Gravel Mustering, again!
Close on the wheel in the final 42km time trial
Last week I returned to the Alice Springs to do the magical Gravel Muster stage race again. This time with carbon wheels, a very fancy 3D printed seat, Paul Bowden from Brisbane I met last year and my local bestie Lana from Bunbury.
The Gravel Muster is a four-day event over 400km with seven timed segments totaling around 230km. I went into the last 42km race stage with a 70-second lead after a ding-dong battle over the event with my rival.
I had the edge in endurance but I knew she was a better sprinter, so it was all about fueling, mental grit and strategies to stay at the front of the bunch (aka strategic use of your mates as domestiques!).
In the end it boiled down to hanging in as much as possible in the inevitable balls-to-wall smash fest in the last 2km when it was every man and woman for themselves. I dug deeper than I’ve ever done before in that last 2km and it was deep enough to hang in and win my age group, by about 40 seconds. I was delighted!
The trip involves two nights staying on outback stations. On one of the evenings after dinner Ross Burrage gave us a talk about the event’s charity partner – the Masaka Cycling Club in Uganda. I asked a question about the gender split on this inspiring program and what followed was an uplifting story about how the club was transforming gender norms around cycling there and a particularly inspiring story of one of the female rider @nantumemiria who came from a particularly deprived background and is now competing on internationally and a source of inspiration to other girls. Ross actually got emotional talking about it, it was a really moving and powerful moment in the trip.
