FlatLands 300: My first ultra event

FlatLands 300, you were absolutely amazing. But damn, what a hard day this was. It all began the night before when after diner and the riders briefing I lay in my bivy and the heavens decided to throw thunder and rain down the Wetland campsite on all participants.

After not much sleep (less than 2 hours) in the bivy I got up at 04:00 to have breakfast at 04:30. Luckily the heavy rain stopped and turned from a drizzle into dry, but trails in the first 100km or so were muddy and soaked.

At the start one of my new friends (cuz that’s how it goes) asked for my race plan. I said I planned to start easy. More or less 160-180 watts. First mudfest that went all out the window. I just can’t ride a muddy dirtroad easy. So I found myself in a group that was just above my limit. Especially since I decided to use FlatLands as a test for the Bright Midnight and I was the only rider carrying my entire sleep gear for the ride where others had their stuff sent to the finish line. Anyway, after 100km in that speedy group I was pretty toast at the first checkpoint.

I filled up on everything and had some bites to eat. Also I decided to ride more easy leaving the post. That went well and after letting some riders pass, I got picked up by a nice group. I had a chat with some friendly guys that did most of the work while I still sort of slacked and rested a bit behind. We picked up many riders and after a while I felt myself getting better again. One of the other guys paced pretty hard on a rough gravel patch and suddenly I found myself with just the 2 of them.

I decided to also put in some work on the front since I started to feel better. This turned out to be a short (70km) lived peak in performance and at around 180km I was pretty toast again. What definitely didn’t help was my slow puncture. Luckily only had to pump twice before the rear sealed and held to the finish. Anyway, the second break at 200km was more than welcome.

I took the same approach as before. Only this time with pancakes! I rode out re-trying my easy pace routine and again this went well. Happy days, just 100km to go! I hung in my aero bars a lot this part of the race because after 200km we went more west and that meant wind on the head. I got passed by 2 guys while riding my own pace, but picked them up again a bit later when they were eating. And together we rode really strong. Another group picked us up, but we were able to ride along nicely. This was supposed to be the group I could definitely finish with. But I didn’t. I’m not sure if it’s because I blew my legs up in the first 100km, or that didn’t eat enough. But at 275km I just had to pause and take a moment.

Those last 25km there was nothing left in the tank. I pushed the pedals, but I was a dead man riding. The last kilometers I was playing tricks in my mind. “30km, that’s just your short and fast route to Zundert and back”. “10km, that’s just the overasebaan”.. and then… the final stretch arrived all of a sudden, much sooner than I expected! And it was emotional. I had really built this up in my head as a big test for the Bright Midnight and I was about to be a finisher. Damn.. happy days indeed!