Massive day out, 2.4 vertical kilometers says it all. My biggest ride yet and we did it clean, which was luxurious. No mechanicals or other problems, just an awesome epic adventure, deep in the Brindies.
We set off from Urriara Homestead for a fairly gently and easy ride down to Bendora Dam, cruising along and chatting, this was nice part of the run, I munched on cookies and bananas as we rode and before we knew it, we arrived at the top of the descent to the Dam which was ripping to say the least. Cruising at 45km/h for a few kilometers always lifts me and I spent a lot of time standing and grinding the pedals getting the most out of it :) At the bottom we had made it to to the Dam in 2 1/2 hours mark, time for some for morning tea. I was pretty hungry though, so I ate my lunch :) We had a nice break here, and having climbed 800 of the estimated 2000m for the day, I was figuring this would all be too easy... how niave of me! :)
From Bendora we dropped a fair whack of height, then hit the steepest friggen climb of my life, straight up the guts of Flat Rock Spur... she's 400vm over 1.5kms, it was so steep we were all off the bikes andpushing, average speed dropped off to 1km/h. This sucker makes Mt Clear look easy. And it went on and on for an hour like this! It was the toughest kilometer I've done, but totally rewarding, every so often we'd stop and look back in amazement of how much height we were gaining.
After that section we hit Wombat Rd which joins Parrot Road, and the climbing continued, it was another 400vm section but over 8kms, which means we could ride at around 7km/h, so much easier, rideable, but tough. The ground was wet and tacky and it felt like glue. Tough going and after the 1 hour push we'd just been through, this was a draining section, I had to pour in the food here to keep going, and finished my cookies. Also the sweat was amazing, dripping off us like a shower, so the camel backs took a major hit.
At the top we broke out onto the familar Mt Franklin Road, with it's snow guide poles and the knowledge we could pull out here if we wanted, and just head North back to the cars, downhill all the way. We stopped for some grub and made the call to push on to Mt Ginini though, we couldn't come all the way and pull out now, right? :)
The climb from here to Mt Ginini is another 400vm over 10kms, so the easiest section, and as a bonus the road was nice and flat and hard packed, so easy going, speed lifted to 10km/h, and so did our spirits, especially when we hit the snow.
Snow is funny, it should be horrifying, but I was hot and sweaty and the cool air was nice and refreshing, pure white snow, it was heavenly. And in just over an hour, we were at the glorius summit. Time to get into the power bars and I sucked the last drops from my camel back. Plenty of beautiful view to take in here, but the cold wind eventually cooled us off, so back on the bikes for the 40km blast back to the cars...
Now this is what it's all about, we put the hammer down and cruised back North at an average of 30km/h, with little effort on the pedals, it's 90% down hill from here, past Mt Franklin and Bulls Head, we had planned to climb these, but decided we were too spent and skipped them in favour of the fast and furious downhill.
A quick food stop at Bulls Head picnic ground and the downhilling continues, past Piccadilly Circus and all the way to Thompons Corner, what a blast!! Makes all the climbing worthwhile, gorgeous views out to the West on the way down, snow, free speed, it's all good!
A 4km recovery spin from Thompsons back to the car to ensure the legs are all good for tomorrow, and we're back at the cars for a stretch, protein bar, water we'd left in the cars, and a smile.
All in all a hard ride, but doable, very rewarding and we got to see some snow as a bonus!
The crew:
| Tim | Kona Kula |
| Scott | Kona Kikapu |
| Neil | Cdale Scapel |
| Simon | Giant VT2 |
| Jason | Giant Trance |
The Stats:
| Distance | 101km |
| Time | 8:29 |
| Climb | 2.4vkm |
| Speed | 15.1km/h avg, 78km/h max |