Monday 30 November 2015

7 Peaks - Mt Buller (5/7)

Yesterday, I finished my 5th of the 7 Peaks Challenge – Mt Buller.

As this ride is located relatively close to Melbourne (not around the Alpine Region), we thought we could tackle this over a weekend. As I had done the Giro della Donna the previous weekend, my legs were in a bit of a noodle-like state and I didn’t want to go as tough for the weekend. I did a few strength session throughout the week too which hindered my legs to fully recover as I was walking about like I just just done a marathon.


So I had booked some accommodation at Mansfield as we decided to make the ride there count and would start from Mansfield and ride up to Mt Buller and back (around 95km) instead of just ticking off the 7 Peaks ride which is only 32km (return).


I had a pretty busy week at work and a late Friday night. I had accompanied my parents from Richmond station to Rod Laver arena so they could watch the Hugh Jackman (mum pronounces it as “Huge Jackman”) and the Canadian and I spend a few hours in the city as we hardly do anymore since moving in together in the suburbs. We didn’t get home until 11:30pm (woah, so late!!)


I had a bit of a sleep in on the Saturday and stayed in bed watching iView on the iPad until about 10am. I got out of bed to pack my bags and bike for Mansfield. I left the house around 2pm with a pit stop at the rest point along the Eastlink freeway for fuel, coffee and a toilet stop.


I got into Mansfield around 5pm. Dale had already arrived (she got in around 2pm) and we went to the local pub for dinner. We discussed the plan for the next day – start the ride at 7am from Mansfield to Mt Buller and it would be a 4.5 – 5 hour day on the saddle. A bit of Sound of Music on local TV and a read of the route description and we were off to our respective rooms by 10pm. My room didn’t have a fan and also faced the main caravan park area so I had to close the window to reduce noise. I couldn’t sleep until about 12:30am and woke up a few times from thirst. The alarm went off at 6:15am and we were pretty much out the door by 6:50am.


I am still trying to sort out what my “kit” will be for 3 Peaks. I bought the Spoxe kit a few weeks ago and tried it out for this ride. I won’t go into too much detail about the kit as the intention for this blog post is for the ride and not a kit review but I can confirm that I won’t be riding with the knicks for 3 peaks – the chamois is too small (didn’t cover my butt area on the saddle - why?!) and the size was too generous (even when I bought a S in ladies). The jersey I had gone for a Medium in ladies but I think I could have gone for a S as it is not a race cut and therefore, it was flapping around a bit. Can confirm that I didn’t get the stomach look as it was generous in size.


I felt the ride from Mansfield to the start of the Buller climb was pretty tough. The country roads meant that the ride was pretty slow for a relatively flat terrain (I later found out from my Strava that it is s slight incline on the way out of Mansfield). I didn’t get on the large chain ring apart from the sections where it was downhill-ish and just spun my legs out at 80rpm+. I didn’t want to wreck my legs for the climb. I was also trying out a new nutrition strategy – eating a date for every 2nd 30min nutrition timing. I think I will need to do some prepping – even start by removing the pit ahead of time. I might look into soaking and blending the dates into a gel-paste like consistency for the next ride too. More about my nutrition on a separate post…


Once we reached the toll gates, I set my sights on keeping my cadence > 65rpm as much as possible. This was good for the first 2-3km but it slowly decreased to 55-60rpm for the next 10km. I really enjoyed the climb. The scenery was amazing and the tree coverage made for a cool climb. You could feel the drop in temperature along the way, this I have noticed for most of the climbs I have been doing over the last few months.


There were distance markers along the
 side of the road which helped with knowing how far we had to go to the summit but it was also disheartening when you think you have made significant progress but the distance covered had only been 1km or so.

The last 3km or so of Mt Buller had plenty of hair-pin turns. So crazy and steep! I had to get out of the saddle for most of them and rode towards the middle of the road. The last 1.5km was even more crazy steep but I knew that it was close to the end as I could see the ski lodges.

When we finally rode through the entrance to Mt Buller, I was so relieved. The ride was not my best performance – could be due to the change in nutrition strategy, could be because I was so uncomfortable on the saddle (knicks), it could be because my legs were still fatigued. Even though I found the ride pretty tough, it was manageable and I am glad I ticked that one off.


Pointing to my signature on the wall

My 5th Stamp!!!



We had a break at Foodworks, grabbed our stamp and signed the board. I told Dale that I would be behind her as I am going to take my time heading back as I wanted to stop to take some photos along the way. The descent was a bit tricky due to the sharp turns and I took my time along them. Where I could see the road, I let go of the brakes but I was still hesitant as the surface of the road was patchy in some areas. In my mind, if they are patchy and I ride over them fast, there is a chance that I will fly off the cliff.

BAAT - Bike Against A Totem

The ride back towards Mansfield from Merrijig was painful….It was only 20km but it just went on forever. I was tired and bored. There were plenty of 4WD passing but luckily there was plenty of side lane to keep me at a distance. I had music to keep me company but there was just nothing interesting about the ride back. I just couldn’t wait to get back to the caravan park.


The total ride took me just over 5 hours to do – could have been quicker if I didn’t stop to take photos along the way or let my motivation wonder on the ride back towards Mansfield. I didn’t really mind as the main aim for the day was to tick off Mt Buller on the 7 Peaks challenge.


Ranking the climbs on my own personal scale:

1) Mt Hotham
2) Falls Creek
3) Mt Buller (I thought it was overall more difficult than Lake Mountain and Buffalo)
4) Lake Mountain
5) Mt Buffalo


Some Strava stats


 My Mt Buller Strava Segment info - need to work on the cadence!!

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