Contact Epic

After the Naseby 12 hour I was forced to let me knee recover which did not allow any specific final preparation for the Contact Epic. This was to be the first time doing the Epic and I was excited to see what this iconic race had to offer. Due to bad weather the day before the course was changed to and an out and back format as the river crossings at the top end of the lake were too high to safely cross.

It was a chilly start but things soon warmed up with a fast pace set off the front. Carnage seems to be the only way to describe the first 30 min as riders jostled for position in the front bunch. Narrowly missing 2 crashes in which riders locked their breaks up on straight sections of road I was happy to settle into a small group just off the back of the lead bunch.

Not long before busting my back wheel

Photo from: www.studio5.co.nz

About an hour into the race descending down from the bluff I went through a rocky ford and heard a big BANG as my rear wheel slammed into a big rock.  Puncture! Bugger! I was surprised at my tyre going instantly flat as I was running tubeless, but I did not think too much of it. I jumped off and set to work putting in a tube, I was confident that my day was not over yet. Back up and running with minimal time lost, but as soon as I started pedalling I heard, psss, psss, psss, psss with every wheel revolution! Not a another puncture surely.

I jumped off to investigate and soon found out why my tyre had gone flat so fast in the first place. I had put a big dent in my rim and now as I pedalled the left over sealant was leaking out. Inspecting the rim and the spokes I was not sure if I would be able to keep riding, would my wheel hold to pieces of disintegrate on me? I thought about turning around and heading for home but then the thought of riding against the flow of the 500 odd competitors soon changed my mind. I decided I would keep riding conservatively and see how the wheel holds together. Worse case scenario I can pull out at the Dingleburn and spend the day eating the scones at the famous aide station.

The rim after it all

As I rode the wheel seemed to be holding together ok so I started to work hard on the flats and up hills and take it easy on the down hills. I rolled through Dingleburn and decided it was such a nice day I might as well keep riding playing 'PAC MAN' and seeing how many of the lost places I could make up.

At the half way point I was way down the field but kept pushing trying to reel in as many riders in front of me as I could. I could start to feel the back wheel becoming wobbly as it became more and more buckled and hear the spokes starting to clink around.

Limping towards the finish

Photo from: www.studio5.co.nz

The end could not come soon enough as I rolled in through the finishing chute in 24th place. While it was less than a great performance, I had a great day out on what is truly an amazing course.

My back wheel was a complete write off with multiple broken spokes and rim damage which I was apparently lucky that it held together for me as well as it did. Thankfully the mechanics at R&R Sport Dunedin had me back up and running in no time at all.