A sole bunny ventures out on a 100k ride....
This bicycle event
(which I found out about from Bunny Tor), is organised by the Rotary club, and starts pretty much right on my doorstep. Sadly none of our other bunnies were able to attend..., but being so close and tempting, I decided to give it a go and see where it landed me:
The Ride Stats:
Meeting place: Mt Penang 7:15 am
(cold)
Start time: ~8:10 am
Finish time: ~1:30pm
Active cycling time: 5 hours 42 min
(including to and from event)
Total time: 6 hours 13 min
Calories burnt: 3723
Heart rate: 145
average 174
max
Speed: 18km/hour
average 53km/hour
max
I got to the event registration with time to spare and had my
BLUE number pinned to the back of my vest by a very helpful and encouraging volunteer. Everyone mad enough to sign up for the 100k ride wore blue numbers, while the slightly more sane riders sported a red number on their back.... I wandered around for a bit and watched other riders getting organised, there was an air of flurry and excitement - further enhanced because the PA system didn't arrive, and the organisers were forced to convey their instructions multiple times by moving about the crowd with a megaphone :) One happy bloke next to me summed up the barely audible instructions in one line:
Basically Don't fall of your bike and you'll be fine!...
Just after 8:00 am the 100k riders were ready to set off
(with the 40k riders due to follow at around 8:30); I'd placed myself
waaaaay back in the pack, where I was able to take in the view of the more serious riders up front, hustling and bustling for a good starting position. We coasted through the park-lands and turned right into Kangoo road from where the riders spread out as everyone settled into their own pace. I quickly became aware that most of the 100k riders were
men - and very, very few were riding anything other than skinny-wheeled road racing bikes...
Oh dear I thought, one in a million - here I come :D
Even though my first observations had me slightly worried
(sunset would arrive with me still out there pedalling to reach that elusive destination - with every other rider finished, packed up and off to enjoy a relaxing evening...), I soon discovered that although the fast and serious riders would have eaten me for breakfast, there were still lots of friendly riders
(who didn't bare their teeth at me) to tag along with; making it a very enjoyable ride all round :)
The Map...
The yellow stars on the map are my banana - snake stops :)
The flashing red lights...
Some of the riders sported a flashing back light; this is such an amazingly visible gadget! However, few beat the rider I seemed to be following for most of the ride: He had a
red helmet light, a
red light on the back of his jacket, and.... a
red light on the back of his bike - 3 red lights in a vertical line, encouraging me to pedal on... towards the end I was positively hallucinating over these 3 jumping lights, but very happy to have them in view :)
The clonking gears...
With about 65km to go, my gears started playing up - making it near impossible to get into top gear. Although annoying it didn't put a stop to the adventure - at the next drink stop a very helpful "mature" guy brought out his handy dandy multi-tool and loosened one of the derailleur screws:
"Just a half-turn should do it". It didn't quite fix the problem, though I was most thankful for his effort, and soon worked out a way of tricking the gears to shift: Juggle, juggle - get into 2 - 6, then: push and hold the left gear lever
(trying to get it into 3rd), while at the same time shifting into 7 on the right lever... Bit un-technical, but it worked!
The long and undulating road...
Having ridden most of these roads before
(being close to home et all), I knew it was a feast in undulation - the road travels up and down, up and down and back up again, in a steady variation of sorts. The scenery is beautiful
(even though it rained for a bit of the ride). The difference on this day was that there were over 500 other cyclists on the road and a bunch of happy volunteers
(braving the rain) with big waving hands showing us where to go.
The hills...
My "You can get up this hill" pep-talk started with the usual:
"Pass that next road marker... and then pass the next one 50 metres up.... and the next one 50 metres up... and then you've only got 3 more to go...." But nearing the end of 100km it was more like:
"Pass that tree (1 metre up) and now the next tree... (half a metre up) and..... the next bloody tree..." My muscles were positively screaming - but then somehow there was this exhilarating reward - once reaching the top of the hill, energy seemed to return and I felt like flying again :)
The volunteer treats...
There were a number of drink and food stops along the way - I stopped at the one at the top of
Peats Ridge road and again just passed the
Kulnura store. What a delight it was to roll up to a table laden with a big box of bananas, chocolate cake and...
SNAKES! One rider told me he'd worked out that he could go 5km on a snake - this is where I asked how far we had to go
(38km) and so I stuffed 8 snakes in my back pocket - it worked a treat!! The ever so positive and friendly volunteers also brought a smile to my face and definitely helped as a happy encouragement.
The finish...
The last leg of the ride was a detour down to
Somersby falls... I didn't stop to take in the scenery at the falls, but I did stop and chat to the lovely volunteer ladies at the bottom of the hill before braving the last hill of the day. They were kindly warning riders of the slippery road, and told me about the two guys who'd already decked it in the bend going way too fast on their
"really skinny wheels"... I psyched myself up with the last snake, grit my teeth, asked the lovely ladies to wish me luck and... worked my way to the top of the hill. After that I felt I was officially on the home run - watching the trip metre on the bike computer click over to
100km actually had me in tears! Seeing Bo and the kids past the finish line - welcoming me back, was very emotional indeed - I'd done it! And although I could barely walk, it was an exhilarating feeling!
Reaching the finish line :)
This is definitely a ride I will repeat and hope to entice you bunnies into coming along! :)
Safe and happy riding to all of you!
Annette :)
