Kench - Ride: from ultra-cycling rookie to riding across America

RIDE

JOSH KENCH

RIDE

FROM ULTRA-CYCLING ROOKIE
TO RACING ACROSS AMERICA

First published in 2012

Copyright Joshua Kench and Kerry Jimson 2012

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

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83 Alexander Street
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Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100
Email: info@allenandunwin.com
Web: www.allenandunwin.com

National Library of New Zealand Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Kench, Joshua, 1972
Ride : from ultra-cycling rookie to racing across America / Joshua
Kench, Kerry Jimson.
ISBN 978-1-877505-15-7
1. Kench, Joshua, 1972- 2. Bicycle racing. I. Jimson, Kerry.
II. Title.
796.62092dc 23

ISBN 978 1 877505 15 7

Set in 13.5/17.5 pt Adobe Garamond Pro by Midland Typesetters, Australia Printed and bound in Australia by Griffin Press

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

Those who do it, cant explain. Those
who dont do it, dont understand.
Peter Cole

The people trapped beneath the bitumen clawed at the underside. The road had become transparent, like black ice hot black ice. They struggled, scraping with their fingernails, trying to claw their way out.

I swerved. From the following support vehicle, via my plug-in earphone, a voice told me to pedal, pedal, pedal. But the faces! I couldnt ride straight over them, slice them with my wheels. They glared at me faces from a horror film, people escaping the underworld, under a sheet of molten tar and stones.

I told myself to ride on, keep going. Theyre not really there. Its sleep deprivation. Its days of nonstop cycling. Its the headlights from the follow vehicle casting weird shadows across the road.

But when the dark hallucinations take hold, you cant ignore them. Theyre as real as any night terror. The race becomes a fight with yourself to keep going, to push through the nightmare images. Your support crew struggles to keep you focused, to point you in the right direction. Just to keep you on your bike.

The tyres rolled over the desperate, accusing eyes. Keep going, keep going...

But Im getting ahead of myself.

Everyone in the Race Across America (RAAM) fights the dark images when theyve been awake long enough. They also fight profound exhaustion, extreme pain, dizzying disorientation, raw bodies and even death itself.

And the hallucinations? Theyre bad. But theyre only part of the mind games in this ultra-contest.

If I back-pedal ten years, I can trace to when the RAAM really started for me. Back to when I got into this compelling, addictive madness called enduro sports. It started at my brothers wedding.

Kane and Jan got married in Palmerston Norths Rose Garden and held the reception at the Cloverlea Tavern. It was after the speeches and supper and a few whiskies and beers. I was having a cigarette and told the friends and family who were seated at the table that I was going to do the Coast to Coast.

As endurance races go, this is pretty hardcore. Its a multi-sport competition, with a course that is spectacular, beautiful and gruelling. It starts off at Kumara Beach on the west coast of the South Island. Competitors cycle, run and kayak 243 kilometres to Sumner Beach on the other side of the island.

Jump right in. That was my attitude. Have a crack. How hard can it be? Isnt that the Kiwi way? Its said that New Zealanders do things because they havent learned that they cant, right? Those mental roadblocks and self-imposed limitations arent there. Weve got a fresh eye and a can-do attitude.

Whatever the truth of that, theres an impulsive urge in me. A voice that says, go on. Dont over-think it. If you start thinking about it, youll see all the obstacles and problems. Ignore them. Jump right in.

My announcement was met with scepticism and some amusement. Josh is some joker, was the general attitude of my family and friends. Id always done sports. I played rugby at school and I even got into a couple of what can only be called minority-interest games in New Zealand. Gaelic football, for instance, and Aussie Rules. All very well, but the Coast to Coast? The other wedding guests thought Id had one beer too many.

I was 29 and not fit at that time, either. And working as a plumber didnt afford me a huge amount of exercise. The Coast to Coast included a significant mountain run. The kayaking was through the swift waters of the Waimakariri Gorge. It was a push through some tough country. I couldnt be serious!

Well, I was. And the reaction I got to my announcement firmed up my determination. The others all knew I had been sporty. They probably thought this was a whim and would last as long as the average New Years resolution. I wanted to prove them wrong. I knew I probably could work up to this event, but would I? I laughed along with them, of course, but the serious training had already started in my mind. A voice quietly spoke in there, You think I cant do the Coast to Coast watch this space.

The following year, in 2004, thats exactly what I did.

This was a big change for me. I went from doing little, and drinking and smoking besides, to what I then thought was hard training. It was something that would get me away from that unhealthy lifestyle. That was my goal, a sporting challenge. Id taken on other challenges, of course. Building another room onto my house, for example now thats a challenge, both physical and emotional! But I wanted to throw my body into an athletic regimen. The Coast to Coast would focus my thoughts into vigorous physical activity. It would awaken the sporting side in me. My days would be all about energy and health.

It would also have other effects that I didnt expect. It would grow a passion for one-on-one competition in me, for example. I realised I loved the sort of sport where you pursue other competitors and pick them off, one at a time. Its not a team you play against, its individuals, and the contest becomes personal. At the same time, you also test yourself in this event your willpower, motivation, the ability to press through limitations and endure pain. This was different to team sports where you use your individual talents, sure, but you are always thinking about how you can best serve the unit.

Did I mention that endurance sports are about pain? Pain pervades your entire body from your toes to your hair follicles. Everything seems to ache, to burn, to grip and tighten. Its punishing but also liberating to realise that you can sustain that effort, that you can go beyond what you thought possible of yourself. This realisation would become fascinating to me, growing over successive events.

And I credit the Coast to Coast for getting me into cycling.

One of the big things for me at the time was giving up cigarettes. I chugged through a pack of tailor-mades a day. Double that after a couple of beers. Whats better than a smoke with a bottle of lager? Or after a meal? How good is that relaxed sensation of a full tummy and then a cigarette to give total satisfaction?