just a wrap up from the Tridents Jindabyne bike camp last weekend. In summary, I had an absolutely fantastic time with the highlights being Dalgety Hill and the 21k summit run at the top of Charlottes Pass! Unfortunately we were washed out for the ride to Eucumbene Dam which would have been a awesome ride too! happy reading!
Day 1: Jindy - Dalgety - Berridale - Dalgety - Jindy
Mum and I arrived into Jindy on Friday night. Dad was going to make the trip with us, but in the end just came for a day trip on the Sunday. The Alpine Gables was a great place to stay. Nice big rooms with plenty of beds!
Saturday morning rolled around and at 8am everyone had gathered in the hotel car park. I was so excited and full of energy! I just wanted to ride!! unfortunately the weather wasn't quite so nice Saturday morning, with a slight drizzle. it was nothing to stop us though, so away we went after Benny's pre-ride briefing :-) The group quickly split up into smaller groups right from the start as we encountered the first of many hills just around the corner from the hotel. Nice way to get the legs warmed up! Unfortunately a few minutes later my back wheel flatted (my one and only flat for the weekend thank golly!). two tubes and a new tyre later, I was back in business, but by then, everyone was way ahead, so I jumped in Benny's Ute and got dropped off with Kat and Davey. the 3 of us continued together to Dalgety then on to Berridale. Going down Dalgety hill tested the nerves! hitting 60+ km/hr around corners was certainly interesting! we finally made it to Berridale after 1hr40m of riding (I'd missed about 10-15min ''cos of the flat), turned and headed for home. The weather was starting to clear a bit by now and the rain had stopped, but a tailwind that had pushed us out slowed things a bit on the way back. Pass Dalgety, across the bridges, and finally (one of the highlights of the weekend) the climb up Dalgety hill. No joking - the steep sucker is a killer! I've never ridden anything like it! It's worse than the start of Black Mountain I reckon! standing up on the pedals, stomping down with each leg, bike wobbling left and right, going roughly 8 km/h, lower back wondering what had hit it ... it was relentless! With Ben taking happy snaps as we crawled up (must be some interesting photos there!) there finally was a bit of relief as the road flattened somewhat after what seemed like a very long 5ish minutes! not long later though the gradient started to increase again for a 2nd steep pinch (no where near as bad as the first, but still out of the saddle and stomping along). Finally, reached the top where Brent, Travis, and co were waiting. After regrouping and catching our breaths, we stormed back to Jindy ( I sat on Brent's wheel motoring at 55km/h!) Swim and stretch later in the day, nice pasta restaurant for dinner, and very happy to hit the sack!
Day 2: Jindy - Charlottes Pass. Run 21.5k summit loop. Charlottes Pass - Jindy.
Perfect weather greeted us for the toughest training day I've ever done. Rolling out of Jindy, legs were feeling surprisingly good and ready for the 2hr climb up to Charlottes Pass. To sum it up, it's like climbing Mt Stromlo for 2hrs! not too steep, but certainly not easy. I settled into a good rhythm for the climb, riding with Brenton all the way up. Past the Guthega turn off, it became rolling hills, rather than a constant uphill. After roughly 1h 45m we'd made it to Charlottes Pass and prepared ourselves for the 21k run. the sun was up, the weather was perfect, and the views were just incredible! The run however, was not quite so nice! a steep long massive downhill at the start was a shock to the quads!! a couple of river crossings at the bottom made it interesting as I tried not to slip and fall into the river (good one Davey!), and then a never-ending steep uphill climb with loose rocks, big rocks to crawl over, steps, steps and more steps! I was quickly convinced that walking would be quicker than attempting to run (or should I say shuffle!) up the hill, so that's exactly what I did for nearly the first hour. walked. This was going to be a LOONNGG 21ks!!! I was passed by Retlaw and Kat and made an attempt jog and keep up with them, but on the downhill sections, my legs felt like they would buckle under me so I again slowed to a shuffle. Davey finally caught me (possibly in the worse state I could be in by now with tears!) and I stayed with him for the remainder of the run. At the top (Kosciusko) we finally had some real running ground to run on. no more stairs or rocks! phew! a toilet stop and finally feeling much better, ran the last 8ks without too much difficulty. some 2.5hrs later I was back at the bikes. legs were absolutely gone. Mum and dad had made it up to Charlottes Pass which was a surprise! they arrived not long after I'd finished running. a 20min stop to refuel, and finally the ride back to Jindy. Thank golly it was mostly downhill! although there were still a few long climbs to negotiate which killed the legs for good! Finally, after 7hrs, I was back at the Hotel and happy to laze around/stretch till dinner at the Bowling Club with everyone to share war stories :)
Day 3: 50min out, 50min back.
Heavy rain on Monday morning led to the cancellation of the ride to Eucumbene Dam. Despite killing the legs on Sunday, I was feeling quite good and ready to go again on Monday morning. With people having to check out at 10am however, the ride was shortened to a 50min out, 50min back course. although not particularly nice, riding in the rain wasn't too bad. I was a bit behind at the start, fiddling around with my rain jacket. I wanted to catch up to the first group so I rode quite hard on the way out. I teamed up with Mark H and together we pushed the pace quite hard, almost feeling like a TT! We kept on getting closer to the guys out front, right up to the turnaround point. however, I missed tagging onto the back of them on the way back though, so decided I'd had enough TT-ing, back off the pace and rode myself. ended up catching Danni B and a few others for the ride back.
All in all, an awesome weekend away!! I'll certainly be back there again for more rides! Everyone (including coach!) has their own war stories to tell so I better stop typing now! Hope those who went enjoyed the challenges! I sure did! :)
cheers!
Shell :)