Eleven Wise Monkeys

We’ve become accustomed to the top step of the podium so to be beaten, not into second, but third place is so, well, damn irritating. Even if it was only by a couple of minutes. Even if we are “not racing”! Bah.

Our overall lead though is pretty secure at 46 minutes ahead of the second placed team – Spanish Beef. Mmm, wonder if they should be tested for clenbuterol today?? Other fun team names – Pushy Galore, Spoon and Scalpel, Saddle Insane, Ride More Work Less, Not Working Riding and The Hot’n Spunky’s. The best though must be Fred and George whose riders are Rob Watson and Gwyn Taverner-Smith!

After up-and-overing Porepunkah mountain (800m climb over 12.5km) there was a section of valley track before detouring via a tar ride due to logging operation along the planned route. As we came down into the valley we spied a couple of teams about a kilometer ahead. Figuring the tar would be better in a group we put the hammer down and flew along, often over 50kph, and just caught them at the start of the tarred section. Relief was short lived though as we almost immediately dropped one team which left us with Fred and George (not Fred or George). Rob and I shared the pacing and it was just great to be running along through the picturesque farmlands.

Then up and over (sigh) to Beechworth for the finish. The up in this case included a 150m hike-a-bike bit up the steepest track we’ve had. You dared not straighten up for fear of toppling over backward. This section probably did us in as quite a few teams pushed (their bikes) past at that point.  Would have been a pretty easy day if it hadn’t been for that and the flat out chase to the tar.

Four hours of riding for the 76km.

The feed stops have been great. Freshly made, soft white bread with Vegamite, Peanut Butter, honey or Nutella. Plus fruit cake, nuts and jelly snakes and some fruit. And of course water. At the finish was more of the same with drinks too. I have discovered that water melon makes a fantastic after ride snack as the high water content and fresh taste is just perfect.  Followed by a Coke of course!

So here we are back in Disneyland a.k.a. Beechworth, where we started a week ago. The final stage is around a 65km loop around the town and will include some single tracky bits. We are, after all, in mountain biking paradise!

I don’t mind getting rained on while riding, but I do object to getting wet just as I leave the house! Riding to the start today was like doing a few lengths of Bright’s open air swimming pool. We were drenched just getting to the sports field. Not a good omen for the day!
But happily the rain didn’t dump on us that much the rest of the day and it wasn’t to cold either. It did however make the numerous excursions from valley to peak a lot tougher with the film of mud all along the track. The mud makes it feel as if there is something wrong with the bike – it just won’t roll decently. Of course, it never rolls uphill anyway, but you know what I mean.

Last night I popped in at the mechanics and asked them to replace my brake pads. A “professional” looked at the pads. “You’ve still got a lot there, mate. Easy get you through tomorrow and we’ll check them again in the evening.”

Ha! As I was to discover, that was not great advice  At the 50km mark on the way up Mount Whatever, my rear brakes made a loud, unhealthy ting ting ting ting noise. (Not ping you understand – that would have been the chain had it given up). Turned out that the pads were so gone, the spring clip had bent and was merrily tinging I’m the rotor! In a classic turn of events, the spare pads were on the table in our room. So we removed the pads and I was left with only the front brakes. Now this would have been bad enough but the front pads themselves had only a couple of microns of wear left! So I had to descend for the next 60km on the front brakes fearing that at any moment they would screech into oblivion and necessitate a pre-meditated visit to the bushes or worse.
As it turns out back brakes are overrated and clearly unnecessary weight. Jayson reckons I descended better without them – probably as I had to take the corners properly – no braking in the turn when you’re only stopping with the front wheel!! We finished without further incident in Porepunkah after 7h28m. And yes, we maintained our stage winning habit and were 10th overall today as well as in the GC.

A short trip back from Porepunkah to Bright and the welcoming shower at the Coach House Inn. Followed by pizza, beer and a fun activity – bike cleaning. Oh, and of course, changing those brake pads!

6.20am. Should I get up? Nope! So I drifted back to sleep and resurfaced at a lazy 7.30am. Luxury!

The 8am starts at the Terra are already more civilized than the 7am that we are used to, but seeing that today was a short time trial, we only start at 9am. In fact, due our position in the field, we start at 10.03am which is really late. That’s good by the way. the higher up the order the later. So first goes last if you follow.

Tyres for suspension

I mentioned the single track yesterday and it more than lived up to expectations. Sections of up to 3km interspersed with a bit of forestry road. And lots of variety – along the river, up and down through bluegum forests and pine plantations, each with there own character. Sometimes slippery in the drizzle and sometimes dry. Watch out for those roots – especially in the turns. No mishaps though apart from Jayson trying to rip a blackberry bush out of the ground as the thorns hooked and held on to his upper arm! Quite impressive the amount of blood dripping down at the end, so he had to fight off the medic protesting that it was only scratches and that he didn’t need her ministrations. I think she was disappointed.

Medical moment

In the end we lost a bit if time due to Jayson’s chain jumping and needing to be nursed to avoid breaking. We ended up in 2nd in Masters by about a minute with our 1h11m ish. Still, we moved up to 9th overall in the GC and are pretty happy with that.

Unlike Stuart and Rick. First Stuart broke his chain and got short shift from Rick. Then, shortly after, while in front, Stuart hears a ping. “Ah, I recognize that sound”, he says, “it’s a chain breaking!”. And sure enough, two broken chains in a 20km stage. So there you have it, if you hear a “ping”, get those quicklinks out!

We also heard that we lost our sweep rider yesterday who took a tumble and did his collarbone and two ribs. Second major injury after a girl on day one was out with 2 broken ribs.

The highlight of the day was lunch at a coffee shop with a few fellow riders. Much hilarity and a couple of natural comics in James and Dan. You obviously had to be there to really appreciate it, but the image of them leaping about in the undies trying to swat a “hyperactive raisin” with rolled up newspaper is worth mentioning! As was the re-enactment of trying not to look at a tree while descending (the rule is to look where you want to go, not where you don’t want to!) and ending up hard against it giving it a kiss. And finally while staggering uphill, pushing the bike with head down and eyes on the ground, James bumps to a halt against a rock. To tired to try a new line, he gamely gives it another go – to the same end. And again. And again. “Who put that rock there?!?” Properly funny stuff.

In the race we have Jessica Douglas, the world 24 hour MTB champion. Great to chat to and hear her experiences. How does one rides laps for 24 hours? Jessica reckons that you need to enjoy your own company and be dedicated to your goal. Having been diagnosed with Hodgkins disease and been through chemo therapy at the a of 14, she commented that she learned to suffer at that time and knows how to get through adversity! Jess is riding with Brad Davies, who is wildly strong!

Scott, our photographer, is also an ecologist and gives us an eco factoid each evening. We learnt about the Pygmy Possum – a love rat really! Apparently the male mates with about 100 females over about five days! As you can imagine that that got a lot of cheers from the mostly male audience. Then Scott mentioned that after this feat of endurance, he drops dead. Dead silence!

Tomorrows stage is 107km. The big challenge is the 1000m climb in 10km. With some sections as steep as 20%. Guess we’ll feel a bit like lady Pygmy Possums then.

The most important reason to have a light mountain bike is for the hike-a-bike bits. Especially when they are thrown at you with such enthusiasm! During the route briefing last night the race director, Russ, commented on a 7km ridge line section of the track. “It’s a bit like saw teeth”, he said. “You’re either going up or down”, he said. “You may have to walk”, he said. “How long will it take?” we asked. “Dunno”, he said, “we’ve never been across there with bikes”. Crikey!
The day started in drizzly conditions that did not bode well. Happily though the rain held off and the clouds lifted. Riding across the alpine peaks made for spectacular views. The hills were wreathed in wispy cotton wool like clouds and were being unwrapped by the sun. The first section ran along a tar road (bitumen in Aussie speak) from Dinner Plains to the start of sawback ridge. After climbing to Mount Hotham, it dived down a ridgeline with spectacular views. True, it was a bit iffy in the wet but we manage to get close to 80kph at one point.

One of the highlights was yet another insane descent from the above the snowline, down a superb smooth track to the forest region with giant ferns and dense woods. This was shortly followed by the climb to Mount Ebenezer. 800m in 8km. An average of 10%!! Jayson timed it at 1h20m of solid climbing. It hurt. I felt a bit like I was stuck on a drunken pub crawl – lurching from water bar to water bar. “Just one more and I’ll quit!”
As usual, quite far from the end, there was an enthusiastic spectator. Why they feel the need to encourage us with lies I will never know. This time it was “This is the last hill”. Yeah right. Bastards. That hill was a mountain that didn’t feature on the route profile.  It was followed by a rough rocky descent similar to what we have back home so at least it was more familiar that the sticks and stones of the alpine forests.

We did good today. Took first and Increased our lead in the Masters by 17m. 9th overall in the stage.

I mentioned “those girls” yesterday. We met Jo and Fran in the bus on the way from Beechworth to Falls Creek. They travelled from Perth to their first MTB stage race and were perhaps unsure what to expect. Despite this, they are going well and are leading the ladies category.  Having met at a surf club, Jo suggested to Fran that they link up to compete in an adventure race. Jo showed Fran the ropes of the 4 disciplines. As Jo tells it, running was fine, but…. Having never kayak’d previously, that immediately went a bit upside down and wet, and then Fran pitched for the swim – in a bright green diver’s wetsuit. But the best was the MTB. Fran’s bike was a R800 hypermarket special (hey, I had one of those too!) with a sticker that read “Not to be used in competition!” Luckily talent overcame inexperience and Jo did mention that they came good in the race In the end.

Tomorrow is a team time trial. Our start will be around 10am. What to do till then? Beers are obviously out. Are they?

What a stage! One of the most scenic I have ever ridden! And, although not the hardest, definitely a good honest effort. After yesterday’s rather gentle introduction, we managed the 97km in 6h03m which meant (insert fanfare here) we clinched the stage victory in our category! I mentioned before that we are in the Masters group (80+ combined age) which is the largest of the various groups. So there!

Most of our SA routes go up over a mountain and down the other side – repeat until the finish line. Here, starting as we did at 1600m, we first went down and then up. Weird. And it makes for a tough finish – the final 30km or so climbed 1000m. Quite a grind through rough forestry track that become more and more muddy as we neared the village of Dinner Plain. It may be on a plain but clearly it’s right on the edge judging by the way we came up.
Starting off this morning at Falls Creek, we followed and aquaduct trail. After a fairly flat 25km, the middle bit started with another rough alpine track down through the forest. Unlike yesterday where the main obstacles were the sticks and stones, this was much steeper (very in some sections), with a loose gritty surface and big washed out longitudinal ruts from which there is no return. To be avoided. A bit like Perth Pink in the Monty Python Australian wines sketch – “not a wine for laying down, a wine to be avoided”
After safely (mostly) getting down we of course went up and over Mount Something-Or-Other during which time it rained a bit making the track a bit slippery. Then we meandered – vertically in this case rather than the traditional laid back horizontal meander, through some scenic grassy farmlands. Sheep and cows are both farmed, which led to the next thing to be avoided. Nothing like a bout of tummy trouble induced by a dose of dung, flung up off your front wheel. Eew.
Then came the climb up to Dinner Plains which, having read the first bit of this, you know about.

We’ll know for sure a bit later, but it looks like we are also lying first overall in Masters. And we were not even racing. Or at least that’s what I say. Jayson on the other hand commented, “At one point I decided that we should give up this damn racing nonsense and go ride with those girls”. And you can be quite sure it was for their pace rather than their company!
And what about “Slippery Pinch”? Well, that’s the name of our room in the Dinner Plains lodge we are staying at tonight!

A grey beard covers the tops of the mountains surrounding Falls Creek.  A reminder of the bushfires that ravaged the area back in 2003 leaving forests of dead trees. After the charred bark drops off the trunk and branches are a light grey. Quite an unusual look. The undergrowth has recovered, but the trees won’t be back for a long time.

Up here at 1600m in the Alpine zone, dawn is rather chilly. That gave the biggest challenge of today’s opening stage – what to wear! With reasonably clear skies we expected it to warm up soon so too much kit was also not a good idea.
You would be forgiven for thinking that the biggest challenge would rather have been the 2400m of climbing in just 65km. BUT…. Looking at the route profile last night we were doubtful. And so it turned out to be. With just 1100m of up and 2250m of down it was a day of descending – mostly on forestry jeep track covered with the leaves of the approaching autumn. These did cause a few problems. Firstly the grip was not great and then they hid the stones and sticks that littered the track. One had to stay sharply focussed. Fortunately we made it through without major incident although I was glad to be wearing full gloves as I grasped at the foliage when sliding off the edge of the track and down a steep bank! Sounds more dramatic than it was, although I did end up about 2m down with my legs dangling over the edge of cliffy kind of thing. Didn’t stop to look around – scrambled back up, collected the bike and got on with the job. Strangely unaffected by it all. Must be getting tougher. As they say in these parts, HTFU. Besides, nobody saw it, so it didn’t really happen. Did it?

Everyone complained of sore hands after the rough downhill. HTFU?
The field is here is really small with only around 80 riders in 40 teams. Which makes a nice change from the big groups at our races back home. Also without the top racers in the mix, the pace at the front was pretty civilized. Not that we were in the mix for the GC! Our time of 3h31m gave us a 2nd in Masters (combined age >80 – and no prizes for guessing who provides the lions share of that!).
So, tomorrow we have to claw back 4 minutes. Should be interesting

The Rail Trail in Beechworth (Victoria, Au) runs along the previous path of the railroad through these parts. Not the most creative of names, but what a trail. In fact “trail” is a harsh description of a perfectly smooth tarred cycle track.  With short, perfectly manicured single track diversions looping off and back to the main path. The trail is part of a longer loop from Wangaratta through to Falls Creek. And only one of a number of cycle paths on the area including a dedicated Mountain bike park. Along the way we disturbed clouds of russet coloured butterflies which swarmed up around us and were lucky to spot a Koala scampering up a tree to breakfast on Eucalyptus leaves. Rare sighting apparently and quite something to see one actually on the move.

So here we are in Beechworth having our second coffee of the morning before heading off for the transfer to the start of the Terra Australis MTB Epic. 500km and 17400m of climbing over the next 7 days. But for now we are in a Disneyland theme park. or perhaps a movie set.  With it’s perfectly picturesque facade’s and quaint shops that’s how Beechworth feels. Think Pilgrims Rest meets Sabie. Established in 1839 as a gold mining centre it’s now a tourist stop and biking heaven. There is a horse and carriage ride, a painting class on the sidewalk and a ten year old (!) busking with his recorder.  The local bike shop has branched out and while shopping for your bikely needs you can also pick up a chainsaw. As you do!

Unfortunately we raised the ire of the proprietor of the Beechworth Carriage Inn where we stayed last night after the drive from Sydney (about 6h30, 2l of water and a Hungry Jacks’ burger, which despite the advertising claim is not bigger). Apparently checkout was 10am NOT 11.30am and we were to get-out sharpish.
Off we go then. 2 hours to Falls Creek