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My big rides (fomerly: "Maximum disappointment")


King Ruddager

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One week now. All the hard training is done and it's time to rest up big. Motivation has been a real struggle lately, so I'm glad there's only one more early-morning ride left.

 

Tell you what, if I don't complete this thing I would hate to imagine what you'd have to go through in order to finish, let alone with a good time.

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One week now. All the hard training is done and it's time to rest up big. Motivation has been a real struggle lately' date=' so I'm glad there's only one more early-morning ride left.

 

Tell you what, if I don't complete this thing I would [i']hate[/i] to imagine what you'd have to go through in order to finish, let alone with a good time.

 

Good luck mate; I don't know what works for others, but I find that waiting for motivation is self defeating.

If you want to train, keep fit, or whatever, the key seems to be to do it anyway, ESPECIALLY when you don't feel like it.

I've had the same problem the past couple of months; sore neck, sore back, recurring OOS (formally known as RSI) injury to my arm & shoulder, saw me slacking off, not doing my regular workouts, & slowly reducing my twice daily walks with the dog.

 

Last week I decided I just had to resume my workouts if I wanted to stop feeling sluggish, reduce my spare tyre, & build my level of fitness.

 

Now I'm slowing getting back into the swing, & going for additional walks, but the only way I manage is to do it whether I feel motivated or not; your mind plays trick with you like that, & sometimes you have to ignore it; easy to say, much harder to do.

 

I'm never going to be an athlete, body builder, or anything like that, but keeping fit seems to help burn off the stress & keep my demons at bay (BPD, Anxiety, ASD & a few other nasty things that make my life difficult).

Unfortunately I still have to take meds to keep my mind from sabotaging me, but at least with a regular workout routine - when I get it properly back in place - it will stop me from struggling so bad with all my difficulties.

 

You will do the ride King, & you will finish - where you come in the ride, your time, & how you feel before & after the race are just variable along the way.

Perhaps as simple & naff as it sounds, Nike's slogan has it right: "Just do it".

 

All that said, better you than me; I couldn't trust myself to ride a bike down to the local park without falling off or sliding out!

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Well, my bike and I have made it to Falls Creek. Not much to do here at the moment but I can go for a ride tomorrow which is good.

 

Only downside - I actually haven't had a beer since last Saturday!! Looking forward to the first one post-ride on Sunday. Don't even care what they've got on tap here tongue

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Get to Bright Brewery - not too far from Mt Beauty - and I think Mt. Beauty have one too. Have had 4 mountain bike trips there and love the place.

All the best for the ride mate!

 

Actually Beechworth's Bridge Rd brewery is in the area too.

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10hrs' date=' 20mins. Bloody hard.[/quote']

Sensational!! Top effort mate, you should be proud (and sore).

 

It beats my day. My wife did the Gear Up Girl ride today; 60km from Homebush to Cronulla. I drove to Cronulla, picked her up, drove home and had a beer. It was pretty tiring though.

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  • 11 months later...

Mate, good luck with the ride (and the boredom!!) Up the same bit of road over 200 times!!

Sorry, can't make there on Sunday other wise I would ride a couple of kms with you.

 

Are you doing it on your road bike , or going for lower gearing on a MTB?

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  • 1 year later...

KR, 24 hours solo?! You madman. Good luck with it. What's the training plan?

 

I read through this old thread and Three Peaks is up there with one of the hardest in Australia. Well done for finishing and well done on the time! I'd love to tackle one of these one day.

 

AFD today/tonight. Have some beers chilled down for tomorrow. Going to extend my commute and find some hills north of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

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  • 5 months later...

Well, if you've noticed my absence it's mostly on account of training and competing in the 24 hour race, but I'm back now cool If you're interested, here's a little write-up I posted on BookFace:

 

26756434_10215071273439071_341568011139774309_o.jpg

 

So last weekend I rode 610kms in Revolve24 - a 24 hour bike race - and since finishing I've felt compelled to share a few bits and pieces about it. The picture attached sums everything up so well. I'm tired but happy, I'm filthy, I'm unable to sit up straight yet I feel ten feet tall and I'm probably about to cry.

 

The race started in an awful, horrible dust storm, but fast-forward 17 hours from the start (still somehow only just two thirds distance) and a dejected me had just given up on making it to 600kms. My average speed had dipped below the required 25kmh due to a long but much needed rest stop of 30 minutes. I thought it would be too hard to make up enough time on the track when I set off at that point but somehow I started to ride like a freaking madman! I powered through the next two hours and got my average up to ... 25.6 I think? Time again to come into the pits where I ordered (nicely) my de facto pit crew to get me a coffee and told them I'd be back in at 11:40 and 1:20 and I wanted coffees ready for me then as well.

 

So yeah, with five hours to go (which, on reflection, is still actually a VERY long time) I'd figured out a plan to make it to 600 by just dividing the time into three stints. I rode as strong as I've ever ridden, watching my average speed creep up, taking advantage of drafting when possible, but more often riding solo with my head down just watching the edge of the track to keep straight. Come my final stint I had done enough to need to plod along, and with maybe about 15 minutes left I crossed the 600km barrier and gave everyone watching from pit wall a rolling high-five.

 

At that point I also figured out that at my current pace I'd easily have to do three more laps, so I slowed down to the point where instead I'd only have to do two and would cross the finish line just after the chequered flag came out. Tactics or something! My family had just arrived as well so they got to see me do the old two-hand salute over the line ... albeit a bit of a crippled version.

 

Holy moly. What a hell of a thing to do.

 

Right, anyway, here's a bunch of other points in no particular order that may be of interest to anyone doing the challenge themselves ...

 

- It's three days later and two of my four numb fingers have most of their feeling back, but my left thumb has so little strength it's hard to grip things or even tie my shoes

- Reflux at the twelve hour mark is bad. It's hard enough to eat by that point - you have to force yourself - so having it burn all the way down is not ... nice.

- Making on-track friends is important and fun! Trying to remember who is who after the sun has come back up is difficult

- I'm not as good at mental arithmetic as I used to be, but there's plenty of time on the track to calculate your projected results

- Open energy bar wrappers properly - that way it won't take three laps of fumbling with the wrapper down the main straight (which was the only safe part of the track to sit up thanks to the wind) to eat the thing

- When it's cold and dark and you're setting off after a break your arsehole legs will steal all the blood from the rest of your body and you will freeze

- If you have no pit crew, just borrow someone else's. They're probably bored anyway so accept all help!

- The mechanic is also bored and will happily clean your bike after any prevailing dust storms sand-blast all the oil from your drivetrain

- Pit in, eat some pizza and a Mars Bar, drink coffee or coke, grab a gel and a banana, get back out on the track

- Seven and a half hours is a long time, no matter how you try and dress it up. Less than one third? Maybe, but seven hours is still seven freaking hours.

- Several groups of people watching from the pit wall learnt my name and I got cheered every lap. Sometimes I wanted to be invisible but it was all appreciated

 

27021298_10156134171868054_7932403841248731167_o.jpg

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Good effort mate, wearing a flannie and all by the looks of it.unsure

Was watching some of the Cadel Evans GOR race today in air-conditioned comfort and wondering how these guys do it. 40 odd degrees in the waterbag and i know how steep those hillclimbs are. (My car struggles to get up them)

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KR, that is a stellar achievement. Well done. One to add to your many achievements to date in cycling!

 

I couldn't imagine signing up for a ride like this. You and the other finishers are made of seriously tough stuff.

 

The last photo is great. Love that you are in front of the other two, looking a bit more comfortable and aero. And you don't have the fancy rims that they have!

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