Lots of miles and lots of hills- no problem-o!

As usual, its been a while since my last post. But as cycling has become a steady part of my life, I have found it less "gee whizz" exciting to talk about each and every ride like I used to. Not that I enjoy cycling less than I did- not at all (I probably enjoy it more), but to ride to Frankston and back doesn't have the novelty that it once did if you see what I mean.

Anyway, Ive taken on some new goals since my last blog post so here is a run down of them in no particular order...

Alpine Tour of the Suburbs
Well, we did it! Matt and I rode the Alpine Tour of the Suburbs group ride!

But let’s go back to the start....

Earlier that day (that morning), the regular MRR ride was run and Mattyb from the BV forum missed it for several reasons. Being annoyed at himself for missing the ride, he mentioned in the forum that he was thinking of doing the Alpine Tour of the Suburbs as penance. As I had been giving it some non-too serious thought myself, i decided to jump in boots and all and take it on with Matt. *GULP*

So after some messages back and forth between Matt and myself and much “what the hell are we thinking” comments from the both of us, we decided to throw caution into the wind and take it on.

I was riding down to the start, wondering how many riders would be doing this ride, but as I approached the Guide Dogs entrance on Chandler Hwy, I was amazed to see about 20 + riders already assembled.

I pulled in and felt very intimidated. Lots of A-graders I have seen at the St Kilda crits, and plenty of bling bike and bling bodies.

I spotted Mattyb and rolled over to chat with him. We were both wondering what the heck we were doing with this group but figured that we made it this far, might as well see this through.

More and more riders rolled up and I counted over 40 riders just before we left. Wow... the biggest group I have ever ridden in by far!

Straight away on Chandler Hwy the group was split by lights and when the lights changed, we really took off to catch the lead group. "Oh boy, here we go" I said to Matt and the pack poured on a fair bit of pace, but we kept up fine and sat in the middle of the pack.

All the way to the base of Doncaster Shoppingtown hill, we sat comfortably in the pack at I have no idea what pace (I would guess high 30's?). Once at the base of Shoppingtown hill i knew this was going to hurt and it did. It's such a long climb and everyone soon passed me and evaporated up ahead of me. Slowly I slogged away and was starting to reel another rider in. I passed him and was starting to get some more momentum for the final climb when the Elgar Rd lights went red and stayed red for aaaagggggeeees. I asked the guy behind me if he knew the way and as he had only done the ride once and i had a map, he suggested we stick together. Good idea!

Finally the lights changed and we turned the corner into Williamson Rd and I was VERY happy to see the entire pack waiting in the slip lane. As I rolled to a stop, the pack took their time to let us slowpokes have a break which was really appreciated.

Rolling again and we set off down Williamson Rd which turned out to be a fairly steep downhill, followed by and even steeper uphill (of course). Out of the saddle and grinding hard but alas, I was last to the top damn it!

When we turned into Foote rd, i caught back up to the tail-enders and made up a bit more time down a big dip. As i flew down the dip, I realized that there were minimal street lights and at the speed I was doing, what ever bumps were in the road was just going to be a surprise! Note to self- must get better lights for these situations.

Turning into Hight St and as i began the long, long climb, a car passing us going the other way had it's drivers side window down and as he passed me i heard the driver yell out at us (in the dark mind you)- "Poofters!" All I could do was chuckle to myself at this comment.

High St was just one long, never ending drag. Up, up, up it went with no end in sight. Ahead of me was a guy on a very nice looking Orbea and I slowly closed the gap on him and passed. Seeing me pass him must have spurred him on as he sat just a meter back from me the rest of the way, both breathing hard, no chatter- just pedalling and spinning! At one stage when it was really hurting I had the following thought process happening in my head-

"Urgh! this is killing me... my legs are burning... the lungs are bursting... oh gawd how much further does this hill go for... maybe I could pull out... nah... I have no excuse other than softness... what about a puncture... that would force me to stop and even pull out of this madness... but I don't think there is anyone behind me to witness it so who would I be fooling... and besides, I still need to ride home... oh screw it... just stop thinking and ride..."

Back to Manningham Rd, A few of us were caught at the traffic lights including Matt who I hadn't seen for a while. Matt said he thought he was about to bonk so I dug out a handful of jelly babies from my pocket and handed them to him, and also took a mouthful myself. Mmm... fruity jelly goodness!

Just around the corner there was another regroup at the servo- once again, great stuff!

Off and rolling and down Maningham Rd as a pretty fast pace. A set of lights changed ahead and i saw several riders go straight through the red, with a few cries of "sheesh" from us tail enders. We stopped at the lights and seeing there was just 5 of us I commented to the group- "And then there were five" which got a few grins from the lantern rouge pack.

Lights change we all take chase of the rest of the pack, but the next intersection we caught them all and we all cruised into Heidelberg Shopping Center as one pack of 40+ riders. With the pack all together as one, I looked up Burgandy Rd and saw the monster that it is, looming in front of me. I motioned to Matt what we had in store for us but he suggested that maybe it was best NOT to look up. Wise idea! While waiting at these lights, I heard a guy mention to his mate that he thought a few in the pack would struggle to make it to the top which had to include me (and fair enough too), but this only served to spur me on. There is nothing like trying to prove someone wrong to make me push harder.

As we rode up the pace was manageable, but as the hill kept getting steeper, my speed kept dropping from 18kph to a low of 9kph at the final kick up at the top. The last pitch was really hard work but still I wasn’t last up the hill. As I climbed that last steep bit, about 3 riders slowly passed me, each commenting to me that I was doing really well and to keep going. Thanks guys, I really appreciated the kind words; I just couldn't spare the breath to respond! LOL

Re group again at the top of Burgandy Rd but I rolled past most of the pack looking for Matt, only to see some riders taking off again which suited me fine. So I was up the front heading down the hill.

At a set of lights I got chatting to another rider asking if this was the usual pace (I was expecting it to be faster) and I was told this was about average and that the regroups meant that it was a ride for everyone. I told him it was my first time and he said he that I was doing fine.

Along Lower Heidelberg Rd through the cutting, all of a sudden everyone took off, racing away into the distance. I tried to accelerate and get out of the saddle but the legs were lacking (to say the least!) so I just spun away up the hill, with the blinkies off in the distance (I was last) and car headlights lighting my way from behind.

Into Ivanhoe East shops, I made up ground on the tail enders on the descents and kept that speed up for the following uphill, passing yet more riders. I was surprised at my pace at the end really as I kept rounding up riders looking pretty stuffed while I was feeling pretty good.

I found Matt waiting for me at the Chandler Hwy intersection and he was stuffed and spent! I offered to drive him home and he agreed to that idea so we rode to my apartment to get the car. Whew! We made it! We were both pretty stoked to have done it! Awesome!

Stats
Average (inc a gentle ride to the start) = 27kph
Top Speed = 76.9kph
Total distance (door to door) = 39km

Will I be back? Sure will. Only next time I will bring Lisa along for a feminine touch to the ride (it was all guys as far as I could see). She will climb the hills at least mid pack and easily hold her own for the rest of the ride.

And me? Well I will just be happy to slowly improve my position in the peleton each time and not be the last up some of the hills in the future. It will come with time no doubt (and less weight might help too!)

Bring on the next challenge! :)

PS- Here is a link to the map of the route for those keen to try their hand-
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Alpine-Tour-d-Suburbs

Lots of miles and lots of hills- no problem-o!