Jump The Gun - 400K (attempt)

The Jump The Gun event is another Audax Australia event that allows participants the option of choosing the length of ride they would like to do. We could choose from 200K, 300K, 400K, and 600K, and the route was a series of loops. The 400K distance was three 100K loops (same as the riders of the 300K) plus two 50 km loops, which the 600K riders would also do.

We set off all together on Saturday morning at 6 am in comfortable conditions under an overcast sky, and we had a really good first 100 km. The weather was good, the terrain wasn't too challenging, and our speed was good. This area ... well, pretty much the whole state of Victoria ... has had a lot of rain this year, and there was some concern that some of the roads may be washed out by flood waters. Fortunately the flooding seems to have receded somewhat and although we saw evidence of flooding over the roads, in general, they were pretty good. But there is a lot of standing water around! Ditches are full, streams are overflowing, and paddocks look like lakes.

At the end of 100 km, we returned to our van, made a clothing change and had something to eat. The chicken sandwich gave me a lot of energy, but for some reason didn't seem to sit too well with Rowan.
　
That second loop was tough. The temperature soared up to an 30C (86F) atmospheric temperature (and 40C (104F) on-road temperature), and that loop had the most climbing (672 metres). There was nothing really steep, just on and on upward under the blazing sun. The one highlight of that loop was when the volunteer crew met us on the road to hand out ice and cool water. I just stood there and held the bag of ice for a while!

During that lap, I developed a nasty case of heat rash on my thighs. I still don't know why, but when I cycle long distances on hot days, my thighs break out in nasty, painful purplish-red ... well, not even really a rash, it looks more like huge, slightly raised welts from my hips right down to my knees. It looks awful, and doesn't feel that great either.

At the end of that loop, we made another clothing change and washed ourselves as best we could. We were both coated in salt from all the sweating. And then we set off on the third loop.

There were large thunderstorms all around, and we got caught up in the wind from one, but we only had a light sprinkle of rain and then the storms moved off and it was warm and muggy. That was one occasion where we would have liked to have a bit more rain! And the mosquitoes came out! Every time we stopped, we were swarmed! However, one highlight about this loop was the stars ... there were masses of them everywhere I looked in the sky ... the sky was almost white with stars. And Orien was there, standing on his head as he does in Australia.

Rowan struggled on this last loop. The heat from the previous loop had taken it out of him. He was exhausted and couldn't eat much. Nothing seemed to sit well and he was on the verge of throwing up for hours. By the end of the loop we decided not to continue but to end it there with a total of 310 km.

That 310 km, however, is the longest we've ridden on the tandem and the longest I've ridden since 2007!

We came to the conclusion that the tandem we're borrowing reaches its comfort limit at about 300 km. It is aluminum, so we feel a lot of road vibration, and that is probably a good part of the reason why my hands and both our butts feel so bad at the end of a long ride. Also the bicycle is a little bit small for us, so the fit isn't quite right. I lost feeling in my little fingers again even though I made some changes for the better, and I don't have saddle sores or anything like that (thanks to my Brooks saddle) but I do have bruises on my sitbones which I attribute to aluminum vibration and poor fit.

(Sorry, no photos ... we were too busy riding!)


Some stats:

Loop 1 - 102 km, 508 metres of climbing
Loop 2 - 106 km, 672 metres of climbing
Loop 3 - 102 km, 400 metres of climbing
Total: 310 km, 1580 metres of climbing