One Last Ride To See Out 2015

I had the day off work today so thought I had better put it to good use. No, I didn't mow the lawn. No, I didn't fix one of the two retaining walls that are falling down............Yep, you guessed it, I went for a ride!

I decided that after the year that I have had it needed to be a mini Epic ride and it needed to be on the mighty Muru BNT, the bike that hauled my sorry arse down the length of the US of A with such aplomb.

My go-to ride for something of greater length is to head just a few short kilometres (metric miles) out the back of the city of Brisbane. We are blessed in that the D'Aguilar Forest starts pretty much at Mt Cootha and extends upwards and outwards, covering a huge expanse of land that is riddled with fire roads that make for challenging and fun riding. It was my Tour Divide training ground and served me well, so I decided to start up South Boundary Road out of Gap Creek.

I was running a little behind schedule as I just couldn't get out the door but I managed to get my bum on the seat by 5:42am. I ambled along the bike way toward Gap Creek on the partially loaded Muru. Dozens of roadies whizzed past going the other way. It felt like a Sunday, not a Wednesday.

I was soon in Gap Creek and to the Echidna trail so that I could say that I had done at least one single track. What I noticed while riding Echidna was how much effort the Muru required to get it around the bends and over the step ups. I was already realising that I was really strong earlier this year due to all the Tour Divide training. Now, not so much. I keep despairing at the 12kg (26lb) that I have put on since finishing the Tour Divide in early July. 

I REALLY need a goal to train for next year. Badly...

Anyway, once out of the single track the trail goes up. And up. 1200m(3900ft) over 25km(15mi). This may not look too bad but the climbs are mostly steep pinches which test one's legs at times. 

I always enjoy the last few kilometres to the top as the forest changes from the standard dry Aussie bush to sub tropical rain forest. As I rode into the rainforest today I spied another rider coming the other way. It turned out to be Rients, another Muru BNT owning Brisbanite whom I have been speaking to about all things bike packing for about 18 months now. This was the first time we had actually met and how appropriate that it was on Sth Boundary Rd.

After a short chat Rients rolled on down the hill and I finished up my climb along the Boombana walking trail. Yes, it is a walking trail but I will not ride on the busy, winding main road just above it as I see it as just too dangerous. Every dickhead on a sports bike or sports car are testing their (mostly narrow) limits on the narrow road. No, I will take the verbal abuse about being on the trail from old ladies any day. Plus, it's right purty!

I rolled through Mt Nebo, too early for the shops to be open but it didn't matter. I had all the food and water I would need until I reached Fernvale as the climbing was mostly done now. 

Up and over Hammermeister Rd kept me off the main road for longer and in no time I was at Dundas Rd, the fire road that heads west (and down!) through D'Aguilar Forest.

I saw a couple of dirt bikes near the water tank on Dundas Rd but they were heading down another trail so were no bother. I was soon dropping down "Whoa Boy". This is a very steep section of trail that drops 370m(1213ft) in 3km(1.8mi). Needless to say, the brakes got a great work out down here as the 5000km old front tyre was struggling to do much gripping of the trail!

Rather than drop through the "hippy camp" at the bottom, I wanted to stick to legal trail today and for the first time took the Corbould Pocket trail. It proved to be a mostly pleasant trail...well, apart from the Wall Of Dirt climb. That was a seriously steep push but was over in a few hundred metres.

The ride out to Banks Creek Road was quite steeply downhill and very rutted which necessitated some judicious bouts of hoofing it as well. How embarrassing!

Banks Creek Rd was the usual pleasnat roll. Crossing the Brisbane river I saw many families splashing around in the shallow water. I must say, it did look like an extremely good idea.

I was soon in Fernvale and headed straight into the bakery. No pie for the fat boy today though. A tasty chicken and salad roll washed down with a coffee fit the bill. 

Then it was off down the (unopened) rail trail toward Ipswich. I had ridden this section a few years ago with Deano but it still wasn't officially open and I was worried about what sort of state the surface might be in after 3 years inattention.

A few kilometres down the trail though and I bumped into Peter, the BVRT Ranger! We had a good half hour chat about all things rail-trail and he said I would be fine to ride the closed section. There was one locked section but to just throw my bike over the fence and get on with it.(this section is only closed due to bureaucratic inaction, not any real safety issue) 

So, I did. The trail was very "green" in that there was much grass on it, though, it was slashed and there was quite a bit of loose ballast stone on it. This gave me a bit of a pounding on the rigid Muru but was far better than riding on the roads, even if they were quiet. 

The many gates are mostly locked in the open position which speed things greatly. As I got closer to "the 'swich" the trail "art" became very prolific and sometimes pointed.

I eventually rolled into Ipswich and found the train station but not before crossing a very steep creek snake watering hole.

I was feeling a little worse for wear but I was very happy that all of my contact points were fine after 6 hours in the saddle. 

I have heard stories that many of the Tour Divide racers from this year are still suffering various ailments that limit their riding or enjoyment. I have sort of beat myself  up a bit these past few months, thinking that I could have gone a day or two faster if I had pushed myself a little harder during the race. 

Now, I am not so sure. I have no lasting ill effects (unless you count weight gain) and I am not sure I would be able to say that if I had pushed myself harder....

This ride proved to be a very satisfying way of rounding out what was an amazing year for me. 

2015 started with a huge goal. To train for the Tour Divide and to this end I put my head down and trained hard. It must have been serious as I even abstained from alcohol for the first 7 months of the year and I must admit, I never felt better for it!

Regular readers were no doubt bored with all of the TD related posts but my blog gave me a place to gather my thoughts and lay out a dairy of what I did and when. So thanks for bearing with me on that front. I have been a bit bereft of ideas since then. Well, that isn't strictly correct. Nothing much seems worth blogging about after such a mind blowing year!

My stats for the year were 9,193km (5712mi) ridden with about 133 000m (436 000ft) of climbing. That doesn't count the many hours I sat on a crappy hotel gym bike while away on overnights with work.

So, readers, in the never ending hunt for content (and reigning in my expanding girth) I will be setting a goal for early next year that will give me the structure and thus drive that I seem to have been lacking these last 5 months. Watch this space.....

Happy New Year and see you in 2016!

Cheers and thanks for reading.

The Power To Shine - Dynamo Powered

Yesterday was another big day in the Tour Divide training schedule. 

I was up early, partly to get a jump on the day and partly so that it would be dark. Yes, my dynamo hub wheel build was finished and it was time to test the K-Lite electrickery set-up on my bike.

 While K-Lite's 1000 lumen bikepacker light won't fry koalas at 50 metres(metric yards) like many other lights it is more than enough to get along at a good clip. The beauty of this set-up though is that as long as I pedal, the light stays on. To correct that, even after I stop pedalling the light will stay on for another 10 minutes via a capacitor/standlight built into the system.

Standlight/switch box

I was also testing my Sinewave Revolution USB charger. This little (literally) unit does an amazing job of converting the electrical output of the Shutter Precision hub into something that can be consumed by a gps, phone or camera, just to name a few items. Sweet!

The direction of the hub's output can be switched between the light and the usb charger. Today I had the charger powering my eTrex 30 gps directly, while I am waiting on a cache battery to arrive. Then I can have the charger charging the battery, while I run the gps/phone/camera from the battery.

So it was that I departed at 5am. The bike was loaded with enough sugary food to put a kindergarten full of kids into a diabetic coma, 3 litres of water and a bleary eyed driver. Through my bleary eyes I could see the path ahead quite nicely though. Thanks to Kerry from K Lite!

Today's ride would take in a large section of Brisbane Forest Park, similar to the training ride I did a few weeks ago. I wasn't 100% sure of the route, thinking I would just make it up once I got to the cafe on Mt Nebo. The early sections were easy to piece together as there is only one way from home when heading northbound and that is through Daisy Hill. 

I had the place to myself.

I passed the meeting spot for the Regular Daisy Hill Wednesday Morning Ride- about 17 minutes too early for there to be anyone waiting...............oh well.

Making easy kilometres(metric miles) I had time to take in the sweet running of my new bike. The SP hub was working as advertised and I was playing with the functionality of the top cap switch, switching between light and gps.

Almost like being in the bush already.....

I was soon on the south east bike way doing battle with cyclo commuters on their way to work. I had one flat pedal Fred drafting me for quite a way. He was quick but after a while I eased over to the left onto the sketchy edge of the path and with his skinny tyres, he got the hint to move along. I had a long way to go, so no racing for me.

The leafy suburbs on the southern foot of Mt Cootha beckoned and I was away from the hum of traffic. Not even the hum of mountain bike tyres could be heard on this stuff.

Climbing Sth Boundary road. 

For me there is something a bit soothing, almost comforting about settling into this climb. I guess I know it pretty well and know what to expect. It isn't the ugly monster that I once thought it to be. It has it's share of slogfest climbs and hooting/hollering downhill sections. Of course, the best bit is that once you get to the top, there is a cafe waiting for you.

However, today I was almost too early for the cafe'. My prefered one was still closed so I had to backtrack to the Boombana Cafe where I dined and perused my map.

I decided on a reverse lap of last month's ride and headed for Lightline Rd. On Forestry road there was a patch of smouldering bushland and many bush fire units parked up.

 

As I rode past the meeting that was going on I was asked by one of it's attendees if I was going down Lightline rd? "Why, yes. I am hoping to go down there" I replied. He informed me that it was closed due to the fact that they were going to have a controlled burn along it this morning. Bugger. Then, to his credit, he asked where I was intending to go. I said I was going to keep on going and going.....I wouldn't be coming back up. "Sweet", he said. "We won't be starting for an hour or so, so you will be fine. On your way."

The next half hour was awesome fun as I bombed down Lightline rd, with just the occasional climb.

I soon came to the bottom at Lake Manchester, which was blocked off for the burn.

From here I was planning on riding the new-to-me Mermaid Mountain rd. It was pretty much the only way to get back toward the eastern side of the forest but I did notice parts of the trail seemed to go up some serious contours on the map. This wasn't going to be easy.

Not too long after this it began to spit rain and as I bombed through a shallow creek crossing I heard a sharp hiss and the front end went all wobbly. Bugger! About as far away from home as I could be! I had staked the tyre and the hole was big, because the small bucket of Stan's sealant that I had put in the tyre just yesterday was no match for the hole. So, a tube went in

The trail around here was actually quite nice, being overgrown fire road with a dirt bike formed track in the middle.

Then, I came to the climb. And what a climb it was! Pictures never show how steep hills are but this one was like standing there and seeing the entire trail, all the way up to where it disappeared over the top. Great!

I tried to get a photo to show the steepness but to no avail. The trail just disappeared out of the bottom of the shot. On the plus side, this was great hike-a-bike training. I was reduced to pushing my arms(holding the bike) out, grabbing the brakes then taking one step up the hill, then repeat. This went on for about 35 minutes(according to the gps). As I reached the top I was pleased to note that while sweating profusely in the muggy 32C(90F) heat, my arms, back and importantly achilles were all doing it easy. There wasn't a twinge from any of these muscle groups. My strength training must be paying off!!

After patting myself on the back for this and while still grovelling up the slope I spied a bulge on my front tyre sidewall. Oh, no. The sidewall was slashed open and the tube was starting to burst out like something from Alien.I quickly let the pressure out of the tube. 

I was almost at the top of the climb now, so I focused on the next task of solving this tyre issue. I immediately thought to myself "why haven't I put a tyre boot in my kit yet?"  I needed a soft, yet solid piece of flat something-or-other to put in the tyre between the slit in the sidewall and the inner tube to stop the tube exploding out through the hole and me imploding in the middle of nowhere.

Luckily I had bought some spare batteries (in case the dynamo hub didn't function) and I was able to cut the clear plastic bubble that housed the batteries into a nice flat shape. While rummaging in my frame bag for my Leatherman, you could imagine my pleasure at discovering I had not one but two multitools along for the ride! Urrgh! But all good training I guess....?

I inserted the boot in between the sidewall and the inner tube. Pumping it up again and I was back in business. It held!

The next few hours involved much pushing up stupidly steep hills followed by white knuckle descents down equally steep, rocky hills. This was really testing my upper body strength as having the drop bars and brakes on the hood makes for much less controlability.  There were nice views back across to the ridgeline that I had just travelled down via Lightline Rd.

And a few sweet, forbidden pieces of singletrack goodness.

But it was mostly rocky and rugged. Perfect training territory!

Somewhere around the 100km(62mi) mark I must have missed a turn because I popped out in someone's backyard! I hadn't seen a trail off to my left but it must be there. I circled for a minute then headed off on a very disused looking section of trail that headed in the right direction.

It didn't.
When it came to a dead-end, I noticed that the ridge line was about 30m above me to the left. That is where the trail would be but how do I carry my bike up there?

As you can see in the photo above, the hillside was stupidly steep. Time to put that gym work to the test again! I must say, at about 7 hours into the ride I was pleasantly surprised that I had the strength to shoulder my bike and walk it up that slope without it feeling like hard work at all. Go gym work!!

Back on the Mermaid Mtn trail again I soon came to the Gold Creek Boundary break. I had ridden this trail years ago with Nick while on a training ride for The Epic. I was pretty green back then and I just remember it as a suffer fest. It was time to reacquaint my memory with the reality and the sign wasn't looking promising.

The next hour or so consisted of sceaming down steep, rocky descents with the brake levers pulled back to the bars, followed by hopping off and pushing up stupidly steep climbs. I must say, I was stopping often to check the map to avoid any unnecessary deviations from my intended track. This was getting tough!

The map AND the gps were assuring me I was on the right trail and I must admit to being a bit relieved when I finally saw Gold Creek Reservoir appear below me.

I celebrated by eating a banana as I cruised across the dam wall. There is a nice walk around the dam that I can bring the kids back for one day as well.

From here, there was a shortish climb back up to South Boundary Rd and I would be pointing homeward again. About 5 minutes into the climb my Camelbak ran dry. No water until Gap Creek now!

Once I was back on Sth Boundary rd, that familiarity kicked in. It felt paved road smooth and the pedals turned easily again. I was back down at the tap(spigot) in Gap Creek reserve before I knew it and greedily gulped down my fill. It was still hot so I put about 2.5litres into the Camelbak to get me home. That turned out to be about 500ml too little.

I dedcided to go home a slightly different way, through the Southbank precinct.

Here I was, covered in dust and shit, weaving my way through tourists eating ice creams and taking selfies with the city in the background. It felt so weird.

My photos taper off here as I noticed that my front tyre was slowly going flat. The Muru's handling is dramatically effected by the front tyre pressure which makes it very obvious when there is an inflation issue!

The next 20km consisted of me stopping every 3-4km, pumping the front tyre up as hard as I could, then riding until I was nearly pitched off on a corner or bump, then repeating the process. Around this time I had my first encounter with a Spot stalker - in the form of OutDoorGaz! His distinctive yellow FJ tried to cut me off/take me out just as I was slowing to pump that flippin' tyre again. A few minutes of chat brought me back to some semblance of sanity. Thanks mate. Right time, right place. ;)

My plan was to make it to 99 Bike Underwood to have a new tyre fitted. I made it just before closing time! Here they sorted me with a tyre and even tubelessly set it up. Cheers guys.

I hammered it home in peak hour traffic and couldn't get off the road fast enough to once again hit the trails through Daisy Hill. It was just going dark as I dropped down "Birdwing" in Cornubia and then I was home! I sort of peeled myself off the bike. Sore feet and a sore top of the rear of the legs region were my only real complaints.

So, all up I did 163km(102mi) with 3300m(10800') of climbing. I would have sworn that I did 4000m climbing though! It felt like I went up a LOT more hills today.

The take homes from today? 

• My dynamo hub works a treat and I can't wait for my buffer battery to arrive.
• The strength training that I have been doing is paying off
• The Muru is a very capable mile-eater
• I need to carry a tyre boot to patch cut sidewalls
• I need to look at some custom foot beds for my shoes
• I need to buy a quality pair of nicks that don't chafe me around the edges!
• If I am tired or down, how that effects my outlook
• I need to make sure I'm not carrying around 2 multi tools! Tool!!

To be honest, I am not sure how effective the training has been so far. Could I have ridden 164km on rough dirt prior to the training? Maybe.  Can I back up day after day for 3+ weeks of this? A big ask but one question I guess that I will be able to answer in about 12 weeks.

12 weeks?!! I'd better get cracking!

Cheers and thanks for checking in.

And The Penny Drops......

While researching for the Tour Divide race this past week I came across an interesting blog by a German bloke, Michael Gruenert, who did the race in 2013. The thing that really struck me about his blog was (apart from the stunning photos) the elevation profiles from each day of his race.

We all know that there is over 200 000ft of climbing in this race...blah,blah, have heard it all before. But seeing it broken down, day by day in this way with the actual elevation of the ride evident has sort of blown me out of my double pluggers!

Here is the profile for day one out of Banff. You will note that it tops out a 6600ft at one point. On day 1 !

About a week into the race, if all is going to plan one will find themselves riding through Atlantic City. Now there are two points of interest on that sign. One being the population, the other being the elevation. Yep, 7675ft above sea level !

Michael Gruenert photo

Why is this significant I hear you ask? Well, Atlantic City is the gateway to The Great Basin. The Basin is a vast, mostly flat, 200+km stretch of nothingness. At approximately 7500ft, give or take.

Exhibit "A" is a photo of my daughter and I from a few years ago, standing right at the TOP of the highest point in Australia. This is a far up as one can go and it is only 7307ft above sea level.

That, dear reader, is the moment the penny dropped. I will have to ride, no, race at an average elevation equal to the highest mountain in our country. How do I train for that?

This is the Gold Dust Trail in Colorado. It is a required alternate for South Bound riders. Single track, cool. 

Michael Gruenert photo

But looking at the elevation profile below, that "cool" single track is at 10 700ft ! Just after you have crested Boreas Pass at 11 500ft!

Michael Gruenert photo

Even day 20 in New Mexico has one cresting passes at 11 900ft. It may be the last state on the race route but clearly New Mexico is no lay down mazeire'. 

Michael Gruenert photo

So, how does one prepare for such an endeavour? No, really?

Well, first up you need to really enjoy riding a bike. A LOT. Check

Then you need to train. Train hard but also smart. Check.

You need to research the route. Know it's ins and outs. (Working on that one.)

Michael Gruenert photo

You need to have your kit sorted. Figure out what works and what doesn't. (Working on that one as well)

My training has me doing an assortment of bike and gym work. I normally hate being indoors at the gym. However, having a "plan" and a reason to be there sort of breaks the training up and keeps me fresh on the bike. If all I did was ride my bike I think it might get old, all too soon and frankly, I need the strength training.

Yesterday was the first "ride all day at TD pace" training ride in my plan. After pulling an all night shift at work, then working in the garden all day with only 1.5 hours sleep the preceding day I went to bed, setting the alarm for the crack of dawn. When it went of lets just say I "considered my position" for 5 or 10 minutes before bouncing out of bed.


I was soon glad I had got on with it as it was shaping to be a great day for riding.

I don't have my TD bike yet. it is still being built by Troy from River City Cycles here in Brisbane. He is a bit busy right now, jetting out for Alaska in 4 days for the Iditarod and I did say to him not to let my build get in the way of his preparation.

So, I was riding the Lynskey Ridgeline today. My custom Revelate frame bag doesn't quite fill the frame as it did on the old Giant but it still does the job.

What better way to start an all day ride but to climb up the new Birdwing track? I swear, it is the best trail on the southside.

So, I rolled through Daisy Hill, hitting up Jumping Ant on the way through then rolled into the city on bike paths. A quick coffee stop was needed to shake the drowsiness.

Through the city to Gap Creek and there was a Giant demo day on with bikes and riders everywhere. I stopped for a quick photo, filled the water bag then climbed the hill toward South Boundary Rd.

Sth Boundary is where the pain begins. While there are plenty of undulations, the theme of the day was onward and upward. Somewhere here I discovered that my front mech wouldn't shift into the smallest chainring. Not ideal, just time to harden up!

I decided to take the road less travelled today. I had not been down Creek track for 5-6 years and I had never done Lightline Rd so that was the route for today.

The trail went down, then down and then down some more. It was going to be a mighty big climb back to the top of Lightline Rd! 

Lightline Link would soon provide me with my first hike-a-bike section and within 5 minutes my ahchilles were starting to twinge from the steepness of the push.

Below, I stopped on a shallower section of the hill for a quick photo.

Just prior, I feel it had looked like this......

Micheal Gruenert photo

.....just without the greenery. Now I see how guys and girls screw their achilles...

Once I got onto Lightline Rd proper, it was a pleasant if somewhat long climb. I did bump into two guys who were taking a breather on the climb. We exchanged pleasantries as I ground onward.

I stopped for a minute at the bush camp to take a photo and was caught by the two riders.

They were two South African expats, out on a training ride for the Cape Epic in March. We chatted as we climbed and I was pleased to see that I could easily keep with them despite already having 80km (50mi) in the legs and 5kg(10lb) strapped to my bike.

We parted company at Mt Nebo when I stopped in at J.M. Jones Tearooms for some lunch. Here I was served a hamburger the size of my head ! I almost struggled to eat it and wash it down with a couple of cokes. Hmmm, maybe I was a bit hungry?

One of my favourite parts of any Sth Boundary rd ride is the descent. It isn't all descent but if you can hold your speed then put in some big ones in a tall gear you get the most awesome feeling as you crest the climbs at high speed. Get it wrong, with not enough speed and you will grovel up each climb.

I was starting to get in "go home mode" now with a hotspot on the sole of my right foot and some slight hand soreness. My legs felt great though!

That hamburger kept me powering for about 50km before I felt like a cool drink, downing an ice cold chocolate milk about 25km from home.

I was rocking my new Spot tracker today and it seemed to work well in the more open areas but struggled a bit under thick tree cover. Clearly it was working well enough because when I made it to the the top of the descent into home, my kids were waiting for me on their bikes having ridden up the Birdwing track to meet me! So, I got to roll down the last 2km with them and marvel at how fast they are becoming. 

That really capped my day.

Stats for the day? 155km(97mi) and 3330m(10 922ft) climbing. (according to Garmin)

 
Not a bad roll for my first big training day. The bike handled it well as did the body. Now, just to string 24 or 25 of those together, day after day, at an elevation of 7-12 000ft................

Cheers.