Fitz Challenge - 2011 Edition. Who's in and which one?

[Schmenz]

after the last checkpoint i was going down the hill lucky to hit 30kms/hr! i was pedalling my life out going no where!
so ridiculous!

You weren't alone there. That descent down to the uriara flat was crazy. I think i got up to 25km/hr there![/quote]

yup it was between 20/30 for me. and i seriously needed to pee after no bathrooms at the last checkpoint and having just taken a caffeine gel. i was no in the best of moods and got the sh.ts with that frigging wind. i gave up pedalling in the end and just meandered down the hill to save energy whilst assessing potential bathroom stops

[ausrandoman]

A tale of misery here

I fitted Grand Bois tyres and Continental Supersonic inner tubes about three hundred km ago, seeking to reduce weight and rolling resistance. The combination has less road buzz and vibration: it is noticeably more comfortable.

Having done Fitz's 205 km (or 210 km or whatever it was) and the Alpine Classic Extreme, I signed up for Fitz's Extreme. Abandonded at about 25 km. Yep, 25 km. At that point, I had suffered 4 punctures (two in the front, two in the back) plus had a valve stem break off. While I was fixing the fourth puncture, a photographer strolled back from his hill-crest vantage and offerred me a lift back to Stromlo. While he was talking, I was still pumping but the tyre was not inflating. At this point, I had put my emergency reserve spare tube (no name brand) in the rear wheel and I was down to three patches and no spare tubes.

So ... back to Stromlo, put all three Continental Supersonic inner tubes in a bin, bought three more inner tubes, strolled over to the registration desk and transferred my registration to "whatever ride starts next, please".

When I reached the photographer (thanks heaps, Rob, you are an A1 ace excellent person!), I thanked him for enabling me to do at least the 105 km ride.

This time, I got slightly further when the no name brand tube let go. It had a flaw in the moulding, which I covered completely with a patch, pumped up and set off again. Five minutes later, the same tube developed a 10 mm long split next to the valve stem.

I quit. I put my remaining brand new tube in, turned round and rode back. The highlight of the day was a chance meeting at Tanner's Flat with two old friends who were out on a ride of their own, so at least I had good company for the ride back to Stromlo.

See you next year. In the meantime, I am the lay down misère winner of the 2011 Black Cat Award

[Schmenz]

wow.

there are no words

[Minnman]

Greetings, all.

As a short-term visitor from the US, let me just say that Fitz's was a grand ride. Fantastic scenery (hey, I'm part roadie/part tourist), great people, incredible hills, etc. The event was well-organized and the riders on the road made great company. And the weather was mostly great (except for that much-bemoaned tailwind on the way home from Tharwa.)

I did the 165 km route. Wow - the hills just kept coming, didn't they? I was mentally prepared for getting up Fitz's itself, but I don't think I realized just how much climbing was to come afterwards. You know, the organizers say "more than 2.3 km of climbing", but I ended up with almost exactly 3km on my Garmin. What's up with that?

Oh ummm. You know, I've never seen a live wombat, so that dead one was ultrafreaky for me.

[bpmhigh]

Well done to everyone (except ausrandoman - unbelievable!) – I managed the full 250 in 11:38 which I was very happy with.

Yep, headwinds, bogans and road kill will be lasting memories but it was a brilliant day in saddle.

For the 250, it was real “Hare vs Tortoise” stuff all day. I was very surprised by the pace at the start with what felt like the entire field of 250 riders sailing past from SFP all the way to Tharwa. I didn’t particularly want to latch on as I was saving my matches for the climbs. (My only rule was that if you have a beard and mudguards, I am going back past you!)

After Tharwa and heading to Fitz’s I was absolutely on my own with nothing as far as the eye could see ahead or behind. Approaching Fitz’s I reeled a few back in and went past about 8 or so while going up. From there on for the next 4 hours it appeared that everyone had got rid of their excitement and were at a more conservative pace which meant lots of company heading out to Orroral and then up Honeysuckle and then back to the base of Corin.

It was good with all of these out-and-back legs in the 250 as you got a good gauge on your progress against others who had raced off into the distance and were heading back the other way. As the day went on the gaps were closing and I snuck back past plenty but to be fair, they were lingering at the fruit cake and lollies where I was “fill bottles, hand in card, get going” – I even gave lunch in Tharwa a miss.

The Corin leg was lonely but still enjoyable – rolled down to the dam checkpoint to find another half dozen “hares” lingering under trees eating cake. Again I just filled bottles, took a happy snap with the bike propped against dam and powered back up to the rec area for the best part of the day – the descent down Corin!

After Corin and despite the headwind, the realisation that I was mostly there was wonderful. The billiard table smooth hotmix out to the Deep Space Centre was some nice respite for the butt. From there all the way back I decided to burn all my remaining matches. I powered up and over the three sisters, reeling in another 10 or so before getting rained on with about 2k’s to go.

I took my wife’s phone camera with me so thought I would share a few shots:

A stunning morning at SFP:


Before the start:


Another bunch sails past on the way to Tharwa:


Bottom of Fitz’s – time to light a match:


Powering up Fitz’s:


The grind up Orroral – the road ahead in the distance is a grade of 16%!


The friendly vollies at Orroral:


The grind back up to Fitz’s (obviously this bit of 15% didn’t agree with some people!)


The climb up Apollo Road – targets locked on ahead:


Some good old fashioned suffering up Apollo Rd:


Hungry riders at Honeysuckle:


Another target locked on up Corin:


A Hare lingers at the fruit cake at Corin Dam:


1958 bicycle leans against 1968 dam! :


Deep space dishes:


I wonder what I look like from a Magpie’s perspective..? (yes, your mind does funny things after 230km!):


Time to light my last matches – start of the climb from Uriarra crossing:


Will I beat the rain.?


The finish – I was expecting marching bands and dancing girls but nonetheless, a wonderful sight:

[nickj_d]

Bottom of Fitz’s – time to light a match:

A sudden wave of exhaustion just overcame me when I looked at that pic!

Love the rest of the pics - because they're mostly of the hills I didn't have to do!!

ausrandoman - i thought i had troubles with my tubes all day, but yours takes the prize.

[stevecassidy]

Beautiful day for a ride, I did 165 which is the longest ride I've done in recent memory at least, certainly a hard 165 with the rolling hills and headwinds on the way back - even a headwind on the top half of Fitz's hill which wasn't welcome. After 100k I felt very tired and a bit low but after a period of plodding and sitting on the back of a few groups going through the headwinds I felt better and finished the last climbs ok.

Just looking at my ride on Strava though I now see that I took as long on the climb of Mt McDonald (114m) as I did on Fitz's (276m) both 2.6km long, and I thought I was going well at that point! Well, I was happy enough with my time overall and enjoyed the day.

Kudos to the organisers, very well put together event, plenty of food and water around the course, couldn't ask for more.

Steve

[hung]

What a day

did the 165km and 2900m of climbing
( the organisers did say 2300+ )
having said that the organisation was sensational
after doing fitz hill (39/25 juuuust cut it btw , unless I can lose another 10 kg I will invest in a 12/27 ) I looked and my odometer and it read 60km
I can't do another 100km of this but funny thing was as the day progressed
I felt a lot better ( must be all the fruit cake YUM )

over all It was a great ride

[hannos]

Fitz's Extreme - 1
Hannos - 0

Knees packed it in climbing up to Corin's Forest checkpoint. Descended to the dam and retired.
ZIPP 404's are not the wheels of choice in those winds either...

http://app.strava.com/rides/2164949

Time 07:59:32
Elapsed Time 09:12:44
Max Speed 82.1 km/h
Avg Speed 22.4 km/h
Cadence 81.69
Device Garmin Edge 800
Bike BMC SLC01


Distance * 179 km
Elevation * 3,705 m
Moving Time * 07:59:32
Calories * 4,788

[scotto]

Beautiful day for a ride, I did 165 which is the longest ride I've done in recent memory at least, certainly a hard 165 with the rolling hills and headwinds on the way back - even a headwind on the top half of Fitz's hill which wasn't welcome. After 100k I felt very tired and a bit low but after a period of plodding and sitting on the back of a few groups going through the headwinds I felt better and finished the last climbs ok.

Just looking at my ride on Strava though I now see that I took as long on the climb of Mt McDonald (114m) as I did on Fitz's (276m) both 2.6km long, and I thought I was going well at that point! Well, I was happy enough with my time overall and enjoyed the day.

Kudos to the organisers, very well put together event, plenty of food and water around the course, couldn't ask for more.

Steve

my strava says it took 27min to climb fitzs, yet nick who was maybe 150 metres ahead did it in 17 minutes. i guess its accurate
BTW, i hate hills

[GregLR]

Great photos (& great ride), bpmhigh.

I did the Epic for the 5th time, in a slow time (but hey, I'm 56 - no beard but I did have Crud 'road racer' mudguards on my Serotta ti bike, since there was some threat of rain - don't see any point in ruining a jersey if it rains on a long ride http://www.crudproducts.com ). I got climbing of 3892m for the 208km on my Garmin 800 (elevation correction 'enabled' - though I don't know what this does).

Re the climbing figure for the Classic 165km course - I live in Duffy and rode the exact Classic course a couple of weeks ago as part of my preparation for the Epic, and had a climbing figure of 2835m (again with elevation correction enabled).

Greg

[nickj_d]

my strava says it took 27min to climb fitzs, yet nick who was maybe 150 metres ahead did it in 17 minutes. i guess its accurate
BTW, i hate hills

Something's wrong on the segment profile on your strava. If you look at your performance stats on that segment you actually did it in 19:06mins. The segment time looks like it's including the 10min rest we took at the top.

Did anyone see any photographers out there on the day? I def didn't notice passing any. A shame because there were actually a few good ones from last year which i paid for.

[Minnman]

Great photos (& great ride), bpmhigh.
Re the climbing figure for the Classic 165km course - I live in Duffy and rode the exact Classic course a couple of weeks ago as part of my preparation for the Epic, and had a climbing figure of 2835m (again with elevation correction enabled).
Greg

Looks like Stevecassidy has 2940 m on his Strava record, I had 2960 (uncorrected), so these all pretty much agree. " >2.3 km" is technically correct, but not a very useful guide.

[Schmenz]

yup i saw a few photogs. one going up a hill towards tharwa, one as you came in to tharwa and one at the finish. The one at the finish left at about 4pm tho. (I did the 105, so you guys would have gone past before then and they may not have been there yet).

Awesome photos! makes me wish i stopped to take some but i had a firm no stopping rule

[hannos]

bpmhigh, does that speedlite of yours have dura-ace gear on it?
If so, i think a mate and I were talking to you about it at one of the checkpoints. I think it was honeysuckle creek.

[rain(wo)man]

What a great day it turned out to be with the sun and cool winds... Okay so the head winds were terrible, I'm glad that it wasn't accompanied with rain.

It was my first time doing the challenge. Chose the 105km version. There seemed to be such a big difference with the difficulty of climbs between the 105 and 165km courses. It was a good choice in the end. I was losing the love at the 100km mark.

ausrandoman, I have gatorskins on my road bike and had absolutely no problem on this ride. I'd probably racked up at least 2000km on them so far and they're great. I don't mind the little weight difference because I get to spend more time riding and less time fiddling with my bike.

Schmenz, I wonder if it was my better half that you saw on the side of the road nursing his cramp. He said he was trying his darndest to hide that fact.

I'm quite shocked to think that the amount of inconsiderate and dangerous drivers on the road was considered relatively less than expected. How many are there out that way??? It's such a great place for training rides.

Does anyone know what happened a few kms after the start? There was a huge puddle of blood in the middle of the road. I hope there wasn't a fatal accident.

[jimsheedy]

I'd say it was a fatal accident. Fatal for a marsupial that is.

[blc]

See you next year. In the meantime, I am the lay down misère winner of the 2011 Black Cat Award

My friend, you've *surely* just pre-paid two years of flat tyre karma!

Good on you for going back and having another crack at the 105, just sorry to hear it ended like that. Hope you have better luck next year!

[blc]

Great pics, bpmhigh! Thanks for posting!

Which part of the route is the "three sisters"? Heard a few people mention it now but can't place it...

[MREJ]

The Three Sisters are the three climbs up out of the Uriarra River bridge, about 12 k or so from the end.

[GregLR]

...There was an idiot in a white el falcon I think, coming really close to every cyclist yelling and beeping on the last part, few cyclists were driven off the road. I hope someone managed to get his number plates....

This sounds very much like the driver of a white falcon who harrassed our group on the three sisters in late September and who harassed us previously as well. I wrote to Simon Corbell (ACT Minister for Police etc) about the incident - see http://gregcycling.blogspot.com/2011/11 ... river.html A member of Mr Corbell's staff called me a couple of weeks ago to advise that the rego number I gave did not correspond to a white falcon, so I must have got the details mixed up by the time I got home.

Anyway, I e-mailed the staff member last night providing Haydo's comment as evidence that it appears to be the same driver and saying that perhaps one of the riders who was harrassed during Fitz's on Sunday might have reported the incident to the police with the correct rego number. I also copied in the Fitz's organisers in case the behaviour of the driver was reported to them along with the rego number. Didn't hear anything back today.

Greg

[Haydo]

This does sound like the same guy, I think there was maybe two other people in the car with him, he was beeping and yelling at every single cyclist on that last loop, a mate of mine who was about 20 minutes behind me said he was forced off the road because the driver was so close.

When he drove by us, his mirror pretty much skimmed our handle bars it was so close. Hope they track him down!

[bpmhigh]

bpmhigh, does that speedlite of yours have dura-ace gear on it?
If so, i think a mate and I were talking to you about it at one of the checkpoints. I think it was honeysuckle creek.

Hannos - Yep, that was me. I think we chatted out at Orroral briefly. Sorry to hear about your knee - I'm sure you'll bounce back for next year.

GregLR - a huge thanks on behalf of us weekend warriors who brave the cotter/uriarra loop each week. I've not seen this Falcon but would be mighty peeved if I was on the receiving end of this sort of cowardice. Another reason to consider riding with a forward and backward video camera.

There is an excellent thread in one of the other BNA forums where a Sydney bunch gets tooted and harrassed by an impatient driver (coincidently driving a white Falcon). Someone in the bunch had helmet video which was delivered to the police and that driver copped $600 in fines. (the driver broke a few road rules while it was going on)

[scotto]

ausrandoman, I have gatorskins on my road bike and had absolutely no problem on this ride. I'd probably racked up at least 2000km on them so far and they're great. I don't mind the little weight difference because I get to spend more time riding and less time fiddling with my bike.

i suspect tyre choice wasnt as significant as just bad luck
i ran with michelin pro 3 and superlight vittoria tubes. 90kg, 115psi, no dramas.

[Schmenz]

Schmenz, I wonder if it was my better half that you saw on the side of the road nursing his cramp. He said he was trying his darndest to hide that fact.

possibly. there was a guy i saw on the way back - and after he said he was fine and it was just a cramp i offered him magnesium chew things or some electrolyte stuff.

i also rode up the 3 sisters (from the above description - the last 10km or so) with a guy in green from perth who was suffering from bad cramps too.

I said hi to everyone who passed me or anyone who was stuck by the side of the road, but everyone seemed fine.

ive gotta say those 8, 10 and 13 year olds doing the 105 made me feel so bad they were so much faster than me!