I've ridden to the coast a few times with Ed, and the last time we did it we set a pretty cracking pace for a social ride with your mates, it made us ponder "how fast could it be done?". So the challenge was set, next time it would be a race...
Ed plotted out an awesome 200km course taking in the single track at Majura Pines, a short strip of bitchumen, then fire roads all the way to the Angry Doctor single track nirvana including Snake Track and AST, finishing at Batemans Bay.
Although this was called a "race", it was really a spirited social ride, the race part of it just meaning the faster riders wouldn't be waiting for the slower ones. Ed and I were hoping differently paced groups would form and everyone would give it a good go, but still have fun, never taking it too seriously.
14 keen mates rolled up to the start line, all of them accomplished ultra endurance racers. 3 starters had been on the overall podium at this years 24 solo nationals and there was also several age grouper podium takers too. A fairly strong group with not a weak link in sight!
Hammer Nutrition came on board and sorted all of the entrants out with the best race schwag I've ever seen, loads of gels and bars to try out, so we all stuffed those in our jersey pockets and enjoyed trying them all out. My favourite was the bars, they are fantastic and by far the best sports bars I've tried (and I've tried a few ;)).
The first 30km would be a neutral section, a nice social start meandering through Majura Pines, enjoying a pre dawn single track raid, then over Mt Ainslie, past the airport to Captains Flat road, where the race would start...
Ed and Brett were not keen to race, and hung at the back being the sweep riders, Gaz on the other hand can't get out of bed without it being a race. He's got to be the most competitive guy I've ever met, so he and I took duties at the front and led the field out, rolling for Majors Creek.
Gaz was pushing a fast pace, but with no map, was relying on me for navigation. I wasn't keen to go any faster than required, being in the middle of a fat v02max block, I was already tired and have another big week coming up this week, so we compromised on a decent training pace and rode together to Araluen Pub. Sadly we got there too early for their amazing burgers! I blame Gaz for riding too fast :)
While I was standing there, eating a sandwich, depressed about the lack of Araluen burgers, Jeff rolled into town, cruising along and having a great time! Gaz and I rolled on for the Wandera Trig climb as Jeff was keen to wait for others to show up and Gaz doesn't do "waiting around". I don't even think he could pronounce it ;)
Wandera is a descent climb, but at 500 vertical kilometres, it's not exactly big. There's plenty of steep sections at 25% and even some at 30% though, which meant granny gear for me. Gaz doesn't know how to use granny (I don't think he even knows what one is :)), so he just flew up there in the middle ring instead... then rode back down to see why I was taking so long!
On the other side of the mountain, the reward is fast flowing trails all the way to the awesome AST and Snake Tracks from the Angry Doctor 100k marathon. These are some of the best single tracks in Oz. We were having so much fun that we wandered off and did a little extra 4km loop of single track by mistake ;)
Finding our way again we rolled on for Mogo, where Powerade, Coke and chocolate waited. As we left the cafe I could see Jeff in the distance, he had navigated his way flawlessly and was heading for Ridge Road, so we rolled up to him decided that we should ride together to the finish. Ridge Road has some sweet trails too, and I added in some more bonus miles (this time on purpose ;)) as I really love doing this crazy piece of single track, it's just insane and good fun.
Then we rolled on for the Bay, where grilled fish burgers, chocolate and Dare Double Espressos were beckoning, I finally got my burger, yum! :P
It wasn't long before the rest of the field all rolled in and we headed out to dinner at the Star Fish Deli, for pasta, pizza and to hear the stories of how everyone had gotten on. Good times.
We decided on an early start to get home before dark, which turned out to be a wise move...
The return route was down to Moruya to avoid having to go over Mount Wandera, we would go around the mountain, not over it. A huge storm in February had caused a slip in Araluen road and cars have to detour... up Mount Wandera. Gaz and I were leading (did I mention he can't ride slow) and came to the detour and followed it, up the mountain. Unbeknown to us, Jeff followed us. Everyone else had the sense to just stay on Araluen road as bikes could get though, only cars needed to detour.
We climbed and climbed and climbed some more. This side of the mountain has pinches greater that 30% grade, tough on a good day, let alone after 200k's yesterday, ouch! After 7km of undulating climbs, we made the top and took time out at the trig point to enjoy the view before bombing down Knowles Rd at over 70k/hr, weeee!
At the bottom there was an ominous word written on the road, "Spoonie". Our group had been here before us, and that meant they went the fast way while we went up and over. I pondered who else went up and over. We could wait up, but the day was getting long after our little extra excursion and the crew were ahead of us, we needed to catch up if we wanted to get home before dark.
About 20k up the road we caught Brett and he let us know Jeff was the only other one to head up the hill. I was pretty confident he would be fine as there was no dodgy turns and he had a GPS, and proved yesterday how strong a rider he is. He had navigated over 160km alone yesterday, through that exact part of the national park. "He'll be fine" I thought, and we pushed on for Araluen where I dreamed they would have the kitchen fired up to make burgers... mmm, burgers.
After 40mins stopped for lunch and no sign of Jeff, it was obvious something had gone wrong. We had no phone reception, no car and he was last seen over 2 hours back down the road. Luckily Spoonie had Jeff's mobile number and the pay phone at Araluen proved priceless as we were able to call Jeff and find out he was OK, albeit riding up Mt Wandera, taking a wrong turn and riding all the way down to Mogo, only to turn around and ride back up Mt Wandera again! Hill repeats to the extreme!
Being the goose that led him up the hill, I volunteered to be the one to ride back and escort him home while everyone else pushed on. As I rode back to get him, some amazingly nice people in a ute offered to go and pick him up, saving me 3 hours of the return trip, heaven! After they got him, they came back for me and we jumped in the back of the ute for a lift to Majors Creek where they were meeting another group of riders they were supporting. It was the easiest ride up the Great Dividing Range I've done, we were hanging on to the ute tray for grim death on all the corners, giggling like a pair of school girls ;)
Everyone else was long gone though, so Jeff and I rode back to Captains Flat road alone, we never caught the others and still had 50k to go. It was getting dark and I wanted to get Jeff to his transport back to Sydney ASAP, so I did something I've never done before... I rang home for a lift. Wow, that was desperate. I've done dozens of rides like these and I've never phoned for help. I recall staggering out from the Corn Trail in 2003, barely able to walk, having been though a tortuous 8 hour slog fest, where Simon and I where considering cuddling up to share body warmth, and even then, I didn't call for help, but today it just made sense to make like E.T. and phone home. Magically, the heavenly Kylie appeared in a nice warm car and we made some calls to the others...
They had gone a different way, again, I mean, seriously, how many times can a group ride split up and go different ways ;) The changed route meant Jeff and I actually overtook the crew and they were now coming up Captains Flat road themselves; so we went and got another car and picked up the Sydney boys to get them on their way home before they would be too tired to drive back. Refusing a lift from us, the truely hard core remaining group rode on to the finish, putting in consecutive 200km days, very impressive!
What a day! It's amazing that the 200k race down there went so smoothly and the simple group cruise back home was the ride that turned out to be an epic adventure!
Thanx to all for making the effort to come along, it was an awesome trip.
Some stats for fun:
Race Day
Distance: 200k
Time: 9:15
Speed: 21.5km/hr
Climb: 3300 vertical meters
Descent: 3900 vertical meters
Heart Rate: 130bpm avg
The Ride Home:
Distance: 160km
Time: 7:50
Speed: 20km/hr
Climb: 3400 vertical meters
Descent: 2800 vertical meters
Heart Rate: 120bpm avg