Day #1 and Day #2

January 27th, Epic Camp Day #1, Where is the self control?

My plan for Epic is too work into the camp, and take a day or two to see where the body is. It never fails at Epic, somehow I swear that I will take it easy for a few days and the shit is out the window after a couple hours.

Today I arrived in New Zealand by losing a day over the International Date Line. I arrived in Christchurch at 9am with all my bags and bike. After a 1k run from the International to Domestic terminal in Auckland, which was my run for the day, I was completely worked and sweating like a pig. My heart rate had to be at 170…good start right off the 9 hour plane flight. I arrived at the hotel to see the Epic Crew heading out. After a quick bike assemble and gearing up, I jumped in the sag wagon (not exactly what I want to do before I even start), but we had to catch the group for the first aid stop. This was the easy part of the ride, since it is all flat with a tailwind. I missed the easy part!! Cool! Who wants easy at Epic!

So, we stopped at the first aid stop and the group rolled up within a few minutes. I did not want to race up the first climb since this was a KOM, King of the Mountain, sprint at the top, so I elected to roll out easy with Brandon and get to Akoroa on my own. I had about a 3 mile warm-up before the climb started and it immediately went steep. It was a good 5-6 mile climb and I think it took about 40 minutes. I did not get caught so I kept rolling, nice downhill, and then a series of 3 more (smaller) climbs, all the way to Akoroa for lunch. We had a nice lunch and then it was KOM points for the way back. Gordo talked me into to sticking around, instead of rolling out easy, so I did ignoring my plan to take it easy. I felt pretty good, and a small group immediately went up the road. I caught on with Johnno and Tara (the only gal in the group), and we rolled up steady-to hard. I dropped off at the end, but I think I was about 5th or 6th over the top. Nice descent before our re-group for the Time Trial.

I was completely twisted when we stopped and I think the jet lag hit me at that point! The next part is going to be anywhere from 25-40k time trial. I started 15th, and before I knew it I was rolling by folks. I was holding about 300 watts, and it felt ok, until I starting hitting the headwinds. I was expecting to be done at 30k, but the TT started to seem a little long and I had passed everybody, so I was sure I had missed the turn. Finally, I saw Dave, and I rolled into a 43k TT in about 1:09 averaging about 290 watts for the duration. I ended up winning the TT by about 2 minutes, and was pleasantly surprised on how I rebounded. It was a bit more than I was planning, but of course, my lack of self-control, got me!! But I usually get stronger over these camps, so I am not too worried. In fact, I feel pretty good, considering, last year, I completely detonated on day 1 bike TT. Or was it day 2? I hope not? Because tomorrow is our biggest day. About 250k or 150 miles.

We are swimming at 6 and will be timing a 400 IM, and then rolling at 9 am, so it will be a full day. Might not get around to posting anything.

Day 2. Cashing checks the Body can not cover!

Today started with a 6 am swim. Since it is going to be such a long day we have to be on the road by 9am. We cruised a 2600m swim, and then got out for our timed 400 IM. I wasted no time and went off in the first heat with Clive who was right next to me. Clive and I were right together, and I was feeling good until about 50m into the breast. I thought it was going to be tough, but I was hoping I might be able to slide through without taxing myself too much. On the free stroke, I pulled away pounding at the water to finish. I swam a 6:06 SCM and was feeling it when I got out. A couple of us headed out early and decided to get our run in so we went a on a nice run through Christchurch and were back with about 30 minutes to rollout, which is not a lot of time to pack, eat and get gear together. I missed breakfast but got in enough calories, I think, to get me to lunch.

The first 95 miles flew by because it was flat and we had a nice tailwind, and we pulled into lunch in about 4.5 hours. With about 10 miles to go, I instigated a little fun, as Brandon and I went off the front. We worked together for the next 30 minutes, but got caught at a one-way bridge by Gordo, Molina, and Bevy, who were unable to catch us until the roadblock, and we all kept drilling all the way to town. This is going to definitely cause me some suffering later.

We had about 55 miles to go after lunch and 2 KOM challenges, and lots of climbing. I was feeling good until the climbs, when I proceeded to detonate. As Molina says, I blew so big I left a crater in the road. It was not pretty, but for about 25 miles I was just in survival mode. It might have been the hard ride yesterday and TT off the plane, jet lag, the hammerfest before lunch, most likely a combination of all of them!!

Unfortunately after the hills went away, the wind really picked up. In fact, the winds were dead on and relentless. This turned the day into one of the hardest rides EVER!! I caught Brandon and Elliott which was nice as we could work together and it gave a mental boost. I am glad I detonated, as it reinforce to me to keep moving, and I eventually came back pretty strong. It took 90 minutes of serious suffering, and a coke, but it came around. It was not a good week to go on my coke holiday. I think it is necessary on rides like today when things get ugly. As Bevy says no coke in real life, but Epic Camp is not real life so coke it is. The ride ended up being 150 miles and 8 hours of riding, after a swim and run before. I never have swum and ran before such a big day. So, another first, and that is what Epic is all about. Accomplishing things that you would never do on your own, or in ‘real’ life. These first few days of Epic our turning into the real thing. Nothing easy and it is just going to keep coming. Packing a lot into our 8 days of training it appears. Let’s see what tomorrow brings…

Posted By Mark Pietrofesa to Petro-World