Got to Bright with 4 mates on Saturday morning 12:00 am and went to bed not long after that.
Got up at around 9:30 am and went for a quick spin of 45 km with friends towards Harrietville and back. A nice easy ride to loosen the legs a bit.
Went to bed that evening feeling nervous about the big day ahead. My aim was to break 9 hours for the ride.
Got up at around 5:40 am for a 6:40 am start. Stuffed around a bit and ended up leaving the hotel at 6:32 am. Made it to the start at Howitt Park with a minute to go. Dropped my "drop and go" card and stood near the back of the pack feeling nervous yet confident. Was a bit of a crawl at the start as we rode up the entrance/exit to Howitt park and felt a welling up of emotion while hearing spectators clapping as we passed under the Start/Finish banner.
Ride underway, I was amazed to see how far the bunch spread infront of me. I must have already been several minutes behind the leaders and we weren't even outside of Bright yet! Anyway I knew what I had to do, I had a plan to take it easy as I had a long way to go.
The climb up Towonga Gap was uneventful. Near the top I was passing a number of people already breathing rather heavily - I guessed it would be a long day for them.
About a third of the way down the descent I saw a guy laying on his back on the opposite side of the road holding his wrist and in obvious discomfort. People were standing around him. I would later learn at the first water stop in Mt Beauty that he had broken his wrist having fallen on the descent.
Spent a couple of minutes at the water stop and set off again. Met up with an older veteran who looked pretty fit. We climbed most of Falls Creek together before I went ahead of him towards the end of the climb (he ended up finishing the ride before me). It was good having someone to talk to who was going at my pace. I got a lot of info from him about the ride as this was his fifth Alpine. The climb is quite an easy one with most of it shaded by trees (how I would miss those trees later!). Felt fresh when I got to the top. Had a banana, couple of oranges and filled bottles up with water. Then I had to go to toilet. Waited in line for a little while (had to do number 2's) and while doing so I took my top off being carefull not to drop all the stuff that I had in my pockets (oh the joys of having bib'n brace knicks). Then went outside and put some sunscreen on. All up I reckon I stuffed around for about 20 minutes up there which [censored] me off a little.
The descent down Falls Creek was fast and fun. Was passed by a number of riders on the way down who was absolutely flying around the bends.
The return side of Towonga Gap was harder than the other side and the going was slower. Passed a lot of people on the way up. Only a couple of people passed me. I figure that most of the faster riders must already have been way ahead of me. By this time it was getting pretty warm with no trees to shade you from the Sun. The descent into Bright was fun as it was pretty much a straight run down with mainly long sweeping bends. Nice and non-technical. Got into Bright feeling reasonably fresh. 130km covered. I'd eaten well to this point, having bars and gels between each of the check points. Had a nice salad roll at the Bright checkpoint and a few cups of cordial. Grabbed a banana for the ride up Buffalo.
At the base of Buffalo I had a Gu gel (carbohydrate gel) and set off up the climb. Came up to a guy with a "Canada --> Mexico" top on. Said to him "You look as though you've ridden long distances before!", to which he replied disdainfully and with more volume than necessary, "This is the #!$@en hardest thing I've ever done! - I'm not doing this again!". I couldn't help but LMAO and continued up the climb. I was told by one of my mates that the first 5 km are hard and then it eases up a bit. I was couting down the first 5 k's as I was suffering. Sure enough, after about 5 km the gradient got easier. I went from doing 14km/h to doing 16-17km/hr). Then to my extreme dissapointment it got steep again within the next km, he didn't tell me it did that damn it!!!!
No one happened to pass me on this mountain but I did a lot of passing myself. The suffering being displaying by everyone going up was terrible. Here I was spinning in my 39-26 while others were almost crawling up. Even though I was suffering myself, my heart went out to these people who, as far as I'm concerned, showed more courage than I did. It just reinforced to me what this ride is all about - personal achievement and overcoming great obstacles. For me, the obstacles were more mental than physical. So many times did I think about getting out of the unrelenting heat of the Sun and sitting under the shade of a tree for a while. I eventually got to the 8 km water stop and had a break from the heat there.
I filled my bidons with water, again one with Gatorade and the other with just plain water. I was using the plain water bottle mostly for pouring water over myself on the climb. A guy with a nice misty water spray gun thingy was there inviting everyone for a cooldown. I gladly accepted his services as I stood there and turned around as he sprayed me - that felt very refreshing. I ate another banana before heading off again.
For some reason, the next 9 km or so seemed to go by rather quickly. Don't ask me why - it just did. I was getting out of the saddle every now and then to relieve the lower back pain. After that 9 km I was very pleasantly surprised to find myself going downhill after doing a left hand turn! No one told me about that! So I spent the next couple of kms thinking "This is great!!". Then I got to a point past the turnoff to the Chalet where I had to climb another gruelling 4 km climb to Dingo Dell. When I finally go there I was wrapped and had a big grin on my face. Climbing off the bike, I felt pain and stiffness in my lower back and the back of my legs. I hobbled up to the "drop and go" box and submitted my "Dingo Dell" drop and go card. Had another banana and a couple of cups of cordial. A nice lady volunteer was asking anyone if they wanted their sunnies washed! I was amazed - they'd thought of everything! I gave her my sunnies and she first washed them in a tub of soapy water and then rinsed them and wiped them dry. They came back to me perflectly clean for my descent down Mt Buffalo.
I set off with a stupid grin on my face as I realised that it would pretty much be all downhill from that point on. The grin didn't last too long, seeing all the other people still climbng Mt Buffalo when I was some way down. Some were even walking up. What a #$@%ing hard ride.
When I got to the bottom of Buffalo I had some Gu gel and time trialled my way back to Bright. I still had quite a bit of energy left such that I was doing 35 km/h on the flat - I was still feeling good. Sore but good. Coming into Bright I really put the power on as I knew I only have a couple of k's to go. Went under the finishing banner feeling very satisfied. A few people were clapping as people rode through the finish which was nice.
Ended up with a time of 9 hrs 10 minutes. Just missed out on my 9 hour aim. Was quite happy with the ride. If I hadn't stuffed around so much I would've easily gone under 9 hrs. My actual ride time on my computer was 8 hrs 06 mintes 35 seconds. So I spent over an hour stuffing around.
My new bike performed impeccably. I'm very pleased with my purchase.
Tips for next time (if there is one):
- Get to the start earlier so that I'm near the front of the bunch.
- Go a bit harder at the start - try to get into a fast group.
- Put on sunscreen before heading off in the morning.
- Do things a bit quicker at each stop.
- Get to the final checkpoint as quickly as possible when I get to the finish. (probably lost about 5 minutes including waiting in line).
A very satisfying experience. I've got my 200km medallion hanging on my partition wall at work 😄.