So anyway, after a bloody awful night's sleep (due mainly to nerves) my alarm woke me from a deep sleep at 3:20 am. I bounded out of bed, had half a bowl of porridge and by pure chance arrived at the start line at exactly the same time as my work mate (who was staying in the camping ground).
So off we went at 4:00 am for my first ever ACE 250. What a surreal experience to see huge bunches of cyclists riding off into the dark with (mandatory) reflective vests, lights blazing into the night sky.
Saw quite a few riders puncture within the first few kms. I wonder how many were tacked? Unbelievable. At one point the bunch scattered as shouts of alarm echoed down the line and then I saw an orange water bottle roll across the road...accompanied by the sounds of a light crash behind us. Oh man..what a way to start.
After that people's nerves began to settle and the pace dropped as we reached Harrietville. Some riders dropped into the Harrietville sports oval to top up their water. I stopped to eat and then we began the climb up Hotham in darkness. What a surreal experience. We had a full moon setting as the sun rose. Riding up the Meg in the dark was quite strange. Tiredness was starting to take its effect at this point and your brain starts thinking 'how an Earth am I going to get this done when I'm so sleepy?' Once the sun actually rises though your spirits lift and riding up CRB Hill in the fog and cresting Hotham at dawn on a bike...and then blasting through the empty Village is something I'll never forget. These photos don't do it justice (BTW I found Diamanta Hill much tougher than CRB Hill).
Quick stop into Dinner Plain and time to don a vest and toe warmers for the long descent to Omeo. It was a privilege to ride on such a beautiful road in such great weather with almost no one else around. The grass on the shoulder was full of spiders webs covered in dew..amazingly beautiful. The bunch really spread out on the descent. Weather was noticeablely colder south of the divide. Another food and water stop at Omeo and the cloud had burnt off and it was starting to warm up. I decided to take my Skratch Labs 'Hyper Hydration mix' at this point. For more information on this product read
this.
More cycling nirvana followed all the way to Anglers Rest. It really is a beautiful part of the world. Then onto Say What corner. Honestly I didn't think it was that hard, but then again I'm used to Mt Pleasant Rd/Hewitt's Rd/Old Eltham Rd. I rode about 1.5 km then decided to have a breather. Then I continued on to the first water stop about 2 km. Filled up with water, got some poured over my head and pulled out an old peach turnover from my back pocket. After one mouthful I then spat out the rest and dry retched and almost vomited.
Now this is when things got interesting.
For the rest of the ride my gut went nuts and I was trying to keep things down. I decided from this point on I'd rely on my drink for carbs (which is what should happen in hot weather situations anyway) and just use my lollies as I doubt I'd be able to stomach anything else. My HR was about 20 bpm lower than when climbing Hotham. I was grinding it out at 60 rpm struggling to keep 10 km/hr even when the gradient was less than 10%...which wasn't often. Everything you've heard about back of Falls is true, i.e
this).
At the Raspberry Hill water stop I chatted to the St Johns ambulance crew regarding the pros/cons about throwing up. I had the opportunity to take photos of the locals too.
Once I crested Raspberry Hill I rode hard to Falls Creek. Still had plenty in the legs but my gut wouldn't tolerate a high HR.
At Falls I bought some tonic water, sipped it slowly and then ate an orange slice and a bit of watermelon. When they stayed down I had more watermelon and a weak tea. I've ridden back from Falls in much worse shape (i.e. in 2014 when I ran out of water 5 km from the top and completely bonked), so I knew I could make it back. Had strong legs for the descent and the false flats around Bogong but still had time to admire the view.
Still reasonably strong heading back over Tawonga gap, was only 5 minutes off my 2015 time (when I did it as part of the 200 km course). Then a quick descent and smashing it back to Bright.
I had aimed for 11 hours rolling time and 12 hours finishing time. In the end it was 10:56 moving time and 13:38 overall. Disappointed to have taken a bit longer but also pleased to have finished it at all. I remember after pulling the pin on the 200 back in 2014 and watching riders smashing it home from the 250 thinking 'how on Earth can they ride a bike for 12 hours'? Well thanks to thousands of dollars spent on physio and thousands of hours spent doing rehab and rebuilding my posture I can now sit on the bike for long periods and not aggravate my neck and shoulders or suffer from lower back pain. My legs still had plenty left in them.
Back home...two chews of a piece of white bread were enough to have me hurling into the toilet. After that I felt much better and had a great steak at the Bright Pub.
Whether my gut problems were caused by
a) Bad reaction to the Skratch Hyper Hydration
b) Bad reaction to having 8 litres of normal Skratch drink
c) Peach turnover gone bad
remains to be seen. You do realise that your food/drink demands on very long rides are very different to short'n'sharp 100 km training ride. I had similar issues in the 200 last year and I thought the problem was having multiple Clif Bars, as subsequent rides have shown that these can create issues. But I guess there are still other factors at play.
At this point I have no desire to do another long distance endurance event. I want to do more MTB and single-track at this point. But we'll see what happens.
Amazing day, amazing event and great memories. I think I have cyclotaur to thank for her expert spray down the back of my neck on the back of Tawonga at about 4:40 pm.
Could, probably should, give the 200 a go as if not now, maybe never ! I have a good base to work off and hope to prepare well with some bigger/longer rides over the next 6-8 weeks, but will need to overcome some lower back issues plaguing me at the moment.
