Fitz pics

Road cycling & upcoming rides
Hung
Posts: 118
Joined: 04 Mar 2010, 17:22
Location: kogarah bay

Postby Hung » 31 Oct 2011, 11:08

A few of us had nothing to do on sunday so decided to go for a 165km ride with little bit of climbing

Image



Image

Image

Just chilling out and enjoying the scenary
Image

after 2900m of climbing the boys didn't want those photos posted

User avatar
mr mojo
Posts: 124
Joined: 18 Aug 2010, 17:24

Postby mr mojo » 31 Oct 2011, 11:20

Well done boys. I did the 105km and found that plenty tough enough. Don't know how you survived Fitz's Hill, I was near my limit on the first big climb out of Cotter.

Anyway, managed to take 42minutes off last years time, so I am pretty happy with that.

Would be good to hear how everyone else went. I know there were a couple of people doing the 207km and 250km rides. I suppose they are probably still sleeping :D

Cheers
Spiros

paul L
Posts: 26
Joined: 16 Feb 2010, 12:55
Location: Lilyfield

Postby paul L » 31 Oct 2011, 19:19

Thanks for the pics Hung, and for instigating us into this torturous ride. The hardest ride I've done, the climbs never stops coming at you. Had a great weekend with all you guys. Had the best nights sleep last night.

User avatar
Adrian E
Posts: 1163
Joined: 07 Mar 2007, 13:15
Location: Newtown

Postby Adrian E » 31 Oct 2011, 20:03

Nice photos guys. Glad you had a great ride and I'm sorry I didn't have time to chat at lunch.

Alex Dirks and I left at the 6am start. I have no idea how Alex finished the 207 Epic on a 74 inch single speed but it did it in an impressive time that would put most geared riders to shame. I trugged on with the 250km and finished at 7.10pm only 20mins before the cutoff. That was the hardest ride I've ever done.

Anthony K
Posts: 316
Joined: 30 May 2011, 23:17

Postby Anthony K » 31 Oct 2011, 20:46

I so wanted to do this but it could not be.

Well done guys, great effort.

Hung
Posts: 118
Joined: 04 Mar 2010, 17:22
Location: kogarah bay

Postby Hung » 01 Nov 2011, 08:02

Nice photos guys. Glad you had a great ride and I'm sorry I didn't have time to chat at lunch.

Alex Dirks and I left at the 6am start. I have no idea how Alex finished the 207 Epic on a 74 inch single speed but it did it in an impressive time that would put most geared riders to shame. I trugged on with the 250km and finished at 7.10pm only 20mins before the cutoff. That was the hardest ride I've ever done.
74 inch single :shock: I'm speechless

timyone
Posts: 4380
Joined: 22 Nov 2006, 20:29

Postby timyone » 01 Nov 2011, 15:07

love the smiles!!!

(note; Alex Dirks is superman on a fixie (though you said single speed, so it would be more work on the ups with a freewheel, but a heap easier on the downs)

User avatar
AlexD
Posts: 65
Joined: 14 Oct 2010, 19:00
Location: Leichhardt
Contact:

Postby AlexD » 01 Nov 2011, 18:41

Hey guys, I've been meaning to post a post-ride report, here's my chance...

The 200km version of Fitz's was a proper old-style challenge. I don't know what possessed Adrian to do the Extreme 250km, but I guess you have to keep raising the bar!

There were 130 takers for the 200km, and 60 for the 250km, all leaving together at 6am. I was hoping to ride with Adrian so I'd have someone to chat to, but the first 50kms were all up-and-down-hill in fog and mist. I couldn't find him, so instead played it out with the 10 or so guys in the front bunch. The mist made my glasses fog up, so I had to drop them right down on my nose (like a librarian) so I could see where we were going on the 60+km/h descents. I was scared, but it was fun.

Having never done a serious road ride or race the bunch thing was all new to me, but it was quite well spirited, though more competitive than I expected. There was one other singlespeed guy in the group, Phil from Canberra, who kept leading charges off the front. He was keeping the roadies busy on the climbs. He was running 43x17, or 68", a good gear for climbing. Plus he was a super fit animal. I stuck with him and the roadies up until Fitz's hill, at about 60km in. Fitz's was a bit steeper than I expected! I thought I was going OK, but I couldn't manage the gradient. It's pretty steep! My cadence slowed right down, and that was it; for the first time ever I had to walk up a hill. I had an OK time laughing at myself, and the roadies going past were all very friendly (probably also laughing at the stupid singlespeeder) but I felt pretty hopeless. All I wanted was a lower ratio, or even a derailleur! Riding with 74" was very silly decision for a hill like that.

After Fitz's hill, I made it to the Rendezvous Creek turnaround for a good rest and some food. Going back over the course was OK, but going down Fitz's hill was the most terrifying descent I've ever done. A long, steep, straight hill with a few funny corners that you couldn't quite predict. Since I don't have a road bike, and normally ride fixed, I'm not used to riding faster than 55km/h, so having roadies going past doing 90 was pretty eye-opening. I did what I could to leave plenty of space for them!

The next big climb was up to Honeysuckle Creek, on a side route from the main course. This one was longer than Fitz's, but not as constant - there were a couple of breaks in the gradient. I did what I could to ride up it, but was reduced to walking at the steepest point, so by the time I reached the checkpoint at the top I was partly exhausted and partly just embarrassed for "cheating". The bananas and fruit cake were good though.

After that the next stop was Tharwa, where Haidee (my girlfriend and non-DHBC person) was waiting, part way through her own 100km course. She was doing it on her vintage Geoff Scott road bike - a serious effort! We had a nice lunch then set off together into a pretty tough headwind, parting ways again at the turnoff to Corin Dam.

The longest climb of the day was up to Corin Forest (The 250km bunch went past here and on to Corin Dam). It's a really long climb, but with a few undulating sections part way up that make it much more enjoyable than the others. I thought I could make it the whole way up without getting off my bike, but alas, I hit one point where I couldn't turn the pedals any more, and again was reduced to walking. Terrible! The frustrating part was that on the less-steep gradients, I was going fine, charging right ahead, it was just the steep parts that I couldn't handle. Gears might be a good thing!

The descent from the Corin Forest was amazing, just down and down and down, with lots of dips and turns to make it interesting. Maybe the best part of the ride. Two guys on a tandem breezed past me when I was doing 65 - they must have been doing 75 I think. Pretty quick for a steep hill - I wondered if their brakes were working...

The remainder of the ride was rolling hills, all very scenic and nice, punctuated by more fruit cake and banana and hot cross buns from the food stands. It was all very well organised.

I made it back after exactly 10 hours, which was 8hrs 15min of riding and 1hr 45min of stops. I was pretty tired, but like the Fixie Century, I actually felt better and better as the day went on. I think I'm going to do more of these Audax things. It was much harder than I expected, but more fun at the same time.

I didn't realise until after the ride how many DHBC members were there - quite a turnout! Well done guys on a great hillclimbing effort.

Toddles
Posts: 4
Joined: 03 Mar 2011, 12:25

Postby Toddles » 02 Nov 2011, 15:14

Wow what a ride, we all decided that Fitz's Hill is the hardest climb in all of our riding careers. At one point or another I think we all wanted to throw in the towel but didn't.

Thanks to all the guys as we all rode the 165km together supporting each other through the tough times.

Now for the next challenge, more climbing anyone?


Return to “Road”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests