Hi Guys. I know this is overdue but I have been pretty frazzled over here since I got back from Nepal. Time for my blog on the Yak Attack….
On Day 1 of the Yak Attack all the riders assembled at the Kathmandu guest house and it was like my first day at school again. I was super, super nervous! I had so much excitement, doubt and anxiety all at the same time, I felt really mixed. It was just 4 weeks since I was completely alone in Antarctica and in 3 weeks of recovery before the race, I had worked together on an intensive recovery programme with Nicki Phillips, my physio out of Sport Wales, but I was still about 8kg underweight from Antarctica having already put 8 kg back on. I had done as much as I could to recover, I felt pretty good, not super strong (the one real training session I had before I left home, my back broke down still fatigued) but I had put that negativity aside and I was feeling really positive. I was also feeling nervous because I had a film crew with me…I’m a private person and the thought of my weakest moments being caught on HD was terrifying! I was so grateful though as they were awesome guys.
Getting my bike blessed pre race
There was a “group warm up ride” from the hotel to the start line and all I can say is about an hour later, 500m in vertical climbing (it was like riding up Winnets in the peak just to get to the start line!) and a bit of rider jostling, I got to the start line genuinely like a rabbit in the headlights thinking “What the f*** have I let myself in for if this is what it’s like just to get to the start line!”
The first day was an emotional and physical car crash. I started off the race on a really hot day, mid 35 degrees and it was quite a fast day and I completely bonked. I hit the last climb, which was only about 3-5km and I had nowhere to dig. I had nothing in me and I lost 5 places. That first night I got to the tea house and I looked at Nicki…I think she could see how frazzled I was. She helped me stay positive and we worked on my treatment protocol focusing on what we could control. That first night I was in a daze really, thinking; “This is insane, I can’t believe I am kidding myself thinking I could do over 35 days of a high performance polar expedition in Antarctica with such short turnaround to compete in what is billed as one of the toughest races on the planet!”
To make things worse, I had a film crew who were capturing my wobble on pristine HD television! That first day was crazy…but then I knew it was going to be tough, that’s why I picked it.
I wanted to test myself because it’s the start of a really big year of training and preparation for Project X. Cycling is a key part of my development and training. Whether it be on the road or mountain biking, although slightly different muscular emphases they are both relevant to Project X. I was really excited and grateful to be working with Nicki and Sport Wales, so the physical challenges I had dialled away in my head. What I underestimated is quite how much baggage I would be carrying from Antarctica and how tough emotionally and mentally it was going to be…that first day was the proverbial car crash in my head. Anyway I won’t go on about that meltdown too much as you’ll see it all on TV next year guys! Ha!
I have a toolbox of different skills learned from different periods of my life and on that night after some pretty intensive self talking I decided that I can only focus on what I can control and to just take one day at a time. So I ate as much as I could, had a good treatment session with Nicki and went to bed knowing it was one day down and that I only had to get through day 2, then day 3 and so on.
The first 3 days were all at about 1,500m in altitude and were pretty fast days in really hot temperatures, around 35c most days. I was finishing about three quarters of the way back at that point. There was about 1,300m of climbing each day, some pretty awesome rolling sections and downhills too, my Specialized Epic was the perfect bike for the race: stiff and light climbing, yet the full suspension just ate the downhills up. I loved every second in the saddle on her.
In fact, it became a bit of standing joke with some of the other riders that in the early days of the race I would be reeled in and passed on the uphills, and then I’d pull back away on the downhills or when it rolled out!
I found those first 4 days mixed, my head was like a snow globe that had been shaken. I never entered the Yak Attack to race at the front, it was my first ever MTB race against a field of great riders, I was the novice of the race! What I found really frustrating was that I wasn’t able to give it my best. I gave it everything I had every day but those first 4 days highlighted what a massive ask it was to enter in such a short turnaround from Antarctica. Those 4 days I was thinking I am not here being as competitive as I wanted to be, I found it difficult to come to terms with finishing the racing three quarters of the way back. As difficult as these days were, in hindsight they were fantastic mental preparation for Project X. It was all going in the toolbox!
It was highlighting areas of weakness that I need to work on as well as areas of strength which was all perfect preparation, and that’s what I kept holding on to, I was there to train and prepare for something bigger. Each day working with Nicki and testing certain recovery strategies, amazingly I was getting physically stronger and mentally more confident every day.
I didn’t get the chance to blog or tweet much during the race as I didn’t have a huge amount of access to wifi and the few days that I did I was shattered and my focus was on physio and recovery.
I learned quickly that the Yak Attack is more than a race. All the riders and crew quickly became a mini family travelling through the Himalaya, everyone involved in the race from my film crew, to the riders, to the support crew quickly gelled. It’s bloody hard, and whether you’re ripping it up in the front, midfield, or struggling anywhere else in the race, everyone is like-minded about the adventure and the challenge and everyone respects each other. The film crew had just as tough an adventure braving the dirt tracks on the back of road bikes! Just getting through each day and sitting down for Dal Bhat in the night and sharing your experiences, close shaves, emotions, bonded everyone together and placings became less relevant. It really is more than a race.
For me this was epitomised on the last day of the competition. Everyone had close shaves, it’s impossible not to doing 70kph downhill, off road and sharing the race route with lorries, yaks, school children etc, but on the last day one of the racers, Aussie Pete - a cool guy, had a really close shave and potentially quite a serious fall after colliding with a lorry going flat out on the fastest day of the race. Every single rider stopped, stayed with him, made sure he was okay, even had a laugh with him – I promised him some Welsh Whiskey from home to help him through, the doctors were on hand immediately and everyone waited until he was okay. Instantly and unanimously the riders decided to scrap the race that day and have a group ride back. That sums it all up for me, genuinely a brutally tough experience but a real privilege to ride and race with the other riders from all over the world.
A big part of the Yak Attack is trying to get recognition on the international stage for the Nepalese riders who are insanely fast. I love Nepal. I love the Nepalese as people, as I have spent a lot of time there climbing. I have been privileged to perform with many incredible athletes throughout my rugby career and in this chapter of my life, the Nepalese riders are some of the best amateur athletes I have ever seen.
After the first 4 days the race starts to significantly gain in altitude each day and we moved from the really arid hot conditions of the early stages up to the snowline and muddier sections of mid race.
The race culminates on day 9 crossing the Thorong La pass at 5,400m, which is a bloody tough day by anyone’s standards. This year the latter stages of the race had really heavy snowfall, which made Thorong La pass even more challenging with sections thigh deep in snow. (For those that don’t know, my physio Nicki isn’t the tallest! So thigh deep for me is a considerably more stressful experience for her!). This particular day starts at 4am in the dark with head torches and all the racers secure their bikes to their rucksacks as we all knew we had abut 5/6 hours of carrying our bikes ahead of us. Admittedly, it wasn’t Antarctic cold but it was still pretty cold with two cases of frostbite that day. I was really careful and conscious of my nose, which was still recovering from Antarctica but had no further problems with it.
I loved that day, but I can honestly say I never want to climb another mountain with my mountain bike strapped to me! I would rather be riding my bike, especially when it is as beautiful as mine, but there is something really special about setting off in the night, doing something tough. Witnessing the sunrise in the Himalayas and at that altitude is awesome and a privilege. The light and the alpine glow on the surrounding peaks is just incredible and no matter how tough it is, it’s impossible not to feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude.
The ironic bit of that day is that after 3-4 hours of climbing up to 5416m/17,769ft, I had another 3 hours of purgatory the other side. Because of the snow conditions I still had to carry my bike downhill the other side!! It was savage. It wasn’t until the very end of the snowline that I could actually get back on my bike and start pedalling again, but that day we were rewarded with 16km of super fast downhill after the pass and into the end of the stage. By far the toughest day of the race and it’s certainly up there with some of the tough days I have had on the mountains but it was my favourite day and the most rewarding day of the Yak Attack. It’s one of the things that make the Yak Attack unique and special in my opinion.
I obviously had expectations going in to the Yak. Very quickly my experiences tore apart any preconceived views. I knew it was going to be physically tough but what I didn’t envisage was how emotionally and mentally challenging it was going to be. I was still carrying a lot of emotional baggage from Antarctica and at times it felt like a trip too far, too soon. The fact that it was so difficult emotionally and mentally gave me a really valuable insight into my preparation and development for Project X.
Crazily I was the only rider not to lose weight out there, in fact I put 5kg on and although shattered right now writing this, I finished stronger than I started which puts Antarctica in to perspective and also is a massive testimony to the incredible work of my physio Nicki.
Me and my pocket rocket physio, the amazing Nicki Phillips
I finished 23rd out of 33 incredible riders in my first ever mountain bike race, which I am bloody proud of. Very few people have completed it. In hindsight, picking an easier race might have been wiser for a first race! Ha! It was a privilege to be able to race it and awesome fun (it doesn’t always have to be fun to be fun!), I’ll definitely be going back one day! It was fantastic preparation as a training exercise, with lots of data and lessons learned to take forward. After some down time and R&R now, I have a great foundation to build on for the year ahead.
As always, I could only do these things thanks to the support of some incredible people. For this project I was really proud and grateful to be supported by Specialized UK, Rab and Sport Wales.
I also want to say thank you to Sigvaris UK and Firefly for allowing me to test their recovery products, and the Sony UK team out of the Bridgend Technology Centre. The Channel 5/Zig Zag film crew were awesome to work with, a really cool group of professionals at the top of their game – we had a lot of fun, I can’t wait to share it with you guys when my series is aired at the end of the year, although I’m not so excited about seeing some of my wobbles!
It was tough coming home and leaving again so quickly, but my parents, girlfriend, mates and project manager as always were rocks and super supportive. Thank you.
I want to thank all the Yak Attack riders and support crew for an awesome experience. All my followers on Twitter and Facebook for their constant support, I love our journey.
Finally, for re-building me every day and generally being awesome the little pocket rocket, my physio Nicki Phillips, who is probably lying somewhere in a dark room having a rest right now!
I’m off for a couple of weeks ‘active recovery and rest’ I’ll catch you when I am back. Rich.
