night when it was freezing I wondered why I was doing it. So when the weather promised 17 degrees and barely any wind I hoped the forecast was right.

The rule of events/races is don’t test new stuff in your kit or equipment on event day. So I decided to change shoes, pedals, saddle and new shorts as well as first use of a new Garmin computer that arrived the day before after my trusty Edge 1030 s**t itself! Well my reasoning was it was only a 200 and it was my last ‘training’ event before a final 600km Audax of the season in three weeks and then the 1050km Central Wheatbelt Ultra (or Cornflake Classic as it’s been nicknamed) starting over in Perth next month and then I take a break after 10 full months of training and regular racing. Time for some summer bikepacking! So I was trying a few things out to see what worked, and what I liked before final choices for the Ultra. No expectations just some solid training kms and data gathering.

The start was at Port Melbourne Station Pier, a bright morning greeted the brave souls riding the event and 7 degrees at 7am. The flag dropped and we were off, joining the Saturday masses out on Beach Road along the bay for their Saturday group rides. I felt tired as I was in a heavy training load block but the legs felt strong. So I settled into a nice pace around 30kph along with a couple of other riders and surfed various group rides along the rollers through St Kilda and Brighton, with the staccato rhythm created by the myriad of traffic lights.

After 47km we hit the first checkpoint in Frankston in 1h 30 minutes, there was a bit of a tailwind to assist, but that is still fast for a 200km Audax, my quads were a bit sore and I also thought I had pushed too hard on the ups on all the rollers, but part of my current training is to recover under pressure and to be honest a 200 is a short event these days so if the wheels fell off later I knew it would hurt but I would grovel home to the finish.

Anyway the sun was out, and the views of the beaches and the water of Port Phillip Bay were intoxicating with the promise of a summer round the corner, so I kept the pressure on the pedals and held the effort in the hurt locker. The climb up Mount Eliza was as fun as ever, as all who ride with me know I love climbing! Then the drag downhill and into Mornington, I left the other two here to stop for a nature break.

I was soon rolling south again, out of Mornington and into the climb up Mount Martha, the road is narrow and has bush on either side and I always find it tough and a bit claustrophobic, then the breakneck descent into Safety Beach and the tunnel under the canal entry to the harbour and on through the strips of shop fronts through the beach holiday towns of Dromana and Rosebud in the shadow of Arthur’s Seat, no turn to ride the climb in this event for the spectacular views from the top of the Eagle cable car.

I powered on through Ham on Rye, it’s actually called Rye but as a Terry Pratchett fan I refuse to call it anything but Ham on Rye as a nod to Discworld and on to the millionaire’s playground of Sorrento and finally across the rollers to the turn at Portsea at the entrance to the Point Nepean NP at 10:53. I knew I was 3km behind 1st place as we passed each other and retraced my course back to Sorrento. John who was in 3rd place and I waved at each other as we crossed and I knew I was 6km ahead of him. I was a bit surprised as I had ridden with him to Mornington and he was strong and when I stopped to p*e he kept going and I hadn’t passed him on the road, so he must have stopped at some point too.

Back to Safety Beach and instead of the usual climb on the narrow twisty road up Mount Martha and the angry motorists the course took us inland and up the back of Mount Martha on the Nepean Hwy. it’s not any easier but there is less abuse from drivers so that’s a good result. A quick drop into Mornington and up the back of Mount Eliza which is much easier than the climb on the way out. Then a beautiful descent with stunning views of the bay down into Frankston and the final checkpoint.

I stopped for another p*e and was straight back on the road. The final 50km is flat for the first half through Carrum, Aspendale and Mordialloc then lumpy for final push through Beaumaris, Black Rock, Sandringham, Brighton and St Kilda but it was a stunning afternoon and while my legs were hurting the end was in sight and I had really enjoyed the relative warmth compared to the last 3 months of racing. I rolled in to the finish at Station Pier in Port Melbourne and hit stop on my computer.

I looked blankly at the screen digesting the numbers. I had just ridden a personal best for a 200 by 8 minutes on a course with over 1000m of climbing more than the course I set my previous best on! The screen also showed I had only been stationary for 15 minutes over the whole ride and traffic lights must have contributed for half of that.

I was pretty happy as I rode back to the car and a little surprised too. A good day out.

What did I learn:
• I need to set up my new Garmin properly, but the battery lasts much longer and the solar recharge as you ride is impressive.
• The new shorts felt good
• My road shoes are still very comfortable but not the go to for longer rides as the walking at stops is not good, so back to the spd’s and MTB shoes for the 600 and Ultra.
• The new saddle felt good but needed a tweak as I hadn’t adjusted it properly but the shape was really comfortable.

200km in 7h 45m (8h 01m elapsed time) with 1204m climbed and an average sp*ed of 25.6kph.

*t

Castlemainia 150 Gravel (?) Audax

I thought I’d mix my training up by entering a gravel Audax called Castlemania out in Castlemaine in the Victorian Goldfields, you know, what could go wrong?

As a cyclist you have a couple of target races for the year, these are known as A races, mine are completing the Temora 600km Audax ☑️ and the Central Wheatbelt Ultra in October in Western Australia, maybe a season target, in my case completing an Audax Australia Super Series which is completing a 200, 300, 400 and 600km BRM event in one season ☑️ then there are B, C, D and even E races on a sliding scale of importance. This event was very much a D or an E event for me, basically training and getting quality km in the legs.

Castlemaine is lovely and has some amazing buildings and architecture which highlights the wealth and prosperity the gold rush of the 1850s brought to the area. I woke early to the sound of heavy rain drumming on the roof of the motel, that wasn’t good, I lay there for an hour hoping that it would stop soon and at 5 am gave up on sleep and busied myself making breakfast and coffee whilst slowly getting ready. At 7am it was still raining and the temperature was 5 degrees. I made my kit choices and I packed up my stuff into the car. A short drive to the start and I got my bike out, my weapon of choice was my Curve GXR Ti, it’s a capable gravel bike running 700c x 43mm Panaracer GravelKing SKs.

It was a bit of a chaotic start, the number of riders milling around made it difficult to know what was happening and as a rookie I felt a bit out of my depth. What did concern me was all the locals were on mountain bikes, oh well too late to do anything about that now. I got going and immediately went wrong and lost the front group, up a couple of steep climbs out of town and into the Castlemaine Diggings historic area, as in gold digging area from the 1850 to 60s. I just made the back of the front group and was sweating like a race horse when my right shifter stopped working, I could only shift up the cassette into my easy gears, no drama it was full dirt climb mode for the first 7 or 8km. My gears are SRAM AXS electronic so I already knew the issue was the coin battery in the right shifter as my left shifter worked and so did the derailleur. All good, keep climbing and pull over at the top and change the battery, I had spares and tools to complete the job. At the top I quickly changed the CR2025 battery, took my jacket off as I was overheating, grabbed a snack and set off on my own, any thoughts of group riding gone as I was over 5 minutes behind, oh well it’s only a training ride. The downhills were tough and I already knew I was under biked. This was not gravel, it was mountain bike trails that were rough and strewn with rock and washouts. This was not going to be an easy day. I considered calling it and heading home but figured as I had driven the two hours over and stayed in a motel I really should make it worthwhile. I tried to bury my frustration at bringing the wrong bike, but without any knowledge of the course I just accepted it was a Gravel Audax not a Dirt Audax and chose my bike accordingly, it reminded me of riding the Canberra Centenary Trail with Pip 18 months ago, I rode my gravel bike and the trail turned out to be a goat track at best, not fun and having to lift Pip’s pedal-assist e-bike over 5 foot locked gates, oh that was fun lol! I have had wrist fusions on both my wrists in the last 5 years through injuries from my rugby and gridiron days, so rough terrain without suspension is really quite painful for me.

I eventually cleared the Diggings site and then headed into farmland and onto farm tracks, these were a bit smoother but very wet and my poor bike was already covered in dirt and grit and my drive train and brakes were grinding away. There were bits that were so wet and boggy that your front wheel would go in up to the axle, so there were sections that involved hike a bike and wet and muddy feet. At least the rain had stopped. The 150 course then swung off into some more mountain bike trails out near Strathfieldsaye and this was the 20km section that finally broke me. It was steep up and down but so rough it was really difficult to ride, massive effort to get up the climbs and then picking a path down slow descents. I was not having fun. I checked the course on my phone and saw that in 2 hours my phone had gone from fully charged to 1% battery, that wasn’t good, should have checked my old phone before deciding to use it. I had the course on my Garmin GPS bike computer so that wasn’t an issue but turned the phone off as I may need it to make an emergency call should something go badly wrong. At this point I had decided to bail and when I finished this rough section on the mountain bike trails to make for Castlemaine. Not having a phone I could rely on and the wear and tear my bike and I were experiencing on the course meant the smart decision was to bail out now and find a route back to Castlemaine.

So when I popped out of the trails onto a dirt road at 60 something km I headed back south. I was still on part of the return course from Strathfieldsaye but would eventually get to some paved roads. It was more of the same for the next 30km rough trails, wet and boggy farm tracks and a ford across a stream at the bottom of a steep down hill. I approached it with my usual ‘send it’ mentality and was going way too fast when I spotted the first half of the ford was deep and paved with rough cobbles before the smooth concrete section, I hit the ford relaxed my grip on the bars to help the bike find a path and then my front wheel hits a raised cobble stone, my front wheel violently goes sharp right, I sail up in the air and over with the bike attached to my feet still and land on my left shoulder, elbow, hip and knee and slide across the cobbles onto the concrete in foot deep water. Kit in one piece, me bruised swollen and bark off on all contact points. I may have let out a few choice words at this point. I retrieved some of my gear that escaped from my top tube bag and started floating off down stream and dragged my bike out of the water, no real damage to the bike thankfully. I checked myself over and was feeling pretty cold, wet and very sore. Oh and a bit sorry for myself. Anyway I got doing again and found the boggiest section just round the corner so was now covered in mud and smelt like a bog, mentally I was done, but I stopped to eat and make a plan. Recognising the only way out of a situation is to carry on is a skill in itself, you can’t just give up, so I summoned up some energy and determination and pressed on. It would have been nice to put some music on or an audio book to take my mind off how I was feeling but as my phone was flat I couldn’t do that.

Eventually I hit a paved road and worked out a route back to the start and set off. I was already feeling better as all my training is for long road rides, not the peak and trough power riding of mountain biking, so was already back in my element. I plodded the 40km back to Castlemaine but had one more treat in store for myself as the route back had a huge climb in it near Faraday past Mount Alexander, not happy Janet! However the down hill after was good, then I picked up a bike trail from Chewton through to Castlemaine and got back to the start and my car. I changed out of my wet and filthy kit, patched up the cuts and abrasions and ate some food and packed my poor filthy bike into the car. I was a bit banged up but nothing I haven’t dealt with before. After chatting with the organiser about bikepacking equipment and not sharing my thoughts on the trail I hit the road for home. I rang Pip to let her know I was ok as she couldn’t get hold of me all day as I had to switch my phone off and got the good news that she was making a cottage pie for tea when I got home.

Oh well I got some hard km in the legs, it was only a training ride after all. Some days you’re the hammer, some days you’re the nail. On Saturday I was definitely the nail. 🤷🏼‍♂️ What can you do but smile and chalk it up to experience, it was quite a humbling experience though.

The ride by the numbers 113km, 1631m of elevation and another 6h 46m of tough riding in the legs.

What did I learn from the ride, a gravel ride doesn’t necessarily constitute what I consider gravel. Maybe research the route better and take the right bike or just go conservative on bike choice. Had I taken my Muru Witjira with the 29+ wheels I would have smashed this ride. Don’t take an old phone on a remote ride that has sat in a drawer for a year without testing the battery life just to protect your new phone from damage. I should probably insert a note about being more cautious and not just sending it but that isn’t going to happen if I am honest. Gravel/MTB rides do not play to my strength of consistent power output over many hours/days, the constant changes in power output from Zone 1 to Zone 6 is not something I train for and maybe I should add some more intervals into my training but my A races are basically managing sustained Zone 2 efforts over ultra endurance distances. I really like Castlemaine and want to go back.

It’s all a learning curve. Let’s hope my next event in early September is less eventful than my last two!

*t