On Sunday 13th November the Highland Fling Mountain Bike Race was held on the trails around Bundanoon in the NSW Southern Highlands. There are 3 race distances: the Half Fling – 59km, the Full Fling – 112km or the 100 Mile Fling – 165km. This was my second race in the Full Fling and I knew from last year that this was a tough race with a fair amount of single track and some solid hill climbs to test me out. The weather was cooler than last year and the predicted rain never eventuated.
Last year I completed the race in 7 hours 40 minutes and had suffered from cramps for the second half of the race. This year was going to be different as I had been on the Cycling Inform remote coaching program for 4 months leading up to the race. My coach, James had faith in my ability to complete this race in under 6 hours, but I was a little more conservative setting myself a goal of 6 hours and 30 minutes for the race.
At the start of the race I just got myself into a steady rhythm making sure I didn’t push too hard to early. I remembered my nutrition plan and stuck to it. In a little over an hour I completed the first 27km stage and arrived at the first feed station. I now had the 53km second stage to complete which contained a lot of single track which is where I started to suffer last year. I completed the 2nd stage and was in pretty good shape with only the 32km of the final stage to go. I knew from last year that there were some tough sections in this final stage but I also felt confident that I had prepared well for the race. I was also excited by the time I was setting, James was right, I was going to complete this in under 6 hours.
I finally crossed the line in a time of 5 hours and 35 minutes, 2 hours and 5 minutes better than my effort last year. I finished 37th in the Masters Male category out of a field of 220 and to say I was happy with the result would be an understatement. I couldn’t wait to let James know the result.
I now need to set myself some new goals for 2012. The performance improvement that I have gained from the remote coaching program has been remarkable. A big thank you to James for his efforts over the last 4 months.
Cheers
Peter
