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

[psike]

Unfortunately the attempt at the 207km on the tandem ended prematurely. We pulled out at 40km - Pete was suffering from extremely painful cramps that meant he couldn't put in much effort. He was really disappointed to DNF, but I have to say I was relieved because the hills were killing me Pete unable to put in. We turned off at Point Hut Crossing and came back via the relatively flatter route through Tuggers.

I was please to hear that Ash and Lindy completed the 207 on their tandem. A pretty awesome effort.

The tandems are always looking for pilots. It's an opportunity to give someone with a vision impairment, or other disability, the chance to enjoy the sport we love. Recently we completed Around the Bay in a Day, and always looking for pilots to come out racing or just doing rec rides. On top of all this, it's really great training!

If you're interested see: http://www.fitability.org.au

and if you enjoyed the challenge of Fitz's, check out http://www.alpineclassic.com.au for the ultimate in Alpine rides in Australia. If you finished Fitz's 200 or 250 you qualify for the Alpine Classic Extreme, one of the most amazing rides in Australia.

[HAKS]

We passed a guy in a pink jersey (T-mobile maybe) who had bad cramps up the Three Sisters. Offered help but understandably there was not much we could do. Saw him at the finish about 15min after I got in though so at least he made it .

[Minnman]

if you enjoyed the challenge of Fitz's, check out http://www.alpineclassic.com.au for the ultimate in Alpine rides in Australia. If you finished Fitz's 200 or 250 you qualify for the Alpine Classic Extreme, one of the most amazing rides in Australia.

wow. I'm not up for the 200 or 250, but the 130 and 140 km versions look great. A 19 km hill....

[rain(wo)man]

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.

That's certainly true. Bad luck just can't be helped sometimes.

Schmenz and HAKS ... looks like my better half did manage to hide his cramps well enough since it doesn't seem he's any of those guys. I'll let him know that he deserves an Emmy award for his acting.

[blc]

if you enjoyed the challenge of Fitz's, check out http://www.alpineclassic.com.au for the ultimate in Alpine rides in Australia. If you finished Fitz's 200 or 250 you qualify for the Alpine Classic Extreme, one of the most amazing rides in Australia.

wow. I'm not up for the 200 or 250, but the 130 and 140 km versions look great. A 19 km hill....

Don't be put off by the distance. Having ridden both the 165 km & the 200 km AAC, I'd say the Fitz 165 is tougher.

[psike]

if you enjoyed the challenge of Fitz's, check out [url]<a href="http://www.alpineclassic.com.au[/url" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Link added by VigLink" class="vglnk">http://www.alpineclassic.com.au[/url</a>] for the ultimate in Alpine rides in Australia. If you finished Fitz's 200 or 250 you qualify for the Alpine Classic Extreme, one of the most amazing rides in Australia.

wow. I'm not up for the 200 or 250, but the 130 and 140 km versions look great. A 19 km hill....

Don't be put off by the distance. Having ridden both the 165 km & the 200 km AAC, I'd say the Fitz 165 is tougher.

Agreed - Fitz's 200 is certainly tougher (IMHO) than either the ACE250 or Alpine Classic. Both are awesome rides, the hills as you mentioned are longer, and you climb higher. The ACE250 does have a qualifying criteria of having completed a 200km+ ride with significant hills. Bright get's packed for accommodation, but there's normally rooms available in nearby towns, but you'd need to book soon.

[Schmenz]

[quote="Minnman]
wow. I'm not up for the 200 or 250, but the 130 and 140 km versions look great. A 19 km hill....[/quote]

Don't be put off by the distance. Having ridden both the 165 km & the 200 km AAC, I'd say the Fitz 165 is tougher.[/quote]

Agreed - Fitz's 200 is certainly tougher (IMHO) than either the ACE250 or Alpine Classic. Both are awesome rides, the hills as you mentioned are longer, and you climb higher. The ACE250 does have a qualifying criteria of having completed a 200km+ ride with significant hills. Bright get's packed for accommodation, but there's normally rooms available in nearby towns, but you'd need to book soon.[/quote]

anyone thinking of doing or done the 3 peaks ?

[Schmenz]

if anyone want to read about my Fitz experience.. is on my blog now.

click the link in my signature

[HAKS]

great read

[Ross]

if you enjoyed the challenge of Fitz's, check out http://www.alpineclassic.com.au for the ultimate in Alpine rides in Australia. If you finished Fitz's 200 or 250 you qualify for the Alpine Classic Extreme, one of the most amazing rides in Australia.

wow. I'm not up for the 200 or 250, but the 130 and 140 km versions look great. A 19 km hill....

Don't be put off by the distance. Having ridden both the 165 km & the 200 km AAC, I'd say the Fitz 165 is tougher.

I rode Mt Buffalo, Tawonga Gap, Mt Beauty, Falls Creek and Mt Hotham on the weekend and these hills are less steep (Hotham being the exception) than a lot of the ones on Fitz's Challenge (Buffalo is around 5%, Falls Creek is 6-7-8%, Tawonga Gap 7-8%) - just longer.

[Ross]

...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

Sounds like the same white Falcon that was doing the same thing to a number of riders near Uriarra Homestead a few months ago during a race.

[biker jk]

Has anyone checked the results? There seem to be a fair few inconsistencies with regard to finish time not correlating with finish position.

[Minnman]

Has anyone checked the results? There seem to be a fair few inconsistencies with regard to finish time not correlating with finish position.

I hadn't bothered to look until I saw your post- as far as I can tell, the results are completely garbled- at least for the 165 km route. For one thing, the "time finished" doesn't correspond to when people actually arrived. They've got me arriving >30 minutes after I actually finished. (I know this for certain because I photographed my Garmin when I arrived.) And they have me finishing 40 people ahead of a mate whom I know pulled in ~15 minutes ahead of me (and even stranger, whom they think arrived 30 minutes earlier than me).

[Minnman]

...but kudos to the guys who finished the Classic route in 5 hours. That's quite a performance.

[auskonrad]

Has anyone checked the results? There seem to be a fair few inconsistencies with regard to finish time not correlating with finish position.

Massive inconsistencies. For some reason, my 1st and 1hr 47mins in the 50km turned into 2hrs and 50mins and coming in 50th. A little annoyed that they are taking away my fame and glory!!!!

[mezla]

if anyone want to read about my Fitz experience.. is on my blog now.

click the link in my signature

Nice and amusing write up

[hannos]

Fitz's Extreme.

62 started,
13 DNF

I don't feel so bad about pulling out at the 180km mark now.

[GregLR]

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.

For those who haven't noticed, lots of photos are now accessible (& can be purchased in jpeg file) via a link in the top RH corner of the Fitz's home page http://www.fitzs.com.au/

Also, I'm told (by a member of Minister Corbell's staff) that a Woden police patrol caught up with the white falcon driver who has been harrassing cyclists on the Cotter/Uriarra loop (my earlier post & other comments on this subject refer). The police spoke to the driver about the complaints they've received from cyclists and about other traffic offences. Hopefully that will be the end of it, since they obviously now know his rego number (a variation of the one that I gave in error) and identity.

Greg

[nickj_d]

Massive inconsistencies.

yep! me, scotto and a mate all rolled across the start and finish line together. Our respective places - 199, 272 and 258

and no sign of the orange 165km riders in the photos.

[blc]

Wonder what the official word is... Has anyone raised concerns about timing/places with the organisers?

I pulled a DFN on the 207km, but still rode 185 km. Anyone know if that means I still get a gong for the 165?

[jimsheedy]

Wonder what the official word is... Has anyone raised concerns about timing/places with the organisers?

I pulled a DFN on the 207km, but still rode 185 km. Anyone know if that means I still get a gong for the 165?

if that was the case you'd also get one for the 105 and 50.


my result isn't there or any of the blokes i rode with.

[Schmenz]

i saw them collecting them. theyd get a pile and then write times on a bunch of them when they looked at their watches. a bunch also got blown away in the wind (and collected i think) but they werent so fussed about them not too accurate.

[heanous]

Just had a look at the results, accurate enough for a non race i guess, 3 of us rode and the times pretty much confirmed our actual times. I did the 207k with ave 24.8km/h which was spot on for the training. Hurt factor was up there, will be back...

[auskonrad]

Wonder what the official word is... Has anyone raised concerns about timing/places with the organisers?

I sent off a quick friendly email asking a few questions after I saw a few people saying their results were a bit askew also... Got word back today that the results, when uploaded, created problems with how they lined up against names... they are 'looking at it' and will hopefully fix it up 'soon'.

[auskonrad]

Just looked now - seems fixed... at least for my cat.