5 cols?

riles
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5 cols?

Postby riles » Mon Jun 17, 2013 11:09 am

been hearing about this: anyone fill me in on what this ride is actually?

march83
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Re: 5 cols?

Postby march83 » Mon Jun 17, 2013 1:22 pm

from a friend's strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/3690311" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

if this is the one you're referring to, i have no idea where you heard about it. This was something that a friend of a friend (a triathlete in fact) brought to our group a few years ago, the premise being to hit all the decent climbs on the escarpment around penrith/richmond in a day. we don't have big climbs out here so we make up for that by doing many climbs.

lots of fun and very social. there's some pretty roads out there, especially out towards richmond and the grose. can be done in under 5hrs if you don't mess around.

then it got silly: http://app.strava.com/activities/1339718" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and then it got sillier: http://app.strava.com/activities/1491705" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

haven't done it for a while though...

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toolonglegs
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Re: 5 cols?

Postby toolonglegs » Mon Jun 17, 2013 3:38 pm

Bobbo, galston gorge, berowa, out to Brooklyn bridge and then bobbo the other direction on the way back.
Long long time since I have done it.

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black4tress
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Re: 5 cols?

Postby black4tress » Mon Jun 17, 2013 4:08 pm

toolonglegs wrote:Bobbo, galston gorge, berowa, out to Brooklyn bridge and then bobbo the other direction on the way back.
Long long time since I have done it.
I would have guessed it as.......Galston, Berowra, Brooklyn, then to Bobbin and Akuna.
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toolonglegs
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Re: 5 cols?

Postby toolonglegs » Mon Jun 17, 2013 5:36 pm

Sorry I am talking 5 gorges ... there's no cols in Sydney :P .
I have never considered Akuna as one of the 5, has always been Bobbo twice... but there's probably a few variations out there. LOOOONG time since I did a Sydney ride!.

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ldrcycles
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Re: 5 cols?

Postby ldrcycles » Mon Jun 17, 2013 7:48 pm

It's the sort of thing you can do just about anywhere, like this charity race http://app.strava.com/segments/2729008" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, or my own much smaller version :) http://app.strava.com/activities/59638805" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

Of course once you get started you want to just push things further and further http://app.strava.com/activities/23672029#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And then eventually things get stupid (I haven't done that one yet so no strava link, but it's going to happen before long :) ).
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singlespeedscott
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Re: 5 cols?

Postby singlespeedscott » Mon Jun 17, 2013 10:20 pm

I was thinking of something similar around my area. I would start at Mt. Mellum and then onto Bellthorpe Range then shot across to D'aguilar and hit up the climb to Mt. Mee. From there down and back up Campbell's pocket then across the top and down to Dayboro and back over and home to bed.
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george-bob
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Re: 5 cols?

Postby george-bob » Tue Jun 18, 2013 2:44 pm

toolonglegs wrote:Bobbo, galston gorge, berowa, out to Brooklyn bridge and then bobbo the other direction on the way back.
Long long time since I have done it.
I like the dirty dozen:

-bobbo
-crosslands (down the end of somerville in hornsby)
-galston
-berowra
-brooklyn
-berowra
-galston
-crosslands
-bobbo
-berowra
-galston
-crosslands

something like 200km with 4000m of climbing.
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rdp_au
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Re: 5 cols?

Postby rdp_au » Thu Jun 20, 2013 10:43 am

Gulp! That's a big ride...

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singlespeedscott
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Re: 5 cols?

Postby singlespeedscott » Fri Jun 21, 2013 1:53 am

That's got nothing on the course for the Fitz extreme in Canberra. 255km and 5500m+ of ascent.
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rogan
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Re: 5 cols?

Postby rogan » Fri Jun 21, 2013 12:49 pm

singlespeedscott wrote:That's got nothing on the course for the Fitz extreme in Canberra. 255km and 5500m+ of ascent.
Yep, I did the 205 km/4000m version last year, which is tough but not a killer ride if you're reasonably fit and can climb. By comparison, some of the guys finishing the 255 km (including A graders and experienced Audax riders, definitely stronger riders than me) looked like squeezed out dishrags by the end.

A digression, but the best bit of Fitz's 205 if you're going well, you can catch a lot of the 105 km and 165 km riders, and fly past them towards the end. It's fun doing that, with them having 90 or 150 km in the legs, and them knowing you have a tough 190 km up already.

Anyway, the 205 is not as tough as 3 Peaks (for me last year 8 hours riding time versus 10 hours). I haven't done the 255, but those who have say the 255 is definitely tougher than 3 Peaks.

As for that dirty dozen, well, it's only steep hills that really hurt, particularly when you are past 100 km and well into the "endurance" phase of a ride. Of those climbs in northern Sydney, only Crosslands is as steep as Fitz's Hill or Apollo Rd. And parts of Boboyan Rd and Corin Forest. Or for that matter, the Back of Falls.
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singlespeedscott
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Re: 5 cols?

Postby singlespeedscott » Fri Jun 21, 2013 1:49 pm

I did the 255 last year with next to no training. DNFéd because I spent to much time at the rest stops. They wouldn't let me through the last checkpoint saying based on my average speed that I wouldn't finish in time. Its not the climbs themselves that are hard its just the constant undulating terrain.

http://app.strava.com/activities/26276496" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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rogan
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Re: 5 cols?

Postby rogan » Fri Jun 21, 2013 2:44 pm

singlespeedscott wrote:I did the 255 last year with next to no training.
:shock: :shock:

Would you try that again?

Mine is here:

http://app.strava.com/activities/26282602
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singlespeedscott
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Re: 5 cols?

Postby singlespeedscott » Fri Jun 21, 2013 3:05 pm

Yeap. Ill be their again this year. With a bit more training.

Seriously though an event of this distance is more in the head than physical.
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rogan
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Re: 5 cols?

Postby rogan » Fri Jun 21, 2013 3:26 pm

Hmm. Well, if you are doing it with a bunch of mates, and trying to do a good time, getting the most out of yourself, staying in the pack out to Fitz's, yet come home strongly, and so on, it's physical as well!

Whilst it's not a race, it's not a true Audax event either, finish times are published, etc.
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Xplora
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Re: 5 cols?

Postby Xplora » Sun Apr 20, 2014 10:11 pm

http://connect.garmin.com/course/6314790
Might give this a go over the next few months, could be tough with the shorter light though. (need to get a lot more elevation in the legs as well!)
10 climbs starting in Kellyville - Glenhaven, Galston East, Somerville, Bobbo there and back, Berowra East ( to the Ferry and back up), Brooklyn, Berowra West, Crosslands Road, down to the bridge at Galston Gorge and back up, and then home. 160kms from Sam Riley Drive. Each climb is only done once, but the bottom of the three main climbs are seen twice.

Hergest
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Re: 5 cols?

Postby Hergest » Mon Apr 21, 2014 6:02 am

Is Crosslands Road done on a road bike? It's just a rough track for a fair bit of the way.
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Xplora
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Re: 5 cols?

Postby Xplora » Mon Apr 21, 2014 2:49 pm

I guess I'll find out ;) I do recall it being nasty when I drove down there for a camp with my church 10 years back, if it is too nasty I'll just down Glenhaven a second time ;)

rogan
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Re: 5 cols?

Postby rogan » Tue Apr 22, 2014 10:05 am

X - Crosslands Rd is perfectly rideable. You just chuck it in your bottom gear and ride it - it's 11% for about 1 km, then flat for a few hundred metres then with a nasty short pinch right at the top (it's about 50 metres of 18%). Bellbird/Warks is much more challenging, even Bowen I would say is harder, with a longer nasty steep section near the top (I think 300 m of 14%). You have nothing to fear from Crosslands if you can ride Bellbird and Bowen.
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Xplora
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Re: 5 cols?

Postby Xplora » Tue Apr 22, 2014 10:58 am

Personally, it's about achieving the 10 climbs, and base building. Unlike eon, I don't really have much of a climbing base; with a compact something like Glenhaven isn't much of a challenge once you have ridden for a while, but I do require a wheel to chase to get up that pinch fast. Both my top 10s on the pinch have been attacks after sucking a wheel :lol:

I really would like to be able to have a go at Wark with a 39/23, only because it represents a lot of power to keep the gear spinning at 70rpm . Cant go below 15kmh. I've hit 300W FTP after starting at 250W, looks like I would need 390w for about 10kms at 10%. (checked the KOM, Mark C kept spinning 15kmh average up the final Bellbird/Wark climb, it's physically possible but maybe a 12-25 would be a smarter idea). Either way.... throwing in a Galston reverse after a Saturday shop ride is looking like a good plan to beef up those legs.

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Re: 5 cols?

Postby Hergest » Tue Apr 22, 2014 3:18 pm

rogan wrote:X - Crosslands Rd is perfectly rideable. You just chuck it in your bottom gear and ride it - it's 11% for about 1 km, then flat for a few hundred metres then with a nasty short pinch right at the top (it's about 50 metres of 18%). Bellbird/Warks is much more challenging, even Bowen I would say is harder, with a longer nasty steep section near the top (I think 300 m of 14%). You have nothing to fear from Crosslands if you can ride Bellbird and Bowen.
It's not the steepness that was my concern, it's that the road for a lot of its way is gravel and poor quality at that. The really steep section near the bottom in bitumen but the rest is as rough as guts.
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Xplora
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Re: 5 cols?

Postby Xplora » Tue Apr 22, 2014 3:42 pm

:?: Hergest is talking about Crosslands Road that leads to the Crosslands Convention centre, on the western side of the river. Somerville Road leads to the eastern side of the river, and incorporates the walking track. That was george-bob's climb :?:
Google Maps seems to indicate that the western side is paved now.

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Re: 5 cols?

Postby Hergest » Tue Apr 22, 2014 4:17 pm

I drove down Crosslands Road as far as the boom gate for that Christian Centre place with a mate about 3 weeks ago as i was interested to see if you could ride it on a road bike, on Google Maps Crosslands Road does indeed look paved so it was a rude surprise to arrive at the top of the hill to see a sign saying Gravel Road Ahead and then to be on the gravel with lots of potholes and corrugations. It was unpleasant in the car and as we drove down i wondered how people rode it as i'd seen it mentioned here a few times.

When we got to the bottom and had a look at the GPS it was the first time i'd ever realised that the bottom of Sommerville Road was just the other side of the water, it had never occurred to me before. Is Sommerville bitumen all the way do you know?
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biker jk
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Re: 5 cols?

Postby biker jk » Tue Apr 22, 2014 4:27 pm

Hergest wrote:I drove down Crosslands Road as far as the boom gate for that Christian Centre place with a mate about 3 weeks ago as i was interested to see if you could ride it on a road bike, on Google Maps Crosslands Road does indeed look paved so it was a rude surprise to arrive at the top of the hill to see a sign saying Gravel Road Ahead and then to be on the gravel with lots of potholes and corrugations. It was unpleasant in the car and as we drove down i wondered how people rode it as i'd seen it mentioned here a few times.

When we got to the bottom and had a look at the GPS it was the first time i'd ever realised that the bottom of Sommerville Road was just the other side of the water, it had never occurred to me before. Is Sommerville bitumen all the way do you know?
Yes Somerville Rd is bitumen all the way down to the river. It's quite narrow so can be a dangerous descent.

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leximack
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Re: 5 cols?

Postby leximack » Tue Apr 22, 2014 4:46 pm

Somerville rd (on the Hornsby Side) is 100% roadbikeable, its roughish but cruise down and keep to the left and its fine, going up your going slow so a bit of a rough patch here and there shouldn't bother you too much. Its got a bit of out of the saddle stuff, definitely steeper than any of the gorges which you can sit and spin up (all of them), not as hard though as wark or bowen as have been mentioned.
Im keen for a hill fest, whos organising it??

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