Speight's Coast to Coast Race Report: Part 3 - Day 2

The weather men got it right.  At some point in the night the rain came down and the wind blew a hoolley.  I didn't sleep well but that had nothing to do with the weather thanks to really good earplugs, thanks Suzanne!!!

Challenge 5: What to wear when the weather giving you everything it has got...
Everything!  Well, maybe not quite, I had a lot of stuff with me!  The rain was really pouring down.  It was really hard to decide what to wear.  We had an hour to hang around out in the open between our support crew leaving and the start of day 2 because we were all due to travel on the same road.  Whilst waiting, we needed lots of layers, but once we started peddling, we would over heat.  I opted for the my Ocra shorts with my skins over the top and on top I had a poly prop under a cycle jersey with my waterproof jacket over the top.  Finally, I have full waterproof top and bottoms on until I had to say goodbye to my crew.

Eating my porridge was tough that morning, then rain kept on filling it up with water!

I had been apprehensive about the ride, it was going to be the longest ride I had ever done.  I needn't have worried, it was amazing!  By the time I started cycling on day 2, I was shaking like a leaf with the cold. 20 minutes in to the ride and I had to stop to take off my waterproof jacket and hat because I was over heating!

Yes the ride was tough.  It involved about 85k of hills and the remaining distance was flat with a very slight down hill.  There was one point where it was so steep that most got off and walked.  It was pretty windy too, I got blown into the grass verge on 4 occasions, but lucky I didn't fall off and it never involved another rider. I witnessed that though!

The ride across the Canterbury Plains was also tough.  I was tired, had too many clothes on and was stuggling with food and water.  We had a bike transition to top up on food and water, which I did, but it was hard to eat and drink because the wind was so strong I needed to hold on.  On the plains the sun was really hot but I didn't have any sunblock on and had none in transition so I opted to keep my layers on to protect me from burning.  It did mean I was over heating.  Big time!
But it was also amazingly beautiful. And the down hills were sooooooo much FUN!  I clocked up 46.1 mph, my fastest downhill time to date.  It was also a draft legal race, no areobars alowed to two day competitors, so it was excellant fun riding in a chain gang.  You really noticed the difference when you got dropped!

I arrived at the kayak tranistion in good time.  I fact I beat my support crew!  After looking around a bit, I got told that many support crews were being held up in traffic.
 
Challenge 6:  What do you do if you beat your crew to transition?
I sat down by my race number, thanks to a seat offered by another competitor's support crew, ate all my food and drink and cooled off in the shade.  I was pretty relaxed, there was nothing I could do.
 
Challenge 7:  What do you do when you discover that your support crew have been waiting in the wrong place?
Suck it up.
 
I don't know what made me look round but when I did I saw Helen and Matt looking up the road for me.  They were standing at 400, I was at 500!  Neither of us had looked round for the other!  This did upset me a wee bit but there was nothing I could do.  They had had a tough day too, with lots of changes to the plans.
 
As I got into my kayak kit, they informed me that it was being cut short by a bit and that I would be getting on my bike again for the final 7k.
 
Challenge 8: A 20k kayak along an almost flat river, with no idea of distance, with the tide coming in and a head wind.
This was by far the hardest point of the race.  So close to the finish, we were meandering thfough Christchurch! and yet so far.  Because I was in the old sea kayak rather than a light race boat and with a normal paddle rather than wings it was really tough going.  Three times I asked someone on the bank how far we had to go and three times in the space of an hour I got told 10k!  A bit later I asked it became 3k left to go.  Three time I got told it was about 3k!  I got fairly close to a sense of humour failure.  I was not happy.  Luckily many of the competitors were feeling the same and so we supported each other with banter.  The final 3k, the actual final 3k, was really tough.  I just put my head down and kept going.
 
I finally turned the corner and saw the boat shed, yeeee haaaaa!
 
Helen and Matt pulled me out of the boat, helped me get changed, gave me my bike and sent me on my way.  I was really cold but had nothing in transition to put on.  Luckily I warmed up as I peddled.
 
That final 7k was a blur.  I was tired and felt like the wind was going to blow me into the sea at any moment but I made it.  I handed my bike to an official and started running, down the shoot, on to the beach and across the finishing line.
 
19:23:46.
 
I staggered to the sea, touched the waves and smiled.  I had done it!