HypoActive

The fourth annual Supersprint Kinglake ride was held on Sunday September 11.

The Supersprint Kinglake event is a 70km recreational ride around one of the most picturesque training grounds for Melbournians.  Amongst the three thousand participants, we know of three type 1s who participated in the event.  Riders were treated to some adverse weather conditions, including torrential rain and bouts of hail. 

Our new HypoActive Secretary, Daniella, was one of the brave who battled through the conditions to experience the best of NorthEast Melbourne.  Here is her report:

Supersprint Whittlesea to Kinglake – 70km ride, September 2011

By Daniella Brasacchio
 
It was an early morning start to drive out to Kinglake and we were well organised, with a packed car, including breakfast, and the just-in-case clothing that may come in handy if the weather looked grim. We were not far from Whittlesea only to reach traffic? At 8am on a Sunday morning there was a traffic jam? We crawl along a little closer, and yes cyclists are passing us by at this stage, and we realise that we may be in the car for some time. The aim of reaching Whittlesea with ample preparation time, including my first meal of the day, was not going to plan. With the hope of reaching Whittlesea soon, we would need enough time to set up the bikes, gear up and of course eat. Ok, I thought, I would simply have to take the risk, eat my breakfast in the car and hope that we would be setting off in time such that my sugars would be OK!
 
It all went well, besides the drizzle that seemed persistent, and we set off according to our 9am start time. By this stage we had already seen cyclists with flats less than 900m from the start so I was not feeling too good about it all. We rode off, a little chilly from the 10 degrees morning start, and got a good pace going allowing us to warm up. Well, warming up was short lived! Before even reaching the climb, post 20km of riding, we were drenched with pouring rain that continued for about 10 minutes. I was not pleased at this stage and also was concerned as it was the coldest and wettest day of my amateur riding experience, my feet were drenched, my hands were frozen and yes these are required to hold on! I also had no idea how this would effect my sugars.
 
Almost to the first refreshment stop just before the climb I lost my drink bottle – my hands were so cold I struggled to feel the bottle holder! After stopping, rescuing my bottle, we rode on only to have my chain slip! With freezing wet hands we fixed it. This is not the greatest thing to have done as I lost my rhythm and of course lost time. Reached the drink spot, it was still raining on us, the lolly tub they had was full of water indicative of how much rain we had experienced. I was too cold and wet to check my sugars, we did not stop for long as we did not want to cool down too much so I refuelled, got my chain checked and squeezed the water out of my gloves! and rode on to the climb. I usually ride with males a little stronger than me so I am always last to reach the top and this was definitely no exception. Had the weather been nicer I think I would have appreciated the views, but all I wanted to do was finish so I plodded on. I reached the top some minutes after the guys and was dry enough to check my BGLs. 3.6 – oops! My husband panicked and began to stuff sugar down my throat – I am a little random with my sensitivity to being low, sometimes I feel like a rattle snake – other times no change in sensation at all.  We refuelled again, and set off. We were freezing, sore from the cold, and saturated. The descent was coming and this meant a drop in temperature. We rode off, and all I wanted to do was finish, so we pushed ourselves to reach the end. The flat straight home was nice as there was a small amount of sun peaking through the clouds just enough to warm us a little. We ambled through the finish line, a little tired with wet bottoms but happy to have finished. With the number of people we saw on the “bus of shame” I think we were all glad to finish!
 
This was my first Kinglake ride and it won’t be the last but I might wait for the sunshine on the next one!

I have no idea how the Sheriff captured this – one of the rare seconds when the sky was blue! (Photo courtesy of “The Sheriff” - http://www.rewindcycle.com.au)

You can read more about Daniella here.