Taking on the world: Gravel

Part 2 - 4F+ athletes tell the story of their recent World Championship experiences - the preparation, the race, and what they learned.

UCI Gravel World Championships - Vanessa Johnson

This is a story of giving 100% of what you’ve got, whatever that is, because life is too short to wait for perfect.

I stood on the finish line of the 2022 Gravel World Champs already thinking about 2023. I’d been hit hard by illness 5 days out from the start and had needed to adjust my goals pretty fast - first to be well enough to start, and then to be able to finish. A 6th place left me wondering how I might go if I was lurgy-free.

Over the summer, training to qualify at SeVen started in earnest. There were big solo endurance days on the gravel, and a lot of time spent exploring the roads around Nannup. As SeVen approached I felt slow & heavy & flat & anxious, and I put it down to training fatigue that would be fixed with taper. There was a bit of a dead cat bounce come race week, `but not the usual freshness that comes with rest. And then there was the rain, and the mud, and the ambitious gearing, and I would have rolled into a muddy ditch and lain there if I hadn’t so desperately wanted to qualify.

SeVen had brutalized me, and for two weeks all I wanted to do was eat and sleep. Which I did. Then I set about finding out why I had felt so awful - even before the race. If I was going to Worlds I didn’t want the same thing to happen again. A bunch of tests, a couple of doctors, and then an answer. Overtraining Syndrome. Now this wasn’t just about the training (which wasn’t much different from what I’ve done before). It was also about the other stress in my life bucket, like…organizing a new gravel event, late nights travelling between Perth and Nannup, hormonal changes, not eating enough carbs after my rides, being terrible at resting, etc etc. So the fix involved making some life changes; changing my work pattern, improving the nutrition & not weighing my food or myself, accepting rest & learning to say no, and taking an extended break from training. Of all these, letting go of ‘race weight’ was the hardest. But on doctor’s advice I accepted that it was better to be on the start line at 80% fitness and feeling well, than 100% and doing myself some permanent damage.

So there I was with a softly, softly phased return to training which both coach & I knew was a precarious way to prepare for Worlds, though neither of us would say it out loud. I made it through training without a relapse and I stood on the start line at 80%, ready to give 100% of whatever I had.

The 2022 World Champs in Vicenza had been widely criticized for being flat and boring, and it seems the Italians were hell-bent on making sure the 2023 course was neither of these things. The event organiser had been changed just six weeks out from the scheduled date, and the course only released two weeks ahead of race day. I was relieved to learn that women 50+ would race a shorter 94km course with only 1100m elevation - manageable even with my limited preparation (I thought…).

I decided if I couldn’t be 100% race fit, I would at least be 100% prepared off the bike. We had travelled well ahead of race week to allow time to adjust to the time zone and recon the entire course, and I had travelled with a selection of tyres & equipment options. I was lucky to have husband Julian with me to be my soigneur - hand-ups would be vital for the long course in warm weather.

The race route revealed itself to be rather steeper than advertised. Sure, the first 70km was pretty flat, but the last 25km was where all the climbing was. The first serious hill peaked at over 30%, and there were extended stretches over 15%. Fortunately most of the really steep stuff was bitumen, but even then going downhill with the brakes ON and all my weight BACK still had the rear wheel skipping like a 6-year-old. And then in the last 5km they decided to throw in some steep downhill rocky MTB-style single track. Joy.

My 38T & 10-44 cassette was not going to be enough. My skills were not going to be enough. But I was ready to give 100% of whatever I had.

Race day. A final recon of the feed zone where the race split, and then off to the start nice and early so soigneur Julian could drive to the feed zone before the road closures took effect. Having learned from last year, I stood at the front of the 50+ Women start bay ridiculously early to ensure front position. II was please to see my friend Deb Latouf also at the front of the bay, and as I looked around I couldn’t help thinking no-one would imagine these women were over 50 - they looked like WEAPONS.

The start was like a cyclocross race - sprint from the line in a desperate push to round the first corner near the front. Within the first few corners it quickly became clear that the skill of some riders did not match their speed, and it was a messy first kilometre which saw me further back than I wanted to be. I was there to give 100% of what I had and I REFUSED to be dropped in the first two kilometres. I fought and bridged the gap, burning matches like a pyromaniac on Guy Fawkes.

All was well until we hit a rocky dry river bed at 10km and the bunch exploded, and I had to pick my way through riders stopping/dismounting/falling. Accelerating out of the melee, still with the front bunch, rounding the corner and coming up to full speed then CRAP: dropped chain. Wave goodbye. Back on and then TT mode for the next 5km to regain the second bunch. They weren’t travelling as fast as I wanted, but even a slightly slower group was better than 80km solo, so I sat in & recovered, waiting for the first lump to make a move. I gave it a nudge and four of us broke clear from the bunch, a group of mixed ages & nationalities, working nicely to establish a gap. Then a glorious gravel descent & I let her rip, oh lovely Italian curves.

As we entered the 42km feed zone at Pieve di Soligo there was confusion as the race split, sending the Elite and younger age groups on a different loop. Fortunately the earlier recon served me well, but I was left only with my Belgian companion. We soon caught two more riders and this small group would stay loosely together for the remainder of the race. We had no idea how many were in front or behind, and we swapped turns through the vineyards and looked out for each other - there is speed in numbers.

But oh, the hills. Those that were just rideable on recon seemed to grow steeper, and there was walking. And it was past large crowds who were waiting for the arrival of the Elite women. There was banter as we trudged up the hills, general amazement and delight that Australians had travelled so far to walk their bike through the Prosecco Hills. As I walked the final hill (which the chap in the bike shop had described as “strong”) I could hear the helicopter following the Elite field hovering overhead, and my single goal became finishing before the Elites (who had raced an additional 50km). In the end I finished 8th in 55-59 women, and about 10 minutes ahead of Elite winner Kasia Niewiadoma! I was 100% pleased that my 80% gave me such a wonderful experience.