Postby cameronp » Mon Nov 23, 2015 10:28 pm
Well, I did it. 400km in just over 23 hours. Here's a quick ride report:
Eight of us set off from Warrnambool on Saturday afternoon. All except me were well-seasoned Audaxers (I think all had completed 1200s before) and apart from my bike and a recumbent, the bikes looked more "touring" than "road". No carbon fibre in sight.
The first 70km to Port Campbell flew by with the help of a tailwind. I actually arrived in the lead group and stopped for a while to have a burger and chips. While I was waiting for my meal, the rest of the group arrived. While I was relaxing and eating, everybody else left! I'm still not used to the Audax in-and-out approach to checkpoints. I gobbled down the rest of my meal and left, maybe five minutes later than the rest of the group.
After the experience at the first checkpoint, I was a bit concerned that I might not see anybody else for the rest of the ride. The next 40km to Simpson was mostly uphill, the first of four sections with significant climbing in the ride. Arriving in town, I saw a couple of bikes parked outside the takeaway place: Steel frames, Brooks saddles, Carradice tail packs, handlebar bags... must be Audax. Inside were Mark and Ian, who were drinking cups of tea and had just ordered dinner. I grabbed a coffee and joined them. I ended up riding with them for the rest of the way, glad for some company. Ian apologised in advance for being slow up hills, although the steel bike with significant luggage probably had a bit to do with that: he mentioned he was carrying a tent, amongst other things. Their pace was a bit slower than I would naturally ride, which was actually quite nice - meant that I didn't have to worry about accidentally pushing myself too hard and burning out too early.
It was another 50km to the next checkpoint at Colac. Darkness fell, dynamo lights were deployed, and there was another significant hill to climb in the last few kilometres before Colac. We arrived just as La Porchetta was closing, but they were willing to make us all pizzas before they closed up shop. Two other Audax riders, Sarah and Leigh, were leaving as we arrived. Minor crisis: my USB battery pack was refusing to recharge my Garmin! There was no way the GPS would make it through all 400km without any additional juice, and if a ride isn't uploaded to Strava, did it really happen?! Nothing I could do about it at this point - just keep moving.
The next checkpoint wasn't until Geelong, a long 90km stretch with no shops in between. At around 1am, my body was quite insistent that it was time to sleep. The road at that point was dead flat with nothing to see on either side and it felt as if I was just riding the same kilometer of road on repeat, again and again. And then it was a brief stop for snacks and stretching our legs at Moriac - nothing open at this hour - before tackling the hills to Barrabool and then Geelong. We caught up with Sarah and Leigh once again at Kardinia Cafe in Geelong, where they were just finishing their food. I would love to say that some food and a strong coffee perked me up but in reality I was feeling pretty wrecked with 250km ridden and another 150km to go.
We got going again at 3:45am, ready to tackle the undulating coastal route to Queenscliff via Portarlington. I remember the first part of this road in the past as being an unpleasant slog through hills and strong winds, but this time the air was still and the hills didn't seem so bad. We got to Portarlington at 5:30 as the sun was starting to sneak over the horizon. We assessed our chances of making the 7am ferry: it had taken us 1hr 45min to rid the last 31km from Geelong, so we'd have to up the pace a bit to cover 33km in under 1.5 hrs (under normal circumstances not such a difficult ask!) or face a long wait for the next ferry. None of us really felt like pushing any harder, but somehow it got to 6:45 with just 6km to go. We made it to the Queenscliff ferry terminal with a minute to spare and were allowed to board. The ferry departed as we were securing our bikes and removing our helmets.
We found Sarah and Leigh again on the ferry - happily sleeping on couches. Paul and Ian joined them in catching some shut-eye, and I lay down for a while, but never drifted off to the land of nod. Instead I gave up, ate a sandwich and had another coffee. My Garmin was down to 9% battery and clearly wasn't going to make it all the way home. I switched it off and got ready for plan B: use the Strava app on my phone to record the final part of the ride. Once the ferry arrived at Sorrento, we had another 89km to go to St Kilda beach. All five of us set off together, but Sarah and Leigh quickly became dots on the horizon.
We were now in Serious Road Bike territory: athletic-looking people wearing pristine jerseys (no daggy high-viz vests) riding carbon bikes, often with TT bars and aerodynamic everything, whizzing past us at 40+ km/h. Meanwhile, the three of us were absolutely knackered. I had pain in my knees (very unusual for me on a bike), elbows, bum, hands, shoulders, back, legs... everywhere, really. I wasn't sleepy so much now the sun was up, but feeling seriously fatigued and everything just seemed so difficult. Keeping the pedals turning was the only option to bring this insanity to an end.
The stretch from Dromana to Mount Eliza was the only remaining uphill bit, and also included a few kilometers of unpleasant, busy highway. Mt Eliza was the last checkpoint before the end of the ride. Just a brief stop for coffee and cake. Then the brief descent into Frankston. The flat monotony of Nepean Highway and Station Street. A brief rest at Mordialloc, stretching stiff muscles, then lying down on the grass. A complete stranger in a club jersey called out "why are you looking so tired? you've only ridden 380km". We did a double-take. It turned out that he was also an Audax member and aware of the ride happening this weekend. I guess the fluoro safety vests and steel bikes gave us away. While we were stopped, Leigh and Sarah rode past us. We must have overtaken them while they were stopped at some point.
Back on the road again. Not moving very fast, but putting in some effort to get the final 23km of Beach Road behind us. We caught up with Sarah. She wasn't feeling very well. I rode off ahead on my own for a strong sprint finish (ahaha) and made it to St Kilda a good 15 seconds ahead of the others. My first 400km brevet completed, slightly anti-climactic and seriously exhausted. Time for a celebratory choc milk. I had originally planned to ride all the way home but instead opted to ride to Flinders St station with Leigh and Sarah. The less pedalling required to get home, the better. Looking forward to a couple of days of not riding my bike!
