My goals for the Forest Grape Ride were to ride as well as I could and enjoy the event. I wasn't driven to qualify for the UCI Gran Fondo final so that took some of the pressure off, but I did want to do a respectable ride and try to stay with my age group for the flat first third of the race before the climbs started. I knew I'd be riding at my own pace up the climbs.
We found out when we arrived at the race start that men and women from each age group would be starting together. When I assembled in my age category, I also discovered that even with the men it was a quite small group - only 20 riders all up (note to the organisers - it is very helpful to know things like starting grid order and start list before you arrive on the start line, as it can play a big part in race tactics and mental preparation).
We got the 5 sec countdown and then our age category set off! A very informal race start. I started at the front of the grid, but that may have been a mistake as the other women set off very quick and I was hard pressed to keep up with them. I kept expecting some guys to come past and help but they didn't! So I spent the first few kilometres of the race trying to bridge a gap to the front few riders in my age group, who had already started working together and rolling turns. Eventually I eased off as I was just burning myself up and not making any ground. Then the rest of my age group came past and I managed to get on the back.
The first 15km or so was heading east into a headwind. I was the last rider in our group and it was all I could do to stick with them. I was not right at my limit, but I was certainly working a lot harder than I'd intended for this stage in the race! I'd say it was about equivalent to a C grade race, which is a grade above what I normally race.
Then we turned and headed north, with the wind coming from our right. The thing with a cross wind is that you don't get much protection from having a rider in front of you, so you have to work almost as hard as if you are on your own. And they were still riding faster than I could do on my own - which meant I was working way too hard trying to match their pace so I could have the protection of the group, but not actually getting any protection! So I dropped off the back of the group, and another lady dropped off the group a short time after me.
I wasn't close enough to catch up to the other lady, but then a guy from our group who'd been dropped much earlier caught up to me and I got onto his wheel, then he pulled me up to the other lady and she joined on the back of me. The guy was riding a great pace, hard enough that I couldn't come past to do a turn in front but not so hard that I couldn't keep up. He was also riding very steadily so I was confident sitting right behind his wheel. Kudos to you, man in the navy blue kit!
Eventually the age group behind caught up to us (40-44 year old). I managed to pick up my pace and get into their peloton, and said hello to Sam. I stayed in her peloton for a little while, it was a nice big group so I had a lot of protection from the wind. But they were surging and I had already pushed myself hard to try to stay with my group - I didn't have the legs or the mental drive to dig deep to stick with them, so eventually they surged too many times and I dropped off the back.
I then found myself riding behind the guy in the navy blue kit again, so that was quite nice. I stuck with him until approximately the 35km mark where the first hill into Picton started. He got out of the saddle and started sprinting up the hill, but I knew it was too long for me to be pushing hard all the way up, so I dropped off and let him go.
The next 10km or so were the main hilly twisty roads along the coastline west of Picton. I had decided before the race that I'd be riding this section at my own pace, steady up the climbs and cautious down the winding descents. And that was what I proceeded to do. I got passed by pretty much all the other age group riders along this section, but I wasn't worried. Any notion I may have had of getting a podium in my age category had gone out the window in the first 2km of the race, so it was back to Plan A - enjoy the scenery :) And the scenery was lovely, tree ferns on one side and aquamarine mirror-like bays on the other side.
Near the halfway point (50km) the road flattened off for a nice section along the coastline. It was about this point that a lady from my age group caught up to me from behind. It was the same lady that had dropped off the main group at the same time as me back in Blenheim! I didn't realise she was still behind me. So we proceeded to ride side by side along the flat coastline road and introduce ourselves. Her name was Ruth, she'd come from Auckland with her husband to do the ride. We had a nice chat and realised that we were quite well matched in pace, and established an unspoken agreement to ride together.
Closer to Havelock there were some more twisty hilly sections. I slightly backed off my pace so that I didn't drop Ruth, who had confessed that she wasn't so great up hills. We got through that section, through Havelock, then up a nasty little kick to turn left onto the highway and back towards Renwick.
At this point, about ten people caught us up from behind, so we found ourselves in a nice little peloton. It was great to have a bigger group to draft behind for this highway section, but it didn't last long - they were just a bit too fast for me. Plus the wind, which we'd expected to be a tailwind in this section, turned out to be a cross headwind. Nasty! After pushing to stay with the group, eventually I had to let them go - and Ruth dropped off at about the same time as me, as well as one other guy. So there were three of us, all pretty stuffed and sore, but all willing to work together to get through the next 20km to the finish.
In the nature of cyclists, without any need for discussion, our little trio started swapping off turns, each of us taking a turn on the front into the headwind, then the next rider taking over as we rolled to the back of the group for a little reprieve. We were working very well together, getting a good break between turns, but it was slow going into the wind and on very coarse roads. At least it was relatively flat, but that also meant there was no hiding from the wind!
I was counting down the kilometres by this time, my bum was sore from the rough roads and I just wanted to be finished. But each time I looked at the distance on my Garmin, less than 1km had passed since the last time I looked! We were also working so hard in the wind and on the rough roads that I couldn't get a chance to swap over my water bottles, and I was running out of water in my first bottle.
Then another group caught us from behind. We got onto that group, what a relief! But again, it didn't last long. The front half of the group had been working hard pulling the rest along, and I think they wanted others to help them out. When no more help came through, suddenly the pace surged - I pushed hard to stay on, as I really wanted to finish with my new mate Ruth. But I just couldn't keep up to the wheel in front. Ping - the elastic broke and I was off the back of the group. Then about two seconds later, I saw a gap open in front of Ruth and I knew she couldn't hold the pace either.
So Ruth and I found ourselves together again, this time with no one else to help. We were both getting quite tired by this stage, about 10km to go, so we just kept taking turns and doing what we could. We could see a few riders in front of us but neither of us had the power to try to bridge across to them. Then eventually we caught up to one guy who I'd seen pass me about 60km earlier. He got onto the back of Ruth and I, and he took the chance to recoup some energy.
After regaining some energy, the guy came to the front to do a turn, but he surged as he came though and I couldn't follow his wheel. Then Ruth tried to bridge the gap but she couldn't do it either. Somehow I got past Ruth then managed to get onto the wheel of the guy, but Ruth just couldn't quite stick there.
Then I saw the bridge that I knew was just up the road from the winery - only a few kilometres to go! This guy was moving pretty quick but he provided a good slipstream so I managed to stay on his wheel. We turned into the winery road, then another big group came past and it all got a bit messy on the twisty road into the winery. Anyway, I wanted to sit up a bit so I could finish close to Ruth.
I came across the finish line and pulled over - I was so happy to be off my bike! Then I saw Ruth finish only moments after me. She came over to me and we exchanged big hugs and thanks and contact details so that we could keep in touch.
Ruth and I finished fifth and sixth out of six women in our age group, which I'd expected. When I looked at the results I was surprised to see the fourth rider in our category was only ten minutes in front of us.
I found the ride surprisingly tough - I attribute this to the rough roads, which are hard on your body and sap your energy, as well as the hard first 20km of the race when I was pushing to stay with my age group.
I was happy with my ride, as I met my objectives to ride hard and pace myself well, plus enjoy the scenery. As a bonus, I got to meet a rider who was almost perfectly matched in pace to me, and have her companionship through most of the ride.
