Wildside Tasmania Day 4

Today's stage is flat - some short power climbs on sand out to the beach, a TT along the beach, then home through soft sand with the last straight away being gravel then pavement. 

My buddy Tom and I, who are both still relegated to start block F, knew that working together on the beach would be key to bridging up to some good groups so we don't just wither away in the headwind alone.

I woke up without a single bit of sore muscle in me and knew it'd be a great day.  Drank a cup of coffee down by the start and watched it all come together.  We rolled out neutral until we were off the town pavement then were signaled in the rolling formation to pin it... and man did guys pin it.  Unfortunately they couldn't hold it, about 5 guys took ridiculous pulls, then it was my turn.  I did about 30 seconds then saw a marshall signaling left for trails, it honestly couldn't have been a better set up.  That was the last I saw of group F.

Whittled through E on the trails, then took note of the lay of the land coming up to the beach.  Did one hard interval right away to bridge up to a group, in retrospect Tom said he saw this from behind and knew once that happened he probably wouldn't see me again.

Continually worked my way up groups on the beach with say 1 minute rest drafts then off to the next.  Felt great, today was my best fitness day for sure, it just wasn't the kind of day to post a good time when not starting in packs of equivalent riders for the beach wind.  Oh well.

Got onto the wheel of some guy I instantly named tree trunks, who took every effort I made to share the windbreaking as offense.  Man could he power it out on the flat, unfortunately the tree trunk made it up to the belly too so I don't suspect he was a climber.  Eventually we worked together a bit and kept moving the right way through most of the D's.

After the beach we turned left into combination of forest trail and soft sand.  The soft sand is a bit like snow, but it sucks so much energy out.  A full aerobic mix of running, powering through a few pits, and cyclocross mounts (doesn't appear they've done much 'cross here) kept me moving the right way, but man was it hot.  Got through my bottle and hoped the finish was near.

Got onto the gravel road by the 3k marker with a super-master age grouper who had awesome power.  We TT'd together and reeled in a couple more... then a few turns of trail and it was on to the beach near the barbie, with the smell to guide us in.

I'd have to say by effort and feel that was my best day, just promised myself I'd never sit in for more than a recovery then try to keep plowing forward.  It felt great.

Norm had a fantastic day, I think the combo of his power to weight, the terrain, experience riding sand and the 29er just put it all together nicely.

Awesome racing in a different format and great time overall.  That's now 7 high intensity sessions crammed into 4 days, it's actually sort of a fun way to race vs. longer enduro events, and that's coming from a guy without a top end.