2009 Kona 24 Hour

The race lead up had gone perfectly, for the first time ever I had trained, tapered and peaked free from illness or injury, amazing! Brett Bellchambers and I were heading down to the race for a rematch of the epic battle we had at Easter Nationals earlier this year. On the way we hoped to pick up possible podiums, because usually, big names don't show up at these smaller events; but in the week leading up to the race we found out that the current World Champion and a former National Champion were entered, add to that last years 2nd place getter, Troy Bailey who beat me at Worlds last year and a few other riders with solid performances under their belts and sadly, a podium was going to be out of the question; The competition here was tougher than at a National level race! So instead I just settled on the original plan, beat the pants of Brett and prove to myself that last time I got him, it was not a fluke...

From the gun the pace was hot, but manageable. 40mm of rain had fallen two days ago, then last night a huge storm had ripped though downing many a marquee and tent, and leaving the course pretty muddy in places, but not too bad. The climb was rideable and the corners were sweet, there was an awesome section of flowing berms in the first day course that just rocked!

For the first few laps Brett and I would change positions, with him being faster up the hills and me making up time on the flats and downs (having a 44 tooth chain ring was a handy advantage in these sections ;)). Eventually though Brett rode away from me and I lost sight of him, I didn't panic and figured I would catch him later, in the dark of the night, much like last time...

Amazingly though, I caught him back up a lap or two later, this was early, had he cracked a bit? Was I stronger than last time? There's only one way to find out; I attacked on the big climb, gapped him a little, then attacked hard on the 2nd climb. He responded pretty quickly and reeled me back a few minutes later, laughing at me when I admitted to be trying to gap him :D

We swapped places a few times, I put in some more attacks, and each time he would roll up to me and ride past me. After about 5 hours of this sort of fighting it was becoming very clear that this race was going to be very close, and for a very long time. He was not going to give up and neither was I, racing hard like this for 24 hours is a pretty tough gig though, and I started to dread the pain I was going to be in later...

Then the rain came... I've raced in the rain before, and I've raced hard like this for 24 hours before, and yes, I've done both at the same time and walked away, albeit, in agony, for days after; it takes me some extreme motivation to do it. Today, the motivation to put myself in the box of pain was just not there.

I disengaged from Brett and let him ride off while I pedalled around trying to make myself get back in the fight, but I couldn't. I even tried literally yelling at myself to "HARDEN UP PRINCESS!" at the top of my lungs, much to the surprise of riders around me, I think they thought I had lost it... they were right ;) It didn't work though, I was getting wetter and colder and the slippery course was causing me crash after crash. One down hill section was so slippery that you just had to let off the brakes, point the bike straight down it and hope it did not spin and throw you off... some laps I made it, others I was smashed into the mud.

The course got muddier and the rain got heavier... The weather forecast was for rain all night with a storm later. Then I found out Troy and Scott had pulled out... and I started to think "if they can quit and go home, why can't I?". My mind just got further and further away from the race, I started to think "it's 6pm, we could easily drive to Melbourne, get a shower, seafood buffet and a nice hotel room instead of being here in this mess"... eventually I did something I have never done before, I quit.

I spent a lot of time considering how I was going to break it to Kylie, but this was it, I was pulling out of a race for the first time. I knew she would cry, and I probably would too. My sponsor had paid heaps of money to come and support me and we hadn't even gotten to the night time and used his lights yet. I thought of how I had dragged Kylie all the way down here, upsetting our kids, and how I had spent weeks training for this race, for nothing, and I felt really guilty, but I could not snap out of it. Admitting failure was going to hard, it took me a full lap to compose myself and gather the courage...

At 7:30pm I rolled into transition, unclipped, got off my bike and walked into the marquee and declared I was out of the race. Brett was there, having a dinner break, he'd had enough of the rain too, which was pouring down at this point. Kylie was determined though, determined for me to not stop. Jess tried to convince me that when she quit last year, she was left regretting it and Brett was encouraging me to go and do a social lap with him. I didn't care though, I didn't want to hear any of it. I was done.

30 minutes went by and Kylie got me some hot soup, dry clothes and the ultimate comfort food, a heavenly slab of chocolate slice which lifted my mood, I even smiled! The course was just about to change over to the night lap, so they all kept into me to just go and do one lap of the night course and see how bad it was, if it was bad, I could quit and they would leave me alone.

Defeated (they all ganged up on me! :)), I agreed to do one lap, but not with Brett, there was no way I was going to re-engage the race now, so I sent him off ahead of me and waited a few minutes before heading out myself, "just one stupid lap" I thought.

The night lap was pretty dry though, and the rain amazingly stopped, so I punted around slowly and tried to make the most of it, it was pretty boring at third pace though. When it was done, I rolled into transition and was keen to now be allowed to quit, glad it was all over.

Kylie was armed and ready for me though, she allowed me a long transition and time to bitch and moan, but she did not let me get off the bike, with the rain gone, she made me agree to keep riding until it rained again.... reluctantly I agreed, knowing full well a storm was predicted, "bring the rain and I can finally go home".

I just cruised around with my heart rate often in the nineties, chatting to anyone that would listen. I was testing the new prototype 2010 model Radical Lights at this race and they started many a conversation, usually something like "Geez mate, I can only see my shadow in front of me now", or "Serious wattage dood", I got quite a laugh and took the opportunity to meet some new people. There were lots of stories heard and told and I started to cheer up and enjoy myself, now I was out of the race, I could just cruise and enjoy the event, it was... nice!

All through the night I was told "You're in 6th", to which I would say "lalala, don't wanna hear it"; now I was having fun again, there was now way I was going to push it and get back into the race. At dawn Kylie told me "you're up to 5th and 4th is only 10 minutes ahead, you could catch him", to which I said "I don't care". I literally didn't, so we decided to just cruise to the finish and probably hold onto 5th, maybe slipping a few spots down if anyone attacked is (as I was not going to fight back).

At 9am I get the word that 4th place is now only 2 minutes ahead, I figure he must have cracked. I had no idea who it was, but having cruised all night, the legs were fresh and the race is nearly over; 2 minutes is looking like too easy a gain to say no to... and it then happened, I re-engaged!

I rolled out of transition and Brett was stopped there, waiting for me, pointing his finger up the road "There he is, right there". Of all the people to stop and help me out and get me going again, it was the guy I had been racing against and wanted to beat, that's the thing about mountain biking, it's more about the friendships than the racing sometimes, what a generous thing to do, he really is the nicest bloke out there... sometimes ;) haha

Together we rolled up to Sam and I attacked him on the hill I had been walking every previous lap, this time I smashed it up there and kept the hammer down to gap Sam and see if he would respond, he didn't, maybe he had not recognised me going past him and thought he was still safely in 4th? As insurance I drilled it for the rest of the lap and screamed into transition demanding my faster bike that had been left hanging up all night.

The second day course was awesome fun, so I pinned it on every corner and smashed up every climb, I was back, and loving it! I kept on it for the last 2 laps and managed to finish in 4th, with a happy smile on my face, not from the 4th place, I didn't earn or deserve it, but because I had finally emerged from under the cloud of self pity I had been under for the middle 16 hours of the race.

So in the end I didn't achieve either of my goals, Brett beat me solidly and I missed out on a podium, what I did walk away with though was knowledge. I learned that you should never give up, and even if it gets that bad that you do really want to quit; if you can just get back out there and roll around, you'll probably still do alright because everyone else is in that same horrible place you are.

A huge thanx has to go to those that got me back out on course: Kylie, not once did you get upset or falter, you were armed and ready with everything physical and mental to get me back out there lap after lap, you are the best pit crew in the game and an amazing woman. Jess for sharing how you felt about your Kona last year, your encouraging words all through the race and your cheers of support, Jen for the encouraging words in a dark time and being there for Kylie when she needed help, Ed for being there for so many of us solos when he himself was on a winning 4 man team, you took time out of your race to come and help all of us, very generous indeed, Micko for keeping my bikes running smooth all year, and not hitting me when I took both of them into the shop after the race with more broken and ceased parts than ever before, Fenz for giving me the training advise that got me to the race fit and fully prepared for the first time ever, and of course Brett, my adversary, my friend; it was an honour to race with you again, your support to get me back out there at 8pm was what did eventually get me to commit to that "one more lap" (that grew to become 17 more laps), and waiting for me in the final laps so you could help me attack for 4th was a gesture I will not forget; The race of mates was great fun, this time you broke me in under 6 hours, making the score "one all"... I can't wait for round 3!

Some stats for fun:

Race Distance: 340km
Climb: 6.5 vertical kilometers
Energy Burned: 52,672kJ (12,601 Calories) - The equivalent of 10 pieces of chocolate slice and interestingly 80% of the calories I burned at Easter Nationals.
Speed: Average 14km/h
HR: Average 116bpm