KOM3 – Heartbreak 100

Well it was finally upon us. The final 100 mile race of the King of the Mountain Series. After completing the previous two: Mulholland and Breathless Agony and having a very good race in the Breathless Agony event I was not looking forward to this one other than wanting to finish it. I knew that after my small ride on Tuesday night after I got back from down-under that no riding and a bad diet of pies, beers and ice cream would have diminished me somewhat from the form I was in for the Breathless Agony race. I am quite sure before I headed down-under I was the fittest I have ever been on a bike and the result at Breathless somewhat confirmed that. Top 10 was probably quite feasible had we not had crashes and some bike issues to deal with.

Anyway we headed off into on paper what was to be the easiest of the races at about 8.30am. 101 miles (162km) with a bit over 8000ft of climbing. Just 2500m or about 1000 less than the other 2 races. Derek and I rode together for most of the first half of the race. We were holding a good pace and enjoying the scenery and lack of traffic on the roads. Some real cool roads too. Swooping, not too steep and the surfaces were decent in most places. However after the 53 mile checkpoint I could only stay with Derek for 15 mins. I was starting to suffer and that was to get progressively worse. I was starting to go backwards and many many people past me including many of the people that I had passed earlier on in the day. I had no gas in the tank. I was dehydrated, tired, hot, feeling sick and my legs were toast. The worst aspect was the mental side. It took lots of will-power to complete it. My mind was still thinking I could do what I did at Breathless Agony where I felt good on a much harder course but the legs and body had other ideas. I had gone backwards a couple of months. Derek recorded temps of 93 degrees (34 degrees C). It was quiet demoralizing having too totally different races that were just 3 weeks apart.

 

I knew that I would have gone backwards a little but to have fallen off my form so much after it takes months of hard-work to achieve was a real eye-opener to me and certainly a lesson learnt. Diet and maintenance of you fitness are vital and this can be changed very very fast indeed. The last 30 miles were some of the hardest times I have ever had on 2 wheels. Overtime one always forgets about the suffering until you put yourself through it again but being on the verge of cramping big-time for 2hrs is not my idea of a nice day out. I was very happy to finish and still did a respectable time of around 6hr 40mins, however that was almost 1hr slower than Derek who had real strong race and must have finished really well in the standings.

Still the goal was completed. Roughly 320 miles (515km) and 32000+ Elev gain (10km) in 6 weeks. It is very satisfying and was overall a great series. I had some wicked moments and some very low moments but overall it all builds character. I still look at it all and think how I have changed. Hell there was a time when I would not buy a road bike let alone dedicate myself to a series of road events.

 Mmm. 6hrs of Salty Crustiness

Next up is trying to get the edge back and other than 1 last century called 'Ride Around the Bear' in a month I will be getting dirty again and concentrating on Mountain Biking, both racing and just having a good time on the trails. I miss just playing on trails and want to explore some new ones too.

FOTC at the SBBowl

A number of months ago when I had the chance to buy some tickets for Flight of the Conchords Derek and I decided to go for the show at the Santa Barbara Bowl where we would combine it into a trip encompassing the last of the King of the Mountain Centuries we had to complete. Anyhow after getting stuck in lots of horrible traffic trying to get out to Santa Barbara on the Friday afternoon we eventually got there feeling a little frustrated. We had a couple of hours to burn and spent most of the time in the downtown area. It’s a lovely spot with some great shopping to be had. Santa Barbara itself is a wicked area. Lovely houses, hills, beaches and the place just has a good vibe about it.

Anyway after a good feed we headed up to the bowl which is tucked under a steep cliffside. It’s a lovely location and is one of the best venues, actually probably the best venue I have ever been too for a show. It holds 3000 people. We were sitting in our seats at 7pm when we expected the proceedings to begin. We were kinda worried cause it was meant to be a sellout show and half the seats were still free. Anyhow by 7.30 it was chock-a-block full and Arj Barker (Dave from the show) did 30 mins of standup. He was a bloody fine comedian. I had some great laughs and will definitely watch him again given the chance.

He introduced FOTC and they appeared in their robot helmet suit things singing "Too many d*cks on the dance floor". It was quite the intro and we had a great show. They did a bunch of their classic stuff and some less known stuff. I could not believe how well it went in an open air bowl in front of 3000 people. I always thought it was best suited to smaller venues. Little club type places but it went off. They were much better than their studio versions and they added extra words and phrases into many songs, often being more naughty than TV and album producers would normally let them be. They played a solid 1.5hr set non-stop and Derek, I and the whole audience had a great time.      

     

They of course heckled NZ, playing on the sheep jokes and our lack of population (tiny size) when they invited the NZ Symphony Orchestra which turned out to be one guy onstage to help with some instrumentals.

If you ever get the chance to see them live go for it. Especially in a big venue. They rocked.

FOTC Snippits from Kurt Janssen on Vimeo.

After this show we had to drive 100 miles to Lebec where we were staying as the Heartbreak 100 both finished and started here the next morning.

Trip Downunder – Dingo’s, Kangaroos and a few Kiwis

Hervey Bay

Well you would think that flying from LA to Auckland then to Brisbane the evening after a race like Breathless Agony would mean that I would sleep ok in a plane. Well nope. It was restless and I only managed to rest for 4hrs. I was very disappointed in myself. I just cannot get comfortable enough in Cattle Class not that I have flown in any other class. Anyway after a dam long flight and a heap of TV watching I got to Brisbane to be greeted by a very tired Bridget who had had less sleep than me the night before. Anyway we picked up our little Suzuki Swift Rental car and headed north at about the same time I realized that I had left my Lance Armstrong book on the plane. Dam. That’s the second time I had done that. After visiting a Ginger Factory and getting hit by a big rainstorm in Maryborough we arrived in Hervey Bay where we were to hang out for 4 days and nights. It was a nice wee spot though very quiet. In fact all of Aussie was quiet. It’s the off season I guess and also the global recession has not helped the cause.

The next day we did a bit of road tripping round the area and ended up in the town of Bundaberg (famous for its Rum) where there wasn't really much to do. We had on the way there found a great ice cream place. All hand-made and the creamiest Ice Cream I had ever had. We had also found a bunch of wild Kangaroos hanging in a school yard to watch as well as some sleepy seaside towns. The local farming was cool. Sugar Cane for as far as you could see.

On the Wednesday we did a day trip to Fraser Island. It’s a National Park and a World Heritage site. It’s the largest sand island in the world and we checked out most of the highlights on a whirlwind day tour aboard a large 4WD Bus. It was good fun though rushed and ideally I would have had my own 4WD to spend a good few days camping around the island where it would be possible to get away from the crowds. We did see the highlights of the island though such are crystal clear creeks which make no sound as its all sand and no stones, also the rainforest and heaps of birds within it including some very colorful parrots. There is also the Maheno Shipwreck and the colored sands cliffs which were a real disappointment to me. They were not very spectacular and had been described as being so. I guess when you are use to big mountains in NZ and the US that Aussie overall is pretty flat for the most part, though it does have some ‘mountains’ in Victoria, Tasmania and New South Wales. The best area for me however was Lake Mackenzie. It had some of the clearest water I had ever seen. It was a freshwater lake and over the years many minerals had leached from the sands and bedrock giving it a PH of 4.2. It is pretty acidic in other words and people clean their jewelry in it. Sunscreen is also a waste of time as the water simply washes it off straight away. There was also a couple of Dingo’s hanging out on the beach seeing if they could scab any food off people.

The final full day in Hervey Bay was chilled out. We went for a big walk and watched the new Star-trek Movie. It was a dam fine movie, much better than I expected. I can't wait till the next one now. Story and pacing was good and the special effects were awesome.

 Noosa

We spent the day inside the little Swift making our way south to Noosa via back roads and the little beach towns such Rainbow Beach. We eventually got to Noosa to be greeted by Craig and Amanda who I had not seen for years (they are now living in Brisbane). Paul was to arrive later that night (from the Northern town of Gladstone) after being held up in traffic due to a motorcyclist crashing into a car that pulled out into the road without looking, unfortunately the cyclist died. That evening we chilled out, had a nice dinner and yet more ice cream. I ate my fair share on this trip. We had a great apartment Craig had found just up from the Noosa Main Street and beach. It was just a 5 min walk down the hill to what is normally a party spot but was super quite due to the economy I suspect.

The next morning after their flight from Auckland Marke and Paula arrived. Again it was great to see some mates I had not seen in a couple of years. We chilled for the rest of the day after Myself, Bridge and Paul had a good few hour walk out to a headlands and some sweet beaches. Ha, one happened to be a nudist beach. We had some great Indian for dinner that night and swam in the pool right under our main deck and hung in the Spa.

The next day we headed down to another beach to chill for a bit and see a new spot. After playing some beach soccer and breaking one of my toes ‘I suspect’ Craig and I went for a swim before having a great feed of Fish 'n' Chips before yet more swimming at the apartment. That Arvo Lance my brother showed up and 5 of us went on this exciting boat ride in the Ocean. It was a pretty wicked boat, the same type the SAS uses for sea transport. We got heaps of air hitting the big swells and got sore legs from holding ourselves up to stop our backsides getting smashed up on the specially designed seats. I recommend this trip. The way it can corner too is impressive too; close to as good as a river jet can turn.

That night after wicked Pizza we watched Armageddon (what a cheesy movie) before hitting the sack. It was lucky Lance had been there. He was sleeping up stairs in the living room to awake to an intruder breaking in. Long story short he scared the guy who had obviously robbed this place before to hell. Lance attempted to catch the little bast%$d but he was off like a little monkey in the night. Jumping off the balcony onto a tin shed by our room (I don’t know why I didn't hear it) running past the pool, leaping anther fence and off into the bush where evil monkeys belong. Anyhow we were lucky because we would have been cleaned out as many people had their wallets and valuables lying around on the top floor. In the morning Lance who wants to be a cop was most disappointed about not catching him and teaching him a few moves he learnt in the Army. Haha – Once a Grunt always a Grunt :-)

 

Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Mew Zealand

The next day was pack up day. We said good bye to everyone and headed out of Noosa on our way back to Brisbane. On the way back I, Lance, Bridget, Craig and Amanda stopped at the 'Big Kart Track' where we spent in the next hour racing each other round well a big outdoor kart track. They were pretty fast and the competition was pretty tight. Craig got two bung cars. The first one was slow as a dog and I felt sorry for him, the next one was fast as hell due to what seemed to be higher gearing. He flew past on the straights though could not hold the lead in the corners due to slow acceleration. The overall champion would have to be Bridget though both Lance and I would say that it was the weight advantage she had over us. She always pulled away on the straights, though I gotta say she is a bit of a dare-devil and I am pleased she does not drive like that on the road (well most of the time) :-)

After dropping Bridge off at the Airport that arvo I spent the next day and a half with Lance at his place on the Gold Coast. We went to the X-Men movie which was good but not nearly as good as Startrek and also had some drinks and good food. Mmmm La Porchetta. The next day we went to Wet 'n' Wild. What a flop. It’s a big water park which should be called 'Get Wet for no reason'. It was boring. It was too safety conscious and I am pleased it was off season cause I would have cried if I needed to line up for the boring rides. All they needed to do was pump more water down the tubes and the thrill factor would have gone way up. Anyway don’t go, only good for kids under 15. We expected to spend the whole day their but instead left after 2.5hrs to check out the wicked houses in the canals (where the ‘stupidly’ rich live) and just hang out in Surfer's Paradise.

Lance dropped me off at some silly hour at Brisbane Airport where I spent the whole day flying to Timaru to catch-up with Mum, Dad and Lauren for just a day and a night. It was worth it of course though it was a real flying visit. Lauren who loves music more than I like bikes was well happy that she somehow ended up with my Sony MP3 Player as an early Birthday present after her last MP3 player had broken. Spoilt little sister’s aye…

The next evening I flew back to Welly to spend my last few days here catching up with Bridget and all my mates that were around that weekend and still living in Welly. Many have left. Anyway it was a great few days involving much eating and drinking and visiting people. It’s always good seeing people you haven't seen for ages. I experienced some typical Welly weather. Gales and horizontal rain going every which way and also looked at all the local hills and trails wishing I had my MTB and more time to go get Muddy.

Anyway till the next race report keep well,

Kurt

KOM Race 2 – Breathless Agony (and aptly named…)

Well it has been over 2 weeks since this race now so I will keep it short and sharp. Derek and I rode together the whole time in this well run event. It is amazing how well matched we are on a road bike. The weather was perfect for this type of riding, a little windy at times especially on the decent from Onyx Summit.

After some issues with Derek's bike on the unkept 'Jack Rabbit' road (more like an easy MTB track) we were making good time. We climbed up the Oak Glen road pretty dam fast and well we were feeling pretty good aye. On the 2nd main turn into the downhill I was following another punter after Derek had passed him before the turn. It was a big sweeping left-hander and is a tricky one. Anyhow this fellow whom I was probably just a few meters behind started to hit the brakes on the turn itself and was drifting further and further to the outside of the turn. It’s a deceiving corner, one of those that gets steeper and sharper the further into the corner you get. Anyhow he drifted into gravel and instantly slammed into the ground at about 25mph (38 kmph).

He was yelling and sliding right in front of me, I was in panic mode, my back wheel was locked up and I was doing a sideways skid at some stupid speed on tarmac on tiny road tires trying to not end up ontop of him (my tire wore down to the weaving in one spot). Somehow with the wheel all locked I managed to clear his head by I swear no more than a couple of feet. It was a scary, real scary moment, I'm not sure how I managed to turn inside him at that speed but it happened so fast. Being use to a bike feeling that way (from all my Mountain Biking) had to have helped. Anyway as I was passing him and trying not to crash myself he was stopped by slamming into a metal road sign. It was a horrible noise. I managed to stop in the gutter without any damage to me or the bike. I was in shock somewhat and yelled out to Derek who came back up the road. It was the most horrific crash I had seen in person, except maybe a few DH crashes.

We reached the guy who was already on his cell-phone calling his wife for a pickup. He was a mess. Blood all down one side of his body and his face was real messed up with a massive cut under his chin. He was in shock. Anyway after we sorted him the best we could we got down to the checkpoint and informed them of the crash though others who had ridden past told them of the mess and that two guys had stopped to help him (us). I have no idea about what happened to the guy but I hope all is well and that he makes a good recovery. Geez if that happened to me I think that would be the end of road biking for me. When you do crash by god it can be bad. Lots worse than most MTB crashes.

The rest of the race was uneventful thank god. At the bottom of the Oak Glen downhill it was all on. A 30 mile uphill. About an 1800m climb with a few rolling sections but mainly downhill. Anyhow we went about our business and felt pretty good. 5hr 29mins after we left Redlands (the start) we arrived at the top. This was to our surprise good for 22nd place out of 511 starters. We were well happy with this and had Derek’s bike been fine and had the guy not crashed we would have have been at least 10 mins faster and 8-10 extra places up the ladder. It’s fair to say it was a very satisfying ride that’s for sure. We were pinned most of the time but no more than the last 500ft of elevation when another guy was trying to burn us off. In the end we had him and pulled away from him to be greeted by the Grim Reaper at the 8500ft high Onyx Summit.

All up we rode 114 miles (183km) and climbed 11500ft (3500m). Quite the day out and surprisingly for me as I did it without cramps and felt pretty good in the following days.