My own story: First ¾ was fast and flowing and felt really good. The down hill from FC with no traffic allowed all the road to be used, a rare treat. Fast forward …. Like everyone else though I was a tad overdone by the time we got trough Ovens and into Happy Valley, I was relatively early and the sun had not hit its full potential. Still seemed OK, although I found it hard to hard even hanging onto medium pace pelotons as we came towards MB. The up Falls was going reasonably to Bogong, and thoughts of sub-10 still floated, however 2km out of Bogong , I just hit the wall. I could feel twinges coming for a while, but then the full blow leg cramps came. I had to get off, the world was “whiting out”, sat, stood, drank, back on bike, instant cramp as soon as my knee bent on firs peddle. Pushed for a while. Then an angel descended, from nowhere, a white 4WD was offering ice and water , dumped my luke warm dregs and it was heaven, however think it was my electrolytes rather than just straight de-hydration. Tried to cycle, no way , cramp. So the long plod. At this point few ER’s passed; Mr Pink – thanks for the pat on the back then , Andy H, 10h out of the window. And others it was great to get these little boosts, and some others I don’t remember as I was pretty much face down now. The snow poles loomed … 6km to go ….. the hut … 4km. Called wife to say I’d be late (she offered to come get me, but I soon put that to rest, the things you’ll do for a shirt), finally FC appears round the corner, 2km … still pushing, thank goodness for mountain bike shoes. Approaching the line Stealth cajoled me back onto the bike (thanks), every push ended in cramp, but by standing I could rest for a few seconds on each rotation and stretch the left leg out, why do they make you cycle up past the finish line and then back ? anyway the little downhill to finish was fantastic and my kids and wife all ran out. It was a good feeling now. Never again. ….. St.Nav on hand for support …. into pub …. first beer …. well maybe next year. But I’ll try hydralyte …

Wilson

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)

Loving the 3P wrap up. My story is an interesting read. With only a precious few hours training beforehand, finishing the three climbs was always going to be tough. After the gun went, I was quickly well into last place when my new little bag with all the gels fell off my bike and I had to go back up to the start to find it and put it back on. Lesson 1: dont use new gear on the day. Descending solo was good however, and at that time of the morning it felt like I had the road to myself. Unfortunately, this was all to true when I missed the turn off to Tawonga Gap and headed straight through the valley. Still not sure why the marshall didn’t return my friendly wave with a shriek of “why the bloody hell are you going the wrong way?”…anyway, 12 kms on and not seeing anyone but another wayward traveller and no gu’s on the road made me turn around and head back. Lesson 2: know the route and don’t rely on others to follow.

With an hour lost, it was always going to be tight. I spent the next few hours trying to catch the guy in red. He had stopped at a cafe on the other side of the first climb when I passed him. The rest of the day went fairly well. Unfortunately because of my place well back in the pack, I barely linked onto a train and had to do most of the flat stretches solo.

In the end, the SAG wagon picked me up, at about 735pm, approx 5 kms from the finish line.I was the last person to be picked up as far as I know. They guy in front of me walked the last few kms solo. I was completely beaten and am still gingerly hoping around today.

2014 it is.

Chris Parks

Hey guys (B1/M, Flash, Dopey, WBA, Ivan),

I just wanted to say a huge thank you again for making sure I got to Mount Beauty in once piece.

I wholeheartedly believe that I wouldn’t be currently enjoying wearing a finishers jersey if it wasn’t for each one of you. You guys are all heroes and are a true testament to the ER ethos that is one of the main reasons that I love riding with the group so much.

I’ve CC’d the rest of the ER in as all of your efforts to keep me on the bike whilst very dehydrated during 3Ps deserve wide-spread public recognition (possibly even a parade yet I’m still nowhere near influential enough to get this under way – ill speak to the Captain).

Hopefully I can repay the favour in a future 3Ps and be the one to help out another fellow ER rider to get across the 3P’s finish line. However in the meantime I want to at least shout you boys a coffee the next time that I’m at the B&T. I would say I’d buy you breakfast but combined with the lack of memory of the event and my fatigue hangover the next day, that would feel too similar to past ‘morning after’ university experiences.. Hmm enough said about that (apologies Captain for TMI).

Just to fill you in on what happened after you guys left Mount Beauty – I downed around 2 litres of hydrolyte. After around 45mins, three paramedics did another assessment of my level of dehydration and blood pressure and suggested that I should still pull out. I was feeling much better however so I threw the leg over the bike and ended up posting 2hrs11mins for the final climb and 12hrs17mins overall. Felt great up the climb and again couldn’t have been in that physical and mental mindset if it wasn’t for you guys dragging me all the way to the final drinks stop.

You guys are all heroes and are a true testament to the wonderful ER ethos that is one of the many reasons that I love riding with the group.

Cheers again guys and have an awesome day!

(A very proud and triumphant Simba)

Morning all, and thanks to all on the 3 peaks who’s good humour, spirit and grit greatly helped me make it through what I call a “trial by fire”.. I think everyone has described the vibe well so can’t add much but I can say that the egg and tomato colours were very encouraging throughout the day..

My climb of Tawonga was steady and I cruised over the top and onto a fast bunch into Bright looking at a 27kph average, then up what I regarded as the first climb…it never got easier, and went on..and on..and on not struggling but very happy to see the top, having seen most of the crew going down..the downside was one of the best descents, shallow grades making it a solid 45kph average for the 28ks and into the lunch stop with relative ease..a water fill and collect my food, then straight off with ER train to Ovens, nice pace, collecting a posse and all doing our bit at the front. Ovens though was aptly named, 42C on the garmin, no wind..

Climbing through Happy Valley with Dopey, it was clear I was not going to be fast and if was going to finish it would be “ survival pace “ …I managed to crawl into the water station as the ER bunch were rolling out..5 mins later with a refill and gel I put out to Mt Beauty with very little left in the tank. It was a question of getting onto a pace line and holding on..I do not really remember much of the 45ks but found some shade at Mt Beauty and caught the ERs who were helping Simba recover, by now I was not sure if I had the last climb left in me, but listening to the siren call of the sag wagon it would have been easy to sit down. This is really where the rubber hits the road, quietly selling a piece of soul to the demons to shut them up, it was back on the bike and on into come what may…by the side of the road there was a saying from Winston Churchill, “ If you are going through hell…keep on going “ and I think I agree. Getting past Bogong was a surprise and hope for a finish was born, I realised I was home once I could see the gates to the park, and I was still going..the longest 4km ride of my life..the world was the breath, the next pedal turn and about 6 metres ahead..

A very humbling experience, and one not to miss.. I would have been very emotional at the end had I had the energy.

Once more a big thanks to everyone, ( especial Saint Nav, there is a whole story about how my car spat its fuel pump out at 5am Saturday morning and even though he was already en route, he still managed a miracle to make sure Drastic and I made it down to Falls in good time. )

Cheers
BT

Firstly, thanks to all the wonderful comments and kudos for the ride on the weekend, I’m humbled. It saying a lot about you lot….thank you.

So it hurt, let’s just say the first 170 km went pretty much to plan, covered in 6.5 hours.
What happened next was a story of peeling the onion. The warning signs were between ovens and Running water when I ran out of water, and stopped producing sweat ( my skin was dry).
I crawled into Running water and couldn’t hold down the fruit cake they were handing out, and after drinking 3 l of water and picking up 2 gels, I rolled out thinking 60 km in 3.15 hrs , maybe….
But not long after the roll out my body started to shut down, I rolled to a stop halfway to Mount Beauty, and laid down under a tree and realised my plan was changing from a time target to trying to finish.

Turnips story from last year gave me a new goal.

After about half an hour , I got going again and got to Mount beauty feeling stuffed but OK.
I laid down again in the car garage on the concrete in the shade and had a PowerAde , and an icy pole , and opened a bottle of coke , but decided to ration the coke for the 30 km climb ahead. Once again drank a couple of litres on water and topped up.

At this stage I was stilling hoping for a 530 pm finish.

The 16 km ride up to Bogong village was goal 1. I faltered about 500m from the village and had to lay down again, this time I was too tired to move into the shade , I somehow thought putting my hand over my face was the shade…

I was also out of water again, but fortunately at the village I got 2 bottles filled ( and I finished my coke).

Crossing the bridge for the start of the second half of the climb ( 16 km to go) I felt good for about 500 m , then started to cramp up. I kept going until about 12 km to go when I needed to lay down again, and once again somehow managed to have the shade disappear, my arm providing the shade. I tried to ride but I couldn’t, so I began to walk. I got going again, but now the cramps were pinging constantly.

I finally collapsed at 8 km to go in the shade this time, next to a stream, and was completely gone. I couldn’t get up, every time I tried my legs cramped, pinning me to the ground. Eventually a motorbike official saw me laying down and came back to check on me. I was out of water again, so he raced up to falls to fill my water bottles and called the sag wagon. Somewhere during this time the ER family showed up Flash, Dopey, B1/M and someone else ( sorry I can’t remember clearly what happened). I said I was done, as I couldn’t move anyway, and excepted my fate. The guys were great, in defeat I had found victory.

I rang my wife and said I was OK, I remember saying ‘ tell the boys I tried…’

The motorbike official came back and gave me my water, and again radioed for the sag wagon, and I had to get him to help me to my feet as I couldn’t stand up (my legs cramped when I tried). I said to him I would walk until the wagon got to me.

I had time laying there to reflect on everything, and to say its OK to stop now. But two things happened, I never stopped looking at my watch, and the storm clouds started to form overhead complete with thunder. I still had about 2 hours to the cut off, and I knew a combination of walking and riding might get me there.

Like a miracle the temperature started to drop rapidly ( it was still mid thirties before the clouds rolled in ).

I kept walking , then rode a bit, then stopped, then walked, then rode, then stopped. I couldn’t walk the bike in a straight line, so I put it over my shoulder.

I kept my head down when a sag wagon went past.

Finally the falls creek ticket gates appeared…

I knew Danny and Dopey stayed at the YMCA there and rode to the start from there…only 4 km to go and 1 hour till the cut off.

I don’t really now what happened over the next hour, even the sight of falls in the fading light didn’t help much.

Then another miracle , Stealth had walked down from the village to find me…thanks mate! The guy who finished first in our group was there to help me home…..

He walked with me then I got back on my bike, and he pushed me like the Tour de France!

I was overwhelmed by the people standing in the dark urging me forward to the finish.

I made it with 5 minutes to spare, and a medic whipped a chair under me ( I couldn’t make it to the tent for my jersey!)

Then the final layers came off the onion, I was shaking, crying, and unwilling to do anything. My head in my hands I was offered some soup, but I couldn’t look at it, nothing had stayed down since Running Waters.

You learn a lot about yourself sometimes, with 8 km to go I was defeated and content, then I saw the possibilities again,

It took me 6.5 hours to cover the last 60 km, and gave me the experience of a lifetime.
Wow, had to write that down…. now I can relax.

Van Diemen.

To summarise the main ethos of the below report, I (and most others) got around the course mainly due to the extraordinary camaraderie of the ER’s. We chatted, asked each other how they were feeling, formed trains and recruited passengers, offered our gels and winners bars to each other to carry when down to our last 10 or so jammed in our pockets, and in particular waited for others and fell back to help others starting to do it tough. Very proud to be a ER member and part of it all.

BYW I am sitting in bed with my winners jersey on having been ill all night and whilst getting dressed this morning to commute I had a banana and it made a mess of the bathroom. Half a pack of Mr Muscle used the correct way cleaned it up but the good wife who is a nurse has grounded me. Was it overexercise, dehydration, solid food yesterday instead of gels and bars??, or I can’t help thinking back to the stagnant swamp water I got in my water bottles at the official water station just past Ovens. More about that later…..

I enjoyed the start and joined the other boy racers hurtling down the hill using both sides of the road. Vigilance was required where some overtook just as a corner approached and started out wide and cut straight across onto your line. Through Mt Beauty uneventfully and taped away up Tawonga Gap but couldn’t find a rhythm as numerous overtook me. I was pleased to see SatNav glide past in unfamiliar territory. I stopped at Tawonga Gap briefly and had the best fruit cake (same as last year) to scoff before a delightful descent to the turn off to Bright. Just one fearful moment where I was cutting the corner on the wrong side and it became corrugated & almost shook me off my bike. Just past there were the legs of someone sticking out of the gutter so suspected he chose the same line.

On the flat bit I found a huge guy gunning it and joined him and we started recruiting members for the express train to Bright. Passed B1/c chatting up some girl rider (sorry recruiting I meant) and I yelled to him as we went past to join. It was fantastic and reached 43km/hr for long sections with all of us taking turns rolling off the front. Thought about going each side of the roundabout at Bright ala Tour de France but traffic was coming the other way which quickly broke the romance of the idea. Brewery noted on the left for next time.

As I started up Mt Buffalo at 9am a bicycle blur came down past with a tag on and in that nano second they sort of looked familiar – it was Steve Cunningham the line honour winner who I rode with on his tours with my wife at the Tour Down Under recently. No one else came down for a while so he was smashing it. About 2/3 way up Stealth came hurtling down like he had just used a Mr Muscle wipe. 2 minutes later NNnnick, 2 mins more Mr Pink & then 2 more & then Satnav and so on. Were they time trialling or something I thought. After that I ground up Mt Buffalo still not in a great rhythm which annoyed me but got me to the top, saw B1M & Simba there and a 20 long cue for water so I turned and took off straight back down behind them.

Lunch was v hot and we decided to regroup and form a train to Ovens so waited until we were all ready. Sadly as we pulled out Danny was pulling in but he had to stop for lunch. We were proud he was right on our tails. We rode along as a group of 6 and the chief recruitment officer B1m gathered lots more as we went. We were riding nicely at 30km/hr when B1m and me got to the front where it went to 32, 34, & then 35km/hr and I looked at him wondering what the B stood for as I tried to keep up beside him. He had a little grin on him when I tried guessing some ‘B’ words on him and he said they were still talking behind so obviously not exerting themselves. (Ivan shut up next time!). We peeled off and realised we had 20 or so on the train and then we caught another train of 20 and whilst fun, cars were getting annoyed they couldn’t pass. As we turned right into Ovens (prophetically named) and stopped for water the heat was blast furnace quality. We refilled water bottles and tried to form a train but it disintegrated in the heat.

The Happy Valley way was anything but. BT started to feel uncomfortable with the heat so I dropped back to ride with him and we backed off a bit. We tried to form a slow train of 3 but that fell apart & BT’s chain came off twice, his food larder was sitting uncomfortably and we stopped for a pee and when nothing would come out I knew dehydration was setting in. I drank from the bottles and it was putrid – stagnant swamp taste with Hydralight in one and Perpetuem in the other. Had to drink them though as nothing else for 30kms and 40 + heat. Some others also complained of this. As we hit the hill climb & a bit of shade BT let me go and after 10kms I caught up with the other ER’s at Running Creek. Quickly refuelled and new water and the old ER train waited for me so thanks guys. BT came in just as we were departing but was going to rest & refuel.

Our train cranked up & was going 25-30km/hr but Simba got rather quiet and started to flag & suffer badly. He didn’t want to stop so we slowed down and then formed a first aid train with Simba the caboose at the back for some 30kms to Mt Beauty. That stretch was v hot also & went on for ages and when we saw someone jumping off a rope into the river beside we nearly all rode off the bank into the river to join them.

Mt Beauty & 30km to go – Simba made friends with the paramedics & we all refuelled with me, Flash, B1m, WBA & Ivan the terrigal heading off for what was less than a return commute with a wee 1,300m hill in between. On the first rise Flash had sniffed home or a XL hill and was off. People were starting to unravel as we kept climbing with one poor chap lying down with his bike upside down beside the sign ‘Pain is temporary, memories last forever’. Yep. At the 10km water station we saw Flash as he was departing. The next 10km I found a strong rhythm finally and cranked away until we saw VD having a nap in the shade beside the road. He was cramping & shot & convinced his ride was over. Flash was there also just getting off his bike & we all stopped to see what assistance could be given. Then Flash said he was cramping & done and lay beside VD (they drew the line at holding hands). Sh**t I thought this can’t be happening with less than 10km to go. After another few minutes they said they work something out and B1m, me, WBA & Ivan pushed on. To their credit & tenacity VD & Flash also pushed on later & finished within time – courageous!

The rest was a grind to the finish and I laughed when SatNav was there taking photos and Stealth was running alongside you for the last 100m but thankfully not dressed in his underpants or a devils suit. That last lift got me in just under 12 hours so improved on last year time by 12 mins and I punched the air as I crossed and said ‘Never again’ – same as I said last year.

Dopey

We stood on the starting grid for long enough, it was 15 minutes before we rolled out. My decision not to wear arm warmers, gloves or any other warm wear was a good one. I was sweating before the bottom of the mountain was reached and that was without pedaling. At the pre-ride briefing, the only useful piece of information provided in ½ an hour of chat was that 2013 would be the hottest 3 Peaks ride on record. They were right about that.

The traffic down the mountain was pretty thick. People seemed to hang around the centre line of the road and not pass. The road was closed so, I used the RHS even though we had been told that was a nono.

Overall, I found that the Threadbo Training Camp had taught me a number of skills I would use on the ride. Descending was one of them. The Falls descent was sedate compared to Dead Horse. This allowed me to watch traffic instead of being too preoccupied with my actions. The descent from Falls is a good, long, fun run.

We strolled out to the Tawonga Gap turn and started the climb. My strategy here was to take it easy on this little hill. In training, I had decided to climb at about 750m/hr using the Garmin. So I did that and chatted to a few folk along the way. No one said much in return – just blew back at me. I figured they were trying too hard on the first hill and kept my thoughts to myself. I met Dopey and we chatted for a bit. Easy Riders do like to talk.

Arrived at the top of Tawonga not feeling any the worse for wear and filled both bidons as recommended. This would be the last refill before the top of Buffalo. The view was huge.
The descent of Tawonga was good and fast with far less traffic than on Falls. I think I did my highest speeds here. A very unfortunate discovery was a pair of legs poking out of a ditch on the left with assorted bike bits down the road thereafter. Police already in attendance.

As the grade became more gentle it became necessary to peddle once again. I heard the distinctive click of a wheel sucker changing gears and just ignored them for a while. After a few minutes they came past and said “We need to make a Train” to which I readily agreed. So I sucked his wheel for a bit. We picked up Dopey who was absolutely caning it behind another rider. (Actually, I think they picked us up.) They went past and we chased. And then there were four of us, or more. Before long we overran another train and there were 20. Its a bit nervy riding along with 20 other riders of unknown abilities at 40 kph. Anyway, Dopey and I took a few turns at the front.

The Train sort of disintegrated a bit as we went through Bright. Must have been that round about that got in the way. The streets were lined with lots of small groups cheering us on. Some were blowing whistles and hooters, none in bikinis though. I lost Dopey somewhere and joined another poorly organised train (Clutters where were you?).

All the while, I was with this first bloke who I had thought was a wheel sucker. Later in the ride, back at Mt Beauty, no less, we would introduce ourselves. His name was Brett.

The Mt Buffalo climb started a short while after I noticed some sheer cliff faces in the distance rising several hundreds of meters. I thought “That looks nice” and expunged any thought process that might draw an inference between the cliffs and where I was headed next.

The climb up Buffalo was not that bad. It’s a bit like doing a whole lot of Bobbin Heads (steep side) with no let up. My strategy here was much the same as Tawonga. Just take it easy. I was just taking it easy when this guy I passed says, “You’re an Easy Rider!”. It was John Cooper’s brother from Brisbane. He recognised me from the coffee we had the the B&T in the rain several months ago.

The climb went on. Every ½ hour I would stop for a muesli bar or a goo. I’d drink some water, usually too much and get going again. It would seem silly watching all these people pass me while I chewed. Odd thing was I would always pass them within 5 mins. Towards the end I was passing far more people than the ones that passed me.

I met up with Brett twice more and Craig also. Thought I saw B2 at one point but must have been his halo.

I don’t know If I got over excited toward the end of this climb, but I found I could manage a steady climb rate of 810m/hr. At one point I was averaging 950 and had to work hard to pull it back to 800 odd.

Stealth and SatNav descended past me near the top. There were calls of “Not far now”.

The top of Buffalo was reached with a bit of a whimper. There was no real view and there was a long queue for the water. I skipped the water. There were some Easy Riders there. I was in a blear and don’t recall who.

The descent of Buffalo was pretty good, except for the first bit and the last half. The first bit was covered in fine gravel which made cornering diabolical. After completing the first half I had had enough, I was over heating and that was without pedaling. I recall thinking I should be near the bottom, looking out over the valley and seeing there was still 500 vertical meter to go. Maybe I’ve been spoilt but my idea of descending is that it should be cool and refreshing. Instead, the last half of Buffalo was like putting your face in a fan forced oven with the fan on hard.

Moseyed over to the lunch spot and collected my valet pack. I didn’t change cloths. I just loaded up the extra food I had included in the pack. Gave the bike chain a lube. I also gave
me another lube with more of that chamois butter. That stuff works well. My backside is sore, but not ripped.

I saw Simba but none of the others at lunch. It was too hot to contemplate sitting still, so I pushed on after a 15 min break.

Back on the road again, I recalled Drastique’s comments that a good wheel should be found at this point. I pulled in behind 3 guys doing a nice 35 kph. After five mins I moved up and pushed for a bit and then the previous leader moved back to the front again. The other two were just hangin on. Myself and this other guy changed positions 3 or 4 times when we were overtaken by a train of about 30. I stuck with that for a while and got to Ovens very quickly.

Their train rotated a bit differently to what I have done in the past. There are two columns. The right hand column moves a couple of kph faster than the left hand one. As each rider on the right gains the front (they push) and move over to the head of the left hand column. After about 10 seconds, the next rider moves in front of them. Once migrated all the way to the back of the left column, a rider moves back over to the bottom of the right column. And so the process continues.

Perhaps I wasn’t paying attention, or, concentrating too hard on not tripping on anyone’s wheel in the train. It was flat, straight and fast and there was HEAT. And, the heat was HOT. By the time I got to Ovens the heat had done some damage. There was a tiny little rise I found I could not climb. The train disintegrated. I topped a little rise, disgusted that I could only muster a climb rate of 500 m/hr and set about pushing off across the flat. The best I could do was a pitiful 12 kph. I realised something was wrong. Went through a checklist. Eating, drinking, perspiring, bike functioning, correct gearing. Ah, the temperature gauge: 38.5 degrees. Far out it was hot. Looking around there was no respite. 10s of ks of flat, or rolling farmland with no trees or hills.

Realising that my lack of power output was due to a heat induced metabolic breakdown, I figured I would have to cool off and the only way to do that would be to slow right down. So I dawdled.

Some respite came in the way of a small range that had to be crossed. Yes it was uphill, but hey! there were rocks and trees and shade and things.

(Insert Horse with no-name tune) I’ve been through the desert on a bike with no-name, it felt good to be out of the sun. Lah Lah La La La La La.

Bugger, it ended. I was down the other side onto the flat, hot valley bottom again. This section of the ride would have been great in an alpine setting. But at 350m elevation, it was a frying pan.

I passed the mobile bike mechanic and asked if they had a remedy for an overheating engine. They laughed and said they were right out of water.

I picked up more water at Running Creek. Also saw John Cooper’s brother again. There were lots of people lazing around on the grass under the trees. Lots rolling in. Not too many rolling out. I rolled out.

Next stop Mt Beauty 30km away and 60 km to the end. 60km – easy, I’ve done that before.

My strategy was to just put up with the heat on the valley floor, taking it as easy as possible. Climb rates of 500m/hr were the new pinnacle of success, the norm being more like 400. Pathetic compared to the 810 I was getting on Buffalo. I assumed the climb up Falls would improve the temperature situation. Ambient temperature usually decreases with increase in height. Looking forward to the cool mountain air kept me going.

I formed a few loose alliances with people on the way into My Beauty. Most people were too stuffed to care about trains. The heat killed everyone.

A highlight of the trip occurred coming into Mt Beauty; The Garmin clicked over 200 km (my previous longest trip was 200); the alarm went off to say it was time to eat something (again); and a lovely young lady on the side of the road squirted me with the most refreshing bath of iced water. She actually had a sign asking you to wave if you wanted a squirt. I waved like mad.

I rolled in and out of Mt Beauty without much delay. Picked up water and met Brett again.

The climb of Falls did not go to plan. The climb towards Bogong Village did improve the temperature situation as I had hoped. It was 36 degree instead of 38. Wow! There were a few cool breezes coming down the gullies, and I managed to get a climb rate of 810m/kr going again. I was thrilled. But then. Well. The road sort of faces due West and the tree cover over the road from the West is sort of non-existent. So it was back into the baking sun. The temperature in my head soared and the climb rate went back to a pitiful 410 m/hr.

The roadside was littered with sweaty bodies sipping water. The clever ones were in the shade. One lucky chum managed to get a flat right in a shady spot. Lucky him!
Since the mountain was not cooling off like I had hoped, I was wondering how I would keep climbing in the heat. I passed Craig luxuriating in the grass in a shady spot. Sorry, I jest,
Craig was dealing with serious cramps and talking about walking the rest of the way. I was a bit worried that if I did anything but keep going I might not start again. So I just kept on. Fortunately, Craig finished with just seconds to spare.

About 15 mins before the Finish line, a big black cloud blocked out the sun and the temperature did drop and I noticed it. Hooray!

Shortly, I was in Falls Ck Village and was waved over the line by Stealth and SatNav.

My finish time was about 11.5 hours. I reckon I could do it in under 11 without the heat.

Will I go back for more next year? Stay tuned…

B1

Hello Peddlers of the North,

Since there has been no ride report of this year’s 3Ps, I thought I would have a crack at it while the memories are still burned hot in my mind (and legs). This ride report will be much shorter than my last one (I took a hint from the feedback from the last one!).

The Pre-amble

Getting to falls creek was easy. Many people pushed hard leaving sub 6am – we left Sydney around 7 and got into falls by about 4pm and I arrived into my accommodation by 5pm. I stayed down the road away from ER base camp. ER’s predominantly stayed up on the mountain, whilst I stayed at the very awesome YMCA with all meals provided in a very large mess hall – great results. We met up with the group for the rider briefing at 6pm after we arrived – which turned out to be a total waste of time as the sponsors blasted us with their propaganda and provided absolutely no value in terms of tips for the next day! And we also had to listen to a fairly weak election campaign from their local member…but I digress.

The start

Arrived at the start line around 6.15am was one of the first 100 in the line up. Jumped at the back of Wave 3 and waited for the rest of the pack to dribble in. VD and Darcy started ahead of me, the rest of the group that passed me (Flash, Satnav, B1/m) started behind me. The descent was amazing, it was warm by the time we made it over the start line at 6.50am. The start was an anti climax in that it was a very slow rolling start over the start line, then sped up around the corners. I attempted to GoPro the descents but lack of attention on my behalf meant a technical failure in the recording department and only filmed one descent (Mt Buffalo) the whole day – guess I will have to do it again in 2014 to get better pictures.

The first third of the descent people were over taking like crazy. They were risking some pretty crazy blind corners, where unless they knew turn for turn what was coming, they were really going out on a limb. The second and third third of the descent it was the opposite. I really got into the rhythm of the descent, and started picking my lines that were doing most of the braking for me, but then I would get around a corner and come across a person who was riding dead centre of the road and just hard on the brakes – really quite hard to pass when you are picking your own line. About 2/3rds of the descent down took off my jacket arm warmers and long fingered gloves, left my leg warmers on until the top of Mt Buffalo (shoulda really taken them off here)….At this point Satnav and VD (I think?) passed me, and Flash joined me at the rest stop to stop for a tea break.

Started eating and drinking at this point and also had a banana that I had pocketed from breakfast (Egg, Hashbrown and Sultana bran @ 5am). I was on Perpeteum for most of the day – but more about that later.

The first ascent

Tawonga came in no time at all, with a nice gentle flat from the bottom of the descent to the first climb. Flash over took me on this hill screaming something along the lines of “Why aren’t you going faster Danny!? what about all the training we have done!?!?” and leaving me for dead. WBA passed me on the way to the top of the hill. I was also filmed at 3 separate occasions by a film crew going up this hill (and Mt Buffalo) so maybe I will make it on a promo? I made it up the hill and checked my timing sheet. I had gained 10 minutes on the 13 hour cutoff time for this checkpoint. Feeling good. I then rolled down the hill to the next rest stop which was in Bright. I made great time down the hill and overtook everyone that I came across – it was a much cleaner smoother descent than the first one, and much shorter. I only started drafting someone 5 kms out of Bright (there was about a 10 km flat section before that) which was shame – I could have achieved a faster time on this flat had I drafted. It was at this point that I started to feel the heat warm up. I jumped off the bike at the Bright stop, and grabbed my nutrition and was back on the bike in less than 3 minutes. I rode off with WBA and stayed with him in a small train until the base of Mt Buffalo.

Mt Buffalo the terrible

Unfortunately I had to reface my nemeses Mt Buffalo which I had climbed twice before for the Audax – it wasn’t going to be any easier this time. I started climbing up Mt Buffalo and had a great pace. This was when the groups really started to thin out. However I didn’t see the first Easy Rider until about half or more of the way up (Stealth, followed by NNNick), which was a great confidence booster. I knew that Mt Buffalo climb up was 2 hrs and climb down was 30 minutes so they couldn’t be more than an hour ahead. I know this sounds pessimistic, but knowing that some were going to finish at 8 hours and myself at 13 hours at the best – this was a great confidence booster. Mt Buffalo was harder this time not because of the heat (was about the same temperature as the Audax back in January) but because of the lack of water. I finished my water about 90 minutes into the climb up, and there was about another 30 minutes to go. The Audax they had 2 water stops on the way up and a proper rest stop at the top. The 3Ps should have had lunch at the top so you could digest on the 1 hours full descent (30 mins of down hill and 30 mins of flat), but instead they had it at the very bottom of the hill instead. They also could have put in some more water stops. By the time we got to the top there was only 1 tap of water. There were 20 people here, and I did a 15 minute stop instead of a 3 minute stop (as planned) due to the wait. Luckily I was 40 minutes ahead at this point of the 13 hour cutoff, when I departed Mt Buffalo – feeling great.

Scary Descent

A couple of bad things happened on the descent which I haven’t mentioned until now. I spotted the Lantern Rouge half way up the mountain (about 1~ hour behind me) in the shade having a rest! My GoPro whilst filming snapped off the handlebars while in full motion. I had to slam on brakes to pick it up. My Garmin stopped recording, had to do a restart while descending. Also someone almost crashed in front of me on the gravel section (which I avoided subsequently due to their near crash). Not going to plan! GOPro was fine, Garmin started recording again, all good.

Lunch

I caught up with a departing ER group at Lunch – I should have refilled and tried to catch and stay with them. I made the mistake of trying to get changed into my fresh kit at lunch. I say try because I got halfway through changing and decided against it, bar changing socks. But this cost me 10 minutes of fumbling around. I also packaged my broken gopro up, grabbed lunch, filled water bottles, went to toilet, this cost me 20 minutes of ride time. Big mistake. I was a bit incoherent due to the heat at this point, and really didn’t take notice that it was getting so hot and that I might have to change my nutrition plan. At this point i was sinking about 750ml an hour + 750ml at each rest stop, with perpeteum dose as recommended + 1 SIS gel an hour + electrolyte tablets. This turned out not to be enough water or electrolytes to sustain. I pulled out of lunch feeling very fresh and hydrated (took my left warmers off here), and continued on. I did have my jacket, leg warmers, arm warmers, long fingered gloves still on person (they were a bit big though!) due to fear of cold in the final climb. Next year I won’t touch my extra kit unless needed and I will breeze through here and skip the yucky lunch!

Lunch to Ovens

This was my biggest win for the day. I got on a descent paced train, held 35 km/h most of this, took turns, got it down to 60 seconds rotation on the front with a group of 4 other strong generous riders. I did my turn with no problems. However 2 people joined the back of our train, I got behind them, they slowed not being able to keep up, I lost the front bunch because I didn’t look up, and then they pulled off into the distance leaving me at sub 25 with 2 duds. Not impressed.

Ovens – dehydration sets in

When I arrived at Ovens, all of a sudden a terrible feeling set it. I felt absolutely shattered. Worse than I have ever felt before. I felt like I have absolutely no energy. I downed an extra couple of litres of water but that didn’t make much of a difference. When I pulled out it was over 40 degrees, just passed 1pm I think and all of a sudden I could only manage sub 20 km an hour on what was very flat terrain. I also started getting terrible stomach pains and cramps which were even more draining than the dehydration. I finished by two water bottles almost as quickly as I had got them and ran out of water until the next rest stop. There was a hill in this bit but that didn’t get me down. It was the lack of water in the heat that really slammed me. I left this rest stop with about 45 minutes in the bank ahead of the 13 hour cutoff – what gains. But then emptied it all out on this next stretch. The pedal to the next rest stop seemed like an eternity through happy valley.

I was on my own for most of this and quite worried that I was going to go into dehydration. As the water had run out and my stomach was having its own party that was causing pain, I really started to worry and listen closely to my body for any signs of real dehydration. There was marshals and ambulances galore going by so I knew if i was going to cark it I was going to be in a stretcher in minutes, but I didn’t really have any other options other than to go slowly to the next rest stop.

Running creek

By the time I go to Running Creek I knew it was all over. What I had experienced on that last section had eaten any of my advantage and then some. I had also wasted body resources on both my stomach and my dehydration rather than on my legs where it should have been. I left this rest stop after about 15 minutes of again drinking as much as possible, mixing more perpeteum and picking up my last food drop off. I knew I had to have about an 18 km/h average to make the 5.35 cutoff at the next stop, and a plus 20 km/h average to make the recommended 13 hour cutoff time of around 5:10 for the next stop. I was struggling to do 15km/h on the flat. This was the most depressing part because if I had a second wind here and could push out even 50% of my normal ability I would have made the cutoff at 5.35 at the next stop.

I stopped at Tawonga for a coke at about 5.25 because I knew I wasn’t going to make it. Jumped back on the bike and at 5.30 a sag wagon drove passed and said “you can keep riding it will take another 10 minutes and you will probably miss the coach and have to sit in the back of the sag wagon the whole way up. Otherwise come with us now we will get you there in time”. I then jumped on board and got a lift for the last 5 km to the Happy valley rest stop. I had my photo taken with the sign that says the rest stop is now closed and the guy said that it only closed 5 minutes ago!!! So bloody close! Ah well next year.

On the coach on the way up the mountain we passed many ER still going hard. VD was the first who was carrying his bike, over his shoulder, about half the way up, and walking on the wrong side of the road (there was traffic both ways!). We then passed Simba and BT half way up. What a great day.

The finish

Took us only about an hour by coach up the winding road, not bad keeping in mind we were dodging the last cyclists up teh mountain. As we were going up we saw many bodies on teh side of the road waiting for the sag wagon. Luckily none of these were ER!

I got to the finish and exchanged words with the others who had finished. While waiting for my bike to be unloaded from the truck, I saw Darcy and Flash finish which was great. At this point I also heard that Stealth had taken the best time in the ER, making him the undisputed grand master of the cycling group (no matter what anybody says!).

I packed my bike in the car and was about to go, but I got a message from Darcy saying that he was at first aid and that he needed some company. I joined him, brought him a coke and sat with him for an hour as he regained his energy. I then dropped him off at his accommodation and headed home to the YMCA to swap stories of the night. He pulled out alright, turned out he was in an ambulance at the bottom of the last climb for 45 minutes while he regained vitals in order to climb the mountain (against the medical opinion of…everyone) so well done Darcy.

Prologue

I think many things went wrong for me and many things went right. I really enjoyed the challenge and was mentally ready to ride so much of it on my own. Nutrition will need to be tweaked and I need to work out why I got stomach cramps. Too much water? Not enough eletrolytes? Not enough perpeteum? Too many gels? So many what ifs! The real challenge was the heat. I was really happy with my times on the climbs and on the flats, where I wasnt struggling from the heat or stomach problems. The downside was the lack of water stops, the failure in the nutrition and not being able to put the middle section (the “easiest”) in the bag. More training on flats required. I did get some really nice ER and non-ER member messages (specially training master Flash) after I finished – thank you all for your kind words, I really did enjoy my 200km ‘effort’ this year. Hopefully there will be next year!

And more importantly hope to see you all there!

Danny Boy