I am sure we have had enough 3P’s reports so mine will be pretty short.
Anna and another ER rider saw me proudly wearing my 3 Peaks Finisher Jersey at the northern end of the Bridge this morning and congratulated me so time I added to the 3P ER story.
For those that don’t know me I am fairly new to the the Easy Riders and as my ER Jerseys are coming in the next delivery I didn’t try to ride with the Easy Riders group and started up the back in Wave 4 with my brother and a friend. I have ridden 4 Fluffers with BG and these were a very important boost to my training so thanks to Big Goaders for those joyous morning training sessions
Same experience as most on the downhill and I could hear BG yelling “hold your line” in my head. If only some of the other riders were aware of the concept of holding a line, nough said!
I did see Falsh once or twice near the end of the descent but that was the last time I saw him… so he obviously climbs better than I do 🙂
It was on the descent from Mt Buffalo that I like others realised it was going to be bloody hot in the valleys, there just wasn’t that cooling breeze normally found on big descents.
Had lunch and headed out, then after the train I was on broke up on the way into the hot little village of Ovens, I said hello to Danny P having guessed who he was as one of the younger ERs, I used to work with his dad Louis so not much detective work needed.
From there on it was just a battle against fatigue in the heat to make it to Mt Beauty where we were told we had 20 minutes till the Flame Rouge started so we better get going!
10 minutes later I started the Falls Climb with my one remaining team mate, my brother sadly done at the 190km mark with a heart rate 20 bpm higher than mine and we are normally similar, just to give you an idea what the heat can do to your body!
As the climb started I thought 2 hours and 40 should be OK to make it but after 6-7 km I started thinking that the sag wagon was not a dishonorable option and with fatigue and the dreaded “hot foot” striking I took a 10 minute fuel/drink/recovery break. After hoping back on I started to feel much better and I had BG’s voice in my head again this time saying “Its in your head, you decide if you will make it” or words to that effect. So I decided I would make it!
There was also a great quote on a board “Pain is temporary, Memories last forever” – Stuart O’Grady
As one of my favourite hard men of cycling this was very timely encouragement.
Anyway after one or two more short recovery breaks and with the temperature dropping I finally made it to the finish line and still got a cheer and had more than 7 minutes to spare.
So even though I barely rode with the other ERs I still got lots of encouragement knowing they were there and hearing BG’s words of wisdom and I am sure I can improve my time next year wearing the ER colours and riding with ER team mates.
So for those that have ridden with me on a Fluffer, you can see that a 3P ride is possible for those of us who are not in the elite ranks of cycling
Cheers
Phil (Philby or Big Phil)