Stephanie Russell defends her Highland Fling title

Stephanie Russell is a Baum owner who recently went out to defend her Highland Fling title. She kindly wrote a blog entry for us, and here it is:

Here's My 2009 Defending the Title (uggghhh) Story...

The Highland Fling is in no way a super technical course. It does have some very nice sections of single track in, but it also has a lot of very bumpy grassy paddocks to cross, many refreshing rivers to ride and/or wade through and a lot of fire roads to mentally tackle. There is also the additional challenge of the Elite Men & Women starting 30mins behind the main field which means chasing and passing literally 1000 other riders who are a bit like moving obstacles to courteously contend with. Regardless of anyone's course critique, it really it is quite an event, with a fantastic festive atmosphere, superb organisation, perfect transition zones, clear signage and magnificent Marshalls out on course, thus it is definitely a challenge worth undertaking, and undertaking again.

Fresh and clean at the start

As I nervously rode around the event car park and sponsor area in the early morning I started to feel slightly overwhelmed by the number of stares my new Baum Frame was attracting (no doubt due to your eye catching choice paint colour Jared from Baum!). Then I started to get worried that I could not live up to all the appreciative nods & comments I was getting from being on the bike, what if I was not fast enough for my own bike!

I took myself away from the stares to warm up, before I knew it I was back at the start line amongst a strong group of elite women. My game plan was to go out reasonably hard to see who else was looking strong and finish even harder. After 5kms it became clear there were four of us in close contention for the title; Myself, Zoe King, Niki Fisher and Jenny Fay who I picked as an Irish pro road rider very quickly as she sat on Zoe & I for the first 25kms not wanting to do any time out front but she was noticeably strong on the flat. Jenny & I dropped Zoe up a small climb 28kms into the race, and she sweetly asked me if we had dropped Zoe, I got chatty as I thought she may want to work with me for a bit but then she floored it on me as well taking me by surprise so early in the race. At a river crossing not far after her attack I tried to get across quickly but got held up by a group of guys who would not let me through on the other side, alas she really got away from me at that point. I saw her in the distance and thought to myself she has put in a massive effort so early on, she must pay a price later on. I decided to focus on getting my endurance tempo riding going, plus eating and drinking, as there was still a very long way to go.

Baum floats on water

The middle of the race was very tough all the big climbs and single track were here. Niki Fisher obviously knew these trails passing me just before the 35 degree gradient 'Great Wall Climb', she knew she could get up it, I was not so sure with a trail of men walking it on the left but I love a technical climbing challenge and a couple of good spirited guys were cheering for us girls to show them all how to do it. I was determined and followed her all the way up, but at a crest after the most difficult section I spent a brief moment revelling in my own amazement that I had made the climb and she put her foot down on me too. Which meant I had slipped back to third place and I knew the technical agility of Zoe King would be taking full advantage in all the single track through this section not too far behind me. My plan was falling apart but the Purple Baum was still riding beautifully.

Is he looking like that because he is being passed by a Baum or a woman?!

95kms and in the wrong gear!

Then I entered the suffering phase, I suffered bad, it got hot and I got sick in my guts barely able to eat or drink anything, I was dying and not sure if I was even going finish. I thought I've gone out way too hard, now the fire roads keep on going on and going on, up & down and kicking up again, I kept on going 75kms, 80kms I was getting desperate to see the blue jersey of Niki & the pink jersey of Jenny in front of me but where were they? Finally 85kms done and a couple of guys I passed said "they are not too far in front", it was the glimmer of hope I needed, Niki and Jenny were close together which meant Jenny was losing strength and I still had my finish strong game plan to activate, but did I have my finish strong legs today?

Dirty, 5 hours done and descending fast

Final Transition, 25kms to go, still no sight of the jerseys I was hunting, had I left it too late? A lovely volunteer must have seen the panic in my face as I gulped down some life saving mineral water from my self-support box, she said "they are only a minute in front, chase them down Stephanie"... OK time to activate. The final 25kms was open and undulating with a few nasty pinch climbs but I had to go for it. Very quickly I saw the pink jersey I was looking for, hiding behind as many riders as I could I rode up behind her then quickly crossed to the opposite side of the fire road and floored it, no way that pro-roadie was going to hook onto my wheel at this stage of the race. Niki Fisher looked to have a bit of momentum further in front, but I could see her now and I also love to chase, so again I tried to stay out of view but she kept looking behind, I think she spotted me as she seemed to lift but I was still gaining and I was starting to feel my finishing strength kick in. She fought on valiantly ahead of me for two more hills before I went past her climbing with everything I had. Then I really had to motor all the way back to the start, 10kms to go and I was counting down every one of those kms as fast as I possibly could.

The finish is so close

Crossed the line and with sensational, dramatic effect collapsed/fell off my bike into the crowd barriers as my left quadricep finally gave in to cramping. The Purple Flying Baum managed to take the 112km Highland Fling Title in 5hrs 23mins, 5mins ahead of 2nd place Niki Fisher, with Zoe King finishing 3rd, Jenny Fay did not manage to finish the last stage due to cramping. It was a very tough, tactical and admirable ride by all.

The Highlight of the Highland Fling is Huw Kingston's presentation of all the spot and sponsored prizes at the end of it all. He does it with a quilted flare and stand-up humour which I would pay money to see, whilst he downs many well deserved highland beers for the enormous effort which he obviously puts into all his Wild Horizons Events. It is a special event put on by an obviously special community in the Southern Highlands of NSW.

Stephanie Russell