Who else but our sadistic Tools on Tour member Dominique would even think about riding from Tathra at sea level to the highest point in Australia in one day.
Half of the "Tools" took up the challenge Dominique, Andy, Rob & Mark were joined by now associate "Tool" Elton Ivers, all gathered at the beach in the darkness to ready themselves for the 5.15am start. Spirits were high as the group pushed out of Tathra to warm the legs up on the way to Bega.
It was great meet up with fellow "Tool" Dave Mullens on the way to Bega, unable to join us for the whole journey but at least he provided some encouragement by riding out to the Cooma turnoff with us.
It was an easy pace to Bemboka and then on to the first challenge for the day, Brown Mountain, 800m up over 10kms is always tough and today was no different. Dom and Elton made good time up the mountain, followed by Andy and Rob. Mark got to the top declaring "that was F@#&ing agony". It was then onwards and upwards to the first offical stop for coffee and food - Nimmitabel.
My excitment in looking forward to what is usually the easy section of the ride between Nimmitabel to Cooma was soon well and truly quashed with the arrival of a strong headwind and being dropped off the back of the group. The headwind made for very tough going all the way to Jindabyne, where we would normally be riding along at 25-40km/h, instead we were struglling against the wind at 15-20km/h. Not only tough physically but even more so mentally.
We all made it to the next official stop, Jindabyne, albiet with much less spirit and energy than earlier in the day. It was at this stage that we were all considering why the hell we were doing this to ourselves, the combination of the headwind, the climbing, the time in the saddle and having to continually eat was starting to take its toll on all.
193 tough kms down and after much soul searching it was back on the road for the final 40kms up the big hill, at least the wind had dropped by this time unfortunately this was countered by the fact the road started going upwards rapidly.
Unfortunately I had to concede defeat 28kms short at Sawpit Creek, feeling unwell and exhausted I decided it had been a big enough effort and did not see the point in doing damage to myself. I was very happy to see our trustly support person, Heather, who had done a fantastic job all day, it was in the trailer for my bike and in the car for me. Mark battled on for a bit longer before he too took the smark option and joined me in the car.
That left 3, Dom, Rob & Elton - these guys did an amazing job to keep going up the relentless and sometimes what seemed like endless hills, they fought fatigue, cramps and nausea to keep going, digging deeper than ever before.
There was some relief after Perisher where the road finally lessened in grade until the final rise to Charlottes Pass, Elton seemed to get a second wind and was seemingly cruising up the front but with the end in sight Dominique couldn't help himself and dug in even deeper for a final effort to bridge the gap between him and Elton over the last couple of hundred metres to catch Elton at the top, Rob arrived not long after declaring "bloody hell that got emotional at times".
By this time it was 8.30pm and unbelievably everyone decided to swap the road bike for the Mountain Bike to do the last bit on the dirt, so the lights were strapped on, shoes changed and jackets put on and it was off towards the highest point in Australia. We didn't make it right to the top this time but all has vowed to doing it all again next year and make it to the top hopefully with better conditions and some changes in plan.
It was getting close to 10pm by the time we loaded the bikes and departed from Charlottes Pass so it had been a big day.
Well done everyone, bloody great effort!!!
Thanks go to Heather for a big effort by supporting us all day and also to Jo Rideaux for driving up with the trailer full of Mountain Bikes.
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