Day 15, Heading to Bluff--Last Day of Living the Dream

January 17, 2010 Day 15, Heading to Bluff—Last Day of Living the Dream

Today was no different than any other, other than I have the routine down pat now! Finally after 15 days of packing, gearing up, eating breakfast, sun-screening up, filling bottles, pockets with food, and being ready to roll out ON TIME or be left behind, it was routine. A routine which now seems normal and I savored it knowing that it will be coming to an end. Our group was ready to roll 15 minutes early as nobody wanted to be left behind, and I thought I might have messed up the roll time, but I was ready to go with a few minutes to spare. I rarely was much earlier than that, on any given day as I would always have another bite to eat if time permitted.

We had our nice leisurely rollout, and as always the first 1 hour was hard on me. Gordo joked it is because of the 6 pancakes I had for breakfast, and 4 pieces of Nutella on toast. I just think it is the old diesel engine takes a while to get going. After an hour we started hitting some rollers and from 50k-100k we were going to hit some big rollers. I took a flyer off the front to ride at my own tempo after being dropped on the first big climb. E and I bridged back up at 40k plus an hour, and I told him to jump on as I ramped up for the pass…the all too fun Epic Camp ‘fly-by’. He was yelling he could not burn those matches that early on, but I like the game of burning matches on the very edge, and at 1 hour into it I pegged it at 280-300 watts for the next rolling section of 10k up to the first drink stop. I like to test myself at these camps and pushing it out of my comfort zone or the comfort of the group is one of the games I play with myself. After 110 hour s of training, it might not be the most prudent of decisions, but I have a whole heck of a lot of time to recover, and if I don’t try, then I won’t know. So I hit it steady up to the second big climb and rolled up nice and easy to the first stop and waited. Everyone came up shortly, and we all rolled out together. It might have been a mistake, as I should have banked my hard earned gap, and kept it rolling and let everyone catch me on the next few set of climbs, but I rolled out the back on the hills rather quickly and proceeded to enjoy a most leisurely ride on my own. The next 50k went by quick, as I listened to the nature around me through the beautiful Kiwi rollers. The sun was shining now, and the temperature was rising. It was actually one of the few times, I could actually just ride, and not worry about completing anything in any specific time, and there was no rush for anything. I just rode…

I rolled up to the next drink stop to see Eric and Rip, and thought cool. I had my buddy’s that I started with the trip to ride with at the end of the trip, and we all rolled out together. After nearly 50k of just cruising, E and I started ramping it up. Rip was gone, and it was good to ride with my buddy Eric as we have not done much of that this trip. It felt like any other thousands of miles we have ridden together, but today, we were both feeling pretty solid at the same time. Plus we had gentle flats with small risers, and one heck of a tail-wind. We started rolled about 50k an hour as I did the math thinking lunch would be there in about 45 minutes. We hit it harder making it up some solid ground QUICKLY. We rode well together, and upon approaching a group of riders, I decided we needed to do the classic Epic fly by. I play by the ‘Claus-rules’ now, and that if you leave early before the scheduled daily roll-out, you get ‘No Mercy’. It is just one of those unwritten rules at Epic that I think folks figure out over time. Plus there is virtually no mercy at any point in camp anyway; this is just one of those things. As I ramped up to 400 watts, we approached fast, and I was waiting for the look back and jump on but it never came. Over the years, if I had fast guys behind me, that is one train I always looked for, especially Zoolander Jonas Colting, or Claus.

We kept rolling hard into lunch to regroup for our final 50k roll in to Bluff. Apparently we had made up a lot of ground with that last solid session of riding. With another 50k of rather solid tailwinds it was easy street from here on out. We all made great time together. It was a perfect way to the end the camp, essentially 100k of solid tailwinds, nice sunny skies, and our group really riding friendly together. I have enjoyed this camp immensely with some of the greatest folks to train with. I enjoyed playing the game in the end although I might have hated it along the way, and I had pushed myself beyond anything I though ever possible!

We rolled into Bluff, and a few of us took the one last challenge of the camp, to ride up Bluff Hill upon Molina’s insistence. I was willing to try and it was a blast. 18-25 percent grades after 115 hours of quad pounding training, I made it to the top. Douglas went head over backwards when he did a wheelie at the steepest part of the turn, and I just could not muster the power to get up without a short little walk. But at the top we all took amazing pictures and congratulated each other, to enjoy the scorcher downhill back to regroup. We then rode the final couple Ks to the end of the country. Taking some more great shots and a congratulatory bottle of bubbly we had but one more challenge…..running to lands end around the corner on a track. It started out along the ocean, but quickly started heading up, up, and up. It was not long before I realized we were going back up to the top of Bluff hill yet AGAIN, and this time on foot. It would not be Epic if we did not have one repeated challenge after another and this was a classic. Run up another 1000 feet after riding up it. It was mostly walking after a while for me, and that was not the tough part. The tough part was going back down. Quad pounding down all the way back into town, and our waiting van ride back to Invercargill.

We all did our final packing of our bikes and gear and met up for our final celebration dinner, where we scarfed down our final great meal together. Then off to the hotel to relive stories and relax and say our goodbyes. I will miss my Epic team-mates, and thanks to all the for the great memories and special thanks to the great crew, Dave Dwan, and the founding crazies of Epic, Gordo, Scott, and John. It was a great experience like no other!

190k bike—6 hrs 45 mins
7.5k run—1 hour

TOTALS for camp:
Swim -50k
Bike-2380k/1500 miles
Run-170k/106 miles
Total Hours of camp—116 hours

Until we meet again….Cheers!