Mud, sweat and 5years of tears - legends of Kona Odyssey (PT1)

It was around ten PM on Friday evening that the patter of rain turned into a belting of tin roofs across the Otway Ranges in south west Victoria. The downpour brought with it a restless night plagued by mud monsters. Every rider hunkered down that night – all 1700 of them – knew what awaited them in the crisp early hours of the next morning: forests filled with real life monsters embodied in the sludge and grit that relentlessly strangles mountain bikes to a standstill.

For those new to the event, there was nothing to compare – they knew no different. Perhaps this was simply what mountain bike marathons are all about? After all, they were warned that this was the perhaps hardest mountain biking marathon on the calendar.

However for a select few, the so-called Five-timers, there is The Knowledge. They know the inclines that threaten meltdowns. They know the deep, dark forest that awaits, ready to swallow them and their hopes of finishing. And they know what even a smattering of rain can do to the trails between the Apollo Bay start line and Forrest football oval finish, 100 kilometres and a lot of swearing later. So it’s no surprise that the Five-timers lie awake into the early hours, praying the heavy skies away.

For these stalwarts, there is more riding on rolling under the finish arch than for any of the other competitor. After all, you can’t retrospectively join the group; you can only fall off the wagon. So the question is: as each event passes, who can hang on the longest to be the last man (or woman) standing as the only person to have completed all Odysseys?

The current group includes a few pointy-enders – two-time winner Adrian Jackson and world 24 hour solo champion Jess Douglass the notables – but mostly these are staunch weekend warriors whose biggest prize is bragging rights and the wide-eyed admiration of their kids.

Over the previous four years, these riders have slogged it out in varying conditions – from sweltering heat (2007) to mudfest madness (2008) – conquering a course that, during one year, dealt out DNFs to 30 per cent of the field.

“I remember the first race being the toughest I had ever done," says Christy Harris, one of only two females to have completed every edition, the other being Jess Douglas. “I remember throwing my bike down at the finish line and telling my family I was never doing the Odyssey again! I had given the race everything I had and was exhausted."

In that first year, Christy suffered an OTH (over the handlebars) after hitting a pothole at the 20 kilometre mark. She climbed back on only to discover one of her seat rails had broken clean off. She was forced to ride the remaining 80km with a broken saddle that pinched her willingness to keep going as much as her red raw thigh whenever she dared sit down.

Christy’s ‘no more, never again’ moment is a common refrain among competitors come race end, even for the pros. “The first race was the toughest of all," says Jess Douglas, a Giant team rider and long form 24 hour specialist who nevertheless was looking for a podium at the (for her) ‘shorter form’ Odyssey this year.

“Everyone knows John Jacoby is a sinister course designer, but we had to suck it up and whinge about it later. I saw grown men crying under the shade of a lone tree on a stupid, unrelenting climb, and people unwilling to get back on bikes and finish what they started. I vowed never to return!"

Of course Jess’ memory is as short as the other returnees, and she has kept coming back year on year, each time with an eye to the podium.

For most five-timers, it’s a wholly different motivation pushing them through up to ten hours of pain: the notion of simply not quitting. No. Matter. What.

As well as being one of the originals, Kerry Ryan is also the marathon’s eldest statesman at 68 years of age. Defiance and personal achievement is the engine firing his cranks over and over. “The Odyssey is one of the toughest 100km events going and it takes every bit of passion, strength and determination I have to complete each race," says Kerry. “But there’s a drive to do better each year, to continually prove to myself that despite, or even because of my age, I can keep improving. If I’m honest, ego is involved, too. To know that at 68 I am still competitive [finishing in the top 20-30% of the overall field] and can turn in a respectable time feels amazing."

“By competing in these types of events, I hope to encourage older riders to take on the challenge that mountain biking is a serious alternative to golf and bowl, and way more of a rush."

The other five-timers also point toward personal achievement as the return factor, in the sense that anytime you overcome complete exhaustion, mechanical failure and the conspiracies of Mother Nature – in this year’s case a wet, wild and moody El Ninja - you’ve proven something, even if that is only to yourself and your kids cheering madly at the finish line.

“I keep coming back because the race is my one big goal for the year; the reason for training," says Adrian Dillon. “I think if I didn’t do it (again), I would feel a sense of loss for the whole time it was on."

Of course, Adrian was one of the few who “enjoyed" the 2008 edition, an edition that gave small glimpse of how this year’s race would test riders to the max.

“The second year was epic. Mud, mud, mud. It was awesome. The first 10-15 kilometres looked like something from the Kokoda Track. Bodies, mud, blood, probably tears. It was a full on slog." Fast forward to the fern fringed entrance of the Mount Sabine fire track, 24 kilometres in on this year’s route, and our five-timers are having flashbacks to 2008. Darting off Skenes Creek-Forrest road, the two-rut trail tunnelled by ferns rises steeply before flattening out to a stretch of mud and puddles that would swallow a rider’s bike-rack bedecked SUV whole. Some test their luck and plow on through, others shoulder steeds and tiptoe through, only to sink knee-deep, even at the cesspit fringe.

“The mud was thick clay that clogged up the wheels every couple of metres, picking up leaves and sticks that jammed my wheels. I tried to carry my bike but the mud was that heavy, I swear it weighed 40 kilos!" says five-timer Tony Northwood, who reckons if the main road had been closer, he would have pulled the pin then and there.

“But everyone was in the same predicament, so I just kept plugging on."

DID THEY MAKE IT? FIND OUT IN PART 2.. .

ENTRIES FOR THE KONA ODYSSEY ARE STILL OPEN FOR THE 100km and 15KM. ENTER HERE

Article by Chris Ord as appeared in Mountain Biking Australia Magazine.

Mud, sweat and 5 years of tears - legends of Kona Odyssey (PT2)

Adrian Dillon was also hammering away through the slosh, his day typifying the dogged determination needed to have any hope of reaching the finish line for a fifth time in a row.

“I had my first crash when a guy passed and then crashed in front of me. I couldn't get around, braked hard and down I went too," says Adrian, a father of four who reckons his day job in software design means “pretty much no physical activity at work at all unless you count walking to a meeting."

Yet here he is punching it out with the mud monsters. The elites are impressive with their sub-five hour finishes, to be sure, but the heart of the Otway Odyssey, its spirit, is more truly found back in the guts of the pack, where riders introduce themselves over the clunk of gears, where they stop to help a fellow soldier of fortune brought to earth with a thud by a mix of gravity and sheer exhaustion; where the shared suffering is solace enough to pick up your bike, again, and ride on.

“Then I had my second crash on Noonday Track," Adrian continues. “ I tried to ride a steep muddy section and just couldn't keep it together. I had trouble even standing after I got back up. It was the first time I have ever walked a descent in the Otway Odyssey."

“The creek crossing was jammed with people trying to clean bikes. I had to make my way around them. The climb – read walk – out of the valley was hard. My front wheel wouldn't turn because it was gummed up with mud. My next crash was on the Red Carpet descent. I’ve ridden Red Carpet a lot and know it well, but still I stuffed it up and went over the handlebars. Then I cramped on landing and had trouble getting off the track." Adrian saddled up yet again only to be slowed by the misfortune of others.

“In the southern Forrest trails I came across a guy in the bush about two meters below the track. He said he was okay but I couldn't just leave him there. I got his bike off the trail and then climbed down to help him out. He didn't budge – reckoned that was cramping and was happy to be left where he was. It was a typical ‘go on without me’ scenario. I double checked, told him where his bike was and kept going. I saw him at the finish so I know he recovered."

As it was for those who did manage to keep pedalling, the sting in the Odyssey tail was what really blew the legs: the dreaded Sledgehammer (which even had winner Chris Jongewaard beat: he managed to ride a mere 50 metres before dismounting and walking).

“I had trouble with gears as the mud caked on," says Adrian of the Sledge, which beat him, too. “Then, in the final descent, I hit something and my rear derailleur changed shape. I tried to bend it back but it wouldn’t shift. I only had one gear (the biggest) but I just kept going."

A mountain dog on a bone of contention, Adrian eventually swung his derailleur back into position which “gave me a few more gears and stopped it skipping. I eventually rolled across the finish line to see my family waiting. It was an epic day."

The epic effort didn’t turn out with such a happy ending for all five-timers. Kerry Ryan, the oldest competitor bar none, relinquished his place in the club registering his first DNF in almost twenty years of riding.

“Surprisingly, I wasn't down on myself for not getting there," says Kerry. “My preparation was shot by my workload and I just wasn't able to put in the training time."

“The relentless climb up out of Wild Dog Road finished me.

Normally climbing is my strength, but I got to the top and decided I didn't want to trash myself or my bike and continued up the road to Forrest."

Kerry reckons he has now established a whole new abbreviation for a bike event result: CBB or Couldn't Be Bothered.

“Probably a bit harsh, but it happens," says Kerry.

Thoughts of a comeback next year? “I’ll be almost 70 and it is one of the toughest races," says Kerry,wavering before wife Sue interjects.

“I know his initial thoughts were no, he wouldn’t be back. But knowing Kerry's determination, fitness and pride I wouldn't be surprised if he turned up, just one more time."

Will Kerry rise to the challenge in 2012? It’s a pertinent question that perhaps weighs even more heavily – like a lasting Otway Ranges downpour – on the minds of the 24 riders who remain members of the five-timer club.

One thing we know about all of them: their will is strong and, crucially, their memories are short. Ergo, they’ll be back.

POSTSCRIPT: Of the twenty nine riders who lined up having completed four Otway Odyssey full length courses, 24 made it to the finish in 2011 to claim a five-timer jersey. The honour board reads thus: Adrian Jackson 5th, Brett Anderson 19th, Duncan Murray 29th, Brian John 41st, Ashley Hayat 46th, David Rusden 48th, Ivan Kallaur 55th, David Scarlett 64th, Neville Bird 110th, Jessica Douglas 116th (5th female), Dean Clark 118th, Julian Morton 141th, Jason Archer 142nd, Liam McCrory 154th, Bevan Kerr 226th, Christy Harris 242nd (13th female), Craig Sullivan 273rd, Scott Thompson 275th, Lee Floyd, 282nd , Adrian Dillon 367th , Neil Dall 368th, Jeremy Tassone 511th, Tony Northwood 613th, Tony Branchflower 628th.

DNFs: Kerry Ryan, Dylan Reilly, Andrew Bird, Nick Kelly, Brian Scarborough.

ENTRIES FOR THE KONA ODYSSEY ARE STILL OPEN FOR THE 100km and 15KM. ENTER HERE

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