Harry Hanley's account of his 2008 Warney ride
Harry Hanley's account of his 2008 Warny ride.
The first 8km of the race started under control with about 200 riders packing the roads through Sanctuary Lakes. As we came out on to Point Cook road, the lead car sped away and the race began. For the first 100km or so the pace was kept between 40 and 50km/h. With a pack of 200 riders it's easy to sit in and it really required little effort. The first feed station was at the 103km mark and nearly all riders were still together. My handler was there (Lisa) and the musette hand-off went like clockwork. Practicing this before hand was vital as was having the right bags and knowing at what speed you can safely pick up three 750ml bidens. There were at least two crashes in the feed stations, one resulting in a broken collar bone for the rider. Lisa was well prepared with a detailed road map of all the smaller country roads as she had to make her way around the rolling road closure to each of the four feed stations. At about 140km/h the race turned ugly. The wind that had been fairly sedate was now blowing from right to left. The pace had picked up to 58-60km/h and it was all singled out in the left hand gutter. I was well back in the group which was fine while we were just cruising, but now with it strung out in the gutter, I had to keep sprinting ahead and fill gaps as they formed to remain in contact.
I did this a dozen times until a the door open about 5 wheels in front of me and I was too spent to chase it down. Instead I started rolling hard turns with 4 others hoping to remain close enough to the group so that as they slowed though the second feed station we could get back on. The group was about 100m in front as they entered the feed station and I thought for sure I'd get there until my left hammy cramped and I had to stop pedaling. I spent the next few minutes pedaling with one leg and was soon over taken by a group of about 20 other riders. I managed to stretch out my left leg and could again pedal. By now the main pack was long gone and the small group of 20 were about 200m in front of me. I looked back and there were only 1's and 2's and made up my mind to chase the small group in front.
The next 15 minutes was the worst hurt I've been through in a while. The group I was chasing were going no more than 38 or so but closing that gap after already riding out the previous attack and then cramping was hard work. At one point, the main group of support vehicles passed me thinking I had lost all hope of regaining contact. I have to admit to catching about 30 seconds relief drafting a large white box van which gave me just enough rest to put in a final painful surge and I was able to get on.
Once back on this group, I didn't put my nose in the wind for at least an hour. What made this whole ordeal worst was that my second feed bag had tore and I lost 1 of my bidens and all my food. Luckily, I had pocketed enough gels to get me through most of the race from the start, but I only had 2 bidens to last until the next feed some 60k's away. This was tempered somewhat by a Red Bull shared by C Woolcock, though I had to repay the favour by pushing him during his nature break.
The last 120ks of the race was merely survival for me. The solo effort to catch the group had me completely spent. I did the occasional turn up the front, but nothing that was going to kill me. The last feed station came at 265km. I threw the food and took only drinks. With only 34kms to go I could now count the time til the finish in minutes not hours. At about 15km to go the tempo began to rise a bit. There were a few more small hills as we approached Warrnambool and after more than 7 hours in the saddle, fatigue hit some who began to fall off our little group. In the end I finished 28:60 behind the winner and averaged 38.5km/h for the 7h:48m. Collected my medal, took advantage of the free massage tent, then collapsed into my hotel room. I spent the next week nursing the worst saddle soars I've ever had.
