As those who've I've spoken to or emailed know my weekend was disappointing, and I didn't reach anywhere the target required. But there were a lot of lessons learned, so it wasn't all bad. I'm happy with an initial attempt at this stage anyway and the knowledge I got out of the weekend, both about Everesting and also about myself will prove invaluable in the weeks ahead.
I ended up doing 16 or 17 repeats of Mt Gravatt and after making the mistake of phoning home guilt got the better of me. Everyone is on holidays and just waiting for me to get home and that made me feel very selfish. So despite not feeling too bad, I called it a day at 2200m or so. Wouldn't have been so bad if I'd taken the Niner as well for those times when I was feeling shattered as the first 200 -300m (and then at the 1k mark) or so was quite steep and really hit your legs hard. Those tiny sections really got me hurting after a few hours.
A fellow cyclist came off on the (fast) descent and did himself some serious damage given the amount of blood left on the road and the large number of bystanders willing to help out. An ambulance made an urgent appearance and he was taken to hospital. After that the guys I was riding with decided it was time to call it a day too and left me to my own devices.
So the wash up (lessons learned).
- I need to do far more repeats more often before having another go. That will entail some repeats of Mt Mee (a big and long climb) or something big regularly
- Regular 160-180k rides to get used to both the monotony and also build far more endurance in my legs (and ass!)
- I must remember to take some music as I left it all at home and was bored out of my brain..
- Support crew is essential (I had none..) This was probably the biggest part. You definitely need people around you to encourage and give you constant uplifting statements, otherwise you fall in a heap very quickly
I'm already planning out a training regime for another attempt in a couple months....I'm stubborn like that..
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