Sunday, February 28, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Buffallo Day 1 ride 1
So as most of your slaved away at work I headed out to Bright early in the morning, left home at 6am for 2 days of riding. As it was midweek it was a solo mission as all my friends have jobs.
So today was going to be warm about 32 desgress but cool at the top of the mountain about 10-12 degrees, which meant I headed off like a pack horse with all the gear I would need as it got colder.
THe day was clear and the views stunning, being my first time up Buffallo I had no idea where I was going but figured the high rocky thing on my right would be it. The Buffallo climb is a gentle gradient and it never really gets steep just consistent. There are some large areas of huge rocks and rocky escarpments, including the summit.
My buddy was just as happy as I was to make it too the top.
I think that is Hotham on the right, the high point, that is 25 miles as the crow flies and that would be tommorrows target but there was work to be done before then
Just enjoying the top and the abseilers in the background having there fun.
I gave this climb an 8/10 the weather did make it enjoyable, the descent was a bit sketchy as they had re done the road and the top 8 or 9 kms had lost of small loose stones over it which you don't need at 50kmh heading into a bend. I will definetley do Buffallo again.
So today was going to be warm about 32 desgress but cool at the top of the mountain about 10-12 degrees, which meant I headed off like a pack horse with all the gear I would need as it got colder.
THe day was clear and the views stunning, being my first time up Buffallo I had no idea where I was going but figured the high rocky thing on my right would be it. The Buffallo climb is a gentle gradient and it never really gets steep just consistent. There are some large areas of huge rocks and rocky escarpments, including the summit.
My buddy was just as happy as I was to make it too the top.
I think that is Hotham on the right, the high point, that is 25 miles as the crow flies and that would be tommorrows target but there was work to be done before then
Just enjoying the top and the abseilers in the background having there fun.I gave this climb an 8/10 the weather did make it enjoyable, the descent was a bit sketchy as they had re done the road and the top 8 or 9 kms had lost of small loose stones over it which you don't need at 50kmh heading into a bend. I will definetley do Buffallo again.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
From 120 PSI to Zero
This happened a few weeks ago Jason and I headed out on the Monday prior to Austrlia day to do a loop Healsville Chum Creek Kinglake and home through Kangaroo Ground.
At the 85km mark coming down Kinglake I hit a corner a bit fast ( I think we were chasing a car down) Ran it a bit wide and tried avoiding this
but didn't! and let me tell you it sounded like a gun went off. Luckily there was no rim damage, so I was yelling to Jase to stop as I had no phone but he was gone.
Luckily a car came past 10 minutes later aand gave me a lift all the way to Warrandyte, and saved Jase having to climb all the way up to find out what had happened to me.
I have just completed my own 4 peaks challenge in the Vic High Country so check back later in the week for a wrap of my rides.
At the 85km mark coming down Kinglake I hit a corner a bit fast ( I think we were chasing a car down) Ran it a bit wide and tried avoiding this
but didn't! and let me tell you it sounded like a gun went off. Luckily there was no rim damage, so I was yelling to Jase to stop as I had no phone but he was gone.
Luckily a car came past 10 minutes later aand gave me a lift all the way to Warrandyte, and saved Jase having to climb all the way up to find out what had happened to me.
I have just completed my own 4 peaks challenge in the Vic High Country so check back later in the week for a wrap of my rides.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Dirt Fest Daylesford 2010
It was about 4 or 5 months ago that I decided that the 50km race at Daylesford would be the race I would train for.
So my training was focused towards this race. On the start line at 7.30am on Sat morning I was ready to go and confident in the fact that I had done everything that I could do to be ready for the race.
I had ridden a practice lap on Friday night and I knew that the race would be fast. So the gun went off and we were off. From the start I was second wheel behind Lachlan Stewart. The race would be 5 laps of a 10km loop. As we headed out on lap 1, the first part of the course contained alot of the climbing on the course, as we got to the top of the climbing at the 4km mark and the start of the descent I took the lead and let the Virtue do its thing down the descent. I could feel on a couple of occasions a gap open up as we wound our way back down and around to the end of the first lap, as we rounded the turn around flag it was neck and neck.
The start of lap 2 on the first climb about 500 meters into the lap Lachlan put in a move and i feel back 5 meters, which I then pulled back. As we hit the next climb he pulled away and I could not stay with him and the gap was 10 meters at the top after some flowing track another climb saw the gap open more, and then he was gone. The next time I saw him was at the turnaround point and I was 350 meters behind.
Lap 3 saw me give it everything I had, I figured that I had to pull the gap back to at least let him know I was coming, so I concentrated on climbing fast as I knew that I would be descending faster. At the end of the lap I was only 150 meters back.
Lap 4 saw me pull it back to about 30 or 40 meters after about 4 kms of the lap, at the 3km to go mark it was 10 meters with 2 kms to go I was on his wheel and ready to go past, as we dropped down and did a dry creek crossing my chain dropped off and came outside the front derailleur. I quickly went about getting it back on but it took at least 20 seconds. So with angry legs I set off after him again and pulled back the 20 seconds in the next 2kms and went around the turn around point about 10 meters behind.
Turning after 4 laps just in second spot
As we hit the first climb of the last lap I attacked and went with everything, I felt a gap open but did not know how far it was, as we got about 3 kms into the last lap and at the top of a climb I had a look and the gap was only about 10 seconds. So I kept the pressure on and really hammered it up the next 1km which was the last of the sustained climbing.
With 3 kms to go I checked on a long straight section and I was alone and knew all I had to do was keep it upright and I was home.
So I smashed it down the fast flowing descents of the last 2 kms and crossed the line for the win in a time of just a minute over 2 hours. I ended up winning by about 4 or 5 minutes as I think Lachlan had spent his tickets on lap 4 trying to stay out in front.
I was wrapped with my ride and to average nearly 25kms per hour with 1050mts of climbing over the 50km was a great result for me.
The victory smile
So my training was focused towards this race. On the start line at 7.30am on Sat morning I was ready to go and confident in the fact that I had done everything that I could do to be ready for the race.
I had ridden a practice lap on Friday night and I knew that the race would be fast. So the gun went off and we were off. From the start I was second wheel behind Lachlan Stewart. The race would be 5 laps of a 10km loop. As we headed out on lap 1, the first part of the course contained alot of the climbing on the course, as we got to the top of the climbing at the 4km mark and the start of the descent I took the lead and let the Virtue do its thing down the descent. I could feel on a couple of occasions a gap open up as we wound our way back down and around to the end of the first lap, as we rounded the turn around flag it was neck and neck.
The start of lap 2 on the first climb about 500 meters into the lap Lachlan put in a move and i feel back 5 meters, which I then pulled back. As we hit the next climb he pulled away and I could not stay with him and the gap was 10 meters at the top after some flowing track another climb saw the gap open more, and then he was gone. The next time I saw him was at the turnaround point and I was 350 meters behind.
Lap 3 saw me give it everything I had, I figured that I had to pull the gap back to at least let him know I was coming, so I concentrated on climbing fast as I knew that I would be descending faster. At the end of the lap I was only 150 meters back.
Lap 4 saw me pull it back to about 30 or 40 meters after about 4 kms of the lap, at the 3km to go mark it was 10 meters with 2 kms to go I was on his wheel and ready to go past, as we dropped down and did a dry creek crossing my chain dropped off and came outside the front derailleur. I quickly went about getting it back on but it took at least 20 seconds. So with angry legs I set off after him again and pulled back the 20 seconds in the next 2kms and went around the turn around point about 10 meters behind.
Turning after 4 laps just in second spotAs we hit the first climb of the last lap I attacked and went with everything, I felt a gap open but did not know how far it was, as we got about 3 kms into the last lap and at the top of a climb I had a look and the gap was only about 10 seconds. So I kept the pressure on and really hammered it up the next 1km which was the last of the sustained climbing.
With 3 kms to go I checked on a long straight section and I was alone and knew all I had to do was keep it upright and I was home.
So I smashed it down the fast flowing descents of the last 2 kms and crossed the line for the win in a time of just a minute over 2 hours. I ended up winning by about 4 or 5 minutes as I think Lachlan had spent his tickets on lap 4 trying to stay out in front.
I was wrapped with my ride and to average nearly 25kms per hour with 1050mts of climbing over the 50km was a great result for me.
The victory smile
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