Degani Arthurs Seat Bay 2 Bay Ride: Sunday the 29th of April

Degani Arthurs Seat Bay 2 Bay Ride: Sunday the 29th of April

Hello again, one week later and another way for me to hurt myself. I have used Arthurs Seat as a measuring stick to help gauge my fitness over the past couple of years. Every time I try to tackle it, it has always been a question of how many times I need to stop on my way up rather than a question of what time it has taken me to complete the climb.

I have never been a great climber but have been able to hold my own depending on the group I am riding with. Coming back to the sport after a long break, though, I am still trying to find the climbing legs that I used to have. This climb still scares me; only about four kilometres long but with an average gradient of 8% and hairpin turns that kick up to around 20%, it hurts.

So with a little encouragement from the Gran Prix group ride guys and some trepidation I signed up for this year's Bay 2 Bay Ride.

The week leading up to this event was spent both recovering from the Gravel Grinder the week before and trying to build some energy reserves for the big day. I was nervous to say the least.

Up with the birds on Sunday morning, I started pouring as much coffee down my throat as I could stomach. I have never been able to eat breakfast even on a normal day so on a day with butterflies in my stomach it was really going to be a struggle to get anything solid down. I forced myself to eat though knowing that I would regret it later on in the day otherwise and drank more coffee, never too much coffee. Then I packed the van and headed off to Mornington for the start.

I parked just near the start and started getting ready, still plenty of time in hand.

Rain was predicted all week, but I woke up to a gorgeous morning instead.

At the start.

We were lined up like cattle in grades of meat, prime cuts to the front and the older, chewier cuts toward the back. I was one of the chewier ones.

We patiently awaited our time to get underway keeping an eye out for the people I was supposed to be meeting at the start but hadn’t seen yet..

“If I put on a confident face maybe I will start actually feeling that way?”

Gingerly taking off, it didn’t take long to realise that we were in the wrong group - time to start chasing. It didn’t take long before we had integrated the group in front and took the lead. Not exactly the easy ride to the base of Arthur’s Seat that I was hoping for but lots of fun none the less.

This was certainly not the normal way I ride down to Arthur’s Seat; we were taking some roads I had never ventured onto. It was certainly a good choice of route, some nice rolling hills to get the heart pumping and a nice long descent down Nepean Highway.

Before long we were back to more familiar terrain, making our way back down to Dromana and along the beach before turning left to start climbing. You are climbing a decent hill even before you hit the climb proper at the gates to Arthur’s Seat park. After a short break to strip off a couple layers of clothing it was time to start suffering. The first section of the climb after the gate really does hit you like a wall, a good few hundred metres at 10% gradient really lets your legs know that the climb has started. Then you hit the first hairpin and almost come to a grinding halt. Awesome, are we having fun now?  This pattern continues for the next four kilometres or so.

A couple of hairpins in now.

At the top of the climb the first rest stop was lying in wait, it was also the first time I had seen the guys I was going to meet at the start. Quickly jam some complimentary energy bars into my pockets, squeeze a gel down and top up my bottles. I got done in time to see the guys taking off into the distance, oh well, time to start chasing again. It was a nice road to chase on though, mostly downhill rolling terrain to the other side of the peninsula.

I kept catching glimpses of the Gran Prix Bicycles jersey colours and thought I was about to catch back up only to drift back again when the road turned uphill. Awesome roads out here though, so I didn’t mind chasing much at all here.

Second rest stop.

Now it was time to feed and water myself some more and get ready for the next section that apparently included the “Corkscrew”. I had been told on the start line about this climb and how it was a tougher climb than Arthur’s Seat, just what I wanted to hear. At least I had caught back up with the guys now and would hopefully be able to stay with them for the rest of the ride. There certainly was some tough climbing coming back to the northern side of the peninsula but I was starting to feel good now and the climbs seemed to pass by without too much grief.

Back on top of Arthur’s Seat now with a bit more time to take pictures.

I was looking forward to the nice long downhill from here and a chance to recover from the climb back up to the top of Arthurs Seat. One more rest stop that nearly caused a crash in our group because it was placed on a fast downhill and we didn’t spot it till the last second. More refuelling and back on the road again, dreading climbing back up the descent that we had at the start of the ride. It is a wide open road, so you get to see exactly how far it is to the top the whole way up. Just killing me at this stage of the ride.

I was feeling pretty good though, I managed to keep both my fluid and food intakes high enough that I wasn’t getting any hunger flat. Note to self, eat lots and drink even more. I was even feeling strong enough to put in a little sprint at the finish line, I reckon I might have gotten up to all of 30km/h!

Fantastic day, great ride, great people and great feeling of achievement. I actually made it in one piece and am now thinking that I could have gone harder, next year it is.

It was a very well organised event and I will definitely be back next year for some more punishment. A big thank you to the team at Degani for a job well done.

Route Map

For next year maybe?

- Brad.

Gravel Grinder # 6: "Go Through Road" - 22nd of April 2012

Hello fellow cyclists and welcome to the new section of the Gran Prix Bicycles website. I will be making use of this space to share some stories from my various rides throughout the year and hopefully whet the appetites of a few cyclists thinking of signing up for an event or two themselves. I have been riding, racing, fixing and talking about bikes for the better part of twenty five years now and the addiction just keeps getting stronger. 

Me

I started out by riding a BMX that was handed down to me from my older brother. I took that bike all over, BMX tracks of course, but also single track, fire roads and everything that found its way under my tyres. I then moved on to a bike of my very own, a Repco Traveller in Black, TEN gears. What was I going to do with ten gears? I soon found out that those extra gears meant a lot more speed and easier hill climbing, this lead to me taking this bike on "Gran Tours" of my very own, usually involving fire roads and getting very lost.

Fast forward a few years and I was racing most weekends, getting sponsored by local shops and basically killing myself for the love of the sport. Then I discovered mountain biking I was hooked; this is what I had been doing since my early years on my big brothers "Red Devil" BMX and my Repco Traveller but with tyres that had grip in the dirt and gears that would allow me to ride up walls!

After many years of riding and working with bikes of all types I made my way here to Gran Prix Bicycles. A fantastic group of people that share my love of cycling and my passion for bringing new people into the fold.

So, I thought you might like to keep up to date with some of my more recent cycling endeavours, those that I have been involved with since I started working here at Gran Prix. Looking at my calendar for the year after a few of the big series dates were announced it started to look like a busy winter ahead. I started these years’ events off with Melbourne Gravel Grinders sixth event,

Gravel Grinder #6: "Go through road" 22nd of April;

Route map

It was a very ominous looking start to the day, very dark clouds rolling over the Dandenong’s as I made my way up to Belgrave for the start of the first Gravel Grinder event for 2012.  

Belgrave Train Station

It looked to be a good turnout, about 68 riders and this was the wettest Gravel Grinder yet.

Sweet French Rando’ - note the front derailleur.

Bikes of all types, cyclocross bikes were probably the most popular choice, but a lot of 29ers, tourers, and a few 650b bikes were represented as well.  It rained right up until it was time to get started then, as if by order, the clouds sealed back up and the sun started to force its way through. We made our way en masse down Belgrave Gembrook road from Belgrave station in wet and slippery conditions through absolutely gorgeous scenery.

 

Belgrave Gembrook Road

It wasn't long before we made a left hand turn onto the Cardinia Reservoir dam wall where we started our gravel grinding, with awesome views across the dam to one side and of the dam wall to the other. 

Cardinia Reservoir dam wall

After making our way across the wall we were slapped in the face with the first gravel climb of the day. The key thing to remember on gravel climbs is that when you stand up out of the saddle you take all of your weight off the rear wheel and you just start spinning, not great for forward progress. It is a delicate balance of standing up but not too far forward or back and driving the rear wheel into the ground. This also marked the beginning of the end for me, where the fast guys start to go faster and the slow guys start to go slower. I managed to catch back up to the mountain goats on the descents but they would ingloriously drop me on the next climb. This pattern kept up until we hit our first checkpoint at around thirty kms in.

 

Pakenham Upper service station

A quick refuel a water top up and we were off again. As I started getting up to speed away from the service station I leant the bike over and heard a snap. S@*t, broken spoke! I run lightweight carbon wheels with a low spoke count so having one less spoke meant a massive wobble in the wheel. No spare spokes or a suitable spoke key meant some serious thoughts of calling my partner for help and cutting the ride short. If I turned around now it would have only been about ten kilometres shorter than continuing on and finishing the ride. Soldier on it was then! Undo the brake quick release, so the wheel would be able to pass through the brake pads, and reattach at the top of each climb. Gingerly making my way over the rougher sections hoping that the wheel wouldn't fold over on itself. Fun!

This continued for a while until I hit the Cardinia Aqueduct trail, nice smooth trail on a gradient of 0.0%. YES!

 

Cardinia Aqueduct trail

Time to let rip, cruising along down in the drops at thirty or so kmph I had almost forgotten all about my bike issues yes forgetting that you don’t have a front brake attached can be a bad thing. So after much rear wheel skidding and a centimetre or so less rubber on my left shoes sole I was reminded of my bike issues quite well. Time to tame that back in a bit. I was getting quite good at disconnecting and reattaching the front brake while riding and even had a few moments where I had to use this technique to apply the brakes (not recommended by the way).

 One of two decent creek crossings.

Hike a bike from hell

After reading a cue of, “Don’t worry, there is a road, just keep on going down the hill till you reach the creek", I was wary. This was the sort of trail a lot of people would have trouble riding their mountain bikes down, but with some judicious braking and even a little "tripoding" I came across a creek and figured I had made it. "I can ride that", I said to myself.Sure I could have ridden the creek but what I had more trouble with was the slippery rock on the way into the water, my front wheel washed out and I went for a bit of a wade through the water. Yeah, wet feet. Then it was the hike a bike from hell, a 20% gradient and very loose gravel made for some very sore calves.

 

The second creek crossing went better but a bit too deep, even wetter feet now.....

Two of two creek crossings

We made our way to Lysterfield Lake Park and Trail mix Cafe for a cold coke and a soggy pie (best soggy pie I have ever eaten). Also some strange looks when I asked if they had any Reynolds tools for my wheel true.

 

Casuarina Trail : Lysterfield Lake

From Lysterfield we had only a short stretch, about 10 kilometres, to get back to Belgrave station for the finish. This took us through Lysterfield Park up to and through Birdsland Park to the finish.

 

Dargo Track : Birdsland Park

Little did I know that Broadway was coming, this was a quite street that had a stretch that kicked up to a 25% gradient, ouch!

After pushing my lungs back down my throat, it was a nice short ride back to Belgrave station and the finish. Just in time, as the rain came back in a big way just after I arrived.

The Melbourne Gravel Grinder boys did a fantastic job of designing this course, some nice hills, fantastic views, rough road, smooth road, no road, creek crossings and even some bitumen made for an awesome mix of challenging terrain.

Brad.