Jindabyne the break down

Ok, long while between posts.. So how was it?

Well in the lead up to Jindabyne I came down with Strep throat and had no legs... so i didn't ride for a week... So I went into the camp with no idea of form..

The first day was a short warm up to Perisher, legs felt pretty heavy but were turning over ok, and my lungs and throat were feeling much better... turn around 15km in and zoomed back.

Day 2 was the real test. Jindabyne -> Thredbo -> Dead Horse Gap return (115km 2500m ascent). Weather was good, not too hot and the legs were feeling fantastic... rode up the front and set tempo for the bunch for the first 20km in a howling headwind. I decided to bring my 50mm deep wheels and was starting to get blown around quite a bit at high speed and had white knuckles down the steep descents...

Around 25km in the group broke up and the attacks started to come thick and fast... I was able to stick with the trouble makers up the front and we settled into a nice 5 man paceline which was peppered with attacks. Fantastic training and real riding on the limit stuff. On the climb up to the western face of Dead horse gap I rode tempo at the front and whittled the group down to 3 and that is how we rolled into check point 1. Quick photo snaps, refilled water bottles and it was down the eastern face of deadhorse which is VERY steep and is a 12km climb with average gradient of 8% with long ramps of 10-12%.

Last year climbing up Dead Horse I suffered like a dog... it was disgusting. I had to stop multiple times and i couldn't get the powermeter over 220watts. In contrast, this time around I did it quite easily and had some in reserve and cruised up steadily between 280 - 300w.

Zoomed down to thredbo, for a ham roll, washed it down with coffee, choc milk and water. Then headed back to Jindabyne, with the wildest tailwind I have ever rode in my entire life.. I was hardly turning the pedals over and cruising on 50km/hr for large parts.. even the hills were no troubles with the tailwind allowing me to stay in the big ring... Truly an amazing experience.

Day 3 was Jindabyne -> Charlottes pass and return. (90km 1500metres ascent). Once again legs were feeling great and rode up the front pacing the group. After 5km of steady climbing up Charlottes a few edgy souls decided to move off the front we let about 5 people go and get a good gap on us before myself and Crazy E set off on our chase.

We had the company of one other person and were setting a good tempo up the mountain. We slowly started to reel people back in catching all the escapees with about 5km to go. At this point the tempo starts to get very uncomfortable as we try to crack each other, no one does until the last kilometre when I let it all out... Just held 400watts on a 4% gradient for as long as I could and managed to break Crazy E.

Day 4 was Jindabyne -> Berridale and return. This was a fairly flat ride, but the legs were well and truly screwed by now with the tempo up the small climbs almost enough to eject me straight out the back... After 20km or so the legs came good and I started to feel comfortable again. On the run into town there is a large slight downhill run of 8km or so and the bunch turned into a ferocious paceline and we were averaging 47km/hr quite comfortably.

Great training weekend, good company and quality miles. The legs are still a bit fatigued but they'll come good again soon.

Plans are for a road race this sunday, should be interesting to see what the legs can do.