Tour Down Under 2009

I have officially toured, and earned one of these:

Here's the lowdown of my experience - probably more for my own records than anyone else's interest!

The day started at 4.30 am. We had to be on the road by 5 so it was an early start. As we drove out of the caravan park - we saw a few groups of cyclists riding from West Beach I assume to the 155km start at Burnside - gee that's keen!

I dropped hubby off at Mt Pleasant at about 6.30 am. We had already been caught in slow traffic on the roads - so many people heading up there with bikes! I was a little disappointed that I wouldn't be joining him on the 97km route that I had trained so hard for, but we had driven around the course two days prior - and I had to admit that I had made the right decision. There was no way I was fit enough for all of those steep hills - and there were soo many of them!

I arrived at Angaston at about 6.45am and discovered that nothing was really set up as yet. Registrations didn't start until 8.00 so I walked down to the town for some breakfast. Back again at 7.50 - racked the bike, and stood in line for registrations to open. I have to say I was impressed with this system - it was so much better than the running ones I have been involved in previously. I had been given a wrist band earlier - and all that was required was a bar code scan and I was done. Excellent. Well - now its 8.01 and I had to kill 2 hours before the ride was due to start at 10.00. Walked around, sat in the sun (it was freezing) and eventually moved to the shade when it did warm up. It was a sea of yellow.

Eventually the race briefing - there had been two accidents already- and then we were off. There was self seeding - 3 categories - 20km/hr and under, 20 - 25 km/hr, and 25km/hr and over. Had I been fit I would definitely have put myself in the fastest group - aiming to ride at about 30km/hr - but taking stock of my situation settled at the front of the middle group. I figured the slowest one was probably for mountain bikers.

Headed up the first hill and soon discovered that I was regularly overtaking other riders. I'd never ridden in a pack before so this was a new experience - learning the hand signals, and how to overtake without running someone over or getting in someone else's way. It was also difficult as the roads weren't closed to traffic, so you had to be very careful not to pull too wide and not be able to get back in again.

I soon settled into a niche spot and felt good. I some early signs of stitch which had me worried - but they disappeared quickly - and I had no other issues with my tummy for the duration of the ride. What was difficult was the hills. Whilst I could ride the flats at a reasonable speed, my reduced aerobic fitness was really obvious on the hills. I was out of breath quickly, like most people, I know, but normally this would have been a strength for me. I still had the leg muscles for it, but I had to breathe harder than I expected. I refused to stop on any hill, no matter how slow I had to go, and I'm pleased to have accomplished this. And there were a lot of hills. The final third of the ride from Nuriootpa to Angaston was relatively flat however, and I picked up speed, and found myself passing a lot of what I would consider "big strong fit looking" men. I think they were a bit peeved to see little me fly past, but it felt good!

I would have liked to have done the 32 kms in an hour, but I had told myself that given the surgery, lack of training, and the number of hills, I should be aiming for about 1.5 hrs. However as I got closer to Angaston - I realised I would smash this - and finished in 1 hr 15mins. I was really happy with this! I am still a bit disappointed that I could only tackle the short distance, but thrilled that I was able to participate at all in the end, and earn my first cycling jersey.

I have really enjoyed the cycling lately, and have found that its a sport that my height ( or lack of) doesn't seem to disadvantage me. In fact, my husband commented the other day that he thinks I am probably a stronger rider up hills than him - he thinks it is the whole height/weight ratio ( he is quite skinny). I'm not sure what it is, but I think he's right. (And I certainly pack a lot of muscle in my thighs!) BTW Hubby finished in about 5 hrs - well done to him on practically no training!

Recovery for both of us was fine - no soreness - you gotta love this sport for its low impact and lack of DOMS.

I can't wait to do the next one - and clock up some decent kms!