Melburn Roobaix : 24th of June 2012

The  Paris Roubaix or the  Hell of the North,  the greatest one day race of them all,  has inspired many cyclist's drive and passion. The Paris Roubaix is one of the toughest and longest (260km) races on the annual cycling calendar. It covers some roads that are centuries old and built with pave or cobblestones. Competitors ride on relatively standard road bikes with longer wheelbases for stability and larger tyres for bump absorption and grip. In the wet, these sections are like riding over a partially dried up creek bed, with the moss on the rocks functioning like grease when wet providing riders with almost zero traction. 

Some cobbles. 

This event has affected many cyclists over the years, both professional and amateur alike. I'm one of those amateurs, many of my rides have been spent out on rough roads in less than ideal conditions and I always catch myself imagining being at the Paris Roubaix duking it out over the cobbles. Another rider who has been affected is Andrew White of Fyxomatosis fame,  Andy has taken this passion to another level, scouting around Melbourne finding all the back alleys and lanes that have been paved with cobbles. To determine the course of his yearly "Melburn Roobaix". Andy takes the best of the cobbled sections and links them together with a route through the city of Melbourne Each year the event gets bigger and better, 2012’s event had 2012 registrants signing up to brave the cobblestones. 

My day started with me riding my Cyclocross bike over to the Hawthorn Velodrome from home, a good 40 kilometres to warm up. By the time I got to the velodrome there was a good crowd filling the infield queuing up for their registration pack.  

A blending of the tribes....

In my opinion the Melburn Roobaix is easily one of the most inclusive of all cycling events. There are roadies, mountain bikers, casual commuters, BMX riders, unicyclists, tandem riders, cyclocross riders and pretty much everything in between. The atmosphere and camaraderie is fantastic. Everyone is willing to lend a helping hand when needed and no one is racing - we are all just enjoying being on a bike, of any description.

At registration riders are given the course map which highlights each sector of cobbles, but the way you choose to get from one to the other is entirely up to each rider. This leads to some interesting moments where you feel confident you are going the right way until you see a group of riders coming the other way down the same road. "Do I change direction and follow those guys or stick to my guns and keep pushing on?"

Map check time, where do we go now?

   

One of the early sectors.

 

An early uphill sector of cobbles.

In between each sector of cobbles, we get the chance to choose our own adventure on the way to the next sector. Sometimes this provides an oppurtunity for a quick stop for coffee and a snack or just a chance to regroup and tell our stories of nearly falling on that last sector, or how much fun was had (mostly the later). These sections were mostly done on bike paths, a great chance to catch your breath, have a friendly chat and enjoy some of Melbourne's beautiful scenery.

Riding along the Yarra between sectors.

The Capital City Trail.

Towards the end of the day, you come upon the "The Koppenberg", a reasonably long sector of cobbles that, like it's namesake is almost all uphill - a tough sector. You need to hold your speed to stay up on top of the cobbles, as soon as you slow down, the ride becomes much rougher as you fall down into all the gaps between the stones. So trying to maintain enough speed to make the ride easier is quite difficult to do while also going uphill. I LOVE this sector! This year I turned around and rode it again two more times. It is a challenge but also a great atmosphere as there is always a good crowd along the climb to cheer you on.

The Koppenberg, (Melburn Roobaix style).

The actual Koppenberg, Belgium.

After the Koppenberg, there are a few more sectors that we string together to make it to the Brunswick Velodrome. With each passing sector though the realisation that the day is coming to an end comes creeps up on you. There were more than a few of us who were suggesting, somewhat tongue in cheek, that we might go back for another lap. But that would have meant missing out on the party that was happening at the finish so we pressed on after going back for one more lap of the last couple of sectors.

The finish was at Brunswick velodrome, by the time I got there, there was a reasonable crowd gathering waiting to cheer on everyone else that was still finishing. The music was pumping, the food was being devoured and the beer was tasting GOOD.

At the finish, Brunswick velodrome.

At the finish, Brunswick velodrome.

Well earned

"Blue Edge"

This is easily some of the most fun I have ever had on a bike, I did this event for the first time last year and promised myself to never miss another one. I had a couple of friends with me this year and it was even more fun so hopefully next year you can all come to join me too.

A big thank you to Andy White for organising this event, I can't wait till next year.

- Brad.

Dirty Deeds Cyclocross 2012 Prologue : 15th of June

In all of my years of riding and racing bicycles, the one type of cycling that has spoken to me the most has been cyclocross. Cyclocoss is a derivate type of cycling created as a form of winter training for professional cyclists to stay fit in their off-season.


Check this video out to see what cyclocross looks like in living colour: 

I have been following cyclocross since I first heard about it in the early nineties, but couldn’t get a bike of my own until 2009.

This turned out to be perfect timing. In 2010, the  inaugural Dirty Deeds Cyclocross series commenced - the first of it’s kind in this country. I raced all of the 2010 and 2011 series along with the Cross Melburn series and Australia’s first National Cyclocross Championships.

Now, in 2012, we have the first National Cyclocross Series. With each series, I have been slowly improving my results, but this year I wanted to really put in an effort to get more competitive, so I made some solid plans to do some running training.,..

All of my best laid plans to put in some running training amounted to exactly ZERO running training. I did manage to practice my dismounts and remounts, but running? None.

It quickly became time to see whether all of this extra riding did me any good. The first race this year was the Dirty Deeds Urban Cyclocross Prologue, at the Brunswick velodrome.

The racing started at 7:00pm - dark and cold as you can imagine, but the organisers were able to light up the field. Cyclocross at night. Very cool.

 

First race

The night didn't start well for me; stuck in traffic after a late-running appointment meant I was running late to the velodrome, but I.made it just in time.

I lined up and got all the way to the second person from the desk when they announced that the event was sold out! With a little bit of pleading, the crew gave me a number and allowed me to race. Thanks Dirty Deeds Crew!

Now I had a number and was going to get to race but but running late meant that I had no practice time. When my race came around, I had just managed to get myself ready and on my way to the start area.

The night’s racing format would be two short races each both lasting about five minutes. It sounds very short and easy but these races are like doing a full on sprint from start to finish. It is enough to destroy you.

To give you an idea of how intense an effort it is, I regularly ride Beach Road on a Saturday morning. When I get into an all out sprint, I get my heart rate up to about 85% of my maximum heart rate. But during the race, I got to 95% at about two hundred metres in and 85% was my lowest heart rate which I got down to recovering on the bitumen section.

The course was very well designed as usual by the Dirty Deeds Crew, managing to pack quite a bit of course into a relatively small area.

"The Circle of Death"

So, I was punched in the face by the effort required to stay up the front of the field. I came up on the first barrier of the course and the lack of run training quickly took it's toll. I was holding my position but riders behind me were gaining on me while I attempted to run. Back on the bike; I tried to put some distance between me and the riders coming up from behind.

This took even more out of my cold legs and I quickly dropped back behind and finished about fourth last. The first race was a scratch race and the results of this race determined the starting position you got for the second race; a handicap. This meant I was fourth rider from the start and meant that I was able to take the lead and stay there for the first lap and a half only to be overtaken by the fitter riders starting behind me.

It was still was good to see the view from the front for a change. I ended up finishing about sixth or so for this second race. “Not too bad”, I thought, “Top ten”.

 Footage from the night.

After my races, I stuck around to see how the other riders were faring. I got a good spot on the fence line of the velodrome and settled in with a well earned beer.

A big part of cyclocross is the party atmosphere that is generated at almost every event. Beer and frites (Belgian fries) are a big part of the culture so it is always worth sticking around to cheer on your fellow racers.

There was an awesome crowd at the prologue and it really felt like a party where a bike race just happened to break out.

The Dirty Deeds Series is for everyone from, roadie to mountain biker to fixie kid to BMXer to spectators laughing at us silly cyclocrossers slipping and sliding in the mud. A great night for all.

More information here.

Brad.

Dirty Gran Fondo : 20th of May 2012

Hello again, three weeks later and it was time to punish myself on a new type of event for me. Similar to the Gravel Grinder but all on fire roads rather than dirt and paved roads, 90 kilometers and over 2000 meters vertical, OUCH!

A few weeks before this event I watched a video of Trent Lowe pre riding the course, this was a bad idea. If Trent Lowe says that this will be a challenging course then this is going to be an absolute killer of a course for someone like me.

The day started VERY early, all the usual pre-ride preparations but at a ridiculous hour of the day. I found that I was at the start a bit too early, damn you Google maps. I started getting ready after picking up my number and some zip ties. Lots of extra embrocation needed today, very cold morning and looking like it will stay that way for a while yet.

Chilly start to the day.

Start time rolled around eventually, with all of my waiting though I ended up starting the ride with numb toes and fingers. I had heard people saying that the first few kilometers were going to be tough for the cyclocross riders and this proved to be very true. I had elected to use a semi-slick tyre on my rear wheel to ease rolling resistance but this was proving to be a bad choice given the slimy conditions we were faced with for the first climb. I was getting zero traction on the rear and not much more on the front as the knobs on that tyre were quickly filled with mud anyway, homemade slick anyone?

I could see the guys I had started with just ahead of me, they seemed to making better progress through the mud on their mountain bikes than I was. I looked up to notice that they were stopped just in front of me, I figured that they were struggling through the mud like the rest of us and had simply stopped to dab a foot. I decided to keep on going thinking that if I stopped now I would not be able to re-start. Little did I know that they had fallen victim to a large gash to one of their tyres, ouch, sorry guys.

My Garmin told me that this section was a 24% gradient before I got off to walk as well.

These cheeky little signs were strewn throughout the course.

OUCH

!

Checkpoint number one.

I eventually made it to the top of the first climb to come across the first checkpoint of the day. Some welcome sugar refuelling and as I went to refill my water bottle I realised that I hadn’t actually drank anything yet. Not the best way to start a ride like this one, whoops. After waiting at the first checkpoint to let the guys catch up for a while I came to the conclusion that they might not be coming and I wanted to stay close to the people I had started riding with so back into it. These guys were a bit faster than me so I really was going over my head to keep up with them, another bad decision. 

Climbing into the mist.

In the mist now.

We climbed into the mist together for a little while until I blew up and was spectacularly dropped. This gave me the chance to take the camera out though and catch some of these cool misty images. Time to settle in and try to find a rhythm of my own, making sure to keep drinking!

Gratuitous shop name shot.

After some spectacular descending we came across the next checkpoint where I got a chance to eat more, catch my breath and shake my sore hands out (from all the braking on the descent).

While doing this I noticed a couple of riders I had been riding with earlier come in to the rest stop and start unloading their pannier bags. I noticed a couple of baguettes sticking out of the top of one of the bags and was getting rather curious as to what was going on here. They said they were hungry and seeing as how this was the “Dirty Gran Fondue” they had better get their fondue fired up and get stuck into their lunch, followed by a question of “Where is your fondue?”

Very cool I think, this was a tough ride and to make it even tougher by carrying all that extra weight was a very fair effort. Kudos.

“Dirty Gran Fondue”

At this checkpoint I was overhearing a lot of people struggling with the decision of, “Do we keep going on for the ninety kilometres or do we cut the ride short and make the turn for the sixty nine kilometre option instead”.

I opted to keep on going, a decision  that I would later regret.

There was a nice long and fast downhill from here but all that meant was that I would need to regain all of that lost elevation again. The longer I was descending the more I was getting worried.

I was really starting to feel it from my earlier efforts to stick with faster riders than me.

Before long the descent ran out and the climbing began again. Gorgeous scenery but that didn’t help with the pain in the legs, “Shut Up Legs!”.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM Yummy

MMMMMMMMMM Dirty

MMMMMMMM Yummy

This sign was on one of the bigger final climbs, nice.

Lots of us out here today.

I was starting to go to some very dark places on the last few climbs, wondering why I was out here, why I do this to myself, why they had to make this course so hard and why don’t I just go home and relax in front of the heater with a good book. Then I came across the final checkpoint of the day, I was obviously looking destroyed from the volunteers reactions. They were nice enough to tell me that, “It is almost all downhill from here, only one more little climb and your done”.

Four kilometres or so into the third climb after this and I was starting to doubt their honesty.....

It was finally time for the last descent of the day, this was going back down the first climb we did this morning. VERY COOL, lots of large water bars that just launched you into the air whether you wanted to or not followed by some very rough rutted out sections that really required your utmost attention to stay upright on. Attention that was sadly lacking when I slid into one of these ruts and “supermaned” into a mud puddle, what a lovely way to end the ride.

So after this descent it was a nice flat cruise to the finish line and then a sprint (in the car) to the local fish and chips shop for some well earned fatty food.

Even though I went through some dark places on this ride I still had an absolute blast and would like to thank the crew at Big Hill Events for a fantastic day on the bike, looking forward to the next one.

Route Map

Join me at the next one?

- Brad.

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.