7 Peaks - Mt Buller (5/7)

Yesterday, I finished my 5^th of the 7 Peaks Challenge – Mt Buller.

As this ride is located relatively close to Melbourne (not around the Alpine Region), we thought we could tackle this over a weekend. As I had done the Giro della Donna the previous weekend, my legs were in a bit of a noodle-like state and I didn’t want to go as tough for the weekend. I did a few strength session throughout the week too which hindered my legs to fully recover as I was walking about like I just just done a marathon.

So I had booked some accommodation at Mansfield as we decided to make the ride there count and would start from Mansfield and ride up to Mt Buller and back (around 95km) instead of just ticking off the 7 Peaks ride which is only 32km (return).

I had a pretty busy week at work and a late Friday night. I had accompanied my parents from Richmond station to Rod Laver arena so they could watch the Hugh Jackman (mum pronounces it as “Huge Jackman”) and the Canadian and I spend a few hours in the city as we hardly do anymore since moving in together in the suburbs. We didn’t get home until 11:30pm (woah, so late!!)

I had a bit of a sleep in on the Saturday and stayed in bed watching iView on the iPad until about 10am. I got out of bed to pack my bags and bike for Mansfield. I left the house around 2pm with a pit stop at the rest point along the Eastlink freeway for fuel, coffee and a toilet stop.

I got into Mansfield around 5pm. Dale had already arrived (she got in around 2pm) and we went to the local pub for dinner. We discussed the plan for the next day – start the ride at 7am from Mansfield to Mt Buller and it would be a 4.5 – 5 hour day on the saddle. A bit of Sound of Music on local TV and a read of the route description and we were off to our respective rooms by 10pm. My room didn’t have a fan and also faced the main caravan park area so I had to close the window to reduce noise. I couldn’t sleep until about 12:30am and woke up a few times from thirst. The alarm went off at 6:15am and we were pretty much out the door by 6:50am.

I am still trying to sort out what my “kit” will be for 3 Peaks. I bought the Spoxe kit a few weeks ago and tried it out for this ride. I won’t go into too much detail about the kit as the intention for this blog post is for the ride and not a kit review but I can confirm that I won’t be riding with the knicks for 3 peaks – the chamois is too small (didn’t cover my butt area on the saddle - why?!) and the size was too generous (even when I bought a S in ladies). The jersey I had gone for a Medium in ladies but I think I could have gone for a S as it is not a race cut and therefore, it was flapping around a bit. Can confirm that I didn’t get the stomach look as it was generous in size.

I felt the ride from Mansfield to the start of the Buller climb was pretty tough. The country roads meant that the ride was pretty slow for a relatively flat terrain (I later found out from my Strava that it is s slight incline on the way out of Mansfield). I didn’t get on the large chain ring apart from the sections where it was downhill-ish and just spun my legs out at 80rpm+. I didn’t want to wreck my legs for the climb. I was also trying out a new nutrition strategy – eating a date for every 2^nd 30min nutrition timing. I think I will need to do some prepping – even start by removing the pit ahead of time. I might look into soaking and blending the dates into a gel-paste like consistency for the next ride too. More about my nutrition on a separate post…

Once we reached the toll gates, I set my sights on keeping my cadence > 65rpm as much as possible. This was good for the first 2-3km but it slowly decreased to 55-60rpm for the next 10km. I really enjoyed the climb. The scenery was amazing and the tree coverage made for a cool climb. You could feel the drop in temperature along the way, this I have noticed for most of the climbs I have been doing over the last few months.

There were distance markers along the side of the road which helped with knowing how far we had to go to the summit but it was also disheartening when you think you have made significant progress but the distance covered had only been 1km or so.

The last 3km or so of Mt Buller had plenty of hair-pin turns. So crazy and steep! I had to get out of the saddle for most of them and rode towards the middle of the road. The last 1.5km was even more crazy steep but I knew that it was close to the end as I could see the ski lodges.

When we finally rode through the entrance to Mt Buller, I was so relieved. The ride was not my best performance – could be due to the change in nutrition strategy, could be because I was so uncomfortable on the saddle (knicks), it could be because my legs were still fatigued. Even though I found the ride pretty tough, it was manageable and I am glad I ticked that one off.

Pointing to my signature on the wall

My 5th Stamp!!!

We had a break at Foodworks, grabbed our stamp and signed the board. I told Dale that I would be behind her as I am going to take my time heading back as I wanted to stop to take some photos along the way. The descent was a bit tricky due to the sharp turns and I took my time along them. Where I could see the road, I let go of the brakes but I was still hesitant as the surface of the road was patchy in some areas. In my mind, if they are patchy and I ride over them fast, there is a chance that I will fly off the cliff.

BAAT - Bike Against A Totem

The ride back towards Mansfield from Merrijig was painful….It was only 20km but it just went on forever. I was tired and bored. There were plenty of 4WD passing but luckily there was plenty of side lane to keep me at a distance. I had music to keep me company but there was just nothing interesting about the ride back. I just couldn’t wait to get back to the caravan park.

The total ride took me just over 5 hours to do – could have been quicker if I didn’t stop to take photos along the way or let my motivation wonder on the ride back towards Mansfield. I didn’t really mind as the main aim for the day was to tick off Mt Buller on the 7 Peaks challenge.

Ranking the climbs on my own personal scale:

1) Mt Hotham
2) Falls Creek
3) Mt Buller (I thought it was overall more difficult than Lake Mountain and Buffalo)
4) Lake Mountain
5) Mt Buffalo

Some Strava stats

 My Mt Buller Strava Segment info - need to work on the cadence!!

Inaugural Giro della Donna Gran Fondo

So yesterday, I participated in the inaugural Giro della Donna event hosted by Cyclingtips. This is a Gran Fondo starting in the town of Warburton doing a loop through Marysville and then finishing at the Donna Buang summit.

I entered this event as part of my (fatigue and stress) training for 3 Peaks. I wanted to put my body through as many stresses as possible before the 3 Peaks event. I didn’t think too much about the event so I wouldn’t have an anxiety attack about it but I kept it in my the back of my mind that I will have a 120km ride on the 22^nd Nov with about 2700m of climbing to do…

On Saturday, instead of sleeping in, I decided to try something new. I joined Cycles Galleria for their womens only ride around Williamstown. I arrived at 6:30am with pouring rain and hesitated about riding for a few minutes as I didn’t have wet weather gear with me. I recognised a few faces on the ride and I actually joined to faster group for a trot around the area. With 3km left of the ride, I dropped my light around the speed humps and spent a few minutes searching for it. I didn’t want to lose it as they are not cheap to buy (the good ones) and I needed it for my ride the next day.

The alarm went off at 4am on the Sunday morning and I left the house at 4:30am as the plan was to arrive in Warburton by 6am. The morning went off without a hitch as I prepared my bike and bags the night before.

When I arrived at 6am, we were directed to park at the oval next to the event village. Some wore their arm warmers and gilet at the start but I decided against the gilet as I am one who warms up very quick. I hung around at the back of the group start as I knew that many would be jostling for the front positions during the ride (they would race it).

0 – 20km

From the get-go, I rode at my own pace. Although I did get into a bunch ride (two abreast) for about 5km of the ride before the rolling hills started to be prominent. There was a bit of a hustle when unpredictable behaviours started and people’s rhythms were thrown into disarray. At this point, the groups started to spread and once again, I found myself riding at my own pace with only ACDC, Tay Tay and RATM as company.

20 – 40km

All I remember around this point was how I had to stop to take off my arm warmers! The Reefton climb was long and because I was not familiar with this climb (not reading about it anywhere), I just made sure that my cadence was above 70rpm. It was generally manageable and I actually rode passed a handful of people along the way.

There was some sort of “Sufferfest Section” along this point. As there was no one around me apart from a handful of gents who stopped to pee along the way, I just rode at my pace and finished the climb through great scenery.

(These are the photos I have saved to be purchased)

Looking OK. 

40km – 60km

The ride towards Marysville had a few steep climbs after the Sufferfest section. I remember the cadence dropping at some points but I felt that the legs still had something left to be able to maintain a comfortable pace. The road met the intersection where I turned off towards Lake Mountain last week so I knew where I was along the route. I had a 6km or so descend down towards Marysville and I am pretty sure that my speed was a bit better than last week due to increased confidence and knowing a bit more about the roads.

As I had refilled one of my bidons at the last aid station and having 1.75 bottles of hydration with me, I decided against stopping at Marysville for a rest and just kept going.

60km – 68km

Leaving Marysville was cruel – there was a steep section as you leave the small town which I thought was quite unpleasant. The rest of the route was along a pretty major road with cars but they all seemed to be travelling along knowing that there is an event on. I found the rolling hills a bit challenging as it was quite exposed and the heat from the roads was getting warm.

68km – 83km

This was one of my favourite parts of the ride. It was through the paved section of Acheron Way. The road was narrow but covered by the trees. It was cool, a contrast from the exposed roads of the previous section. I didn’t push too hard along this section, stayed in the small chain ring and just kept at a good 80-90rpm and just enjoyed the relatively flat ride. If I was aiming for a good (strava) time, I would actually be pushing hard along this section, maybe next year.

Riding thorugh Acheron Way

83km – 96km

I have to be honest, I was actually a bit worried about this section of the Gran Fondo. It was 13km of gravel roads and I was worried about getting flat or skidding off to the side of the mountain but I surprised myself and actually loved this section! It reminded me of much of the #dirtygranfondo events which I have done for the last 3 years. The road was bumpy and lumpy at some points but it is a matter of choosing a good line. I had so much fun!

96km – 107km

The gravel road ended at the end of the carpark at the hairpin section along the Donna Buang route. The rest of the 10km was the climb up to the summit. At this stage, my legs were a bit tired…

Having done 96km already with plenty of climbing, coupled with being shock absorbers throughout the gravel section, I found myself okay for the first 5km of the climb and being able to maintain 60rpm through to feeling absolutely smashed and not being able to maintain 40rpm along the last 5km. I kept reminding myself that I am nearly finished and only had a few km to go but I really had nothing left in the legs.

When I could see the end, I was so glad! I felt more of a relief having completed this ride more than I did during Amy’s Gran Fondo. I collected my momento (see photo below - its a plaque/keyring), put on my arm warmers and gilet and started on the descent. I found out that when I reached the top of the summit, the sag wagon was about 4km away. I actually saw the last riders with the sag wagon during the middle of my descent back down to Warburton and I was just glad that I had made the cut off (by about 20min or so).

The temperature along the descent was just as I remembered it on Melbourne Cup day, shivering cold. I would like to think that my descending speed was a bit better than the last time I rode down. As always, I had plenty of people passing me.

When I arrived back at the event village, I had a large coffee to relax before riding back to the car to undress into something more comfortable and prepared for the drive back home.

My Giro della Donna time was 6:37. Average moving speed of 16km/hr, max 57km/hr. 2594m of climbing.

Including the descent back down to Warburton and back down to the village, my total time was 7:09.

Final Thoughts:

• Were there toilets along the route (apart from Marysville)? I don't know but I would suggest that a few be placed along the way. I saw about 30 guys who stopped along the way for a pee. As a female, I would like to relieve myself in a toilet and not in the open. 
• Nutrition was good. Although I prefer to stick to my homemade ones rather than the Gu I had in a flask....I am thinking of adding some form of caffeine with my nutrition but not in the form of store bought gels. 
• I really need to work on my cadence (on tired legs). All part of the training. 
• Need to work on the core - my guts seemed too relaxed in all my photos.  
• Felt more comfortable on the descents although I did hesitate for a few. Luckily I was pretty much by myself at most points along the course.
• Finally, would I do this event again - Yes!!! 

7 Peaks - Lake Mountain (4/7)

On the 15^th November 2015, I joined the Domestique: The Climbing Cyclist/Hells500 ride from Marysville to Lake Mountain. We were not too sure on how the parking situation will be at Marysville and combined with the first 4km of the 21km climb bring the hardest with gradients around 10%, we decided to park at Buxton and do a 12km warm up ride into Marysville.

The Canadian and I were meeting Dale at Buxton at 8am. When we arrived into Buxton, the carpark was full so we decided to park at the Buxton hotel. I was busting for a bathroom (having had a coffee from Maccas along Eastlink) and I was desperate. There were a few motel patrons who were having a smoke outside their rooms and I just asked them if I could use their bathroom!

We left for Marysville around 8:30 and got to the start just at 9am but due to briefing and the wave starts, we didn’t leave until around 9:30am. I had some gravel stuck in my cleats and I wasn’t able to pedal efficiently. It felt like my cleats were loosening up. The Canadian rode passed me and we stopped to check. Luckily he was there so he was able to push me along as there was no way I was able to get back onto the bike – that was my worry and why I didn’t stop before he arrived. This happened around the 500m mark.

The rest of the ride was not the most comfortable. I wasn’t able to keep my cadence > 50rpm. I was actually hovering between 35-45 for most of the first 4km. This is something which I wasn’t happy about and must work on my strength and cadence to overcome this.

I recognised a few familiar faces along the ride – from friends through to people I have connected with over the years through twitter and Instagram.

After the first 4km of the ride – we come to a section which had a great view of the mountains. I don’t know what it is called but apparently, it has a name. I saw a few people who stopped for happy snaps and a rest.

The rest of the climb was manageable. I got into a comfortable rhythm and I could hold my cadence > 65rpm (90% > 70rpm).

Once I got to the top, I felt good. I got my 4^th stamp in my passport and found the Canadian (he finished about 30min before me as he had plenty of time to have a salad roll and a coffee) and then I waited for Dale. She arrived about 10min or so after me.

I put on my gilet and my arm warmers and psyched myself ready for the descent down. So many people flew passed me. Some were even pedalling down the switch backs – something I am not able to do. The Canadian’s top speed was over 80km/hr, mine was only 53km/hr. I felt more comfortable with the descend as I could see ahead.

My climbing time was 1:40 and my descent was 30min.

Overall, I found this climb of the 7 Peaks Challenge to be manageable (after the 4km). This climb had several breaks in between – with rolling hills and false flats.

The time below includes my ride from Buxton to Marysville, the stop at the start and the 30min break before we climbed.

Ranking the climbs in order of hardest to easiest (my own scale):

1) Mt Hotham

2) Falls Creek

3) Lake Mountain

4) Mt Buffalo

After the climb, we had a small rest at the Patisserie and then rode back to Buxton. The ride back was good and I could do a few surges. I even had a high speed of 51km/h on the ride.

7 Peaks - Mt Buffalo (3/7)

Following on from my 7 Peaks Falls Creek ride on the Saturday, Dale and I did the Mt Buffalo climb the on Sunday 8th November.

I read during Saturday night that many found Mount Buffalo to be an enjoyable climb (some even quoted it as their favourite go-to climb within the Alpine area). I was looking forward to this climb and getting my 3rd stamp on my 7 Peaks Passport.

We decided that we would leave Dave's house at 7am. For some reason, I didn't pay too much attention to the distance of the climb or maybe because I have been doing too much reading on all these climbs that I muddled up my distances. For some reason I thought the climb was 17km but it ended up being around 26km from the house.

The aim for this climb (and from reading other people's write up) is that you should be able to maintain a steady cadence as the gradient is pretty manageable. I wanted to work on my cadence and I actually paid attention to my pedal strokes. Happy to report that I was able to maintain it > 60rpm for 90% of the climb.

I found the scenery of the climb amazing. The waterfalls and the frequent flow of water along the side of the road made the experience much more enjoyable - something which I wouldn't have taken in if I had only driven the car. There were a few switch backs which I knew that I would have to take it easy on the way down but I didn't have any anxiety around it.

It took me just over 2 hours to ride up to the Rangers Office from the house in Porepunkah and under 30min to ride down and back to the house.

One of the places where we could get our 7 peaks stamps

Some stats

The ride down was not as manageable as Falls Creek. I held on to the brakes more for this as the roads were pretty rough and I couldn't comfortably see ahead of me to adjust my body position quick enough. I still managed it fine but the level of confidence on descending didn't get better during this event.

Ranking the 3 climbs of the 7 Peaks from hardest to easiest....

1) Mt Hotham
2) Falls Creek
3) Mt Buffalo

Lake Mountain is next on the cards - 15th November with the Domestique crew. Stay tuned for the write up!

7 Peaks - Falls Creek (2/7)

Over the weekend of 7 - 8th November, my friend Dale and I decided that it would be a great time to head to the hills and do some training/tick off some of the 7 Peaks Challenge climbs.

I had already done Harrietville - Hotham as the first of the 7 Peaks during the Bright Training camp with Bayside Tri Club about 3 weeks ago.

So we drove into Porepunkah on the Friday night and stayed at one of Dale's family friends house. On the first night, I realised that I also know Dave as he trained under Tri Alliance at one point and we both did the 2013 Melbourne Ironman.

The plan for the first day was to tackle either side of Falls Creek - 3 Peaks side or the 7 Peaks side, back or front respectively. During the Alpine Classic weekend, I will be doing the Falls Creek route which is Bright - Towonga Gap - Falls Creek return (130km with 3 climbs). We decided that this route (inc the ride from Porepunkah would be too much for us to handle at this stage of training so we decided to start at Mount Beauty and ride up to Falls (7 Peaks Stamp) and back. This ride would be approx 60km and I estimated that it would take me sometime between 4 - 5 hours to complete based on my 3 hour climb up Mt Hotham time.

We left the house at 7am and was ready for the ride at 8am at Mount Beauty. I started without a gilet or arm warmers as I knew that I would warm up quick. The ride along passed Bogong was quite manageable and I was able to keep my cadence 60-70rpm. There were a few rolling hills and so it gave me some time to recover the legs. Then the last 6km of the climb was a steady which I did feel harder and my cadence dropped to < 50rpm at some points. I felt the climbs were still not as hard as Hotham or Donna Buang.

It took me close to 2:40 to climb Falls Creek which was a surprise for me as I thought it would take closer to 3. The stamp was actually within Foodworks and I also bought an apple juice (instead of a coke). I took a few photos and then it was down I go.

Stamp #2

Valerie (the bike) at the finish point 

Wearing my Warsaw cycling kit

I will never say that I am 100% confident about the descent but I am getting more comfortable the more I do it including left and right hand turns. Luckily there were no crazy cross winds which helped. The descent took me about an hour.

My heart rate analysis - very high!

The whole ride took me under 4 hours to complete which was less than the 5-6 hours of training I had planned for the day but I guess we did plan on doing more climbing the next day and from what I was told, Buffalo is also a harder climb overall compared to the Falls Creek climb.

As this was my 2nd of the 7 Peaks climb, I would rate it as easier than Mt Hotham so my current rank of the 7 peaks climb looks something like this (hardest to easiest):

1) Mt Hotham
2) Falls Creek

Mt Donna Buang

As part of my training leading up to 3 Peaks (Falls Creek) in March, I have also signed up for the 7 Peaks Challenge. I ticked off one out of 7 of these climbs during my Bright training camp on 25^th October (Mount Hotham). There is a domestique ride to tick off one of these challenges on the 15^th November out at Lake Mountain. Reading up on this ride, they advised that participants should be able to ride up Mt Donna Buang “with little trouble”. I am a pretty slow cyclist and was nervous about this as I didn’t want to be dead last and so I decided to test myself over the Melbourne long weekend.

The original plan was to do the 100km loop of the Giro della Donna (minus the climb) and then come back on another day to do the climb. The weather on Saturday of the long weekend was terrible and I wasn’t comfortable about descending in the wet so that day became back to back spin classes instead.

The Canadian (my partner) and I decided that we would take a trip to Donna Buang on Tuesday. The day was perfect for a bike ride. The roads were quiet (due to public holiday) and the weather was just perfect.

We parked the car at Warbuton and got ready for the ride. I decided against wearing arm warmers and gilet and just carried them due to my body heating up quickly on climbs. The climb along Donna Buang Road was immediate. I tried from this point onwards to spin my legs quicker than usual. I kept it around 60-70rpm but I noticed that cyclist who rode passed me were going much faster – need to get there one day.

The gradient of the climbs was not steep enough that I needed to get out of the saddle until just before Cement Creek and the hair pin turn past the Rainforest Gallery. After this point, I found the gradient manageable but due to fatigue, I found it hard to keep my cadence > 70. The cadence noticeably dropped to around 40rpm the closer I came to the final few kms especially the last 1km.

For the first time on this ride, I found that my glutes were burning – either something is tight (hamstrings) or I am using my glutes to climb which is supposed to be right….

I could barely get off my bike once I reached the top and needed to sit down to stretch out the glutes. Once at the top, we took a few happy snaps and had a small break. Whilst I had some nutrition every 30min as per my plan, the Canadian only ate a bar once we reached the top of the climb! He climbed it in around 1:30 where as I took close to 2 hours to reach the top.

Once we decided to descend, I put on my gilet and arm warmers as I knew it would be pretty cold by the looks of the other cyclist as they rode downwards as I was ascending.

As soon as I left the summit, I could feel the drop in temperature. I was actually getting pretty cold and my jaw was chattering. My speed going down was comfortably below 50km/hr for the first half but I found myself applying on more brakes during the second half of the ride down due to the turns and sharper gradients. Once we reached the bottom, I was tired – both physical and mental.

The original plan was to do repeats but I will save this for a long ride day when I can’t go to the mountains – maybe on the weekends when I have plans on the Sunday or during the Melbourne Madison weekend. The descent took me nearly 30min so in total for one repeat including a short break at the top took close to 2:45. So for a long ride day, if I was to do repeats – it would be a 6 – 9 hour day in the saddle which I am comfortable doing. 

Mt Donna Buang, I will be back!

Looking Ahead - December

This year has really flown by so quick and I have one more month to look ahead to. So many things have changed for me for 2015:

•          Change of job in Jan 2015.
•          Change of triathlon club early in 2015.
•          Change of focus sport from triathlon to cycling
•           Finally took strength/core seriously

With one more month left for 2015, I have the following events/plans to look forward to:

5 – 6^th Dec – Back to the Mountains to ride Omeo-Dinner Plain (7 Peaks) and climb Mt Hotham again. I am no longer heading to Busselton due to leave not being approved.

12-13^th Dec – Due to supercrits on the 13^th Dec (spectating) – I will do repeats of Donna Buang/Lake Mountain on the 12^th.

19 – 20^th Dec – Bought tickets to the Melbourne Madison so will do hill repeats on the 19^th.

My work holidays start on the 24^th December so I will be heading back to the Alpine region to climb more mountains. I would like to tackle most of my 7 Peaks challenge rides by 2015 leaving Mt Baw Baw for February once I get enough training, strength in my legs and maybe less 10kgs.