Last time I raced it (2004) it kicked my arse, I blame a lack of training and living in soft old Auckland. With two seasons of Waikato riding and racing in my shorts I was a lot more prepared.
Wellington, where the wind always blows it's just a matter of how hard, the day dawned windy, cold and a little wet, basically great Wellington summer racing conditions (for Wellingtonians).
After 10 minutes standing in the river we were into it, blowing through the first road climb I felt good, but as soon as I hit Deadwood, the first proper offroad climb I was reminded why I'd stuck an 11-34 cassette on the bike, low gears ahoy and just a case of grinding it out. After many false summits we cleared Deadwood and it was flying down the loose stuff and into more river riding and the sure knowledge that the Devil's stair case was just around the corner.
The last time I confronted Devil's, I was stopped halfway up by cramp in both calves and both quads, I lay by the side of the track looking so messed up that a few riders asked me if I needed them to send a medic down, a low point in my riding career. This time it was me and two other riders, I hesitate to say it was easy, but it was. I got to the top said hi to Virginia (who was official photographer for the poor bastards making it to the top) , looking at my Garmin Edge 500 ;-) I seemed to be on track for a 3 hour...talk about give me a burst of energy, it was on from there.
I vaguely remember smoking the downhill and taking the river crossing in big ring, before hitting the final climb, for those looking at the Karapoti terrain, this is the easiest of all the days climbs, it's 100% rideable and it's just about you and how much pain your knees can handle at this stage. Reached the top, grabbed some water, grabbed out a gel, dropped the gel, thought fk it, it's all downhill from here, dialled up the big ring and hauled myself down the gorge. The Garmin had been blinking out a little during the ride (I told you, it's a jungle), so I knew the time it was showing me was a little adrift from race time so there was no room to relax...out of the gorge and onto the tarmac, at this point I found a little more capacity for pain, locked out the fork and pushed the HR up a notch, then it was into the river crossing again and a dash to the finish, as I crossed I heard one of the Kennett's name check me and mention something about sub 3 hours. Sub 3 really? Did I hear right? I had to wait almost on hour before the results were printed out and there it was 2.59.15. A good day on the pain train.
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