The Winery Ride with Orica Green Edge or That Hill and That Heat belong in HELL!!

To quote directly from the event website...

Ride alongside the ENTIRE 2014 ORICA-GreenEDGE Team & members of ORICA-AIS through the beautiful Nagambie winery region and challenging Strathbogie Ranges.

As part of the preparations for the 2014 season ORICA-GreenEDGE and ORICA-AIS would like to invite you to join them on their training camp and ride through one of their favourite regions in Australia. Reminisce on the 2013 season that was, the Tour de France stage wins, the 4 days on the coveted 'Malliot Jaune' and help welcome some new faces to the team. 

There are new rides this year - 138km, 48km and 24km as well as the Children's ride around the Winery - so there really is something for everyone.

With my Ironman training well underway, this seemed like the perfect event to kick start my long rides.  It was my third hilly mass participation ride of this year, the previous 2 being the Great Ocean and Otway Classic Ride and the Amy Gillett Ride.

I had a look at the map and the profile of the climb, and thought that there was absolutely no way i was going to be able to climb with the gearing i have on the TT bike...so the roadie got to borrow the race wheels for the day! (Note the compact chain ring...that was a god send at certain stages of the climb - but more about that later)

I really didn't think the logistics of this through when i entered, so it was a very early start! But hey, i love a road trip!!

Alarm went off at 3:30 am, on the road by 4, and coffee & sunrise at a roadhouse by 5:30...brilliant start to the day!

I arrived at Mitchelton Winery at about 6:45 and was greeted by the early morning sun warming all this potential wine...

So the ride itself.  The first thing i did before the ride was check out the climb.  So onto Strava i go.

The main part of the climb was as follows...7.2km in length, 426m elevation gain, average 6.1% (remember that word average!) Which on paper didn't seem too bad... Oh, and there was also a 2.7km, 99m gain, 3.6% on the descent (and here was i think descent referred to going down!!)

The general consensus was that The Climb was a Cat 2 climb... with the ascent on the descent being Cat 3.
Here's the link to how Strava categorises climbs -->> Click Linky

As you can see from the pic below, The Climb starts at about half way through the ride. And from the top, the trip home is mostly downhill into Seymour, before the relatively flat ride home.

Just as an aside, i'll also put the temperature during the ride in...

As you can see it was a pleasant 20 degrees at 8am for the start, got to 30 just after i started the climb, peaked at 39at one stage, before returning to 35 for the run home.  I think those 3 little dips on the last 45 minutes are when i stopped under trees to try and cool myself down, but thanks to the hot northerly wind that really didn't work...

Now to the actual riding...

The first 70 km or so was largely uneventful, with some gentle rolling hills and wonderful views of the countryside.  The serenity was however broken every now and again by impatient and inconsiderate sods in cars who were less than impressed to see hundreds of cyclists on their roads - but on the whole the car drivers were quite good.

My plan was to use the ride as part of my IM training program, so Zone 2 HR and try not to sit in packs and draft.  Well...that was the plan...until i left my HRM at home, oh well.  I figured I know my body well enough to distinguish between 6hr pace and "ride like you stole something" pace.  With that in mind i went out relatively easy, remembering that i had a nuts hill to climb at the 70 km mark.

By the time i reached the bottom of the climb my average pace was above 30kph, and i still felt fresh...

<<cue dramatic music>>

BOTH OF THOSE THINGS WERE ABOUT TO CHANGE!!

As i mentioned earlier, the climb was 7.2 km long, averaging 6.1% grade.  It soon became apparent that, as with most climbs, every time you came across a section of easy climb (i.e. less than 6.2%) you would be paying for it later!

I can't really remember every detail of the climb, but there were bits that were hard, bits that were punishing, bits that were very punishing and then the other bit! 

I was going pretty slow at this stage, maybe in the order of 6km/h, the i rounded a corner and the road got steeper...i'm not going to print the words that came out of my mouth - but about 7 seconds later, as the rider behind me rounded the corner a similar sentence was yelled!

Ok...go! I gave it absolutely everything i had, and for a while managed to not slow down...then i slowed, i looked at the Garmin, and it was slowly dropping 5.5km/h, 5km/h...ok time to get out of the saddle and drive the bike up. Yeah...Nah...just at that point my quads gave me an ultimatum...they would either hold me up, or power the bike, NOT BOTH! So down i sat, 5km/h, 4.5 km/h...ok, this is getting stupid. Looking up the hill about 20m i see two other cyclists - 1 walking, 1 riding...both at the same pace. Back to the Garmin 4.1km/h - that's enough...off the bike i get... I started walking, i managed a huge 4.5 km/h - i was walking faster than i was riding!! 

I reached the break in the slope, where the road eased from insanely steep to ridiculously steep, so back on the bike i got. And off i rode at a super fast 7-8km/h!!

(Just as an aside, on roads that steep snaking up the road from side to side it is a great way to keep going. However, in this case as the roads were open to traffic, and there were numerous blind switch backs - it just wasn't a safe option.)

I've had a quick look at the ride data and the best i can work out is that grade was at 23.5% at that point. (The section of road that was at 18.5% i actually managed to ride - not fast, but i stayed up right!)

And then after 44 minutes and 36 seconds...it was over! I'd covered 7.2 km at an average speed of 9.7km/h. I can fairly confidently say, that was the toughest hill i have ever climbed!!

Then it was time for the descent...but that wasn't all down hill! Huh...WTF...why is there a 2.7km section which rises at an average of 3.6% on a descent - i thought descent meant down!!  Compared to the previous climb it was actually quite an easy climb ... but having said that the 16% pinch did hurt a little!! 

The descent finished at around 102 km, which was followed by a 12 km stint due west, back through Seymour. With a howling north wind, this section was tough. I was basically riding alone, which was mentally tough after 5 hours, but i was still going forward.

At about 114 km the road turned around to the north, the wind was probably blowing about 20-30kts and it was 39 degrees!  IT WAS HOT!! And I had 24 km of this left before the finish!

There was an aid station at about 118k, at which point i sent Claire a text saying "Hey ya, 20k to go. All good."

Well, i spoke to soon! Just after i left that aid station, i started getting stomach cramps and couldn't ride. So off the bike i got, I really didn't know what was going on. There was nothing i'd had that i hadn't used before - but that didn't matter, i just needed to get to the finish. I was too scared to eat or drink anything for fear of vomiting. So i got back on the bike and started again.

This on the bike, feeling like shit, getting off the bike, resting, getting on the bike...repeat...went on for about 45 minutes until my stomach finally felt ok again.  So i started drinking water (with electrolyte) again.  By the time i reached the entrance to the winery, i actually felt good again and maybe could have continued... ;) 

In short, the last 20km took 1 hr and 5 minutes! Very slow going for a flat stretch of road!!

Here's the Strava link to the ride.

Looking back now, i think i was dehydrated and that was causing issues.  I was good with fluid intake for the first 70k, but i don't think i drank enough on the climb, the descent or the stretch back to Seymour.  That was 2hr 45min and i think i probably drank 2 full bidons, so about 1.5 litres. I probably should have been drinking that much per hour!!

Looking back at the ride, i was very pleased with both my general fitness and cycling fitness.  My nutrition went according to plan, as even toward the end when i felt crap, i didn't feel low on energy.  I just need to ensure i have enough hydration for the conditions.

I really enjoyed the challenge of the climb.  I'd like to have a crack at that climb again - but think i'll do it on a cooler day :)

Oh, and i also got to have a bit of a chat with Matt Goss, Simon Gerrans and Daryl Impey which was pretty cool.