The road it Italy......comes to an end.

This is a letter I wrote seven weeks ago after my six month follow up appointment with the surgeon who operated on my left hip last year. I was hoping I would be tearing up that letter and putting it in the bin, not typing it up and sending it out to friend, family and sponsors.

I am about to commence my fourth year of cycling and have been lucky enough to qualify for the WEMBO World Championship 24 hour solo race to be held in May, in Italy. This will be my fourth 24 hour solo race. My love for this sport began in April 2009 when I first rode a mountain bike on single track, after been advised to take a break from running due to ongoing knee injuries throughout my four year triathlon career. After watching Gordo smash himself and the field in the 24WSC on DVD I had a burning desire to go and race one. Come November I rocked up to the start line in Forrest determined to see if I could make it. My race plan was to ride until I felt like stopping and hope I could last the full 24 hours. However, when I was told in the wee hours of the night that I was in 2^nd place I buried myself to try to get to first position. That didn’t happen but I walked (hobbled) away wondering how far I could go in this sport as I knew I had much to learn. Unfortunately my body took months to recover and six months later I had knee surgery.

My efforts at Forrest had qualified me to compete in the 24 hours of Adrenaline World Championships held in Canberra in early October. After a hampered six months with little training I put together an eight week program to get ready for the race. A great experience, I walked away from that race vowing never to enter a 24 when I wasn’t ready and there to win, I felt empty knowing I had much more to give. Thankfully that opportunity came in October 2011. Winning the Scott 24 hour was the highlight of what had been a pretty tough year. In February 2011 I was told to take six weeks off exercising as I had tendonitis in my hip. I did as instructed but the problem only got worse. Over the next five months I spent countless days away in Melbourne getting tests to try to figure out why I couldn’t lift my left leg more than 3cm’s off the ground. Unable to walk more than 50m I was prevented from fulfilling my job as a PE teacher and unable to do any physical exercise for most of this time. Physically, mentally and socially the injury took its toll. In July I had surgery on my hip which thankfully rectified the problem. Back on the bike a week after the surgery I made winning the Scott 24 hour my goal and with 12 weeks training that’s what happened.

It is now February 2012 and I am once again off the bike and on crutches. I am in my sixth week of rest and still unsure of when I will be back riding. The amount of training I did in those 12 weeks leading up to the Scott, racing the Scott, then continuing to race afterwards without the right amount of recovery has lead to hip tendonitis. I have been receiving Plasma Rich Platelet Injections to try to speed up the healing process in order to get ready for Italy.

I am 25 years old and cycling is a massive part of my life, I am a cyclist, it’s what I do, live and breathe.  I still want to be riding when I am 75 years old but if I continue down this path of overtraining for endurance races then I won’t be riding when I am 35! After a great deal of thought and talking to close friends and family, and consulting with other trusted health professionals, I know it is the right thing for me to take a break from 24 hour racing. I cannot physically prepare for Italy in this short space of time, and I cannot mentally deal with another injury that would most likely arise from undertaking such a task. I am learning from my past mistakes and I need to wait for my body to heal properly this time.

Mentally I believe I am capable of winning more races I just need to wait for my body to catch up!!  In order for me to achieve great things in this sport, which I believe I can do, I need to get my body right and be patient. Some people have said “why don’t you just go over and do a couple of laps and have a holiday” My response is any 24 hour race I enter from now on I am there to win, I am not there for the ‘experience’, I owe the sport more respect than and I am looking forward to.

A massive thanks to CORC for offering the return tickets to Italy, to HSR Seeds for offering to pay for Al’s airfare, to Ay-Up, Giant and Pure-Sport Nutrition for all their support over the past year or so. A massive thank you!

So for now I will focus on recovering and I honestly feel I am not too far away from that happening. Then I will begin cross training through swimming, running, riding and kayaking with the aim of competing in an ironman distance event or an adventure race at the end of the year. Throughout the year I aim to be competing in shorter distance mountain bike races, triathlons and multisport off-road races.

Thanks for reading!!

TOURING TASMANIA & WILDSIDE ELDERLY STYLE

Ten days ago when I was getting my second lot of plasma injections into my hip for the tendonitis that I’ve carried for the past 12 months, I still held hope that I would be racing in Australia’s most famous stage race Wildside in Tasmania. We had entered back in June before it had sold out and I had been super excited as I had only done one stage race before in Alice Springs and had absolutely loved immersing myself in riding for a week. Stage races are great as all you need to worry about is eating, sleeping and riding. You get to meet some awesome people along the way as well as see some amazing scenery. In those 10 days leading up to Wildside it started to become apparent I wouldn’t be able to race, I thought about not going at all as I am a very poor spectator. If I can’t be a part of a race I don’t want anything to do with it. However as Al was in perfectly good health and had been training for Wildside it would be incredibly rude of me not to be his support crew as he had on many occasions supportive me in races he was unable to compete in. We discussed the fact that I would be a grumpy pain in the ass the whole time and we were better off not going. However the flights had been booked, race entries with no refund paid, hire van booked and my friend Tara had also booked a flight as she was going to be the support crew. I just had to grin and bear it.

I decided it would be character building and would give me more motivation to come back stronger and to not let myself get injured again. I would be spending the time with some great people and be able to visit a place I had never been.

Al and I fly over on Tuesday, 4 days before the race start as we had planned to do some riding beforehand. We picked up a wicked little campervan which has a double bed, single bed, kitchenette and table. It’s rad. The first day we cruised down to Liffey Falls and camped the night. I have been advised to stay off my leg completely which has been a challenge, even trying to cook dinner, step into the van, walk to the toilet etc. aggravates it which is why I have decided to use crutches for the next 2 weeks. My hip has gotten worse since having the injections (apparently that’s suppose to happen it’s all part of the healing process...) This has made travelling through a new place not overlay fun as I can’t even walk through the streets of the new towns we rock into. Tassie is a wicked place, it’s absolutely beautiful and I can’t wait to come back when I’m mobile and do hiking, riding, rafting and all the other wicked activities there are here. I feel like we are one of those retired elderly couples driving around the place. Every road we go on we’re like “how good would it be to cycle-tour here!?!? Hopefully this time next year that’s exactly what we’ll be doing!

The campervan is a manual which means I can’t drive it as that too hurts my hip, so Al whose manual skills are incredibly rusty stalled it 11 times in Launceston. Provided a few laughs and scary moments Launceston is rather hilly and we had to do a number of joint handbrake starts! I’m glad to say he has improved over the last few days however the clutch may need replacing soon!! We found a sushi bar in Launceston and it must have been our lucky day as it was closing the lady gave us 3 boxes of sushi for free!!

Luckily we had a fridge in our campervan and we hoped when we ate them the next arvo they wouldn’t make us crook. We decided to head out of the city and found a lovely camp ground near Liffey Falls. We were next to a gorgeous river and spent the next morning basking in the sunshine by the river drinking coffee and reading Kate Lemmings “Out there and Back” Cycle-touring book which may not be the best idea as it makes me want to go ride around the world tomorrow I was starting to get used to this lazing around doing nothing thing!!

That arvo we drove to Burnie, stopping at the cheese factory and the berry farm along the way. We were aiming for the chocolate factory also however somehow missed the turnoff. Once we arrived in Burnie we found a spot on the beach and ate our remaining sushi, then drove a short while out of town and found spot by the beach for the night. A lovely sun set over the water made me forget about my worries. I was handling this exceptionally well we thought. The next day we headed into the Info centre, found cafe and charged our phones then went to the outdoor pool. The one thing I can do is swim with a pool buoy without kicking so I made the most of my time in there until my shoulder got sore. It seems those many years of tennis also took its toll on my right shoulder so and have been getting treatment for that also. Geez you’d think I was 85 not 25!!!! We then drove to Cradle Mountain and managed to walk into reception at the exact same time as our good friends Beth and Seb who would be riding in Wildside also. A drive around the camp grounds showed an abundance of mountain bikes and all the chatter was about the race, the course and everyone was heading out for a spin after being in the car all day. And that’s when I realised the next 5 days are gonna suck a lot. I am trying to stay upbeat and positive so I don’t ruin this for Al and the others but when all the chat is about the race and bikes it’s hard not to feel totally left out. This is when I have to try to be unselfish and not be a pain in the ass, this is the character building shit I was talking about!!! (I hope....) I think it would be much easier to be sitting at home on the couch not surrounding myself with all this mountain biking stuff but hey there’s heaps worse stuff happening to people so I’ve just got to do my best to support Al!!

Right now I’m focusing on letting my hip heal, get on top of this injury so I can walk down to the beach with my friends, teach PE properly, do what 25 year olds are suppose to be able to do and then I can start think about riding bikes again.

THE DAY BEFORE THE RACE

Hanging out with Beth, Seb, Al, Gail, Graeme and Amy we sat around chatting and drinking coffee. About lunch time everyone went for a run or ride or swim so I sat in the campervan and did some school work. Kinda sucked not being able to do anything but seen as though I had neglected doing any school work for the past 6 weeks t least it forced me to do some!!! That afternoon the crew sat around discussing the race course and what to expect, so I sat in the van sulking pretended to read my book but internally fuming. Once the conversation began to change and I told myself I was being immature I went and joined in. We headed down to race briefing then back to the camp ground to cook dinner and have a delicious birthday cake for Seb.



getting acquinted with the locals at trial harbour



RACE DAY ONE
I helped Al as much as I could this morning to get ready for the race, however he seems to be racing, supporting himself and me as I can’t do much without aggravating my hip. I must say I have noticed a difference in my hip after spending a few days on crutches. It appears all I need to do for at least another 2-3 weeks is just stay off it completely. I have finally accepted it is tendonitis and it will get better. I am reminding myself that in a few weeks I’ll be back into it and just have to stay positive. This has definitely helped my mood. What people don’t realise is it is the stress of not knowing when it’s going to get better. If it was a broken bone I would know that in 8 weeks I would be back training, however with tendons it’s such a long and slow process and there is a fear it’s never going to get better. The pain has been pretty bad that it’s hard to imagine it’s going to get better and that I’ll be riding again. It’s a matter of telling myself there is light at the end of the tunnel!!

Today my good friend Tara arrives to help support and cheer on the riders, can’t wait to hang out with her! It was really hot today, I missed the race start as I couldn’t get a park close enough so instead hung out at the Chateau waiting for Tara. We met the riders after the end of the race stage and then drove to the lunch spot whilst riders “cruised” their way there over some pretty big hills, some CRUISE stage!! We tried to find some shade and eat lunch before riders then raced their way to Tullah. An interesting little town, we had some amazing views up at the mountains.

RACE DAY TWO AND THREE

Riders headed out for the day whilst support crews backed up and drove to the lunch spot. We were in Rosebury and being a Sunday nothing was open. We sat on the side of the road cheering on riders as they came through. Al was having a good race so far and it was pretty funny watching him come flying down the straight on his SS turning the pedals at about 160rpm!! A much nicer lunch spot today we relaxed in the shade before watching the dash for cash around the race track. It appeared perhaps there was a bit of collusion between Adrian Jackson and the Van Der Ploeg brothers as AJ was the leadout man! Riders headed off into the searing sun whilst Tara and I headed to the local pool for a cool off. There were some very hot and exhausted people at the finish line as they welcomed a cool front coming through that night. The next day we woke to a heap of rain and a drop of about 15 degrees in temperature! Riders were rugged up waiting to be called up in pairs for the 6k time trial. Unfortunately we made an error with roads being closed and arrived at Trial Harbour to find a close to hypothermic Al waiting for a change of clothes. Once we had him warmed up a bit riders then headed back up the hill and on towards Zeehan. Al commented that he had been in his element today and absolutely loved the rain whilst others were cursing and swearing through the mud. Logistically this was a tough day for support crew as we covered a lot of kilometres and we had to wait in the campervan the rest of the time as the weather was atrocious.  It was also a very tough day for riders, our friend Amy had a big stack and was unable to finish after being stitched up and it seemed to really take its toll on all riders.

GRIBS BUSTIN OUT OF THE ONESY!

RACE DAY FOUR

We woke up in Strahan and felt like we were back to civilisation somewhat as there were cafe’s, restaurants and loads more people. The wind howled for most of the night and we rugged up to go watch the start. Racers went off in their seeded groups and it became apparent there were many non starters as the treacherous conditions and rough terrain had punished many. Al had a great ride to begin with, getting into a breakaway of 3 however after changing his gear to a lower ratio he was having some issues with his chain, which results in it snapping twice throughout the stage. Whilst he was out riding Tara and I headed to the Laundromat to try to clean and dry his gear so we wouldn’t be over our weight limit getting home on the plane. Unfortunately we couldn’t stay for the lunch, presentations or after party as we had to get back in time for work the next day. We were dreading the trip we were about to embark on and hoped it would go quickly, how wrong we were. We endured a 5 hour trip through some very windy roads on our campervan, I was positioned in the middle seat which is designed for small children so my legs we jammed against the dashboard. Finally making it to Launceston it was great to be out of the car however with our 75kg’s of combine luggage we simply had to occupy our time at the airport. Once on the plane I was hoping to get some sleep so we could drive the 4 ½ hours home to Marlo. However the 2 year old behind me had other ideas. It appeared he did not want I nor the rest of the plane sleep if he couldn’t. Once touched down in Melbourne and located our car we headed for home at 1am. The drive was epic as I was too scared to fall asleep in case Al who was driving fell asleep so we  both stayed awake to keep each other awake!! Al had a couple of V drinks to try to keep himself awake. At a quick stop in Bruthen for another drive change it got the better of him and he spewed up. I was trying my best to be sympathetic but so exhausted at the same time! We rolled into Marlo at 6.15am, set the alarm for 8.05am then rocked into work at 8.30. Pretty sure I didn’t learn much that day and was no doubt somewhat incoherent!!!