Stephen's 'Hot & Hilly' weekend race

STRATFORD TO DARGO- A DAY OF HEAT AND HILL TOP FINISHES

Last Saturday saw the running of the annual CV/Wellington Cycling Club Stratford to Dargo KOM. Kosdown was represented by two mountain goats, Jason Laird and myself. Jason was in hot contention for the MAS2 win and I was hoping for a result near the pointy end of B grade.

Stephen staying cool in the shade, note the arm tan lines!

The S-Works was all tuned up thanks to Bike N Bean and it was feeling barely legal weight wise. It started as a foggy morning and the predicted 30 degree day didn’t look like it was going to eventuate…. Assumptions are the mother of all @#$% ups.. A and B grades went off together, when your working against (or with) the likes of some NRS talent such as Jason Spencer and Rowen Dever you have to be on the ball. After an assessment of the field I had a good feeling I could stick it to most of these guys up the final 15km climb (average gradient of 8%). Early on four B grade and two A grade riders got away. I decided to stick with the big boys back in the main group as I knew they wouldn’t blow there chances by letting the escapees get too far up the road…

The race had two feed zones, one at halfway and the one at the bottom of the main climb 15km from the finish. These were primarily going to be for extra fluids because of the predicted high temperatures. Right before the first feed zone was the first major climb. About 8km long at about 5%. It was enough to drop a few off the back and see who was willing to push the pace at the front. I was happy to be up near the front feeling fine and retrospectively can barely remember a hill at all.

By the time we went through the first feed zone I was near out of water and only picked up a small bidon. Hmmmm 50km to go with stuff all water… I went into conservation mode when I began to feel the salt crusting up over my face and my mouth become a desert. Could I make it to the final feed zone without popping from dehydration? Luckily I did… but by then I was seriously wondering if I could even make it to the top of this big hill. The legs felt pretty good but I was cooking big time.

As we approached the final climb I prepared for the feed zone… I zipped up my jersey to cram as many bottles down the front as I could and removed the lids from my bidons to fill them up as quickly as possible. I managed to grab three bottles of water… I skulled one and emptied the other two into my bidons all while thinking ‘damn now im gunna weigh about 1.5kg extra now’. I worked my way back through the pack to get a wheel that I knew wasn’t going to pop in the first few minutes once we started the ascent.

We strung out along the climb and I was felling OK after rehydrating. Guys were slowly popping leaving me and about 4 other guys in front with the NRS boys about 50m up the road. At this point we had been pushing the pace for a good 10 minutes and I was beginning to pay for the earlier lack of fluids. Legs OK… but body temperature soring. I was sticking to the shady side of the road and battling the mental game to keep pushing.. 65rpm in a 53-27. Yep it was pretty steep..

I broke… and decided to stop in a small shady patch on the roadside. I removed my thin undershirt and pulled down my bib straps. I hadn’t given up. I was still going to get to the top but I had to cool down a bit. I drank a whole bidon of water and got back on and pointed the bike across the hill to get the momentum started. I found a rhythm and felt 100% better with the breeze blowing through my jersey. 

OK.. ‘Now to reel em back in’.. Id stopped for about 3minutes and had about 10km to go. I could see scattered riders up ahead and started reeling them in one by one. Surprising myself I reeled guys in holding a steady tempo at about 300W. I probably rounded up about a dozen guys once we got to within 1km from home. The end of the race finishes atop a final pinch of about 22+% for 400m. It looked pretty much like a wall. This was going to hurt but I always say the steeper it is the better it suits me.

Just before the Finish Line at the top of THE Hill

I pulled in two more guys in the final 800m and crossed the line with a smile… Good enough for 4^th. Jason Laird, a Kosdown team mate was battling it out for 1^st with the guy I drove up to Stratford with, Gabe Carey. Gabe 1^st Jason 2^nd in a good battle. Jason Spencer won overall, this boy will definitely go places, and Miranda Griffiths, my other travel companion took out the womens KOM.

I drove home stuck in the car with two winners (Gabe and Miranda) but happy with the legs and confident that in three weeks time Ill be smashing it up the hills of the ToB with the best of them.. Bring it on..