So I thought that I would challenge myself and see if I could complete the alpine ascent challenge. This is where you tackle the 7 peaks (you have to complete 4) by a certain date and you enter to win the competition. See more details here .
So I thought I would tackle the hardest one first. I had just received my new road bike, its a year old but looks new and after riding a 2005 OCR1 is just a sweet ride. Its my new Felt F1
So here is where I started its maiden voyage for me. 14 kms out of Noojee on the way to Baw Baw. It was going to be a hot day 35 deg so I got out early and started riding at just after 7am. The book says that Baw Baw is the second hardest climb in the world of cycling with an average gradient of 13% and a max of 20%.
I'll be up the top of that soon.The ride out to the base of the mountain and the last 6 kms had plenty of climbing. I had done 800mts of climbing in just under 1.5 hrs of riding as I approached the gates to mountain. I had 6km to go and 718m to go up. The alpine ascent passport said the climb should take 35mins.
So 45 mins of pain later I saw this
The resort management office was open but all lights were still off as it was just before 9am, the lady stamped my passport and offered to shout me a powerade as I could not find my money, then I realized I had secured it in my shoe.
So after enduring the 45 minutes of pain and zig zagging over the road just to keep moving forward, I was down in 8 minutes.
Towards the end after 3hrs 30 mins and 2000 mts of vertical I took a photo of what I had just gone up.
and then realised
what a SMILE can do.
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