Yesterday, another year had rolled around so it was time for the Audax Flèche Opperman., an annual ride celebrating Sir Hubert Ferdinand Opperman. The ‘Oppys’ are unusual for Audax rides in that you ride as a team, you have 24 hours and you have 24 hours to make it back, all teams then have breakfast together. The rules also make it impossible to come back to early, you must be further than 25km away for the last 90 minutes.
I like these rides but I prefer multi day tours, the team was fun though. It was a 24 hours ride, 360km from Brisbane down to Mullumbimby and back to Brisbane. The team organiser, Ral, unfortunately had a mountain bike accident a couple of weeks ago and was unable to ride. We went ahead and he still gave us great hospitality, giving us a place to sleep (briefly) down the coast and a very welcome pizza.
Our, very optimistic, plan had us arriving at the Gold Coast on the way back North at 9:30, ready to leave again at about 2AM. We actually arrived just before midnight, a quick shower, some hot pizza, 30 minutes sleep, an appreciated shot from the Aeropress and then it was back on the road, in the rain, heading back to Brisbane. The faithful Garmin InReach ’s showing him where we were rather than sitting and waiting.
I was surprisingly OK with only 30 minutes sleep, normally my body is very unhappy with cycling at 3-4 AM! I think I gained a lot of resilience from the Tour Aotorea in NZ . Another similar multi day bike-packing race/event is definitely my preference for the next long ride, I think the Monaro CloudRide .
I sometimes loose touch of how long these rides are compared to what people normally ride. A couple of people we talked to during the ride asked where we started and are finishing… The reaction ranged from ‘give them extra food!’ at dinner, to ‘bushs$@%t’ from a farmer on the Rail Trail 😀 . It was funny seeing crowds of attractive people going to a festival on our way down, then seeing the same crowds looking nowhere near as good leaving the festival about 2AM the next morning!
Our timing was going well, at 7AM we were perfectly time to arrive about 30 minutes before the cutoff at 8AM, then disaster. One of the teams tire went down, first puncture of the day when we didn’t need it! Fixing it ended up being difficult with two failing CO2 canister adapters, luckily the third worked, while we all nervously watched looking at the clock.
. Back on the road, but his tire wasn’t good, it kept deflating, being topped up etc. while we raced and the clocked ticked down, every red light was a trial! In the end the Green Bridge into UQ was in site and we motored arriving with 5 minutes to spare, to join the other teams for a delicious breakfast at St Lucy’s. Another year’s Oppy complete.
Gear things to note.
Unfortunately we didn’t have much sun, the theme of the day was rain. Again I was extremely happy with my Rapha Explorers Goretex, it’s light, gives a wind shield and does what many light raincoats don’t – it keeps out the rain!
My saddlebag didn’t work, as soon as water and mud gets on velcro it fails, I need a different solution. My front derailleur failed again as well, every time it gets muddy; I don’t think this is fixable on a bike with exposed gear cables. Definitely something to remember for my next endurance bike.
I need to look at the front hoods, they are angled down a little too far on not natural on my wrists; unusually, I didn’t have any nerve pains in fingers this time but I need to lift them up a bit I think. Also surprisingly, my hip flexor and knee didn’t complain. I did have a headache the next day though, even after 10 hours sleep, really not sure if this is just a general lack of sleep or my body needing some electrolytes or calories. I suspect both.
The last thing I need to do something about, sports glasses with a prescription insert and rain means just guessing where I’m riding, not good but fixable – new glasses for me.
Overall, I feel pretty good considering what I just did, I guess a month of riding pretty hard every day does something for your fitness after all 😀
Images
On Strava
| Elapsed Time | Moving Time | Distance | Average Speed | Max Speed | Elevation Gain | Calories Burned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
23:46:25
hours
|
16:27:41
hours
|
358.19
km
|
21.76
km/h
|
61.29
km/h
|
1,548.00
meters
|
8,569
kcal
|
