Monday 29 August 2016

Ol'Dirty 2016 - Too much walking by me to call it a cycling event....


On 28th Aug, I participated in my first Ol’Dirty (hosted by Hells500 and Maap). I had never done this event before, only recommended by friends and seeing amazing photos on social media from the previous years as we have always been overseas.
The Canadian and I bought our tickets when he received an invite from friends a few months ago. We decided to buy the VIP ticket seeing as this was our first for this event.
The Canadian had a family emergency and flew back to the Motherland on Friday 26th so I was doing the event by myself. I tend not to rally up big groups for events like this as I don’t ride at anyone’s pace and if I need to tune out with music, it wouldn’t be awkward.
The alarm went off at 5:30am and I left the house at 6am as the plan was to arrive at Marysville by 8am for a toilet stop, registration and get ready for the 9am start. When I left Melbourne it was not too cold, a comfortable temp of 11 degrees but when I arrived at Marysville, it was a chilly 6 degrees and everyone noticed the difference.
I met up with a few friends from triathlon days and we chatted for a bit before the briefing slightly after 9am.
Al, me and Lisa (pic taken by Reese M)
I knew the first part of the ride was along the main road and this part of the ride was fast and smooth due to the slight descent. Then it was a sharp right turn Eagles Nest Road. It was a shock to the legs with some part of the climb at 15% with the last pinch at 22%. Some (including yours truly) rested at the corner before another ride-able climb. We then went off the fire trail onto a narrow climb with plenty of rocks and fallen debris. I didn’t ride through this section as it was too technical for me until I reached the descent onto Mt Margaret Road.


There was about 2km of pushing my bike up inclines of 15-35% which took forever and it was at this point I really questioned why I was doing this event and how incapable I was of riding it. At about the 15 - 22km, it was a slow climb grinding away on the saddle. I stopped at the top of the climb to put my arm warmers and gloves back on as the temps started to drop and I felt it during the last few ks of the climb.
At the 30km mark, there was another chick who rode passed me at one point and she pointed out the short cut of the ride (Thank you Christie). This route consisted of many fallen trees (95% of the time I had to jump off the bike and carry it over or under the branches) and sharp rocky descents. I surprised myself that I made it out alive and didn’t crash on my face. I descended on the drops which was a big improvement to my bike handling skills 12 months ago.
At the bottom of the descent, I thought I was totally lost. I double and triple checked the map and my phone to make sure that I didn’t need to be air lifted out of the forest. On another note, I had run out of water having only carried one bottle that I filled up my bottle under a flow of water over some rocks I found on the side of the route (very Bear Grylls/Survivor of me).
I found some Hells500 signs and tyre tracks which ensured me that I was not completely lost and when I found myself on the route which joined the normal course together and I was no longer the only cyclist in the middle of nowhere, I was so relieved. This relief was short lived as we were in for more climbing over Cerberus Road which pretty much consisted of me pushing my bike up a climb for about 80% of the 3km climb. A few of the CyclingTips cars went by me and I was handed a diet coke, which I filled up my bottle with and carried the empty can in my pocket for the rest of the ride and a crunchie bar that I ate in the car on the drive home.  
At the end of that climb, there was the lunch stop which allowed the VIP ticket holders with valet parking of their bikes, a robe to wear, champagne, pizza and other drinks. At this point of the day, I was so tired and not feeling positive about the amount of non-riding I had been doing so I decided against stopping and headed straight onto the route back to the finish. The descent was not the smoothest but I am glad my confidence had picked up along the day and didn’t hesitate too much even through some sections with sharp small loose rocks.
The best part of (my) day was Mt Margaret road (bitumen) as I was able to descend straight with no stress about picking a good line, the fear of face planting over rocks or over the cliff and knowing that I am about to hit the Buxton-Marysville road into Marysville. I ended up riding with one of the girls from SKCC (thanks Reese) and we chatted and kept each other company until the end of the ride.
The ride took longer than I had anticipated with my average speed at 10km/hr so I didn’t get to my car until 3:30pm or so. It was a quick pack up of the bike into the car with no wash and then headed straight home with a hot jam donut stop after Black Spur. 
Looking through social media last night, I saw that plenty of people also thought that the day was tough. I initially felt really defeated from the event, similar to the Dirty Gran Fondo 2015 where I came dead last in my category and walked everything which had a gradient more than 1%.
(Not showing my face, totally devastated and broken from the ride)
Not having any interaction with a bike since mid July and travelling through Thailand and Vietnam didn’t help with my lack of bike handling and general fitness either. At the moment, my ass cheeks, back and arms are seriously sore and the thought of another ride like that so soon would turn me off cycling all together.
I need time to digest the event whilst bringing my mind forward on to the next which is Amy’s Gran Fondo. on the 11th Sept. Fingers crossed that I will have a better day on the saddle.
This event brought me out of my comfort zone for sure - about riding the CX bike outside of commuting and just riding in conditions other than bitumen.
Will I do this event again? I guess it really depends on when and where we head off for our 2017 holidays and how much training I can get during the cold months of Melbourne winter. Maybe I will set myself a goal of being able to ride more on the CX bike at high gradients and for longer climbs....time will tell.
For now, I wish for a massage and a hot bath for several hours.

2 comments:

  1. good on you for finishing and good write up. my thoughts are that ride needed earlier support, i.e. water and food stops probably at 26k mark (top of climb 1200 mtrs). having the lunch stop so far into ride was poor planning as most riders would have been bonking by then.

    they also needed to Marshall a critical turn on the descent (maybe 40k mark I think) that left many riders going off onto to Buxton having missed the turn, not ideal duty of care wise - you can see it on strava fly bys.

    the course would have been designed by a very experienced dirt rider who hasn't really reflected on how the average punter would get through course without water, food and marshalls.

    In saying all that, yes a super fun course and a super challenging fun ride, I'm saying that having ridden off road (mtb and cx) for many years, so clearly ok for hardened warriors.

    ride required a combination of suitable bike, climb and descent skills and some experienced riding big climbs to boot. a cx is really a crappy thing off road with its lack of suspension, poor brakes and mini bars for handling, better way to go is learn to mtb and then when you just on cx everything is in slow motion as it can't be banged through bush like mtb.

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