Epic Camp Oz 05

The final day involved us riding from Jindabyne to Canberra to catch a flight to Sydney. It was a no points day so the idea was to try to keep together and "play nice". I was really looking forward to this ride because it seemed like ages since I had done a long ride and I was starting to feel stronger again. Plus I felt a little underdone after DNFing the duathlon yesterday.

We had some time constraints on this ride because we had to get the bikes loaded on the trailer in Canberra at 1:30pm so they could be driven to Sydney. There was an interim cut-off of 10am at Bredbo, 100km into the ride. If you hadn't made Bredbo, which was also the lunch spot by 10am you would have to get in the van. Even though there were no points today, getting in the van was still "getting in the van". No problem I thought, as I felt good and ready to go at 6am when we set off. Little did I know....

The mechanic checked my tyre for any clues as to what might have caused my flats yesterday but couldn't find anything. You can see where this is heading. 4km into the ride my back wheel pops out and I get a flat tyre. Bummer. I told Scott and Gordo to carry on and I'll ride solo if I can sort out the tyre. They said to ring the support crew and get Mechanic to sort me out as they were only up the road (albeit very busy packing up). Through various communication stuff ups Darren, the Mechanic, didn't get to me for another 40 minutes. I was starting to get nervous about making the cut-off at the 100km mark at Bredbo. Darren went over the tyre several times and eventually found a little sliver of glass. So I was on my way at 7am, about 55 minutes behind the group. Could I make the cut-off?

I decided to ride like it was an Ironman race so I knuckled down and got stuck into the hills leaving Jindabyne. I was feeling pretty strong but I didn't know how long it would last if I kept this pace up. Once over the hills I made good time to Berridale then Cooma where I cam across Greg who had also flatted. I apologised and said that I was on a mission so try to hang on. I felt a little guilty when I dropped him on the next hill but Greg was clearly struggling and I didn't think he would make the cut-off.

As it turned out I made Bredbo at 10:05am but instead of having the fist fight I had imagined with the support crew as they wrestled me kicking and screaming into the van, Peter, the head support guy was in his cycle gear ready to help pull me to Canberra! If yoiu have read Day 1 you know that he is strong on the bike and is also racing in my age group in New Zealand so this could be interesting, I thought. He actually managed me really well. Just keeping me on the edge! I don't know if he intended it but he has done a good job of psyching me out for IMNZ but if he walks on the run for even one second....

Speaking to Bjorn later he pointed out that if you are not used to riding on someone's wheel it can be very tiring as you are constantly putting in little power surges to 'manage' the gap. Peter rode within himself and the distance to Canberra was slowly but surely coming down. I was looking forward to the end as we searched for the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) where we were going to have our showers and recuperate before the flight. Surprise surprise it was located on the top of one last long rise.

So 193km today with a riding time of 6:06. Very pleasing. I couldn't help notice that my riding time to 180km was 5:44. I rode 100km solo then had Peter's help for the remainder and we made our destination in time to load my bike on the trailer.

So, back in Sydney we will have a final celebration dinner (in 10 minutes) then home for me. Most others are leaving on flights tomorrow or Sunday.

Stay tuned for thw wrap up and any reports of people falling asleep in their pasta tonight.