Race report from Renee Nicholls

This was my first time participating in the Brisbane to Noosa 160km ride.   It was Adam Davidson’s second time around.

After having a well deserved break mid April Adam and myself started building a solid foundation for the winter training block.  Our training has gone to plan but we haven’t been riding any more than 4hrs per session so this ride was going to test us!

On the morning of the race, we got there early to set up our bikes.  We were very relaxed until I noticed the hundreds of riders already in position so we raced down there but didn’t get a good start position which was ok.  This just meant we had to work hard at the start to get up in the front pack.

The first part of the ride was nice and flat and we were tapping along at 38km/hr.  I was a bit concerned I wouldn’t be able to hold this speed given my lack of knowledge of the course.  I decided to back off and let Adam go ahead.

As soon as we hit the hills I quickly picked up a lot of positions and had Adam back in my sights until we came to this huge hill (22 degrees).  I remembered Adam telling me most people walked this hill when he did the race last year.  I stood up and started giving it my all, so much so I pulled my foot clean out of the pedal and stacked my bike lol.  I couldn’t just jump back on the bike because the hill was too steep so I ended up running to the top of the hill and by then there was no sight of Adam or the lead girl.  I was by myself pushing hard into the head-wind wishing a pack would come along and pick me up but of course, I was dreaming because it never happened.

The rollers into Noosa were a real test and I had to remain focused so I could maintain a top speed.  Both Adam and I finished strongly - I was 2nd female in a time of 4:50hrs and Adam knocked an hour off last year’s time and finished in a time of 4:43hrs and placed 18th.  All in all a great day and I highly recommend it to other club members to challenge yourself to do this ride next year.

Renstar