Hotham

So after alot of food for dinner and a restless nights sleep it was an early start as I had a bit of riding to do. The plan was Harrietville to Omeo and back roughly about 150kms.

I took this photo on the way down as I was not sure where I was heading but this is Hotham in the distance.





It was a cool start and I was well rugged up with a merino singlet, my jersey, wind vest and a rain jacket. No rain just needed it for warmth. The ride started sharply as I had 300mts of flat then bang straight into the climb. The legs were heavy from the 2700mts of vertical the day before.

Yep the road is steep!!!!!!!!!

The climb up Hotham is steady climbing at the bottom, then you hit "the meg" and then after the meg is flattens out a bit and is a false flat for about 3 or 4 kms. It then points skywards and has a few pinches like CRB Hill which was tough.







The views from the road on the way up were awesome, and it was cool in the shade and at the top not much better in the sun as there was a breeze that was cold. It was about 8 deg at the top at 8am when I got there.

So it took 2 hours to climb up to Hotham with about 1500 mts gained. It was now the "mental side" of the ride continuing to ride to Dinner Plain and then down the mountain to Omeo all the while knowing that it was a U turn at Omeo and back up to Hotham.

Falls Creek Ride 2 Day 1

So after a quick lunch and a drive from Bright over to Mt Beauty it was time to tackle Falls Creek.

In some weird twist of coincidence the two riders I saw that had just come down Buffallo when I started going up were coming down Falls as I was going up, did not think anyone would be out doing the same 2 mountains as I was, but there you go.

Falls is an interesting climb as about 3 or 4 kms in the road flattens and its up and down, which I enjoyed at the time as the legs were heavy after Buffallo. But on the other hand I knew that I would have to work on the descent on the way home.




This creek signifies that start of the last 14kms to the summit of constant climbing. I kept waiting for the road to steepen but it never really does. I overtook one rider towards the summit when it does get a little steeper, but she was about 65 and had double front and rear panniers, that is what I call hard core.


I noticed that all the resorts had work going on as I guess there are only so many months when you can work on things before the snow comes.


There is quite alot of evidence of the fires from 2007 that went through this area and alot of the trees have just now grown back. In alot of areas there are new trees but the burnt trees have no new growth on them.


So at the end of this ride I had clocked up 112kms for the day with 2700mts of climbing. I guess I will have a big dinner and a solid nights rest before I attempt the 150kms I have planned for tomorrow.

The Trophy

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.

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.

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

Exploring along the Yarra

Its been a while since my duallie has seen any love, with issues with both front and rear Easton rims, and months of delays. I decided I would buy a new set.

So Bellie was parting with his latest set of SLR's so the deal was done.



I decided that I would head out towards Wonga Park and do some exploring around Clifford Scout park. I love just riding the bike around and exploring areas.




So after a couple of hours and finding a couple of great sections of single track I had made not a bad loop around.





I went back a few days later and manged to connect my new loop to the track that should lead us all the way to Warrandyte, but that is for another day.

As for the wheels they work and make make rolling along nice and easy.

It is great to finally get the bike back up and running and I look forward finally getting the old rims repaired and on my old hardtail, which is going to be re born.

Not a bad view out to the Yarra Valley to those who are floating along!

Alpine Ascent Challenge - Lake Mountain

After starting the Alpine Ascent Challenge last year and only completing two of the climbs, it was time to start again and at least get one done prior to Christmas. So we, being Jase, Rob and I started with the closest climb, lake mountain. Not wanting to load the bikes in a car Jase and I decided the order of the day would be an early start, so we rolled out at 6am with 100km until we reached the top of the mountain.

It was smiles all round as we headed towards Yarra Glen



Passing a four legged Sheppard looking after his flock, he did not like the look of us!!!!


Rob was meeting us at Healsville and too our surprise passed us before we got to Yarra Glen, I guess he was keen to get off four wheels and onto two. He joined us just out of Healsville, so that would cut our ride home by 50kms.



This was the first time for all of us to ride over the black spur. There were not too many cars which was good and the scenery was as good as it gets. The road is not too steep so we tapped out a nice pace and managed to catch a couple of other early morning riders. Jase tried to convince them to do lake mountain but funnily enough they declined





The theme of the day was "we are along way from home", and yep we were. At this turnoff we were about 90 kms from Melbourne. As we hit the climb through the cutting heading into Marysville the ride got hard. This climb is 2.5kms and has an average gradient of 10%, short but tough. I misjudged how many turns and cuttings there were and blew up halfway up and limped across the top. We hit speeds of 80km coming home down this stretch of road.


As we climbed up from Marysville the fog and cloud closed in and reduced visibility. The first 4 kms out of Marysville are the steepest and proved to be, Jase rolled off into the fog and I punctured, it was a really slow leak. This was three punctures in three rides after not having one for 12 months. Jase disputed the puncture so a bet was had, the loser to wash the others bike. So after winning the unloseable bet I was feeling good knowing that the Jase would be busy later washing 2 bikes. That was until he offered me about 30 extra psi in the form of a co2 canister, in lieu of washing the bike. With still 18kms to the top and another 50 after that back to the car I gave up the free wash and took the psi. That hurt, but made the climb more bearable with a harder front tube.





After a bit fog, some sunshine for about 3 minutes a bit of the Foo Fighters we reached the summit.


It must be said that I have never drank a coffee in my life and towards the end of the climb I was contemplating starting. It appears I was still contemplating in the resort cafe, staring at Jase's coffee.


Nup just joking!!!!!!!


So we made the climb got our passports stamped, and headed back down.


It was a PB for me today clocking up 146km and 2800mts of climbing. Rob started suffering some cramps about 500mts down the mountain so he knocked down some Endura, Gels and Jase even gave him some coke. It took about 20 minutes but he came good and we managed to get up the few hills between Marysville and Healsville, and enjoyed the descent down the black spur.


All in all it was a good day spent in the saddle with two good mates on some great country roads and up into the Victorian Alpine Country.

1 down 6 to go!

IM BACK

Since my last post life has been busy to say the least, have done a couple of races. The Kathmandu race at Lysterfield and the Eildon challenge. And also put in some km's on the road bike

The Eildon race saw me have a stack and put a deep cut in my shin which has seen me have to miss the Kona and three weeks later still has not healed.

So summer will see many new adventures and plenty of posts so stay tuned for some regular updates and news of exciting adventures.

So what a way to start a ride, as I followed the bike path along the beach heading out to the Noosa and Tewantin trails.

The girls over at tri adventure has shown me the Noosa trail network the week before which I had not ridden before, so was keen to get oput and give it another go. The ride is a 45 minute road bike track ride to the trails then a couple of hours on the trails then another 45 minute ride home.

Whilst it was early about 6.30am departure the temp was already in the low 20s and the sun has a bit of kick about it. Seems a millieniun miles away from the cold paddle I did in the yarra 2 weeks ago. So I was following Noosa trail 4 which is part of the Noosa Enduro course in July. The riding is mainly fire trail with sections of single track in between, the fire trail riding is undulating and has plenty of challenging climbing on some rocky tracks.

I got the camera out on timer and took a couple of action shots which took a few tries as I was counting the camera timer down, and sometimes did not quiet get it right. This is the start of one of the best bits of single track I have ridden in this area, fast and flowing and great tempret rain forest all around you. As I was riding along I was getting alot of sticks leaves etc hitting my legs, as I was heading down a rocky descent a large rock flicked up and smashed into my left shin.

As I pulled over I saw the dent the rock had made in my shin but also saw the two interesting holes that were also just above my sock, that looked suspiciously like a snake bite. After concluding that is wasnt a snake bit or so I thought as the holes were accross my leg and not up and down like they would have been had it been a snake. Either way I decided that I would monitor how I was feeling anyway.

So after finishing the Noosa trails I headed up and over to the trails in Tewantin state forest, where all the single track is, and it has been a year since I had ridden these trails and some of them had changed due to a bit of erosion and where now a bit more rocky than last year. These trails were great fun and a great way to finish of the ride, except for the 45 minutes required to get home. So after an early start and 3.5 hours on the bike I was home at 10am and in the pool shortly after.

And as a Melbournian who rides year round in the cold it was great to have no arm warmers no booties etc and actually get a nice sweat going from the weather rather than the amount of clothing you have on.