The great catch-up

Yeah I know, it's been ages since I last wrote on here. Almost a month probably, but I'm here to rectify that. It's only 3 days until ATB and I thought I would recount all of the rides I have done since I last wrote. I can't remember the dates of any of the rides but they are in chronological order.

Route: Eltham to Watsons Creek return
Distance: 28km

I don't know what it is about the rode to Yarra Glen but it just doesn't seem to get any easier. Those first couple climbs all the way to Kangaroo Ground are an absolute killer and on this day I really struggled, turning back at the bottom of the hill into Watsons Creek. Not a whole lot of fun.

Route: Braidwood to Denhams Beach
Distance: 72km

Yeah I know, it's not exactly Eltham to Yarra Glen. My bros, Dad and I headed up to Batemans Bay for a week in the sun and for me, plenty of bike riding. From the moment I knew we were going to BB I wanted to ride down the hill from Braidwood which is basically a ride over the Great Dividing Range. Some of the corners down the hill are seriously tight especially when you are doing 70km and your brakes just aren't slowing you down. I made it to Denhams Beach in one piece but I was relying on the lights that I had recently attached to the bike and they weren't very helpful. Overall it was a good solid ride but it was overshadowed by epic miscommunication which resulted in Dad and the bros driving back up to Braidwood to try to find me after it got dark and they hadn't heard from me. Not fun.

Route: Denhams Beach to Moruya return
Distance: 65km

The first 10-15km from Denhams Beach to Moruya was fairly undulating, going up and down more times than seemed necessary but after a while the road flattened out and the bro and I were in a good rhythm. There were some lovely views during the ride due to the fact that the road hugs the coastline for much of the distance and overall it was a good solid and enjoyable ride.

Route: Denhams Beach to Batemans Bay return
Distance: 17km

This was more of a time filling exercise. Determined to do as many kays on the holiday as I could I rode into town and back. All good except for the idiot driving a four wheel drive and pulling a caravan who thought that it would be a good idea to pull out in front of me while I was doing 45kph into town. Good work.

Route: Denhams Beach to Ulladulla return
Distance: 119km

This was the big one. The longest ride that either myself or my bro had done, and it took a bit out of us. We picked the hottest day of the holiday - 35 degrees - and it showed. By the time we reached Ulladulla we were both dehydrated, exhausted, starving and wondering how on earth we were going to make the 60km return trip. Just a brief aside, what we saw of Ulladulla was less than appealing what with the industrial area and all. Mind you we didn't venture down to the water as we were trying to get home by a certain time.
Well we didn't get back in time, struggling miserably for the first 20km home before I managed to find a rhythm for the last 40. The bro battled all day long and couldn't find any energy but we both got there in the end I guess.
We rode on the Princess Hwy the whole way and drivers were really good for the most part but it's just such a frustrating road to ride on. The surface was really coarse and the road never stayed flat for more than a couple hundred meters before it would go up then down, up then down etc.
Besides that, a good feeling when we got back knowing that we had broken the 100km barrier for the first time. Mind you, the ever present thought was 'we have to do almost double that for ATB'.

Route: Eltham to Yarra Glen return
Distance: 56km
Skyline Rd climb time: 12m30s

Man I hate this road. I used to love the way in just meanders through the bush to Yarra Glen but I am starting to hate it with a passion. As if the steep hills in KG weren't enough, add to that an almost painfully coarse road surface, idiot drivers who feel the need to come within 10cm of me, and on this particular day a need to be home in order to get to work on time. Also add to that a bandage that decided to untie itself with 20km to go in the ride and after I decided not to reapply it, I was in pain by the time I got home. Great. Needless to say I didn't have a whole lot of fun on this ride, and I was glad to be home.

Route: Eltham to Olinda return (inc. 1 in 20)
Distance: 87km
1 in 20 time: 20m50s

This was last Sunday, a week before ATB. A perfect day for bike riding, not much wind and about 23 degrees. I met the bro at our Mum's place in Ringwood East before we headed out to the Basin for some 1 in 20 action. I didn't feel overly strong at the start but as I climbed further I thought I was a chance to break that elusive 20 minute mark. Going slow at the start obviously didn't help and I was 50 seconds later to the top than I wanted to be. Oh well. After a short break we headed up to Olinda at a leisurely pace, before pushing ourselves up to Sky High for a coffee and cake. The ride back to Ringwood East was awesome, down the Mt Dandenong Tourist Road to Canterbury Rd and along that at a fair clip. The bro bade me farewell at Ringy East and I continued on to Eltham, feeling awesome when I got home. An awesome day of riding tarnished only by my lack of coordination at one set of traffic lights on Doncaster Rd. I do love falling off my bike in front of lots of people. Oh well! No pain during this ride either, due to a combination of strapping tape and the PattStrap - the setup I will use for ATB.

So there you have it, up to date at last. I wonder if I will be able to fit in a ride tomorrow. I don't see why not.

3 days to go.

Miss Donna Buang

Route: Launching Place to Mt. Donna Buang return

Distance: 61km

Climb time: 1h26m35s

Here are a couple of things I learnt from my time with Miss Buang;

1. Just because it is 24 degrees and sunny at sea level does not mean that this will necessarily be the case at 1250m of altitude.

2. Wearing only cycling nicks, a jersey and fingerless gloves will do little to prevent one from freezing on the descent from the aforementioned altitude.

3. The PattStrap is a waste of time.

After doing a little bit of climbing recently I thought I would take it to the next level and attempt to cross one of the mountains off my 'to climb' list. I headed out from Eltham toward Yarra Glen, noting that driving that route takes significantly less time than riding it. From YG I headed to Healesville before taking Don Rd toward Launching Place, up and over Mt. Toolebewong and down the dirt road on the other side. I parked the car at the Launching Place Hotel before saddling up and heading to Warburton. The 13km warm-up to Warby was fairly flat but I was keen to start climbing so when I saw the turn off to Mt. Donna Buang I was pumped and ready to go.

The first 7km is kinda like doing the 1 in 20 I guess, except that it's more like 1 in 15 if not steeper. By the time I reached Cement Creek and the hairpin that takes you up to the summit though I was more than ready for a bit of a breather. As mentioned earlier, my assessment of the weather turned out to be quite wrong and by the time I had reached Cement Creek it was starting to get quite chilly.

After refilling my drink bottles from the aforementioned creek I turned the corner and continued on the 9km remaining to the summit. Now even though the next 6km probably wasn't as steep as the first 7km, I'm not too sure where the 'false-flats' talked about on Bikely were! With 3km to go I started seeing snow on the side of the road which, for some reason, spurred me on even more. Despite the last kilometer tilting up unforgivingly, I pulled myself through the snow that was melting on the road to the lookout tower at the top. 'Tis quite an amazing view from up there. Whenever I have been on the bike and climbing hills or mountains the same thought always goes through my head - 'why am I doing this to myself?'. But the feeling you get when you reach the top makes it all worth while.

After a few minutes and a few home-brand jelly snakes I began the descent. I don't think I've ever been colder in my life. You know how they say the faster you go, the colder it gets? Well, it is true. I couldn't decide if it was better to pedal faster to warm myself up or to slow down and stop the wind from freezing my face off. As I got further down the mountain the temperature picked up and my face and fingers started to defrost somewhat. The ride back to Launching Place wasn't too bad, save for the setting sun blinding me.

In ITB news The PattStrap that I had ordered from the States proved to be extremely useless, curling up at the edges and even coming undone before I had even arrived at Warburton. Consequently I reverted back to my trusty bandage which did the trick, stopping me from having any pain during the long climb.

Overall, a good couple of hours in the saddle and the feeling once I got to the summit was unbelievable. I think some more climbing might be on the menu very shortly.

30 days to go.

Ambitious

Route: Eltham to Kinglake return (inc. Kinglake climb)
Distance: 68km
Kinglake climb time: 26m45s

So much for building the kays up slowly. The bro and I decided to throw caution to the wind today and head up to Kinglake for a bit more hill climbing and good scenery. It was an awesome ride but I was a little slow up the 6.8km climb after yesterday's effort at the 1 in 20. Despite the climbing and the increase in distance my knee was fine again today. The only downside was that the tightness of the bandage was restricting my quad a little bit and it felt as if lactic acid was building up more quickly in that leg than the other one. Oh well, we can't have it all can we?

The bro and I are looking forward to our week-long family holiday in Bateman's Bay in a few weeks time. We are going to take the bikes along and get some kays under our belts, including a possible attempt at Clyde Mountain up the Kings Highway. I just have to remember to keep up the stretches and exercises to try to fix this problem rather than avoiding it with straps and bandages.

37 days to go.

Ramping it up, in more ways than one

Route: Ringwood East to Sassafras return (inc. 1 in 20)
Distance: 32km
1 in 20 time: 20m24s

So I went to the physio again today. He said that it was a little strange that my knee was still sore, and proceeded to try and loosten it up. He suggested that I take a course of anti-inflamatories and return next week for another session, including a proper bike set up. I told him of my make-shift PattStrap which he seemed unimpressed with saying 'it is a temporary measure. It will not fix the underlying cause of the pain'. Oh well, it's helping me ride so it can't be all bad.

After the appointment I grabbed my bike out of the car and headed out to The Basin for some 1 in 20 smashing. I was really keen to beat my previous best time up the 6.75km course (22m30s) and if possible to beat 20 minutes. I started out really hard (probably too hard) and fell back to a regular pace quite quickly but for the rest of the climb I pushed myself, keen to finish inside 20 minutes. I reached the top fairly exhausted, in 20m24s. Damn it! Oh well, something to work on and not bad considering how little riding I have been doing lately.

The descent was awesome and made the climb worth while, but some rain on the way home was more than a little annoying. In good news, no ITB pain again today and so tomorrow with the bro we will see how I go with 40km.

38 days to go.

Pain-free eighteen

Route: Eltham to Kangaroo Ground return
Distance: 18km

So I finally got back on the bike today and it felt sooooo good. I'd been thinking about what my bro's lecturer told him - that a good way to prevent pain from ITB is to use a knee strap like the PattStrap. I asked the physio whether or not it would work and he said it wouldn't because a strap like that targets a tight IT band, not a weak one which I am suffering from. However, having been frustrated out of my head lately at not being able to ride I decided to give it a go anyway. I got a bandage, folded it up and tied it just above my knee, and it works! 18km pain-free. The most encouraging part of it all was that I went fairly hard today, especially on the awesome downhill on the way back through Research.

I'm really relieved that I've found something that works, and I have ordered the proper strap which should arrive this week or next. Now I can stop worrying about my knee and just concentrate on building up the kays again - such a relief. I wonder how it will go over 30km?

40 days to go.

I just wanna ride!

I guess when you are down you are down eh? On top of all the ITB annoyance, this last week has seen me bed-ridden with a nasty dose of the flu. My last ride was over a week ago and I'm scratching at the walls, just itching to get on the bike. On the days where I've had the strength to do so, I've been keeping up with my stretches and exercises, so hopefully they are starting to help a bit.

But the most annoying thing is, I still have pain in my knee! After all this time it still hurts to bend down, to get in and out of the car, to drive the car etc. Granted, the stretches give some relief but it's more than a little annoying. I'm heading back to the physio on Thursday to see what he says, and I will ask about the pain and if there is any way of making it go away.

Anyway, a few days off work this coming week means a few chances to get on the bike, health pending. Hopefully I can start building up the kays and the fitness again.

42 days to go.

On the bike again

Route: Eltham to Kangaroo Ground return
Distance: 18km

So the bro and I hit up KG today - around 18km and not flat in any sense of the word. My knee was feeling good most of the way, until I started to push a bit harder on the way back. After icing and stretching it I'm feeling good and keen to head out again as soon as possible. Good signs I guess...

51 days to go.