(Anything but) Gentle Annie - Taihape to Hastings 19 March 2016

A small but select number of nine Tarbabies assembled in the sunshine and near perfect (slight headwind but clear and sunny) conditions on the start line in Taihape for this relatively new event - 5th running since road was sealed in 2011.

Relatively small (~100) numbers for this event partly because of the logistics of getting transport to both ends of the ride, but also it is not an event for the faint hearted - billed as the hilliest ride in the country with 2579 m of climbing packed into the 132 km course. Basically there is very little flat terrain so you are either at your heart rate limit going uphill or at your adrenaline limit going downhill. Looking round the starting riders it was clear that apart from Calvin the Tarbabies were doubling the average age of most in the field.

As expected the youngsters, including Calvin, headed off on the first Spooner’s Hill climb leaving the other 30 to 40 to sort themselves into much smaller groups and if you were lucky staying with them into the headwind for the rest of the ride. With Stephanie in the very capable hands of Glenn and Philip I was free to ride as fast as I was able. As the separations were made on the first climb I found myself in about the fifth group of 4 riders. As we seemed fairly evenly matched (in all but age!) and it looked like we would be together for some time we introduced ourselves and agreed to take turns at the front and pull off when we had had enough. This strategy seemed to work quite well since as we progressed through the Erehwon and Ngamatea climbs we gradually reeled in 6 more riders and 10 of us crossed the relatively short but steep Gentle Annie (2km at 10.9% ave 18% max) roughly together. I kept thinking I would be dropped by my considerably younger companions, but by throwing everything into the descents (reaching 80 km/hr somewhere) and drifting back through the group on the uphills I managed to hang in by the skin of my teeth and eventually 8 of us finished with a respectable time of 5:08.

 Meanwhile behind, but not too far, Rebecca, Stephanie and Jo, chaperoned by the ever watchful and generous Glenn, were making great progress in the Vet women’s section. The first separation came on Gentle Annie with Rebecca dropping her chain at the foot of the climb, but this coincided with Glen and Jo arriving to provide timely assistance. Stephanie meanwhile put her Tuesday hills training to work and drew away on both the uphill and downhill establishing a bit of a lead. Unfortunately this put her on her own and now suffering a little cramp she was reeled in by Rebecca and Glenn soon after the subsequent Blowhards climb. Good time trialling by Rebecca over the final section saw her cross the line a few hundred metres ahead of Stephanie to take first place in the Vet Women section. Jo’s arrival some minutes later set up the trifecta - OTB 1,2 and 3 in Vet W - fantastic effort ladies.

Philip arrived next having found the going a bit tough, due to having to ride through a section of wet tar early on and then having to stop several times to free his wheel of attached stones, and then spending most of the rest of the ride on his own. However in true Philip style he then lifted our weary spirits by having ice cold beers in a chilly bin in his car at the finish which he generously shared with the rest of us. Janet also spent most of the race on her own but was still smiling at the end and pleased to finish the course at her own pace. Finally, Mike O’Sullivan put in a mighty effort, only reluctantly accepting a ride in the sag wagon with 30 km to go.

Plenty of stories of pain and exhilaration were swapped at the end along with plenty of food and rehydration. As I said this is not a ride for the fainthearted but it is very scenic and completion of the course does give a wonderful feeling of satisfaction.

OTB finishing order:

 Story by Mike Revell

 And from Glenn Owen's perspective..

Well there are times when you just have to front up and deal to all the pain the North Island Central Plateau can throw at you, it’s just one of those rides that has to be ticked off.

 The Gentle Annie is a great little 134km jaunt organised by the Ramblers Club that, in 2016 saw 8 OTB regulars take up the challenge and suffer in our own personal ways, the weather was fantastic and Taihape offered great meals and company.

 Mike O’Sullivan anticipating a long painful day in the saddle took the “it’s gonna hurt heaps” option and fled the start an hour before the massed bunch saw the flag drop. The rest of us rolled out and rode the initial 8km climb tempo – minus Mike Revel who was obviously on a good day and chose to mix it up front, result for Mike a great day at the office and after the ride one very happy chap.  Janet  set off at her consistent pace, rode that  for the entire distance and rolled into the finish looking like she could have easily knocked out another lap – amazing. 

 Jo L, Rebecca, Stephanie, Phil Orchard and I rode in a nice friendly bunch till Erehwon where Phil choose to pick up some gravel / tar mix and effectively jam the brakes on, repeatedly . . . . . .then there were 4.  The repeated climbs (and there are 5 serious uphill efforts and matching descents in this ride) saw the friendly bunch reduced to 10 by the time we made the Rangitikei river and ones and twos over the top of Ngamatea

We rolled along, sometimes separated by 100mtrs sometimes by 3kms till the base of the Gentle Annie climb where Rebecca, Stephanie, Jo L and Gemma (an OTB hanger on) came back together and Rebecca promptly dropped her chain….and needed mechanical assistance.  What a hill that Gentle Annie is, it may climb only 210mtrs, be only 2km long, have a max gradient of 18% but it hurts like nothing else.  Stephanie pulled away over the top of GA, smashed the descent like Sagan and hurtled up Blow Hards on her own.  Rebecca set off in hot pursuit, leaving Jo L to slog it out, pretty much solo to the finish – a dam solid ride and fantastic 70km ITT practise.  The two girls came together again at the top of the final descent and rolled into the picturesque Hawkes Bay in pure survival mode, lots of sighs, some lost momentum and a few weary bodies…..I suffered a massive cramp attack with 20km to go and my two faithful remaining teammates immediately said goodbye (without a blink or 2^nd thought) and ripped what was left of my sad legs off…….

I recovered and hauled them back, it was great I witnessed, from the grandstand seat, an epic head to head TT with Rebecca holding a 150mtrs advantage over Stephanie for K after K . . . .  . . 

And that as they say was that, after Mike (home showered and refreshed) Rebecca rolled in 30ish sec’s ahead of Stephanie, who had gone ohhh so deep (you needed to see the pain to appreciate the effort) then Jo (well I ticked that box and I’m not coming back), Phil (still picking Tar/Gravel off his tyres) Janet (fresh as) and MikeO (more verbal than ever) followed in one by one.   

 To cap the day the OTB ladies took the full Vet Ladies podium – 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd whilst the men enjoyed the cold bevies Phil had chilling in the eski.  All in all a fine day in paradise – followed by a seriously nice meal in Taihape,  What more could an old guy want.

And last word goes to Philip Orchard