Ride Report Ken Dinnerville
Posted: 25 May 2014, 20:46
Ride Report – Ken Dinnerville 2014
In life there are things you know you know. Then there are things you know you don’t know. Finally there are things you don’t know that you don’t know. Did you know that “Ken Dinnerville” is actually local dialect for “Waterless, long solo ride in the countryside”?
With this in mind I embarked on 2014’s edition of the Ken Dinnerville Memorial Handicap Road Race. It differed from last year’s race with the additional of another lap and climb of Mount Marshall. I had unfinished business with this race as I came last, last year.
Would this year see an improvement on that placing? Only time would tell. The age old adage of if you do the same thing over and over and expect a different result then you‘re mad! So I did things a bit differently this year.
So I lost a little weight, 9KGs to be precise. I was 80KG last year and 71KG this year. Would this help?
My mates suggested I train as often as I can. I would have thought riding my bike would have been a better choice. However I took the train everywhere. I even did secret training late at night.
I received some wise nutrition advice. When asked where the race was I answered “Dapto”. The home of the Dapto Dogs I was informed. I was told that I should do as they do with the dishlickers as they put Tabasco Sauce on their Dates. I didn’t know Greyhounds liked dried fruit. That’s one of those “unknown unknowns” I was referring to earlier. It’s not very tasty either.
I arrived at the Illawarra Christian School in plenty of time to sign on and warm up. I was greeted by the other DHBC riders, all of whom were charitable enough to acknowledge me in the Club kit. We were certainly well represented, perhaps second only to ICC. I leap on my trainer and started peddling. It was pretty warm. In fact I knocked over a litre of water just on the trainer. I followed this up with a quick spin down the road and we were called to the start line.
Before!
I was surprisingly relaxed. I planned on doing what I could do and dealing with the consequences. The Limit Group rolled out containing John H and Andrew M. I figured this was going to be tough. Only 2km up the road was the Mount Marshall Climb. I was under no illusion that this was the point where I would be shelled out the back and my long lonely ride would commence. To my absolute shock I stuck with the bunch and was part of the “shellers” rather than the “shellees”. At least half a dozen riders were detached at that point and they remained gone forever. Clearly I had Unleashed the Furry.
We ripped in taking turns. I tried to do my turns on a downhill section and with a tailwind. Cunning huh? I was a bit of a passenger from time to time but that wasn’t a tactic. I remained in contact although not comfortably so as I noticed my heart rate was hovering at 180bpm. We hit the top of the descent back down and that was it for me and the bunch. I don’t enjoy fast descents so I detached and simply couldn’t get back on as they had about 150 metres on me and into a headwind. I was disappointed as I averaged 34.5kph for the first lap and I knew (a known known) that this would fall away rapidly.
The second lap was pretty lonely until I was caught by the next bunch. The headwind was energy sapping and it was hot. The tailwind was wonderful but only fleeting. By the middle of the second lap I was into the second bottle of water. This certainly caused me some concern.
On the third climb of Mount Marshall I went for my Suitcase of Courage. I had spent considerable time packing in earlier in the week. Unfortunately I seemed to have collected the wrong bag at the airport when I opened it I got that sinking feeling something was missing. It was empty.
Every time I passed one of our riders I got a shout or wave. I didn’t help, but it was nice anyway.
Two thirds of the way through the third lap I ran out of water and started to get cramps in my left leg. I knew at this point my day was done. The Commisaires were very specific that you couldn’t fill up during the race. Knowing that, my race was done at the end of the third lap, 78.2Km of the 104Km. I was disappointed not to finish. However I was very happy with my performance to that point.
Yes, I will be entering next year. I also plan on doing more racing.
Thanks to John Healey and Andrew Mattes for their on road encouragement. Chapeau.
In life there are things you know you know. Then there are things you know you don’t know. Finally there are things you don’t know that you don’t know. Did you know that “Ken Dinnerville” is actually local dialect for “Waterless, long solo ride in the countryside”?
With this in mind I embarked on 2014’s edition of the Ken Dinnerville Memorial Handicap Road Race. It differed from last year’s race with the additional of another lap and climb of Mount Marshall. I had unfinished business with this race as I came last, last year.
Would this year see an improvement on that placing? Only time would tell. The age old adage of if you do the same thing over and over and expect a different result then you‘re mad! So I did things a bit differently this year.
So I lost a little weight, 9KGs to be precise. I was 80KG last year and 71KG this year. Would this help?
My mates suggested I train as often as I can. I would have thought riding my bike would have been a better choice. However I took the train everywhere. I even did secret training late at night.
I received some wise nutrition advice. When asked where the race was I answered “Dapto”. The home of the Dapto Dogs I was informed. I was told that I should do as they do with the dishlickers as they put Tabasco Sauce on their Dates. I didn’t know Greyhounds liked dried fruit. That’s one of those “unknown unknowns” I was referring to earlier. It’s not very tasty either.
I arrived at the Illawarra Christian School in plenty of time to sign on and warm up. I was greeted by the other DHBC riders, all of whom were charitable enough to acknowledge me in the Club kit. We were certainly well represented, perhaps second only to ICC. I leap on my trainer and started peddling. It was pretty warm. In fact I knocked over a litre of water just on the trainer. I followed this up with a quick spin down the road and we were called to the start line.
Before!
I was surprisingly relaxed. I planned on doing what I could do and dealing with the consequences. The Limit Group rolled out containing John H and Andrew M. I figured this was going to be tough. Only 2km up the road was the Mount Marshall Climb. I was under no illusion that this was the point where I would be shelled out the back and my long lonely ride would commence. To my absolute shock I stuck with the bunch and was part of the “shellers” rather than the “shellees”. At least half a dozen riders were detached at that point and they remained gone forever. Clearly I had Unleashed the Furry.
We ripped in taking turns. I tried to do my turns on a downhill section and with a tailwind. Cunning huh? I was a bit of a passenger from time to time but that wasn’t a tactic. I remained in contact although not comfortably so as I noticed my heart rate was hovering at 180bpm. We hit the top of the descent back down and that was it for me and the bunch. I don’t enjoy fast descents so I detached and simply couldn’t get back on as they had about 150 metres on me and into a headwind. I was disappointed as I averaged 34.5kph for the first lap and I knew (a known known) that this would fall away rapidly.
The second lap was pretty lonely until I was caught by the next bunch. The headwind was energy sapping and it was hot. The tailwind was wonderful but only fleeting. By the middle of the second lap I was into the second bottle of water. This certainly caused me some concern.
On the third climb of Mount Marshall I went for my Suitcase of Courage. I had spent considerable time packing in earlier in the week. Unfortunately I seemed to have collected the wrong bag at the airport when I opened it I got that sinking feeling something was missing. It was empty.
Every time I passed one of our riders I got a shout or wave. I didn’t help, but it was nice anyway.
Two thirds of the way through the third lap I ran out of water and started to get cramps in my left leg. I knew at this point my day was done. The Commisaires were very specific that you couldn’t fill up during the race. Knowing that, my race was done at the end of the third lap, 78.2Km of the 104Km. I was disappointed not to finish. However I was very happy with my performance to that point.
Yes, I will be entering next year. I also plan on doing more racing.
Thanks to John Healey and Andrew Mattes for their on road encouragement. Chapeau.