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!
Its a little hard to find bike races around the place so when this opportunity came up I jumped at the chance! Now I know its a charity ride, and they say its not a race, but I planned on racing and I was sure that others would too!
The morning of the event myself and dean set out very early to make it there on time. It was overcast and raining a little by the time we arrived. What an awesome start to the day
When we arrived we found an open subway so I could fuel up and then I got into my gear ready for the start of the ride. Unfortunately I discovered I left my arm warmers at home, so it could be interesting as no other rider did not have arm warmers on.
The rain for the moment had subsided and I position myself in the front of the pack for the slow start as we departed Toowoomba. It was pretty clear from the start there were going to be a few to race as we quickly lost the majority of the riders forming a pack of around 20 riders.
The pace was hot from the start and before I knew it we had gone through the 45km mark in around 37km an hour. I was sitting at the back of the pack conserving myself not really sure of what the ride would be like.
It was spitting gently as we ride through rolling hills that would continue for the entire 110kms. It was a great experience to ride with a pack and race like cyclists would and it was interesting to note the pack mentality and trying to resist the temptation to attack. We slowly dropped riders until only 8 of us remained. At around 60kms a rider made a break away and I decided to chase it down.
Another rider took off before me and cleared out away from the pack. Coming from the back I built my speed up quickly and shot around the peloton. Unfortunately I did this with quite a lot of pace and before I knew it was I was shooting past the breakaway riders and forming my own.
I decided I was committed so continued the pace for around a Km before hitting a long hill where the pack quickly caught me. And this was the end of my excitement for the day.
By around the 75km mark I was dropped, the rolling hills finally took their toll and I just couldn't maintain the pace of the pack. We were still sitting on around 35kph for the 75km but I was slowing rapidly.
Dean pulled up along side of me in the car for the remainder of the ride, and it really was a struggle. Along the flats I was fine and managed to hit around 36kph but the hills were killing me and dropping my speed significantly.
The pack had stretch to single riders apart from three lead riders. I caught one and another was in my sights over the last 10km but I couldn't catch them.
In the end I was the 5th rider across the line in a time of 3:27:10 a great time and a very fast average speed for me to hold through rolling hills. All in all it was a great training rider and a massive learning curve for me!
May 30th saw me attack my first paced swim for the Ironman Busselton in December. Perfect conditions for it and open water swim through the surf.
It was fairly flat with a bit of assistance from a sweep however it wasn't anything majorly noticeable. Dean and I had discussed at length before the race what I was going to do. I was to swim it like the 3.8km swim of the Ironman so I would be able to get out of the water and ride a 180 - so this swim had to be comfortable and in no way taxing to my muscles.
We both knew I ran the risk of getting excited and trying to go for the win if possible, but I had to think about the bigger picture. 
The start was fairly standard of an event such as this, run down the beach into the waves and quickly out past the breakers. I positioned myself near the far flag to give myself the straightest run. I was also surrounded by national & International level swimmers so knew I would be at home and not get stuck behind slower swimmers.
Before long I found my rhythm, something comfortable around 12 or so in the pack. It was fairly choppy on the way out to the first boy so we kept colliding with each other. Around what I can think would have been 1km into the race I started to move through the pack, feeling comfortable and in no way stressed. I could see a group of swimmers starting to move away and wanted to be with that break away.
Around 2.5km I started to feel sick from the waves and vomited 3 times or so, which didn't make things very enjoyable but it was something I had experienced before and knew it would pass. 
I was very surprised at the pace and started to make another move, it was slower than I would have expected from this caliber of field, or maybe I was just in good form. Moving into 3rd position with about 1km to go I could see the leaders and really wanted to push it out to catch them, crossing the line first would be a dream.
However I knew I had a game plan to stick to and within another 100m I was caught by the remainder of the group behind me and was relegated to 6th. Crossing the line I felt comfortable and was elated to discover I had swum 41:37 just over 1:05 pace and was confident I could go on to ride a good 180 after this.
All in all it was a very good hit out and I was very surprised to be able to keep up with these guys and still be a contender for the win. In the end 2 swimmers pulled away quite convincingly and won over me by around 2mins but then there was a very close bunch from 3rd to 7th or so. I guess the 16years of swimming endurance work I have done has built a strong enough base for me to still be a good swimmer off only 2 sessions a week - all the bike and run work keeps me fit.
After this swim I am very confident in the 3.8km for Busselton and would be interested to know what the swim course record is, maybe I will have a shot!
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