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Twas the night before the big race and all through the night came the sounds of rain on the roof. Not good news for my second foray into the realms of Ironman. I had already been out there the day before in the rain setting out the track and new it was going to be tough. At that stage fun but tough. 92mm in a week though is going to make any track hard to ride for 4 hours straight by yourself.
Tried to prepare myself both mentally and physically. Ate the pasta the night before. Woke at 4am nerves building already. That wasn’t in the race plan but too late now. Up at 5.30 and into the porridge, bananas and dried fruits. Off to the track to help with sign on and set up. This is what I saw on getting there
Not sure if I had busted in on someones action but I could smell rubber burning.
Anyway got through sign on. 85 riders. Down on normal but the conditions would have put some of the people with higher estrogen levels off. Then off to sort out the scorers. We had five lovely young ladies helping us with scoring for the first time. Set them up, gave them the quick run down on the how too and then kitted up for my practice lap. By this stage everyone else had been gone on the practice lap for 15 minutes. Even the sweeps were out there.
This was what I came across
The big jump in front of the pits was a bit sticky
Hooking in trying get a gap. Down a couple more times and starting to tire. Not good on lap 1. Settled down and started to ride smoother. Bloody hell, the over 35’s had caught me (started 2 minutes behind) and I wasn’t even half way round. First one round me, hung with him for a while and felt good. Then Blue (my old partner and the owner of bike territory) was catching me. Let him round and he told me I was going well which I took to mean I was leading for sure.
By this stage I was having trouble with the bike. I only had my grips wired on and the wires had busted. This meant I had to grip tight to stop the wet grip slipping on the throttle tube. Time to man up. Then it felt like my clutch was having real slippage issue. Convinced myself that it was just lack of traction and kept going.
Lets just say I am now a firm believer in grip glue.
Lap two and into it again. The easy hill was looking horrid but somehow it seemed to be getting grippy. Still managed to put it down. Pick it up and go again. First signs of cramp setting in. A long day was ahead. The single trail was going to the pack. One long rough rut. No grip at all unless you were in it. My body was taking a pounding. There was one steep down hill in the single. By the end it was all I could do to sit on the bike and paddle down the rut. Lap 2 done and onto 3.
Up the easy hill unscathed, getting good grip. Still no signs of anyone but was getting caught by a few bikes in other classes and everyone was making me nervous. My clutch and grip issues were not going away. By this time I was convinced my clutch was on its way out but that $15 trophy at the end was still worth it. Got to the top of this hill
And there was a tight rock pinch you had to squeeze through. Went for the brakes to take the gap. No rear brakes. In my panic hit the front a bit hard. Down I went. Right into the rocks. It hurt, it hurt a lot. Back up, bikes coming, oh no this was it. No grip, my throttle grip had come off. Couldn’t see it anywhere. Just about to go without it and there it was, grabbed it and jammed it on. Off again, no one passed me, ribs a bit sore. Now down the hill with no rear brakes. Made it, rear brakes coming back. You beauty.
Into the pits for fuel (bike and body).
Not everybody can get there bike refueled personally by their sponsors. I can
Thanks Blue. Hooked into some carbs and out again. Found out during my pit stop I was 2nd. One of the blokes had made it up the hill after all.
Just some more general photos. Sorry for the long post, got a bit carried away with it all.
I only have photos taken from the pits. Unfortunately not too many from out on the track.
Nice report roy….looks like i missed out on a nice case of pneumonia
……and alot of fun in the mud
Bol :woohoo:Took over 4 hours to clean my bike and i havent finished. Virtually removed everything off the bike. The grass and mud were in everything, but the air cleaner was as clean as. I wish i didnt do the sighting lap cause that was just one more that i had to do. I don’t miss ironman roy. Pies at half time are much better. Must admit that 2 and half hours of that race were harder than any ironman race i have done previously. So i understand that that one must have hurt. I too boiled my bike almost every time i went up that hill. I made the mistake of having a go at the hard climb in the fist lap of the race after doing the middle one in sighting lap. That was a good waste of time.Great day!
Hate seeing my bike like that this is a bit better looks like someone owns it.(After the ride)Would have been a great add for MUC OFF maybe i will get it dirty like that again and see how much it cuts the clean up time.
Well done Roy. Looks a bit different to last year that’s for sure.
Can’t wait to get back out there.
Kram
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