If difficulty is judged by how exhausted you are after a sporting event then
the Totalsports Challenge (see
previous
post
) was right up there with the Half Ironman last year this
time. Maybe it has something to do with the time of the year because the full
Ironman didn't even take it out of me as much.
I did underestimate the Totalsports a bit, and then as often happens there is
an additional curved ball somewhere along the way. In this case it was the
mountain bike which was one of the tougher ones I've ever done. I've used
stronger language when describing it to friends last night.
It started with my chain wheel nearly falling off as I hit the tar of the main
road. This took a few minutes of repair work. Then 2/3km's from the start we
turned onto the dirt and I started climbing which was about 6km's up, like
straight up. It felt like more than Constantiaberg mast but that could just
have been that my legs were already a little worn out. I passed quite a few
people walking which gave a sense of the difficulty (walking 5km's into a 25km
ride).
At the top my Garmin told me I was about 10km's in and we started a few
undulating hills. I studiply thought that I had done most of the work already
and besides some minor climbs we had to be heading down now. Right? Well Right
but with a twist, literally.
The downhill was fast, very technical (loose rocks - not stones), big gullys,
loose sand and steep, incredibly steep at parts. So I came down quickly, it
was bloody scary (I nearly convinced myself to get disk brakes - but not
quite). Then we did some great parts through what must have been beautiful
countryside if only I wasn't gasping for breath and hanging on for dear life.
Hit 20km's and found myself at the bottom of the valley. Must be some clever
way out I'm sure. Not. Straight up again for the steepest climb of the day,
admittedly not as long, only 1km or so, to get us up above Kleinmond with
4km's to go. The 9km beach run which I had in my mind to jog with Lisa and
cool down at the end of the day had shifted over the last 30 minutes from
being "I'm going to enjoy the last stage" to "I'm not sure how I will survive
the last stage!"
Hit the change over and Lisa had done her magic. She grabbed my bike and
handed me something to drink and some Gu's while I shed my cycling garb for
the beach run which we did bare feet. My sense of humour was stretched to its
limit after the bike but it was such a relief to get off and stretch my body
out that the first part of the run actually felt quite good.
Lisa and I quickly sussed out that neither of us were going to sprint it and
we'd just take it as it came. She had managed to drop my bike onto her leg
when she was carrying it down to the paddle stage at Arabella so she had a
hole which the medics had treated and she had taped up with some duck tape.
When we had chatted before the event, Lisa has mentioned that the beach run is
hard because of the soft sand and camber of the beach. How bad can it be I
thought? Well worse actually. High tide, very soft sand, a 20 degree camber
and a head wind and on the way out, made the beach quite unplayable really.
We started a little routine which would go something along the lines of being
brought to halt by a wave that had washed up to our knees and then one of us
saying something like, 'ok, we'll just walk to the log and then we'll run
again'.
I had managed to start and stop my Garmin so I didn't have an idea of
distance. All we could see were people running off into the distance but no
sign of the turning point. Trevor Ball caught up with us doing a fine effort
as an individual and we ran with him until the mirage in the distance actually
did turn out to be the halfway flag. We topped up with water and a few Gu's
and then started back which was easier with the wind on our back.
Coming back into the finish as Kleinmond lagoon felt a bit like coming in from
a week long ordeal. Billy Harker was just heading out for the 'beach walk' as
he termed it doing a fantastic solo effort.
We must have looked a lot better than we felt as we ran down the shute (either
that or they felt sorry for us) as we got handed an extra goodies bag with the
mandatory Mens Health supplement covering how to get six pack abs and learn 15
new sex positions. Well done to Kevin and Cath who beat us solidly in time and
we think by one position in the mixed pairs. We'll watch the
Totalsports web
site
for the final results. It was a great day
out.
We came in at about 8 hours 15 mins which we were very happy with. It had been
a good say starting with a solid 12km paddle by Lisa at 6 in the morning at
Gordons Bay. Despite damaging her rudder in the rather poorly thought out,
drag your boat around a flag on the beach at the end of lap one idea, she set
us up for a good day. My 1.5km swim felt good, the conditions were perfect and
besides a few people zig zagging in the water and an elbow in my mouth was
uneventful.
Lisa hopped on the bike and did a sterling effort to Kleinmond riding a fair
bit on her own which made it harder. Our transition worked well and she
managed to get bike and boat down to the water at Arabella before I got there
at the end of the 13km run. What a partner!
She made the right choice in taking a surfski out on the Botriver Lagoon which
had got quite windy and choppy by the time she started. She had to fight her
rudder a bit and still did a solid 50m by my calcs. for what was billed as a
13km paddle but was probably a little less. I had time to put my legs up after
getting myself ready for the mountain bike.
Thanks Lisa for all the organizing and been a fantastic Captain of team Scott-
Williams. We do sound a bit like Artic explorers don't we.... :-)
Back to training this week for Ironman.