This was the first 5 Dams for both me and my ride partner Emma, and never having done a 3 Dams either we had no idea what to aim for so set ourselves the simple target of finishing successfully whatever the time, but privately I knew I’d be disappointed not to be closer to 9 hours than 10. For practice we’d already ridden most of the first segment of the course to Wungong Dam in segments over the weeks before, but other than that didn’t know what to expect. We’d been given a fixed time to get going and even a place on a start grid, so it was a bit of a surprise to find the start was actually a bit of a free for all and we were all mixed up. But no-one seemed bothered and we were soon on the way, happy to stay with a largish group making their way up Great Eastern Highway , with not a lot of luck on the traffic lights.

At the base of Greenmount the group began to stretch out and pretty soon we were riding on our own. It still amazes me the psychology of climbing hills and how much harder they can be when you don’t know how far there is to go… the first time I went up Greenmount it seemed to grind on forever, whereas this time it wasn’t exactly a breeze but we seemed to come up on the Mundaring turning in no time at all and were heading up for the first dam. Not wanting to stop outside the timing dead zones, we kept going straight past the drummers at Mundaring and cracked into our first fast descent.

Heading to Churchbrook we linked up with a group that seemed to have been swapping places with us a couple of times and stuck with them for a while, until one of them had a puncture right next to me and they pulled off. I caught up with him later at the finish line and it turned out he ended up having to retire, when a second puncture ruptured his tyre as well as the tube a few kms later –a frustrating end of the day for him. By the time we got to Churchbrook Dam we were out of water and even though the clock was ticking and its only another 10km to the lunch stop we pulled up for a few minutes to top up. By this time, the rain had given us a pretty good soaking so we didn’t hang around long enough to get cold.

Over the timepads and into the deadzone for lunch, we took a first proper break and the legs were feeling pretty good.  But even though we didn’t hang about I think we stopped too long in hindsight, and there was a bit of stiffness that needed  to be worked out once we were back in the saddle. It’s a great ride down into Canning Dam, made even better by the number of SPR riders heading back up in the other direction. The roads were still wet though and I was travelling way too fast when a right turn came up unexpectedly – I felt the back wheel lock up and decided to back off the brakes –  I’d have to go past the turning by a few metres and pull a u-turn, but in the end it didn’t cost too much time.

The queue at Canning for fresh water was huge, and even though we’d have preferred full bottles for the leg to Serpentine we decided we’d press on – the clock was ticking after all. So we turned straight round and began the climb back out again and saw a few more SPR uniforms on the way. By the time we got to the top I was getting into what for me was the toughest part of the ride – my hamstrings had tightened up on the climb, and the leg down Albany Highway’s dead road was grim. Even when it was downhill the road surface made it feel like I was pedalling through treacle and I just couldn’t get any lightness into my spin. Luckily my partner was coming into a strong spell at precisely the right time and she did the lion’s share of the work for both me and two other guys to get us along the road – I’d say ¾ of the time she was up front. Once off the Highway though everything seemed to get easier, albeit this was new territory for me so not sure what to expect, and I could feel worrying twinges of cramp emerging in the legs. But the kilometres were clicking down to the distance where I knew the last dam was, and there’s not so much of a climb into Serpentine so by this point it began to feel like the toughest riding was behind us.

The deadzone in Serpentine was the cue for a longer stop… stretching out the legs, getting some sunscreen on now that the rain was clearing, and knocking back a few Red Bulls courtesy of their promo team. They obviously hit the spot because once we got back on the road it was my turn to do the heavy-lifting on the front and I certainly felt like I had a new lease in the legs. It’s a steep rapid descent from Serpentine once it begins, and by now the roads were dried out so it was fun and fast. I’d been warned that a section of road to connect with Mundijong was another really tough piece of dead bitumen, so just to prove how its all about psychology I found it nowhere near as bad as the expectation that had been set. It was just the two of us again, and although we overtook another pair who latched on, it would have been better to have a larger group especially towards the end of Mundijong when it felt like we were pushing a headwind.

Turning onto the Freeway bike path really felt like the home stretch – sure there were still 50-odd kms to go, but it was all doable from here and no question we’d finish so long as we avoided accidents. But in a reminder how things can change quick, whilst we were topping up bottles and scoffing jelly snakes at a stop point, a couple of riders came back down the path in the wrong direction to tell the event staff that a rider had come off 500m further up and needed an ambulance having popped out his shoulder. I don’t know who they were, but good on them for doubling back to get help, and when we later pulled up alongside the injured rider it was good to see there were half a dozen folks stopped to help out, including an SPR rider.

This group obviously got themselves organised and underway because they caught us a few kilometres up the track, and after a stint on the front I pulled off to drift to the back of a group of 8 that ended up setting a decent pace all the way home. I nearly dropped off at one point, on the climb up to Roe Highway, when the cramping that had threatened earlier decided to set in with a vengeance, but the slight incline gave me the chance to get out of the saddle and change leg position which did the trick and from then on it was a drama-free ride home – albeit that Mill Point Road past the zoo felt like a mountain by this time.

Pulling up at Coode Street, the Garmin was telling me I’d clicked past 4,000 calories for the ride so there were no qualms tucking into the sausage sizzle  while we waited to get onto Bluechip timing to get our time… 8 hours and 23 minutes, way ahead of my expectation and enough for my ride partner to come home as second fastest female behind SPR’s Alison Ramm, so we were chuffed to bits. It had been a great day – the weather had been kind, even the rain had been welcome at the time, and none of the tough bits quite push you over the edge before you get the exhilarating reward of the downhill sections to get your spirits back up. Definitely on again for next year… and now with a target time to beat as well.