Northern Combine Broadford Handicap - 13min bunch

Today was tough. 99kms and my bunch only had a 13min over the scratch guys. The pace was flat out for the first lap with the entire bunch rotating and working well to start with. Unfortunately as early as the first sharp climb people started to vacate our group. By the second lap unfortunately the rotations were inconsistent and becoming less frequent. The pain was starting to show on the group. I personally cramped on multiple occasions (how do you stretch out a quad cramp while riding?) but decided to just keep going.  I was considering pulling out after 2 laps, but we got caught by a large bunch and I was able to sit in and recover a little.

I kept going with the help of a few gels and the finishing was starting to look interesting. Unfortunately my new bunch never managed to catch the rest of the field. Personally I was just happy to have finished with the main bunch. Reviewing my Garmin data, I noticed my average heart rate was 162bpm which probably explains why I was in pain by the end. To date this has been my hardest race. On the way home to assist my recovery, I thought I deserved some fried chicken from the kernel.