The Collie-Donnybrook Classic represented the first open event I have competed in since the Pemberton Classic in early March this year. I've never raced the event before so was not familiar with the course and coupled with the event being a handicap, it was certainly going to be a first for me in both elements of the race. I was hoping for a favourable handicap and a group that would be willing to work together to either keep a gap on the rest of the field for the duration (for as long as possible) or allow each of us to conserve the energy needed to go with the chasing groups when they collected us.
The family accompanied me for some extra support even though they would not be able to follow the riders on course. We arrived about 90mins before race start so plenty of time to register and warm up. I had been placed in the 21 minute group (quite surprised) but with the collection of rumours that I had been picking up of the hills just out of Collie, I would need every one of those 21 minutes to be any chance of being anywhere near the lead group for the final assault on the finish - and I would need a group that would be willing to help each other and work with each other all the way through.
I didn't want a repeat of the problems I'd had before the start at Pemberton so I'm wasn't entirely convinced that I had given myself the best warm up and I didn't get out on course enough to lay eyes on the first hills. I wanted to stay near the marshaling area to ensure that I didn't miss any of the briefings and used the time to stretch the muscles a little and to consider my game plan. No matter which way I looked at it, I was beginning to get the feeling that the race was going to be brutal and the hills just out of Collie were really going to test me.
I knew a few of the names in my handicap group and recognised some of them as stronger hill climbers than myself and that would be suited to them if they wanted to try and bridge across to the group in front and leave the rest of us to our own devices. I would need to be mindful of this and if they wanted to get away early, then I would have to ride within my limits and not try to keep up with them and await the chasing group and hope that it was big enough to get the lead riders back before the finish.
On our release, some 17 minutes behind Emma Molloy and Katherine Joyce (both Pink Unicorns), I rode up to the front of the group and rounded the first corner out of Collie toward Mumballup where I began to to elicit some work amongst the group and encouraged the rolling of turns to begin. Things were working well with each member of the group rolling through each time until we hit the first significant hill some two to three kilometres out of town. I noticed that one or two in the group had stopped rolling through and sat in on the back of the group but did not notice that by the time we had hit the third climb, we had dropped two or three riders completely and the hill climbers in the group we had were continuing to pour on the power up the inclines which was not conducive to co-operative riding and I immediately knew that these guys were completely in it for themselves.
Not being the greatest hill climber, I let them go and began to ride at my own threshold up the inclines and kept the power on for the descents which I knew would leave me in no-man's land until the 19 minute group caught me. I was suffering during the first 20 minutes of the race but eventually got my second wind and was able to maintain my threshold much easier than I had leading up to that point. I had not been monitoring my Garmin as I simply wanted to ride by feel and not worry about numbers. I could feel that I was maintaining power and my HR was quite high.
I had collected a couple of other riders before Mumballup and hoped that some of them might have been able to match my pace and ride with me to help with the head wind before heading west but when I rode through Mumballup on my own, I knew that it would be a real test to maintain my effort. It would be some 35kms or so into the race before I noticed the 19 minute group behind me and I eased up a little to allow them to collect me and jumped onto the back of them to give myself some respite and a chance to recover.
The group was not big and only contained about 8 riders so trying to keep out of the head wind would be a bit of a challenge. I also noticed that of those 8 riders, 3 were from my 21 minute group including Emily McRedmond, so it appeared that this group had suffered the same fate as ours. Emily had either been finding the going a little hard (which I think would be unlikely for her) or she was happy to let the boys do most of the work as she would only ride up to the front once every so often. As I monitored the group a little closer from around the middle, I noticed that only half the group seemed to be rolling turns while the other half were happy to sit in. I was guessing that there would be no chance of having this group get anywhere near the remainder of the 21 minute group and that my personal work rate would need to remain significant until the group behind us caught up.
As we approached the bridge (with some nasty pot holes just before) that signalled the start of a longish, but not difficult climb up to the turn into South West Highway, there was still no sign of any other group either ahead or behind. It was not until we sighted the traffic on S.W. Highway that we passed the lead group heading back to Collie. We also passed another two groups that had collected significant numbers, including the other members of the 21 minute group, before we reached the turn point in Donnybrook. Two riders in our group decided that there would be a chance to catch them if we worked hard enough and I went with them to help get things rolling.
Unfortunately, the others in our group didn't share our optimism and remained at the pace we had kept for the previous 10kms or so. I stayed with the other two up to the turn back onto Boyup Brook Rd where we would reach the start of a bit of a climb and I struggled to keep with their pace. Another rider had decided to finally have a go at keeping with the two others and he was able to get across to them as they climbed while the remainder of the group caught me up and I sat in to pace me up the hill. We had passed the group immediately behind us just after the turn off S.W. Highway and it was quite large due to a number of groups collected to increase the numbers. They were still some time behind us and I figured that given our group size and pace, they would not catch us until Mumballup.
As we reached the top of the climb out of Donnybrook, the three riders up the road had not gained too much distance on us and I began the descent with some vigour in the hope that the group might be inspired to help close the gap but there was not one rider willing to go with me. I kept the pace up down the remainder of the descent back to the bridge with the pot holes and I could just make out that one of the three riders had dropped off from the other two and I used him as motivation to maintain my pace and attempt to catch up with him.
The work load was beginning to take its toll and the group behind me had caught me again before I was able to close the gap on the sole rider. As a group, we had more success in bringing him back into the fold but the other two had now put a significant gap on us that we would find difficult to close. By this stage, there was still no sign of the large group that was chasing us down and we were starting to pick up other riders that had popped off the back of the bunches up the road. Some of them attempted to stay with us but did not last long before disappearing off the back again.
As we rode toward Mumballup, our small group was collected by the large chasing group which I immediately noticed was headed up by Blue Unicorns in AP, Craig and Chris Roberts. From here, my role would be to sit in and ride about mid-way within the group and stay off the front until we reached Collie. Unfortunately, I was beginning to feel the strain of the work I had already done and had to drink as much fluid as I could without using all of my stocks before the hill climbs. I feared that in my condition, I would not be able to maintain the pace that the majority of the group would be able to hold going up the Collie hills.
As we reached Mumballup and turned the corner to head back to Collie, the group was still strong and riding as one but it would not be long before we reached the first climb and the group split into three. I was initially in the second of the these three groups but felt the fatigue in the legs was beginning to hinder me before I had even made it half way up the climb and I dropped back to the last group before the top of this climb which was far longer than I remembered it to be when coming down it on the outward leg of the race.
I stayed with this third group for as long as I could on the subsequent climb but was very much struggling to keep a decent pace up the hills but wanted to keep ahead of the chasing groups (including scratch) for as long as I could so maintained the power on the descents in an effort to stay ahead the chase groups and collect as many riders that dropped out the back of the bunch ahead of me. Unfortunately, none of them either seemed to share the same willingness to continue the painful experience or were willing but not able to go with me.
As I reached the crossing of the Glen Mervyn Dam, I spied one of the remaining chase groups behind me and it was not long before they caught and passed me. From the numbers on the backs of this group, I figured them to be a combination of the 3 and 5 minute groups and were motoring at a pace that I would not be able to keep going up the next climb. Thankfully, there was still no sign of scratch even as I approached the start of the final significant climb of the day.
I worked as hard as I could up this climb and continued to pass one or two other struggling riders but began to feel the onset of cramps and had to back off a little to take on whatever fluid I had left to help get me through to Collie. Thankfully, the cramping was kept at bay through the last few kilometres of the race where I would come up on two other riders who seemed keen to latch on to me and sit on my wheel. I didn't want any hangers-on so I signalled them to come through and roll turns so I could get a handle on their condition and whether they were actually capable of keeping with me to the end or whether it was a last ditch effort to get a ride home.
The two were in as much pain as I was and I recalled the last little kick up into town before the road levelled off and descended into the turn up to the finish line. I kicked up with whatever energy I had left and managed to disengage the two riders and rode alone, up the small rise and through to the finish line.
The hills had certainly defeated me but I would later find out through uploading my garmin data that I had actually suffered through one of my hardest efforts yet. My data matched that which I had been producing during training sessions in Perth and was backed up by a significantly well sustained heart rate that would represent the work load I felt I had put in through the race.
Congratulations certainly go the the Pink Unicorn team with some great results coming from Amanda Nabi (2nd female overall), Emma Molloy (3rd female overall) and the others finishing strongly in an incredibly hard race.
From talking with him after the race, AP would likely have gone out and done it all over again right after finishing. He finished well with Chris Roberts and Craig Pennell in the top 45 places while Pat and myself both had hard days in the office, especially Pat who somehow managed to attract the hadicapper's attention being placed in the scratch group.
In the end, I think we all enjoyed the chance to get down to Collie and participate. I'm not sure how we will be placed next year but I look forward to taking another opportunity to improve on this year's result.
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