Looking Ahead - November

Holy Crap! It is nearly the end of November and I totally forgot to do my Looking Forward for the month of November! Better late than never I suppose, so here goes…

The first weekend of November is Melbourne Cup long weekend. I am planning on riding Donna Buang on the Saturday and do a few repeats (like maybe 2?). Then I am going to ride the 100km Warbuton – Marysville Loop on the Monday before Cup day.

I have plans on heading back to Bright area to tackle at least 1 of my 3 options of the next stage of my training plans: ride Buffalo (Peaks Challenge), from Mt Beauty to Falls Creek (Peaks Challenge) or ride from Omeo to Falls Creek (3^rd Peak of the 3 Peaks Challenge). I will do this during the 6-8^th November weekend.

15^th November is the Lake Mountain climb as part of the 7 Peaks Challenge. Most likely be just doing a spin on Beach Rd the day before.

22^nd November is the Giro della Donna – 110km ride which combines the 100km Warburton – Marysville loop combined with the Donna climb. I will most likely not be doing much the day before so I can rest the legs.

28^th – 29^th November – I will head to Mansfield to ride to Mt Buller (one of the 7 Peaks). Rather than do just the climb, I will either ride from Mansfield – Buller return (100km) or a shorter distance and do ride repeats.  

Bright Camp - My Climbing Adventures

So over the weekend, I joined a training camp with Bayside Tri Club out at Bright. Not being a “snow person”, I have never been to the Alpine Region since I moved to Melbourne in 1997. I have always been a summer/beach person and the thought of the ice and snow just never appealed to me. I know that the Alpine Region is also great for mountain biking too but my skills need to improve significantly before I get any benefit out of travelling all the way to Bright for some riding.

Because I couldn’t take any leave off work on the Friday, I couldn’t join the club when they rode up to Mt Buffalo on the Friday afternoon. Mt Buffalo was one of the 7 Peak climbs and only a few km from Bright. I left work at 3pm thinking that I could beat the traffic out of Melbourne but I was sorely wrong. It took me nearly 2 hours to get through the Monash Freeway and then the Tullamarine Freeway before I could get onto the Hume which was where I could finally drive over 100km/hr. The rest of the journey took 3.5 hours and I finally arrived at the accommodation at 8:30pm.

I had missed out of the briefing for Saturday but I had a few choices in what I was going to do:

1)  Do a short loop with the group when then head back and climb Mt Buffalo

2)  Do the entire loop with the group and climb Towonga Gap.

I decided late on Friday night that I was to go with option 2 as Towonga Gap was the first peak for 3 Peaks Challenge. I prepared my nutrition ready for the 6:45am departure from Bright. Due to the unfamiliarity of this being my 2^nd ride with the Bayside crew, my anxiety played up and I stressed out about how I would keep up as I was one of the slowest people at camp. A pretty restless night's sleep was had with 3 bathroom breaks during the middle of the night due to nervousness.

Saturday we left at 7am instead of the planned 6:45am which gave me some time to calm the nerves before we headed out. The ride out to Ovens was good and I could keep up with the group as they rode at a steady and manageable pace. Once we turned off at Ovens towards Rosewhite, I dropped off due to the incline. I am still getting used to my new bike and the additional cassette teeth. I am still grinding up hills and I am not sure how to increase my cadence without tiring out my legs. The climb up to Rosewhite was slightly challenging and I was riding amongst two athletes all the way to the top. This was where I started to feel warm and unzipped my gilet on the way up. We rested for a few minutes before the descent and I forgot about unpausing my Garmin for about 3km of the ride.

Down the bottom of the descent, it was a good ride into Tawonga. We stopped here for refreshments and I bought a small can of coke to get me through the climb of Tawonga Gap. The climb started at about 80km into the ride and there was no preparation for the % increase. It was just straight up from the T intersection.

I found the 8km climb quite taxing. I was fatigued and my legs just didn’t want to move. Negative thoughts started to creep in and I was uncertain on how I was to manage the 3 Peaks challenge as this was the shortest climb of the day and I was already disliking it. Luckily Rob (one of the coaches) came down and accompanied me and my mood changed as I didn’t want to appear like I was about to burst into tears. When I got to the top, I was so relieved. Looking back, the climb was hard but manageable. I was more frustrated that I was the last person on the climb and I didn’t want people to be waiting for me at the top.

After a photo or two, I rode by myself down to Bright. The descent was manageable but I was still uncomfortable about not applying the brakes. I had missed the accommodation when I rode into Bright and had to get the phone out to find my way home.

I was exhausted by the time I finished and I could barely muster enough energy to decide on what to eat for lunch. I drank my protein shake and then made myself a banana and peanut butter wrap (and a carrot). A shower later, I felt human again and went for a nap before getting up for dinner at the local pub.

We had planned on a 7am start (on the bike) at Harrietville so we decided to leave Bright at 6:30am in our cars. I forgot about my water bottles which I stored in the fridge the night before but luckily I had enough drink bottles in my car that I had a 750ml and a 500ml hydration with me. The climb towards Mt Hotham started pretty immediately so I lost the crowd pretty much straight away. I knew this would happen so I listened to my iPod on the ride from the start.

From what I had read and from the advice of people who have ridden up Mt Hotham before the ride was split into 3 sections so I will provide my report as such:

Part 1 – I found this part to be hard as I felt I was already 1km or 2 behind everyone else. My climbing needs work as I couldn’t increase my cadence to anything recommended. I was warned about The Meg but I didn’t find it too hard to manage and I rode out of the saddle for about 10 or so strokes. I noticed that I got warm pretty much straight away from this section and stopped to take off my gilet and arm warmers when I was comfortable enough that I would be able to get back onto the bike. The scenery was amazing and I noticed a few butterflies flying back and forth in front of me which distracted me from the pain. My speed along this section varied from 4km/hr – 8km/hr

Part 2 – This was the false flat section and I took advantage of it by riding > 25km/hr where I could in the large chain ring at a management cadence. The only thing about this stage of the climb was the height I was at and the distance of the trees and road up ahead. I got slightly scared due to my issues with height and anxiety that I decided that I would ride in the middle of the left lane until I could hear the cars coming up behind me and I would move to the side to let them through. Luckily, the cars along those roads were really friendly and I didn’t have any issues at all.

Part 3 – After the gate, the gradient of the climb went up significantly. The steep pinches followed by descents and then the long climbs across the side of the mountain proved to be a bit overwhelming at some points. I was nervous about the height and how exposed I was to the cross winds. There was some points where the road was so close to the edge that I couldn’t look left at all. There were points along this route where I would look across to the other mountain a noticed the road ahead and had to prepare myself that I would be riding along that soon.

At Mt Hotham, I stopped to take a photo of my bike next to the Peaks Finish sign and then rode down to the General Store to buy some refreshment and to get my first stamp in my passport. I noticed the temperature at Hotham being significantly cooler especially as my body was covered in sweat. I bought a Gatorade to fill up my bottle along with a small bottle of pineapple juice as I wanted something different (not coke). A toilet visit later also at the General Store (and pub), I was back on the bike and on my way down.

There were a few climbs along the way before steep descents and I tried to maintain some speed. I kept my descending speed somewhere between 25 – 40km/hr depending on the road ahead and the angle of the corners. If I could see what was ahead, I was comfortable about being faster. I was actually singing for most of the ride down.

When I got to the car, I was feel good and drove back to Bright pretty much straight away. It was a vast difference compared to the day before. The climb was longer and steeper but because I had my music on, I didn’t feel defeated and enjoyed the tunes streaming into my left ear. The music also helped with several anxiety triggers – height, cornering on the bike and descents.

After lunch, I showered and had a small rest in bed for a while until I noticed there was no noise around and everyone had pretty much packed and left. I quickly packed the car and said thanks to the head coach Clint and headed back to Melbourne.

I was actually starving on the drive home and stopped twice for food and coffee. Once at Milawa where I stopped at the bakery and the Olive shop and the second time along the Hume Highway where bus loads of school kids ruined the entire establishment by food mess and leaving their rubbish on the tables! It was just disgusting!

I got home around 6:30pm and unpacked my bags. Compared to previous camps, I didn’t have too much to do as I only cycled twice and didn’t do any runs or swims. I had all my dirty clothes already in a bag so it was a quick unpack before dinner and then bed.

I am thinking about coming back to the Alpine Region again in about 2 weeks as I wanted to do the following pretty soon:

•         Climb Mt Buffalo
•         Climb up to Falls Creek from Mt Beauty
•         Climb up the back of Falls Creek (the 3^rd Climb of the 3 Peaks event)

I have been told that Mt Hotham is harder to climb compared to both sides of Falls Creek but due to the distance in the event it is, it could make or break a person. I would like to do the last climb before the event as I want to understand what is coming up ahead. The two other climbs are related to 2 of the 7 peak climbs. There is one more within that area which is the Omeo-Dinner Plain climb. The other climbs are not within the Alpine Region – Mt Baw Baw (shortest yet hardest due to gradient), Mt Buller and Lake Mountain. I will be climbing up Lake Mountain on the 15^th November.

Things I need to work on over the next few months:

• My cadence!!!!
• I should introduce something solid in my nutritional fuel – I have been having my homemade solution since May.
• My glute (bum) strength and core. 

Around the Bay - 210km Anti Clockwise.

So yesterday I completed my first Around the Bay event! One at which I entered and actually participated. 

I signed up for the 210km Anti clockwise which takes you from the city towards Geelong, then Queenscliff, catching the ferry to Sorrento and then back to Melbourne. Our wave started at 5:30 and I got out of bed at 3:30am so I could leave the house at 4am. I wasn’t sure what the traffic was like to get into the city and to find parking but I ended up getting to the Arts Centre around 4:40pm with plenty of time to find (free) parking outside the Arts Centre.

I had plans on meeting my cycling friend Dale outside the Arts Centre at 5:10am so we can ride to the start which was around 500m away. We ended up getting to the startline around 5:15am and just sat around waiting for the waves to start.

I think we ended up leaving the Start line around 5:35am as we waited for the lights. The ride along City Rd down through Southbank and Port Melbourne took a while and this was the same situation on the way back from St Kilda all the way to the finish. Due to congestion and traffic lights, we couldn’t really move anywhere fast and had to constantly clip in and on and clip out and off our bikes. On the way out along the West Gate, the congestion started to spread out as people rode up and along the West Gate. Luckily it was still dark and I couldn’t see too much over the bridge as that would have set off some anxiety especially cycling over water at height. Riding along the highway into Geelong was interesting. The roads were not great along some parts. I copped a flat tyre around the mid way point along the highway – an industrial staple went into my back tyre. The tyre change took longer than usual as the bike (and tyres) were only 3 weeks old. I hadn’t taken the wheel off a bike with disc brakes before especially the back with the derailleur but it proved to be easier than expected.

The wind started to pick up along the freeway but luckily we could conserve some energy when we found groups who were travelling at our speed. Out first stop was actually at an unofficial Bicycle Network stop where we had a bathroom break. Our second stop was about 20km out of Queenscliff where Dale could apply sunscreen and I filled up one of my drink bottles. From that point into Queenscliff was a bit of a “head down and pedal” moment and we just got the job done. We arrived into Queenscliff around 10:30am which was a good time. We arrived in time to collect blue stickers which meant that we were on the 11:30am ferry. I collected my vegetarian lunch  pack and ate half of my sandwich and most of my banana cake. I stood in line to fill up my other drink bottle before we boarded the ferry around 11:15am. We found a few spaces up the front of the ferry where we could place our bike along the side without being caged in by dozens of bikes and we had plenty of space to sit down and rest.

Dale and I on the ferry

  I think we got into Sorrento after 12pm and from there we just got into a rhythm and just pedalled at a great pace that we had half a dozen people following us and were disappointed when we stopped to fill up our bottles. After this stop, it was then onto Nepean Hwy through the Briars with a bit of a climb and a small descent where my max speed of 52km/h was achieved (Dale hit > 60km/hr). The temp started to hover around 27 at this point and a few people pulled over to get some shade for a bit. I stopped at one point to check the pressure of my back tyre as I thought I had a slow leak from before.

We grabbed a coke and filled up our hydration at Frankson BP instead of stopping at the official rest stop as we wanted to grab a coke and cold drinks. This was one of the best decisions as the rest of the ride felt easy and we were smiling and were going great. We stopped again at Mordialloc for another coke to get us home over the last 30km. Once we got into St Kilda, the congestion was noticeable. We started to slow down for traffic and for other riders. The ride through Port Melbourne and Southbank was even worse where we copped every single traffic light before we rode into Alexandra Gardens. I think we finished around 4pm that day.

Coke - getting people through long ass events since forever

I felt great at the end of the day and I think due to the coke still throbbing through the blood stream, exhaustion hadn’t set in yet. A few happy snaps were taken and then we rode back to my car where we waited for Stace (Dale’s partner) to arrive to drive Dale and her bike home.

Finished!!!

Tanlines

My official time for the event:

Overall Time (including lunch and ferry ride) = 10h59:55

Ride Time (inc rest stops) = 9h27:25

Bum on saddle time (according to my Garmin) = 8h28:57

This is officially my longest ride to date, only having done two 180km rides before ATB for Ironman Melbourne and my training rides being around 160km prior.

A few comments/lessons learnt:

• Nutrition was pretty good and I made myself consume some carbs (sugars) every 30min.
• Coke – this is what gets me through. Need to see how I can incorporate it as part of 3 Peaks – is this cheating? I may have to think of ways of cooking the coke down to a concentrate and make it into a gel/jelly form.
• I absolutely love my Garmin 520.
• I kept hydrated by drinking every 15min and made myself pee twice during the event.
• Once my barfly mount arrives, I will need to lower my saddle a few mm. I am finding myself pointing my toes still when I am riding. My heels are really straining now being overstretched.
• Sunscreen on my face so I don’t have the sunglasses look on my face.

What’s next for Around the Bay? Here are a few thoughts:

• I will not enter the 210km Anti Clockwise again – the one I just did was perfect and had Dale to help me push through.
• I will not enter the 210km Clockwise because the ride back into Melbourne from Geelong is boring dead-town.
• I may look at the 210km Sorrento return but will decide next year depending on what I am doing. The time for the ride will be different due to no lunch/ferry time. I am sure that I will be finishing the event well before 4pm.  

200 clicks over GF weekend.

Due to the AFL Grand Final, the state of Victoria decided it would be a great idea to have Friday as a public holiday...I wasn’t complaining.

Around the Bay is this Sunday (11^th Oct) and I wanted to spend time on the saddle. I needed a long ride before the event so I decided to take advantage of the public holiday on Friday and do my long ride then rather than leaving it for Sunday.

There is a bakery in Sorrento called Baked In Sorrento – they make really delicious cakes and pastries and not to forget – cyclist friendly! The aim for the day was to ride from my house (Cheltenham) down to that bakery for a donut or a slice with coffee and then ride home. I was originally going to ride down to Port Melbourne first (which makes the ride closer to 180km) but decided against it considering my longest ride is 110km over 6 hours.

The ride down to Sorrento was enjoyable. I didn’t ride fast and I was riding solo. I didn’t want to ride in a group, I just wanted some alone time on the bike and mentally discipline myself to get through the day. The wind wasn’t too strong which made the ride really awesome. I took some form of nutrition every 30min but had my Garmin alarm set at every 15min. I bought an iced donut and a coffee at Sorrento and rested for about 20min before I made the journey back home. The ride home was equally amazing. Cars were banked all the way into Sorrento all the way from Mornington due to the long weekend. I stopped off at Frankston for a top up of my hydration and consumed a third of a can of coke. I had a quick stop at Mordialloc before the 6km journey back home.

150km within 6.5 hours was a pretty good effort and I didn’t feel too smashed or exhausted and glad I did this ride before next weekend. The exhaustion hit me about 3 hours after I reached home as my mind and body just didn’t want to do anything but lie horizontal. No decisions were made that day.

Saturday was the Grand Final – I decided against doing anything that day and instead, hung out with friends pre-game for brunch before we walked to the MCG. Hawks won – back to back to back Premiers!

My friends were racing crits on Sunday at 7:15am and as I enrolled in the crits skills session on the 18^th, I really I wanted to see how the event goes before I decided if I am going to race or not. We rode down to South Melbourne and watched crits until 11am. Then we had brunch in Port Melbourne before we headed home into the headwind. I did a few efforts on the bike along the way to exert myself and to improve on my fitness. 50km for Sunday. 

I had ridden 200km over 2 days and pretty happy about that. Leading up to ATB on Sunday, I will try to make it to altitude on Tuesday night all the way from Chadstone after my presentation, a spin class at GESAC on the Thursday morning and a road ride on Friday morning. I am not doing any strength work other than some core movements before this weekend. Resting my legs on Saturday by heading over to a friend’s house to watch (and pick up) my new thermomix! Custards errrrrryday!