Peaks challenge sub 9Hrs strategy

[queequeg]

I've fallen down a big rabbit hole watching/reading about the peaks challenge.. I'm pretty keen to have a crack next year..

Just daydreaming at the moment, but thinking about which bike to bring, sub 7kg rim brake bike vs 8kg disc bike. I'd be a lot more comfortable travelling with the rim bike i.e. not as expensive if it gets damaged in transit, and easier for me to disassemble/rebuild. But not sure how it would fair on the descents if wet, or dry and overheating latex inner tubes.. how much braking is on the descents for a reasonably confident descender?

I have only ever done Peaks/Alpine Classic on Rim brakes. I have alloy rims, and it's never been an issue. That said, not once has it actually rained during the events for me. I have either missed the rain (BOF had hail in 2022 for the guys at the front, but if you further back we just got wet roads and overcast skies). I have done Mt Buffalo in the pouring rain (big passing weather system as I was 2/3 of the way up), and I did the descent in the rain and was a bit more cautious on the bends, but brakes were not affected. I use SwissStop FlashPro pads.

I'm a fairly good descender, so brakes don't get used all that much. Brake before turning into the corners, accelerate out. The fastest section of the course for me is the downhill sections into Omeo where I can be doing 90km/h.

[vbplease]

Look at cams cycle coaching. They do packages that will get you ands your bike down there and accommodation

That came up in one of my earlier searches.. it looks like $3.3k (for a non-member)..
I reckon I could organise flights and coach to Falls for about $1k, accom for maybe $1k, and food for about $300, so that's about a $1k premium for "taking the stress out of organising the trip".
I've been reading that accom in Falls can be a bit hard to organise, particularly for a single room.. there may be the option of staying at the nearby YMCA. They seem to have single rooms with a bunk bed. So I'd book out the room. Knowing my luck there's 1000% chance of being in a room with a snorer, lol.

[vbplease]

The disc brake bike is better certainly. The yellow Canyon was okay but luckily it was very dry and somewhat cool on the two days I had it. With the S5 disc it was stinking scorching hot and dry.

Did you travel to Haute Route with 3 bikes???
That seems like a real shame having to put the race number on the front of the S5.. all those aero losses!!

[vbplease]

If you’re concerned about braking on carbon rims, swap out your front carbon wheel for a lightweight aluminum rim wheel and use your rim brake bike. I have rim carbon Zipp 202s which are great but if the weather is raining and I’m doing lots of hills, I’ll swap out the front for my old aluminum Ksyrium front… no worries about controlled stopping… I’ve never done the 3 Peaks (tho it’s on my wishlist) and I think I’d use my aluminum rim if I was riding it even if the weather was dry… aluminum wheels and rim brakes were certainly good enough for the pro peloton for decades.

I've got zipp 202's on my rim bike as well. Travelling with a spare alloy wheel may be a good idea and decide on the day..
I agree, the pro's, and all armatures doing the peaks challenge for the past 20 years managed to ride rim ok.. in the wet etc.

[vbplease]

Once you're in Bright or Mount Beauty, you'll need to do one of the higher ASL rides e.g. up Mount Buffalo, or from Mt Beauty, up Tawonga Gap or again, up to Falls Creek. Failing that, head out on the Bright-Wangaratta Rail Trail for as long as you want — it is flat, but very exposed in places, but riding that is better than riding around the streets. This pre-ride stuff will put you on a readiness footing for what to expect, likely much different to what you can find locally in Brisbane (because you are effectively riding in the higher, stressful alpine environment, nowhere near sea level...). I would rate the climb to Falls Creek as very testing; something I wouldn't want to do too often (only three times so far, and all on MTB with a very low granny gear!!) Conversely, Hotham's climbs are more spread out (the airy views will pop your eyes, if your lungs haven't done so already...) swearing and snot-shooting is openly permitted on the attack of the undeniably awful The Meg aka "Bust-Me-Gall Hill" to the local Bright roadies!

Good advice.. trying out the descents and a climb or two before should help.

I'm a fairly good descender, so brakes don't get used all that much. Brake before turning into the corners, accelerate out. The fastest section of the course for me is the downhill sections into Omeo where I can be doing 90km/h.

Trying the Tawonga descent and this 90km/h descent would be nice.. although they're in opposite directions relative to Falls creek.. so trying both would involve climbing back up Falls creek in both directions, likely the day before the event

[jasonc]

Look at cams cycle coaching. They do packages that will get you ands your bike down there and accommodation

That came up in one of my earlier searches.. it looks like $3.3k (for a non-member)..
I reckon I could organise flights and coach to Falls for about $1k, accom for maybe $1k, and food for about $300, so that's about a $1k premium for "taking the stress out of organising the trip".
I've been reading that accom in Falls can be a bit hard to organise, particularly for a single room.. there may be the option of staying at the nearby YMCA. They seem to have single rooms with a bunk bed. So I'd book out the room. Knowing my luck there's 1000% chance of being in a room with a snorer, lol.

Send me a pm if you want to discuss my experience, which was positive

[g-boaf]

The disc brake bike is better certainly. The yellow Canyon was okay but luckily it was very dry and somewhat cool on the two days I had it. With the S5 disc it was stinking scorching hot and dry.

Did you travel to Haute Route with 3 bikes???
That seems like a real shame having to put the race number on the front of the S5.. all those aero losses!!

Oh no, done it multiple different years. Enjoy it.

Bit awkward fitting the number on the S5, sort of made it fit, not elegant but it stayed put.

Lots of learnings in travel with bikes that’s for sure.

[jasonc]

Lots of learnings in travel with bikes that’s for sure.

Definitely. I've learnt a lot in the many times I've travelled overseas with my bike

[CmdrBiggles]

Look at cams cycle coaching. They do packages that will get you ands your bike down there and accommodation

That came up in one of my earlier searches.. it looks like $3.3k (for a non-member)..
I reckon I could organise flights and coach to Falls for about $1k, accom for maybe $1k, and food for about $300, so that's about a $1k premium for "taking the stress out of organising the trip".
I've been reading that accom in Falls can be a bit hard to organise, particularly for a single room.. there may be the option of staying at the nearby YMCA. They seem to have single rooms with a bunk bed. So I'd book out the room. Knowing my luck there's 1000% chance of being in a room with a snorer, lol.

Cue: "Y-M-C-A-" [Village People/1978]
One option that was done by I think 15 or so riders (team from Myrtleford?) this year was camping at Pretty Valley, 7km out, and at a higher elevation than Falls Creek. This is an area of outstanding natural beauty - - the Taoist contortions of old snowgums, alpine marshlands, bogs and tarns and vast open vistas. It is also bone chilling cold in March, as it is a favourite haunt for thick, lingering fog.
I would hope, earnestly for good, and stable weather if camping at Pretty Valley; save for pockets of snowgums and mixed leaf, is exposed to the full force of any weather system breaking over the Plains. I was flushed out of PV in early January by 110mm of rain (in 2 days) and violent storms. This option is really only viable if you can be shuttled from camp to Falls for the start of the ride (the road is soft gravel, known for corrugations and traps), with those at camp packing up and ready later that day to scoop you up and whisk you back home!

The majority of accommodation in Falls and Mount Beauty would be booked out well in advance of March by the Bright and Mount Beauty locals and their pals - - a few of who are actual owners of lodges and chalets, beside the cashed-up City Slickers who also own large chunks of Falls real estate. Realistically, the latest you should wait to secure accommodation is October, and always have a Plan B!

[ComradeSpear]

Don't use the lightweight tubes, my friend's tube exploded on a descent the day before and had a serious stack but luckily nothing serious. Mine popped literally whilst the bike was stationery after I finished the ride.

... And I'll be going back to Shimano Di2. The SRAM force axs FD sucks balls big time.

Unless your bike weighs like 12kgs, I don't think it makes a massive difference. In fact, I'd say you want it around 8ish kg so the bike doesn't feel too noodley at descents and at full speed.
There are fast descents and if you're in a peloton you'd be doing descent speeds. I mean right from the start you'd be descending with hundreds of cyclists around you. I used disc brakes but don't think it matters if you're great at descending.

Accommodation at the village sells out quick. Otherwise, your need to stay at Mt beauty which I originally booked; however, thru contact of a contact, I got a bunk bed in an apartment. It'll be a 430am start if you stay in Mt beauty as they close the Falls creek road up to the village at 530 I think.

For my next peaks attempt, I'll be focusing on pacing, conditioning in the heat (just in case we get a hot one) and mental strength - provided I keep my current level of fitness.

I followed the Peaks Training plan on the website and it was effective as the workload is progressive and in reality it's what you need to complete the ride. I'm mulling using a coach to help me with certain aspects but not made up my mind yet.

[g-boaf]

Don't use the lightweight tubes, my friend's tube exploded on a descent the day before and had a serious stack but luckily nothing serious. Mine popped literally whilst the bike was stationery after I finished the ride.

... And I'll be going back to Shimano Di2. The SRAM force axs FD sucks balls big time.

Unless your bike weighs like 12kgs, I don't think it makes a massive difference. In fact, I'd say you want it around 8ish kg so the bike doesn't feel too noodley at descents and at full speed.
There are fast descents and if you're in a peloton you'd be doing descent speeds. I mean right from the start you'd be descending with hundreds of cyclists around you. I used disc brakes but don't think it matters if you're great at descending.

Accommodation at the village sells out quick. Otherwise, your need to stay at Mt beauty which I originally booked; however, thru contact of a contact, I got a bunk bed in an apartment. It'll be a 430am start if you stay in Mt beauty as they close the Falls creek road up to the village at 530 I think.

For my next peaks attempt, I'll be focusing on pacing, conditioning in the heat (just in case we get a hot one) and mental strength - provided I keep my current level of fitness.

I followed the Peaks Training plan on the website and it was effective as the workload is progressive and in reality it's what you need to complete the ride. I'm mulling using a coach to help me with certain aspects but not made up my mind yet.

The heavier tubes I agree with, but lighter bikes don’t automatically mean poorer behaviour on descents. That’s something different.

My 6kg canyon and old 6.6kg Giant TCR SL1 are both way nicer on descents than my S5 (which is heavier). I prefer the disc brakes on the S5 but the other two are much nicer at 80km/h+ (which I’ve done on the Col de Bonette descent.

A coach isn’t really necessary, that’s just throwing away money - you know what the event is, you just need to do the riding and do some indoor trainer riders with similarly hard efforts. Ful Gaz, do a couple of the big HC climbs together at a reasonably tough pace but with lower cadence.

In your weekends you have to get out and find hills and descents.

If you feel tired then have some rest days where you might just ride 30-45min very easy small chain ring and spinning. With this strategy you’ll find gains.

[jasonc]

Agree with g-boaf re a coach
Just do the longest rides you can on the weekend and finish with the longest climb you can find

My mate did the glorious crucifix as a training ride

[g-boaf]

She with g-boaf re a coach
Just do the longest rides you can on the weekend and finish with the longest climb you can find

My mate did the glorious crucifix as a training ride

And the more you can do those kinds of rides, the better so that it becomes more normal.

I don't have any HC climbs near me, so the only way I can prepare for them is do lots of repeats/loops of the steepest hills in my area or just load up on Fulgaz climbs like Col de Bonette, Col du Galibier, Col de la Madeleine, all the very long and steep ones. As in IRL, Bonette kills you by being very long and then it gets steep at the top, that's what you want for training.

I prefer Fulgaz for that over Zwift as I trust that Fulgaz isn't doing funny things with the pace dynamics and power reporting from the trainer. Zwift just does whatever they can do to keep the racing crowd happy (ie, to prevent sit-in and sprint at the end races). Fulgaz has a lot more proper climbs in comparison to Zwift, the Zwift customer base whinges when anything is even slightly uphill.

[ComradeSpear]

I didn't find Zwift climbs that realistic TBH. Mind you I'm not much of a Zwifty.. or a Swifty .

I'll give Fulgaz a go for the climbs.

The other thing is nutrition. Need to train the gut for a high carb intake. Those gels get yukky after a while.

[g-boaf]

Gels should only be an emergency thing, rather than a go-to. I personally dislike them. They don't agree with me.

[ComradeSpear]

What's your alternative to gels?

[g-boaf]

If it has to be something I take with me, then I prefer bars (Clif bars if possible). We usually have those in our support car (which is at the feedzones), or things provided by the organisers like pieces of sponge cake which I personally like - I find they are easy to eat and no adverse side-effects. They've had marble cake as well but I stay away from those.

Also lots of water, electrolyte drink mixes, Coca-Cola, Orangina (great when it's cold and the ambient temp is 41ºC).

Flat coca-cola is an old trick if you are really flat - immediate energy and then find something proper to eat pretty quickly.

Some of the folk I ride with mix gels with their water, it works but same hazards as with gels if they don't agree with you.

Over 7 days I eat enormous amounts and despite that I still lose weight - I get back looking like I've eaten nothing.

Mind you all of this on what you eat is up to you to find what works, and hence doing big rides ahead of your event is also about working out what's best to eat (and/or drink mixes).