Dili to Baucau

Distance – 130km
Altitude gain - 1705m
Going – Mostly Flat with numerous short hill sections and a final 500m climb
Surface – Largely bitumen with small sections of dirt road.

Standing on the starting line, hundreds of cheering people crowding the edges of the street seeking vantage points to watch us, I'll admit I was nervous.



The race start was met by cheers and the scrabbling sound of riders trying to clip in.

Slowly we wound our way through the streets, riders nervously awaiting the first hill starting literally from the edge of town. The road turned upwards and the pace lifted, around me breathing started to grow heavy, my own laboured breaths soon joined them. I had hoped to stick with the front 10-15 riders, but somehow their small lightweight bodies were propelling them up the hill faster than me. How was this possible?! Surely you need big muscles to go up hills. :)

I crested the first hill with a mono, wasted energy it may have been, but the yell of the crowd filled my ears. It was almost impossible not to grin like the Cheshire Cat from their enthusiasm.

Down the other side and onto the flat, I could see the lead bunch a few hundred meters up the road, one or two riders between us desperately trying to bridge the gap. I crouched low and drove hard, catching one rider we worked together to get back on to the bunch, only 110km to go, and already 2 riders were up the road in a breakaway.



I worked a few turns, more to get a feel for my own legs than to drive the pace. As a group of around 20 we rolled smoothly until the second climb when the pace lifted again, once more shattering any illusions I had about my climbing abilities. Once more I set myself for an ITT effort to chase the bunch back down, managing to make the back right before they all stopped for a water break!

At around 20km to go a few attacks came stretching out the bunch, hurting legs and creating gaps, I was in the hurting camp rather than the attacking camp. At 15km to go we started the final climb, shortly after I was alone, well as alone as one can be when every villager was standing cheering me onwards, upwards. There were points when they covered the road, running along side for a moment then disappearing back into the crowd.





Towards the top of the climb I caught sight of another rider, a rabbit, I like to chase rabbits. I lifted my pace slightly and had caught him as we entered the long flat plateau. Down low on the bars I did my best to gain valuable time.



Down low on the bars I felt the first twinge of a cramp in my leg. I stood and shook it out, then got back low and kept the pace up. Down low on the bars I felt both legs begin to cramp, I repeated the shake out remedy and began to worry about how much time I was losing to the rider behind.

I was soon back turning the pedals but knew that I had to take it a little easier. Sadly turning the pedals at all turned out to be too much and I was soon at a complete stop, both legs locked in agony.

The rider behind passed me. The bunch behind him passed me. I managed a few tentative steps, then a few more, I hazarded an attempt to ride again and soon found that I had made it to 500m from the final descent. Just a few more pedal strokes and I would have rolled to the finish regardless of the cramps.



At the end tales of pain and suffering were told by every mouth. Some had crashed, everyone was cramping.



A trip to the local stream fed pool didn't stop the cramping, in fact most people cramped while in the pool. Someone (me) even managed to cramp mid dive. :)



Stage time: 4:36.00
Stage place: 25th
Overall place: 25th

1 stage down, 4 more to go.