Brisbane to Mooloolaba and back - 204kms

The biggest ride of my life - I was going to attempt 200+ km's solo with no support from anyone in a car. To be honest I was very apprehensive, and somewhat scared of the endeavor, mainly due to the thought of being 100+ from home and having to turn around and come back. Needless to say I still did it.

With 3 powerbars and 3 gel shots I started my ride at around 6 in the morning, sunday when there was the least traffic.

To be honest the first 100km went by fairly uneventful. I just got in a zone and rode taking it in 30km blocks/1hour blocks which seemed to make it more achievable in my mind rather than thinking I have to ride for 7hours.

I was very aware of the importance of eating correctly and made sure to have a power bar or gel every hour and drink a lot. At the turn around point I was sitting on around 29.9kph which I was disappointed in, but the ride was more about finishing that the speed.

I wasn't feeling the best, sore legs and was slightly concerned about the ride back. I had a timetable of the trains and kept that in mind as I set out on the return journey after a short stop at one of the coffee shops I work for.

The first 20km of the return journey there was a strong headwind which just kept attacking me, but I kept my head down on the aerobars and focusing on driving my legs hard. I think the most important part of the ride would be the mental side of things and not giving up.

At 150km I was surprised to see my KPH lifting and I had pushed it above 30kph so this drove me on more. I found it easiest to concentrate on segments, ride to Landsborough (around 30km) and all I would do was focus on that and not the entire journey. Once getting to that point I would set a new target.

I guess all that talk of setting small goals along the way to your dream is important really does work. When attempted something so big (really just thinking about it scared me) it would be so easy to let the magnitude of the ride defeat me before even attempting it, that's why it was so important to break it down.

At 180km I had a small headache a sign that I really hadn't eaten enough but I was really near the finish line now and drove even harder. I had one more gel shot and I called ahead for a lift from the 205km mark (I woudl still be 30km from home and couldn't attempted that on no fuel or fluids). My 180 time was around 5:57 - so happy to get it under 6hours but still felt I had more fuel in the take.

To get my average up from 30.2 was going to take a lot of effort over the last 20kms as I had already done 180 at that pace. With the end in sight I put my head down and thought about nothing but driving my legs and hurting more than I ever had before.

I finished in 6:44 an average speed of 30.4 - I was over the moon and exhausted!

I learnt so many things on this ride. About my limits, pushing myself, setting little goals but most importantly fuel and recovery.

Reading articles and from my experience I have learnt on a ride like that I should be having a gel shot/power bar every 15mins or so - around 5000calories or more. I had 1000 - which would explain the massive headache and the 3 foot long subs I had when I was finished.

To recover I ate. As much as I could and then some more. Iced my legs for 3-4hours and stretched. The next day I woke up feeling fine better than I had after previous shorter rides. Eating, Ice, stretching would be key to my training if I was going to continue doing rides such as this one!