Sunday morning started around 4:30am for me, even a bit earlier if I take into account the stereo snoring concerto that the guys in front and behind our tent put up especially for us during the night. Usual routine of breakfast, bathroom, checking gear/bike … 10 times, stretching and before I knew it, it was 5:50am and I rolled the bike down to the entrance of the caravan park. Caught up with Peter Gatto, Terry Thomas and a few others and we headed off to the start line. Heaps of cyclists were already lined up and we settled in the pack waiting for the official starting time. A sort of attractive, wearing very little clothing for this chilly time of the morning woman was wishing everyone ‘Bonne Route’ and some of the boys (I won’t mention any name) had their heart rate monitors increasing significantly after taking a look at this woman. Luckily it was soon 6:20am and everybody took off with the sounds of cleats and derailleurs. On the way out to Tawonga Gap, the usual adrenaline rush hit a few cyclists who may have thought for a moment that they were going for a Sunday morning time trial. This only lasted until the base of Tawonga Gap where these same cyclists suddenly came to the realisation that it was a long hard ride up the mountains, and this was only the beginning. The veterans knew better and on the way to Tawonga Gap we settled in a spin session trying to warm up the leg muscles for the climbs to come. Tawonga Gap is the first climb and the steepest grade. Take it too hard and you will pay for this for the rest of the day. I settled into my ‘happy cadence’ and made it to the top without stinging the legs. Then came the first downhill and the people that I had passed going up whizzed past me at terrifying … and for some dangerous speed. Every year the organisers stress that this is not a race and that the roads are not closed to traffic but without failure, some d……… keep cutting corners, riding on the other side of the road and basically being a nuisance for themselves and others. For me, it was hands on the brakes and trying to control my speed while trying to avoid being run over by others. Let’s make this clear, I hate downhills!!!!
Mt Beauty thankfully came into view quickly and everybody settled back into a more controlled riding behaviour. For some reason, I always stop at Mt Beauty to fill up with water, grab a cake, 2 …3 (I had to stop as there was no more room in my back pocket) and a banana. I see it as money in the bank for later. The volunteers are great and because only a few riders stop, they go out of their way to help you out and make sure that your stop is a memorable one.
Next item on the agenda was the climb up Falls Creek. Now this was an interesting experience. I settled into my ‘happy rhythm’ when 5 guys rode past at a significantly higher pace that I was to call later the ‘unhappy cadence’. I jumped on in a moment of madness and started to ride with them. I noticed that they were all riding a 23 and this made me feel better knowing that I was not the only idiot around. These guys could ride and we were passing other cyclists at an alarming rate. Despite the fast pace I decided to stay with them hoping that they would slow down at some point and/or that I wouldn’t completely blow up. Well I was wrong with the first assumption but right with the second. Two of the guys put 50m on the rest of us towards the summit but I felt a lot better than I was expecting. I filled up with water, cake and gastrolite at Falls Creek before heading back down. I didn’t wait for the others as I knew that they would pass me going down.I hated the descent all the way back down to Mount Beauty and I only started to relax when the road levelled again. My hands and forearms were hurting from clenching the brake levers and frankly I can’t see what the fuss is about downhills.
Soon it was back going up Tawonga Gap and dare I say that I had a little smile on my face … that was soon going to be whipped off by the increasing grade of the road. Everybody was starting to suffer and some people didn’t look good at all. The best part of this climb was the water stop half way up and I would like to give a special medal to the guy with the mist spray. He sprayed my face and this was just heaven. He had to stop as I wouldn’t say stop myself. I could have settled right there for the rest of the day.Back down to Bright with more bloody downhill and the flat stretch back to Bright was fantastic. I hooked up with a guy from the Warragul cycling club and we took turns and rode at 40km/h + all the way to Bright. Other cyclists jumped on and we ended up at Bright with a nice bunch of riders nicely tucked behind us.
10 minutes stop at Bright, caught up with the 5 guys from Falls and headed out to Mt Buffalo with them. Unfortunately, as predicted they kept a cracking pace but I was hoping that the previous 130kms and the increasing grade of the road past the Park’s entrance would slow them down. Wrong again!!!!! One of the guys was a complete maniac. He just wouldn’t slow down at all. Then it happened. The 6 of us were riding 2 abreast and I was sitting in the middle. One of the guys behind me just said ‘f…. this’ and he disappeared within 5 seconds. Then the guy next to me said ‘that’s it for me, can’t do it’ and disappeared too. Mind you, it was a big achievement in itself to be able to speak more than 2 words coherently while trying to breathe at the same time. This didn’t look good and with my legs hurting and my heart about to jump out of my chest, I knew that my turn would come soon. So instead of blowing up completely and finishing up spread eagle on the side of the road (as I saw happen further up the road), I took the conscious, rationale, reasonable and sensible decision to slow down … and dropped out with a ’Sacre Bleu, je suis mort’ (I leave you to work out the translation).Things got better after that as I settled into a more human pace and started to look at the beautiful scenery around me. Gee these mountains are magic!!!! My aim then was to target the next rider up the road and pass him, then the next one and so on. This I did quite successfully and as I picked up a number of riders, the time went by quicker. Soon (not soon enough) I was at the top and then down the little dip before the last climb up to the chalet. A lot of riders were taking it easy up there and were drinking, eating and looked as if they were going to settle for the rest of the afternoon. I thought to myself ‘bugger that’ and after the best part of 3 minutes started to head down.
The last downhill wasn’t great and I hated it as much as the other ones, except that it was the last one of the day so I tried with great difficulties to enjoy it. As I screamed down at speed that I prefer not to remember, I got a glimpse of a few guys that I knew and then the entrance to the park was there. With the undulations starting again, I caught up with a few riders and a guy coming from behind suggested that we all work together to get back to Bright under 8 hours. The adrenalin was pumping and 3 of us took turns at the front. The very guy who had suggested that we work together took one turn and was never to be seen again at the front. Obviously, the initial excitement took the best of him. So with one other guy, we shared the front and utterly fanged it back to Bright, picking up more riders along the way. The roundabout soon came into view and we had plenty of time to spare to achieve the 8 hours goal. Riders said thank you for the lift and we all crossed the line happy to have finished yet another great ride. Final clocked time was 7:50 hours for me. Don’t know about the actual riding time but it should be close to 7:30 hours.
Breakdown of the day:
6:20am Start from Bright
9:15am Top Falls Creek
11:15am Bright
1:15pmMount Buffalo chalet
2:10pm Bright
Lessons of the day:
Take your time and warm-up as you ride towards Tawonga Gap.
Take it easy up to Falls Creek and increase the pace if you feel good later on in the day.
Stop at Mount Beauty, say hello to the volunteer ladies and have a cake, or 2, or 3 and a piece of fruit. You may need this for later.
Spin the legs down Falls Creek to prevent lactic acid build-up. This will help you on the way back up to Tawonga Gap.
Have a short break at Bright and don’t eat too much lunch.
As tempting as it is to stop at the Chalet, don’t get too comfortable as you still have to make it back to Bright.
If you have anything left in the legs, spend it before you get back to Bright. It feels good.
Whatever the 5 guys I rode up Falls Creek with are on, I want some!!!
The big secret for a successful Alpine Classic … 2 huge bowls of Gatto’s special bolognese pasta and meat balls with a glass of red.
Watch the carbohydrates. They did some funny things in my guts, namely generating lots of winds and I had bad abdominal cramps halfway up
Buffalo. Then again, it might act as a turbo boost up Buffalo.
I will be back next year. See you there.
Now he’s looking a little better ( but I did edit some of the green out of this one.