Bupa Challenge 2014: 180km in the legs, $1000 to the Cancer Council
Focus on the 10%, and delivering “the stuff that matters”.
A personal note from me about the ride, make a coffee, have a read, hope
you take something from it, Todd.
People have asked “was it tough”…the answer is at times “yes
it was”, but in reality it was nowhere near as tough compared to the battles
and challenges cancer brings to so many lives each and every day. That’s why I
did it, to “ride for a reason” and try and make a difference.
People have also asked “what did you learn”…the short answer
“bike seats aren’t the most comfortable things to sit on for long periods of
time” :)
In all seriousness though, a wise person once told me to “focus
on the stuff that matters” and I learnt on the ride that often only 10% of what
we do really matters and the other 90% is just part of going through the
process to achieve a desired result. I say this because I had 2 moments on the
ride that were extremely challenging, a 10km section between 95km and 105 km
and an 8km section coming out of Yankalilla at the 150km mark. Ironically this
equals 18kms or 10% of 180kms…
Up until the 95km mark the course was relatively easy, I’d
ridden parts of it before and to be honest I was flying along driven by enthusiasm
and adrenalin…I actually started to think I might skip the Mt Compass stop and
power through to Myponga, how wrong I was. Between 95km and 105km “the plan”
went out the window. I became mentally distracted, forgot to snack on carbs,
stopped sipping water and started to think about “the next 80km”. I knew I’d
get to 100kms fairly comfortably as that was my average training distance, but
the realisation that I now still had almost the same distance to cover again
(80km to go) and that I hadn’t completed the Myponga dam climb all became a bit
too much to digest, so I took a decent 20 min break, re-grouped with a few familiar
faces at the Mt Compass refreshment stop and basically “convinced myself” that
I was starting a new ride for the day and I only had 80km to go…it worked…for a
while at least.
The next 20kms went very quickly, I had a second wind and at
approximately 125km mark I had to tackle the Myponga dam climb. This climb was
the KOM (King of the mountain) stage for the TDU pro’s that day. I was
determined to do it, there was a pre-arranged “escape route” on the course for
riders who chose not to tackle the Myponga climb. I’d already decided that wasn’t
going to be me, not today, today was “my day” and I was not only going up it, I
wasn’t going to stop at any stage of the climb. It’s a tough climb, but I’d
climbed tougher before and lots of my training had been through the Adelaide
hills including the notorious “Corkscrew Rd”, so I knew I’d done the work and
it paid off on the day. I did it, climbed Myponga dam with “petrol in the tank”.
It was much easier than I thought and it was an awesome feeling. I took a
moment to soak in the view from the top of the Myponga dam, took a photo and
text my wife “131km down, 49km to go. Feeling good luv u”. That was 12:22pm,
little did I know the next 49km would take well over 2 hours and the biggest
challenge was yet to come.
Feeling great, with a spring in my step I then focused on
getting from Myponga to Yankalilla. As I was now only a few km’s from the coast
and at the top of Myponga “enter the head wind” straight off the ocean. It was
a very strong wind but I told myself to “suck it up” because all the other
riders were dealing with the same head wind so I just had to focus and get
through it. Pretty soon I was at Yankalilla, the last scheduled rest stop on
the BUPA challenge and confirmation that there was only 33km to go. I was tired
but secretly starting to feel excited about getting to the end and completing
the 180km.
I left Yankalilla and let’s just say the head wind had “picked
up a bit”…a lot in fact! It was like riding into an industrial fan…this was
seriously not part of the deal!! I was meant to be tackling the “easy bit”, I
started to get distracted again and little did I know…it was time to “focus on
the stuff that matters”. I knew a climb was coming, but I honestly thought it
was a short climb…maybe a 1km or 2km and I was thinking it was just a
formality. Well history will show that the “short climb” was the best part of 6km
to 8km and without question was the toughest part of the day.
It was all starting to go a bit pear for many riders,
including me. I estimate I was in a group of approx 150 to 250 riders all
spread out in groups of 2 to 5 over about 20km. I was struggling, thinking is
my bike computer broken? The km’s aren’t going up? That can’t be right? To get
from 150km to 160km felt like a life time, the climb was relentless…not
necessarily a climb I would usually find hard, but at that time of day, with
that many km’s in the legs, with a having to deal with riding into an “industrial
fan head wind” this was certainly not part of the plan and it was at that
moment I reminded myself that I was “riding for a reason” and that many people
had donated their hard earned money in good faith I’d get the job done and more
importantly 1000’s of people at any one time in Australia are going through
their own personal battle with cancer, far greater than anything I was
currently having to deal with.
I remember during the “never ending climb out of Yankalilla”
each time I’d round a corner I’d be thinking the crest (and more importantly the
downhill bit was coming), but each time the road would take another twist and
go uphill again. At one point there was an amateur photographer on the side of
the road, I was in a group of 4 other riders and we were all out the saddle “getting
it done”. He said as we went past “the climb is nearly over guys, only 2km to
the top”. I remember thinking “you’ve got to be joking”. I was hoping there was
only 20m to go, not another 2000m to go!! Suddenly the ride had become a game
of metres, it was no longer fun and I knew even when I got to the top of the
climb I still hadn’t reached the 160km mark…there was over 20km to go still
after that, no end in sight to the climb oh and did I mention the head wind now
felt like riding into a category 5 cyclone!!
My day could have easily been over. I’m convinced at that
point the riders who had put in the many 1000’s of km’s and hours of hard
training AND “kept their head in the game” got the job done. Those that
didn’t …didn’t finish…simple as that. For me what stood between achieving the
180km goal and so many other things all came down to that 6 to 8km climb, who
would have thought?
Right then and there 2 things happened. I made a decision I
was going to finish no matter what and somewhere between the 158km and 160km
mark I reached the top of the hill. Riders were pulling out left right and
centre. The paramedics and support vehicles were “sweeping” the road to offer help
to those who were cramping, “coughing up blue Powerade” or had just simply
stopped and flaked on the side of the road. I felt sorry for people who had
come this far, I stopped to help a couple, but that wasn’t going to be me, not
today. I got my head back in the game and realised that after 160km’s down,
really the whole ride came down to 18km to 20km and it was what I did in those
moments and how I handled it that mattered, the rest really didn’t. The rest of
the km’s were all just part of the process to achieve the desired result.
From 160km to 170km it was all downhill…literally, thank
god! I whizzed down the hills with a new found sense of confidence at a steely
resolve to “finish strong”. I remember going under the UNI SA 10km to go banner
and thinking “I’ve got this” and to be honest the rest is a bit of a blur. I
knew there was a “semi decent” climb coming into Victor, but the worst was
behind me. What I noticed also is the riders who were now around me also had a
new sense of confidence and enthusiasm…the end was close, we all knew it.
Confidence and a positive attitude are amazing things; again I come back to focusing
on the 10% and dealing with the stuff that matters. I think in life if you can
manage to do this you can achieve anything.
The climb into Victor was now in sight, to be honest I found
it the easiest of the day even compared to the 1st 10km up the
freeway. That adrenalin and enthusiasm was back, a group of about 5 riders
passed me, they were going strong and I knew if I could get on the back of them
and match their cadence they’d drag me up the hill. The pro’s were only about
40 mins behind us so quite a crowd had gathered along the route. I’ll never
know who these people were, but I was very grateful for their well wishes and applause
as we powered up the last climb. I was finishing strong, I could feel it and
could tell by comparing myself to the other riders. I got to the top of the
hill and had put some decent distance between me and the “strong” group. I’d
done it!
I came over the horizon looking over Victor Harbor pretty
much in a world of my own. There was less than 2km to go and I was flying down
the hill. You know that head wind was still there, but it no longer mattered…it
was almost as if it was a tail wind, awesome feeling. Now into the main streets
of Victor there were people everywhere, lots of claps and well wishes. I
remember the police had blocked all the roads and I absolutely powered through
a couple of round-a-bouts to the main street of Victor. It was an amazing buzz.
I was re-directed to the “Bupa Challenge Tent” to collect my
re-fuel food and refreshments. I stopped my bike computer, 180.4km for the day –
job done.
The next 20 mins was spent replying to many phone calls and
text messages. The pro’s then came through and history will show that Andre Greipel
won the stage. It was then I realised I actually didn’t get to go over the
finish line!! Approximately 400m from the line the officials had closed off the
finish section to allow support vehicles and media to set-up. I was disappointed
as I missed the cut off by 5 to 10 mins, but on reflection I appreciate that
this had to be done at some point. In hind sight I realise I’d had one too many
stops, but I’d also stopped to check on some riders in that last 33km so whilst
I missed going over the finish line I’d ridden in the spirit of the sport and
done the right thing by fellow riders and most importantly made the 180kms to
Victor so all in all it really didn’t matter.
It was just an awesome feeling to make it from my own house
in Golden Grove all the way to Victor Harbor and receive so many texts and well
wishes on arrival.
Focus on the 10%, and delivering “the stuff that matters”.
Goal Achieved: 180km’s in the legs and $1000 to the Cancer
Council.
I can’t ask for much more.
I’d like to thank each and every person that donated money
to the Cancer Council and sent me well wishes of support. It really did make a
difference and I am genuinely grateful.
A special mention to my training partners Alan, Cam, Paul,
Anthony, Bill and Carl and my PACC Sportif team the “5 Bob’s Plus”. I spent
many hours and km’s in the saddle with these people in the 6 months leading up
to the event, cycling is not only a great sport, it’s also a great way to
strengthen friendships and create new ones along the way.
Special mention to Alan, who I not only did the bulk of the
training with, dragging each other up some of the steepest hills in the North
Eastern Adelaide Hills most weekends, but it was also Alan who came up with the
insane idea of turning the already long 154.5km course into an ironman equivalent
cycle leg i.e. 180kms. I honestly didn’t think we’d do it at first, but I’m
glad we went for it and achieved it. A memorable 6 months of hard training with
Alan, none more memorable than encountering a red bellied black snake “sunning
himself” in the middle of Lower Hermitage rd in early summer…that certainly
made for some great sprint training that day!
I’d also like to thank my Mum, Dad and Sister for their
donations and support.
Finally to my beautiful wife and 3 kids, thank you for all
your support in the 6 months leading up to the event. There were many weekends
I wasn’t home and instead was out putting the kms into the legs. Thank you for
your understanding and belief, I know I’ve made you proud.
Remember, focus on the 10% and delivering “the stuff that matters” and
you can achieve anything.
