Last Big Ride...

So this weekend, I did my last "big ass" ride before Peaks Challenge. I went back to Tawonga South/Mt Beauty and stayed at the same motel. I arrived on the Friday afternoon and settled in for the night.

The plan for the weekend was to ride Mt Hotham again before the big day as the last time I did that route was in October. Instead of just riding Mt Hotham from Harrietville return which is approx 60km, I needed a big day out so I decided to start from Mt Beauty, ride over Tawonga Gap up to Hotham and then back over Tawonga Gap again, about 150km in total.

Once again, I left the house at 8am and rode up Mt Beauty side of Tawonga Gap (for the 3rd time ever). For once, I did this ride with fresh legs! By all strava records, I achieved a PR on all segments along this side of the climb. It makes a difference when this climb is not done during the hottest time of the day or after having done 100km already. So I achieved a PB of 10min on this climb. The descent down was also a PB, maybe because the temperature was pretty cold and I couldn't wait to get off this descent.

I had never ridden from Germantown to Harrietville before so it was good to see how I would fair along this route before hitting up the 2nd climb of the event. Apart from a few small inclines and cars (which won't be present on the day), the ride was pretty straight forward.

I stopped at the park at Harrietville to fill up my drink bottle and had quick toilet stop. The day was starting to get warm too as I could feel the sweat dripping off my face. I thought that with the amount of riding I had been doing over the last few months that I would improve on my climb up Hotham but at the end, it wasn't to be.

I found the ride pretty challenging from the start. My legs just didn't want to spin faster than 50rpm and I struggled with the heat. I guess because this was my 2nd time up Hotham, I had expectations that I would find the climbs easier but it wasn't the case. I found The Meg quite challenging, much more than my first attempt and I didn't find the 10km false flat in the middle as much of a relief as I did the first time in October. I struggled with keeping up the speed along this part of the ride. The last 10km of Hotham is where I struggled the most. Straight up after the toll gates there is a pretty long and sharp climb. I rode out of the saddle as much as I could. I didn't find the small roller coaster parts too intimidating this time around but I did find CRB hill more horrific this time around after actually reading about it more in write ups and blogs. I really had a lot of trouble keeping my cadence above 30rpm which was just soul destroying for me. I think at this point I had also ran out of water (both bottles) and was stressing out...I had 5 hot and sweaty ks to go....

I had to stop at one point along the ride to just rest. My legs were throbbing and I was just tired. I knew that I had one or two more sharp climbs to do before I see the water catchment and all the hard work was done for this peak. I have never been so happy to see that body of water as I knew the rest of the ride was downhill towards The General store where I could buy some coke....something I was salivating about for literally hours.

I stopped at Hotham for about 15min or so. I bought a Gatorade and a Coke and added a sachet of Hydralyte into both bottles with added salt. I didn't stop off at the toilets as I didn't feel like I was busting and I sweated so much on the climbs.

The descent back down to Harrietville was not too bad. The roads are smooth and I enjoyed the views. When I reached Harrietville, I felt like the sun was right next to my face. I had to stop and take a quick break....and bought another can of coke for a top up as there is no other method for top up until I reach the motel.

Although it was around 4pm, I felt like the sun was out on force and I was being chased out of all my energy. The ride along Tawonga from Germantown side was the hardest ever. It is my 3rd climb along this route and Strava also tells me that it is mostly my slowest too. No surprises there, this climb was done after a long day...

I stopped twice along this route. I was hot, sweaty and tired. My legs were f#$ked and couldn't keep my cadence > 30rpm which was ridiculous for a gradient no greater than 6%. I hated this climb. I felt like it went on forever and every turn the road took, I thought it was the end but when I reached the apex, it was not the end, just another turn.

When I finally reached the top of the climb, I was relieved and didn't even think about stopping. For once I was so glad for the descent as I was 8-10km from "home". My total time spent with the bike was 10:12 with 9:24 saddle time.

I am so ready for taper....my legs are shattered and I have two weeks until Peaks Challenge. No more long hilly rides until the 13th March.

The Backside of Falls...

So on the weekend of 20 – 21 Feb, I went back to the Alpine region as I wanted to tackle a few more climbs before the big day (which is in 3 weeks….eeekkk).

During the week, I went about my usual training schedule with CF Altitude on the Tuesday and AOC KOM class on the Thursday. During both sessions, I worked on my weakness which has been out of the saddle work.

Come Thursday night, I was panicking slightly while I packed for my weekend away. I have heard plenty about the “Back O’Falls” as it has the final (and steepest) climb. I was stressing about this as much as Baw Baw…

As this climb is part of the Peaks Challenge, I couldn’t delay this like I did with Baw Baw. I needed to tick this climb off before the big day and the 20^th Feb was the day planned. I booked my accommodation Mt Beauty and the plan was to ride up the front of Falls Creek, then ride to Anglers Rest return. I checked on the map and the distance from my motel to Anglers Rest was about 77km so the total trip would be about 150-160km.

I had also planned on a ride on the Sunday as well but that didn’t eventuate – more on this later.

I arrived at my accommodation around 9pm on the Friday night. I settled in for the night and went to bed around 10pm. I woke up around 7:00am and started the ride at 8am. The ride up to Falls Creek was good. It was my 3^rd attempt up the front of Falls Creek and by the looks of my data, it was not my fastest. I was passed by plenty of vehicles carrying mountain bikes and it wasn’t until I reached the toll gates that I found out that the Gravity Enduro is on that weekend. When I reached the top of Falls Creek, I stopped for a toilet break, bought a coke, an orange juice and filled up the remainder of my bottles. A lesson learnt from previous rides is that I take too long to finish off a can of coke so what I did was filled up my bottle with coke along with some salt and water. The salt degassed the coke as well as providing me with some sodium.

I then took off down the back of Falls. I had my jacket on as it was windy but I didn’t realise the back of falls still had a few climbs to do. I stopped about 5km on to take off my jacket and it was then I saw how nice the top of Falls Creek was.

It was around 50km into the ride was where the big descents were and I knew that I was close to the infamous “WTF Corner”. When I rode down the descent, my hands on my brakes were so tight that they were close to red raw and bruised when I reached the bottom. It was a very sharp descent and I knew that I was in for a bit of a shocker of a climb. I rode all the way to Anglers Rest so I could refill my drink bottles and stop for the toilet.

I decided to order a coffee at the Blue Duck Inn which made my total time longer than needed. For the Peaks Event, I need to adjust my strategy and reduce “wasted time”. No buying of coke and then drinking it, no coffee breaks, nothing which will put my finishing of 3 Peaks into high risk.

So after my coffee, I got back onto my bike and rode towards Falls. As I approached WTF corner, I told myself that I was to not look up and just do what I can. The climb was steep and the gradient was something which I had never done before. I saw the gradient >15% a few times on my Garmin and I did ride from side to side. I had no idea how I managed the ride but I was adamant to not stop, more because I could never get back on the bike…

All the negative thoughts came into my head – I was doubting myself for Peaks due to how difficult the climb was and the fact that I would be doing this climb with 200km in my legs having already climbed Tawonga Gap and Hotham….

The ride was a shock to my system and I didn’t realise it until 100km into the ride that I had run out of hydration. I was desperate and panicked about how I was to finish the remaineder of the climb back to Falls Creek (30km) ride with no hydration…I waved a car down and luckily, they had a tank of water in the back of their car. LIFESAVERS!!!! With one of my bottles filled, I rode the remainder of the 30km tired but I knew the worst was over and I would make it in one piece.

When I reached Falls Creek for the 2^nd time, I was too late to refuel. All the shops (Foodworks and the café) were closed. Luckily there was a vending machine there and I topped up my bottle with Gatorade and was on my way back down to Mt Beauty.

At this point, I had done 125km or so and I was worried that I would be riding in the dark. I put on my jacket as it was getting cold at the top of Falls Creek. I would say that my descent back down to Mt Beauty was my slowest. I was tired and I concentrated harder than I had ever been. My aim was to get back to my accommodation before 7:30pm. I actually made it around 7:15pm which was too late to buy dinner from Foodworks but similar to October training camp, I was so exhausted to be hungry.

I ended up having my protein shake, my carrots which I had packed for my car trip and the motel biscuits provided. I showered and then went to bed from the exhaustion.

I didn’t end up sleeping until about 3am due to my legs throbbing. I decided the that I would give Sunday’s training a miss and would treat myself to wholefoods at Bright and then drive home early and that was what I did.

Lessons:

• ·       Pack more nutrition than needed. I had originally planned to be out on the bike for no more than 10 hours but it ended up being about 11:30 in total.
• ·         Always fill up bottles at rest stops and ration with reason…I think at one point I drank half a bottle in one go as I was thirsty but ended up with half a bottle to last me for the 30km….luckily on the event day, there will be more water stops.
• ·         My Lumiere cycling knicks are the way to go and will wear it for the event.

 I have plans on going back to My Beauty again this weekend. I would like to ride up to Mt Hotham again before the big day…

Where are your cycling posts?!

Where are my regular updates of my cycling you may ask??? Well, the reason why I haven't done any posts lately is because I haven't done any riding/training....

Late 2015 (we are talking about 23rd December 2015), we were advised by our landlord that we needed to vacate our house as she wanted to sell…..such bad timing! There was nothing for us inspect until the 9^th Jan and I was going to be packing the house, moving and unpacking during the peak of my training for Falls Creek…

Since the 130km AUDAX ride in Jan, I haven’t done any long or hilly rides on the weekends as I have been packing the house and not venturing out of Melbourne as I had been doing for the last 3 months.

I have kept up my training on the wattbikes at Melbourne Altitude and Art of Cycling but that is about it….50km a week (not hitting the 400+km required as per the program) with 0 elevation.

We only moved in last weekend (5^th – 9^th Feb) and during this week, we will be emptying out boxes as the boxes are being returned this weekend and attending two weddings in between….

I am hoping to get back into the hills on Sunday (14^th – yes, I know it’s Valentines Day) locally and getting back to the Alpine Region next weekend AND the weekend after if I can. I still need to tick off the back of Falls Creek and I would like to climb Mt Hotham once more before the 13^th March.

Time is truly running out and I am stressing.

Looking Ahead - March

March is the big one….Falls Creek Peaks Challenge is on the 13^th. The thought of this event stresses me out to no end, maybe because I have yet to ride up the back of Falls Creek (from Omeo) and the fact that I am moving house (now) when I am supposed to be riding the most ks, highest elevations and spending the longest time on the saddle.

For the week of 29^th Feb through to 6^th March, I will be training but not doing anymore big rides. I will continue with my altitude and wattbike classes during the week, strength work will be about core and functional movements and my long ride on Saturday 5^th will most likely be about distance rather than anything too strenuous and Sunday will be a recovery ride down to crits.

During the weekdays of Week 7^th – 10^th March, I will continue with my spin classes but it will be a taper set. I will see if the AOC Wattbike class would be suitable or not. Driving up to Falls Creek on the Friday and may ride down to Mt Beauty on the Saturday (not back up).

I am not sure what I will be doing for the weeks after Falls Creek…I don’t have any events lined up. I am probably just going to be commuting more to work…and maybe a swim or two at the beach.

I am about 70% confident about the Falls Creek Peaks Challenge event. My descending skills have improved but my fear of falling and crashing at high speeds is still there. My nutrition training has been pretty good. I still don’t eat solids on the bike ride and this is not something which I am going to change anytime soon. I am happy to run on fluid calories for the whole 13-15 hours from when I wake up. As long as I am hydrated, I will survive the day.