KOM Race 1 – The Mulholland Challenge

Well where to begin aye. Geez. Derek and I drove up on Friday afternoon to Calabasas. We stayed at the Goodnite Hotel where the race also started and was administered from. That night I got more ‘full’ than I can remember being. We went to a place called the Woodlot Ranch or something and the meals were massive. I had half a BBQ’ed chicken and trust me this chicken was suffering from gigantism. Also chips, salad, half plate of breaded and shredded onions along with a chocolate desert so rich even I couldn’t conquer it.

The next day after waking up and still feeling full during the night I had a real small breakfast and we headed off at 7.07am. The way this ride worked was that you knew the checkpoints and food stops had certain open times and that you had to get a stickered at 6 spots to signify that you had in fact been there and had not cheated by taking a shortcut. So slower people could leave at 6.30 and you could leave as late as 8ish. We were up so decided to head off pretty early.

After freezing my fingers (they were super painful) we finally descended the couple of hundred meters to the Coast to ride along the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) for about 5 odd miles before heading up the first big hill. It was actually pretty steep but it was good to warm up. So the first 27 miles went by pretty fast and before we knew it we had our first sticker. A bit of a big ring downhill, Derek was ahead of me at this stage, we were both just doing our thing and then bang. Yep here we go. As I slowed to check out the rear flat tire Derek rode away from me not noticing what had happened.

• Suffice to say I was real ‘pissed’, because I was not that happy with my Michelin Tires anyway. They are not very old and have little cuts and wear points on them and they are not cheap. I think they really are too lightweight. I gotta go with a bit more BEEF.
• Anyway I fixed it while everyone was zooming past me. 460 riders were signed up for this event.
• Got going again. Not 400m down the road…”BANG”.
• Yep I was furious.
• Checked the tire real good and the rim this time. Couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. I put this down to just bad luck or a bad tube. What else could I do? In goes the last tube and my last CO2 canister to fill the sucker up.
• Well this time I got not half a mile. BANG…. S*&t, F%$K, C#$P
• By this stage I was half an hour behind and people were still flying past me.
• Anyway I was having to ask, beg for help by this stage.
• One guy stopped. He said he could spare a tube so I put it in then he realized he didn’t have enough CO2 so off he went.
• Next another guy stopped. He could spare a canister but didn’t want to stay so took off. Anyway his canister did not fit my little pump thing so now I had a tube, a canister and no way of getting air into the tire.
• Next an older guy stopped. He was good and had all manner of stuff with him. After he blew up two canisters trying to fit them where they don’t fit we managed to fill up the tire. BINGO. This time I saw the problem. Yep there was a 0.5cm ripe in the sidewall of the tire. The tube was actually bulging out of it like a zit ready to pop.
• We talked about this for a bit, what to do and then as we were standing there, BANG. Yip and it was not even on the bike.
• Anyway this guy left and I was on the side of the road pretty despondent. I was already planning where I was going to do some ‘real’ riding in the dirt the next day since I had only done 30 miles.
• Another guy stopped to help me now. He was not in the race but was training for a fundraising ride to support a cure for AIDs. Anyway he spared me a tube.
• As we were about to pump it up a Sweeper fellow in an SUV came by. He had a boot. A hunk of rubber we seated inside the tire which was better than the chocolate bar rapper I was about to use.
• By this stage everyone had past me. All the slower people and I knew I was going to miss the first checkpoint. The sweeper guy said just explain the situation and as long as you are in by dark you will be good.
• Got going again finally. Some guy not racing caught me and we rode together for a bit. He thought I was nuts hearing the story. Then we caught up to some other guy riding the Challenge. He asked what I was doing back here. Anyway after 8 miles he said well it looks like you are going to be sweet. It’s holding well. I kid you not, it was not 10 secs later and yep. You guessed it… BANG!!!
• He really put his foot in it and he said sorry. Haha. Anyway this guy was a bike mechanic. He had my wheel off and tire off before I could feel even more sorry for myself. The other guy had a great big sticker thing made for just this repair. We plonked it in. They gave me a tube and air and we were on our way. Just 90psi in the tire to make sure we didn’t put too much pressure on the torn sidewall and I was off again.

So 5 tubes and 7 CO2 canisters and help from 4 people I was finally on my way. I rode essentially by myself for the next 100km. I passed hundreds of people. Had some good chats to people along the way and I take my hat off to the people that really are out there just to finish. They have great determination and if it was going to take me 10-12+hrs then I wouldn’t bother. Good on them. I felt kinda bad flying up the big hills passing them all. It was silly really but gave me some appreciation that I am actually kinda fast and that the training has paid off somewhat. Many asked what I was doing back here and what time I started. I told them the brief story. “Basically 5 tubes, ripped sidewall and well over 1hr lost”. One guy grinding away in his granny gear said it was my fault for running such light ‘racing’ tires has he churned away at a half my speed dragging double the rubber ran friction up the hill as me. Haha. Good on him.

I got dehydrated, bored, exhilarated, real tired, felt like my legs would fall off and wow’ed for the next 4-5hrs or so and 60 miles. The scenery blew me away, descending from 800m staring down to the PCH with its deep blue waters much like the Kaikoura Coast back home. It was incredible as were the descents themselves though I was always worried about the back tire for the rest of the ride. We climbed so many hills and some steep grades but in the end I finished. I finished pretty strong but I was done. I had had enough of the day, the frustration and pain mixed in with some wicked moments. It was all too much and I was happy for it to be over. Real Happy.

I finished with a time of about 8hrs 20 mins. My riding time was just 6hrs 26mins riding 102 miles (164km) with +12000ft (+3660m) of climbing. An average speed of 15.86mph (25.5kph). Derek ended up doing well. He had a recorded time of just over 7hrs but I was pretty happy to hear that he had a ride time just 10-12mins faster than me. Maybe I could have been close to hanging with him :-)

So the main thing is I finished and I am still in the running to do the King of the Mountains Series. In 3 weeks the next one, the hardest is up. In our own back yard it’s the “Breathless Agony” where the final climb is a 2000m ascent up to ONYX Summit at an Elevation of 2600m. Yikes.

Before then however I have two more races in the dirt. Yippee. One of them being Sea Otter which will mean something to all you Mountain Bikers out there :-)