As a cyclist, you never need an excuse to go to Adelaide, which many people rate as the best city in Australia for cycling, and not just at Tour Down Under time. So with Gravel Nationals being held in Adelaide this year, it was as good a time as any to enter my first gravel race!
Fitness was crucial given lack of gravel bike prep for the event
I didn’t fully commit to going until mid-March after the Sydney round of ProVelo Super League was over, which was the focus of February’s training.
By this time, I hadn’t ridden my gravel bike for a good 6 months, so it was back to my infamous cram training that I seem to fall into the habit of doing!
I did get in four good 4 hour gravel rides in the month preceding the race, and my confidence levels increased with each one. My level of fitness is never terrible, since I do some form of racing pretty much all year round, but my off-road abilities are not fantastic, probably because I don’t ride my gravel bike often enough.
My goal was the Masters National Jersey
I didn’t have a chance to reccy the course, so all I knew about it was what I had read in an AusCycling article, and seen on a youTube video that one of the locals had produced. It was two laps of a 50km circuit at Ponderosa Pines in the Adelaide Hills, with the main features being a short steep rocky climb that some people may need to walk up, and a 2km long climb up to the highest point of the course. It was 100% gravel with no tarmac, which made the course harder than it appeared on paper.
I entered the Masters category (WMAS4 for 45-49y.o), as not only did I want a shot at winning another National jersey, but I was pretty sure that my lack of technical skills would mean I’d either be dropped pretty swiftly from the Elite field, or crash trying to keep up, neither of which were appealing.
We had 18 Masters women starting together, of which 6 were in my age category. Masters racing is always quite friendly, with some of my competitors sharing tips on the start line about the course!
Strategy to stay out front paid off
I tried to stay near the front right from the outset, which proved to be a good move as there was a crash in the first few hundred metres which I knew nothing about until the finish.
My cornering and line choice was terrible, and there were a number of them at the beginning of the race. In road and crit racing it is my strength, and I often get annoyed at those slowing you down on corners and descents and dropping wheels.
Today I was that annoying person! I would go round the corner like a tractor, then put in a little sprint to get back on to the wheel in front.
The group stayed mainly together until the 15km mark where we were met by said short steep rocky climb.
Again I was near the front, following who I thought was a reliable wheel, and managed to negotiate the climb seated in my granny gear without too much fuss. Three of us went over the top together, and were a little surprised to turn around and find no one else in sight. I had raced with these two women on the road, and knew they were strong. We were also all in different age categories, so it was in all our interests to crack on and work together to stay away.
Now, these two (Celestine Wells and Jen Pettenon) were not just super strong riders, but super strong time-triallists, capable of churning out big watts for long stretches.
I was struggling somewhat to hold onto their wheels, and was sure I would get dropped on the 2km climb which appeared at the 27km mark. I thought if I could just hold on as long as possible, hopefully it would give me a good jump on the rest of the field.
There was some separation on the climb, which had sections much steeper than I anticipated, but the 3 of us were back together before the end of the descent (despite a display of terrible technical ability on my part).
The back half had long stretches of wide forest track, but the course didn’t get much easier, with patches of sand and rocks, and one absolute mofo of a sandy pinch 15km from the start/finish.
We crossed the finish line of lap 1, and my immediate thought was I can’t believe we have to do another whole lap. I was already pretty wrecked.
Race tactics become more like survival
The second lap didn’t feel much like a race anymore, more like survival. I was just trying to get to the finish in the least pain possible, without crashing or puncturing. The 3 of us stayed mainly together until the long climb, when Jen rode ahead and Cel and I were left together to count down the kilometres.
I could feel that both my calves might cramp at any minute so I made sure I kept eating and drinking right until the end.
Three hours and 50 minutes later we were done, quite a lot slower than I thought the race would be. In the end, I won my category by 12 minutes, and with that another National Masters jersey to add to the collection.
Gravel racing is hard!
Especially on a course that has zero tarmac as there is almost no opportunity to relax and recover.
Even sitting on a wheel can be hard work, as there is usually one good line to take (so less sheltering in crosswinds) and the uneven surface means you have to constantly keep the pedals turning.
Sand is an absolute killer on tired legs, and rocks mean you have to constantly concentrate to avoid hitting one and puncturing.
This course was considered relatively flat (otherwise I would’t have done it!) but there was still 1000m of elevation in 100km.
My fuelling strategy
I had two 750mL bottles with 90g of electrolyte/sugar/maltodextrin mix in each of them, of which I consumed 150g of. It wasn’t hot, and I generally don’t seem to need all that much fluid when racing.
I also had 6 gels (2 SIS beta fuel, 2 Winners, 1 GU and 1 regular SIS) for a total of 185g of carbs and 260mg of caffeine.
The gels and mix together worked out to be about 85g per hour (1.5g/kg of BW/hour) which was around what I was aiming for.
The race went for about 20min longer than I thought it would, but I still had a caffeine gel and electrolyte gel left in my pocket that I didn’t end up using.
I took home the win
So overall, a worthwhile experience, if for nothing else but to be able to hang my medal and jersey on the clinic mannequin!
I’m not 100% sure I need to do that again though. My gravel bike may go back to it’s original intended purpose… social gravel rides and pub-packing!
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