Becoming a road riding weenie AKA the 3 Peaks obsession!

It started as a good idea.  It always does - doesn't it?  Get a road bike to cross train and build a base level of endurance fitness for expedition racing.  

The words from Tristan at Bikeminded still ring in my ears. After purchasing my road bike, all he said was - be careful - it's addictive!  "Yeah yeah" I said.  Fully certain I wouldn't turn into a road weenie.

It started simple enough - try and ride up the local hill without the benefit of my MTB granny gear.  Yep - you sure run out of gears quickly on a roadie.  Time to stand up and up and up for the next 6 months as it turned out!

Well, after the preliminary safe rides - with no big hills - I took on the Tour de Blueys - a 160 km loop of the Blue Mountains - after 8 hrs of suffering I wobbled home thoroughly crushed. But hooked.

Next was a little jaunt know as Fitz's Challenge - in my normal style - I opted for the big one - 210km of mountains around Canberra known as the Fitz Epic.  

Start of the Fitz's Epic - David with original Five Ten member Ed

The brochure described it as a hill grinding odyssey - and it was -  12 hrs and 4000m of climbing later I had made a qualifying time for the Alpine Classic.

This time not a little jaunt at all - BUT a big mother of a day out across the Victorian Alps - twice!  With 250km and 4500m of climbing - I really would need to train!  And so began the mission, ride up as many big hills as I could find - which loosely translated to multiple repeats of the steepest hills in the Blue Mountains.

Ahhh - The Devil in Fitz Epic....

After exhausting all the hill options I needed to find longer climbs  - 6km was the longest in the Blueys and wouldn't cut the "mustard" for the ACE 250 in January.  

So off to the Snowys for a training camp in the first week of January - and did I say it would be hot?  It was #$%@* HOT.  Based on the Swampy Plains River at Geehi - day one was a ride over the Geehi to Khancoban and back - with  two 20 km climbs and temps of  37 deg C  - it was a tough intro to riding in the big mountains - no hills here boyo.

Ed and David half way over the Geehi

Day two was "suck it in princess day" - Swampy to Thredbo and back - via Tom Groggin, the Murray Rv and Leatherbarrell Creek to Dead Horse Gap!  Rated as an Hors Category climb - it lived up to it's name.  Words like - gruelling, leg snapping and relentlessly steep come to mind.  The average gradient was about 10 % with many long sections of 14 % and higher. The temperature was close on 38 deg and a short 90km ride turned into a very tough day out.  We got a dose of monster hills on this outing.

Climbing Leatherbarrell

Day three was to be a ride up to Charlottes Pass - mercifully I broke a spoke in the first 
1 km and called it a day.  Day four saw us back in Canberra for a quick 140km of climbing little hills in the Brindabellas.


So now I was primed for the ACE 250!  Australia Day weekend in Bright Victoria was the rendezvous for almost 2000 riders. With a range of rides on offer by Audax Australia from a 70 km to the Alpine Classic Extreme - ACE 250 for short; riders of all capabilities were catered for!

Start of the Mt Buffalo x 3 extravaganza

Unfortunately, out of control fires closed Mt Hotham and the race had to be changed. So, after three months of grinding hills - I was somewhat disappointed not to be tackling the Grand Alpine Circuit!  The race organisers came up with an equivalent form of suffering - 240km and 4500m of climbing could be had - if we made three ascents of Mt Buffalo!  Each loop was 80 km and 1500m up!  YIPPEEEEEE was the general consensus from the peleton!  Well, not really - so with a large measure of stoicism - 400 riders lined up at 4 am in the main street of Bright to begin what was to be a VERY hard day out in the saddle.

Mt Buffalo x 3

Riding in a bunch of 400 riders using lights was quite an experience - the flats quickly turned into the 20 km climb of Mt Buffalo.  Lap one was done mostly in the dark - I later described myself as feeling relatively strong and okay after 80 km.  Lap two became a struggle and at the 160 km mark - rolling out of Bright in 38 deg temp for the final ascent of Mt Buffalo, the ride became a real mission.  Lap three was all about survival - and was generally lost in a haze of suffering, nausea, heat and forever going up.

From Mt Buffalo looking down the climb

Perhaps the greatest plus about three ascents of Buffalo were the descents - pure joy - high speed cornering on lovely s bends for 20 km!

I rolled over the finish line 14 hrs and 20 mins after starting - 240 km, 4500m of climbing and 3 kgs lighter.  It was an awesome day out.

But - I had the Grand Alpine Circuit bug!  I needed to finish what I started out to do  - ride across the Vic Alps twice.  So I promptly signed up for the 3 Peaks Classic another version of the ACE 250  - it starts in Falls Creek - goes to Mt Beauty, Tawonga Gap, Mt Hotham, Omeo, Mitta Mitta Rv and back up to Falls Creek for the finish.  Another 240 km of suffering.

So after the Buffalo experience I decided I needed to train harder on the big mountains.  With 4 weeks between ACE and 3 Peaks - I had to cram.  So off to Jenolan Caves and Oberon the hard way - a long day out!  I followed up three days later with my second go at the Tour de Blueys.  This time I thought I was tougher - so I would ride it the hard way - up Bellbird Hill at Kurrajong!  Fortunately I was a lot stronger than the first time and finished the 160km in good form. Well, good form for me is anything other than crushed!

And to finish off my prep - one last biggy!  Thredbo to Khancoban and back in a day - 170 km and 4500km of the steepest steeps. The last 2 km of Leatherbarrell crushed me - I threw up at the car.

I was now ready for the 3 Peaks.

Dawn start of the 3 Peaks

Except the fires still raged and the roads were still closed.  So NO grand circuit for this lad in 2013.  Instead, another make do sufferfest to take it's place. At 7 am on a cool Sunday morning, 1500 riders rolled out of Falls Creek for the 20km descent to Mt Beauty.  Without doubt, this high speed descent was the highlight of my road riding career and the best thing in the whole day of riding - by far!  Next came a short sharp climb of Tawonga - a bunch ride to the base of Mt Buffalo - fortunately for one ascent only and by the 120 km mark I was 1 hr inside my pace time to complete the 235km in 13 hrs.  Things were looking too rosy - I should have known something was up!

By 1 pm the temp began to nudge 38 degs and a long slow climb up Happy Valley became anything but happy!  My race unravelled and the hour I had up my sleeve turned into a 1 hr deficit in just 50 km.  What ensued was a miserably tough nauseous ride in the heat to hang on for as long as I could. There was a cutoff at Mt Beauty, which I didn't make - so at 200km down on a stinking hot day - my race was over.

A dead 3 Peaks leg.

For the first time in 30 years of competing I had to take the sag wagon to the finish. Climbing up the last 20 km to Falls Creek was easy in the bus - littering the road were hundreds of broken riders who didn't have the good luck to miss the cutoff - they had to drag their destroyed bodies up a 1300m climb to the finish.  A true summit finish to a ridiculously hard day out.

And so ends my road riding career for 2013 - it achieved it's purpose - a very strong endurance base for Geo and XPD - I hope it pays off.  Now to running, walking, mtbing and paddling.

And oh - I have a date with the Grand Alpine Circuit in 2014!