Amy's Gran Fondo 2014

How I feel about the Fondo!

. . . or how to ride with an empty tank!

This years Gran Fondo was the third time that I had participated in this event, and I originally had grand plans of possibly even training to improve my time. I thought this might actually be quite difficult, as I had improved my time up the all important Skenes Creek Road last year, with the aid of significant anger and frustration from some work related issues. I wasn't too keen to experience more of that anger and frustration, so my plan was to do actual training, especially in the hills.

 

Gorgeous Lorne

 

 

 

All this was put on hold when I got a particularly nasty cold about 6 weeks out from the event. Still that was far enough out that I could still hope to do a bit of hills training and hope for the best. Mr Carl and I even drove out to the hills so we could do concentrated hills training. On my day off, I diligently road up Ansteys hill, struggling with some mechanical issues, but absolutely flying up the hill. Things weren't looking too bad, when, a week and a half out from the Fondo, disaster struck!

The view from the road

  

 

 

 

Mr Carl had come down with the flu! I was hopeful it was just a belated version of the cold I previously had and that I wouldn't catch it, but it was not to be. The weekend before the Fondo, Carl and I were on bed rest. All our plans for a final training ride were shelved as we struggled to get out of bed long enough to eat. 

 

 

Mr Carl recovering

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thankfully over the next week we slowly recovered, however neither of us were all that hopeful of improving our time, we'd be lucky if we could actually complete the ride! With that in mind we made a new plan - have fun!

 

 

 

 

A good time to be a tourist

Shakedown!

 

 

Lorne made it very easy to carry out this plan, turning on some glorious weather. It was still a little overcast on the Saturday when we went for our shakedown ride, but it cleared up to be an almost perfect day on the Sunday. 

 

 

 

 

 

Our shakedown ride was 30km along the Great Ocean Road and it revealed that while both of us seemed to be lacking a top gear, we could cruise along no worries. The question then became, would our cruising speed be enough to let us finish the course within the time cutoffs?

 

 

 

 

 

Accepting the fact that we felt we weren't quite up to speed, we made a plan. The plan was to make it to the top of Skenes Creek Road, about 50 km into the ride. After that, if we had to catch the sag wagon, so be it.

 

Springtime in Lorne

There were two additional complications that made me wonder if I was even meant to be doing this ride! One was that my bike seemed to have a different understanding of correct chain placement to me, and had an annoying tendency to drop the chain. What was even more annoying is that we couldn't get it to repeat it in workshop conditions, so we couldn't be sure any attempts to fix it would work. 

 

The Cog

 

 

The other complication was my back, which decided to have a panic attack on the Saturday night and send sharp, stabbing pains to my brain should I even think about bending. On the plus side, the treatment for this involved a spa, so it wasn't all bad! Still, in my head, I only had to make it half way, which wasn't so bad!

 

 

 

Pain face!

 

 

 

 

 

To distract us from all our concerns we headed out to watch other people suffer. As an additional attraction this year, Cycling Tips and the Amy Gillett Foundation had started an event called Amy's Wall. Conveniently located outside the pub, it's a race of about 130 m up a 20% incline. Prizes were given for the best pain face as well as the fastest times! Nothing gets the crowd going more than watching other people suffer! With that finished, it was off to grab some food and head to bed.

 

 

 

Best noodles ever!

 

Captain Smudge!

 

One local suggested that if you ever want to be guaranteed good weather for a wedding, hold it in Lorne on the day of the Fondo. Admittedly you'd have to share the space with a multitude of cyclists, but the weather would be good! And so it was for us, blue skies, little to no wind yet still cool enough to ride all day. 

 

 

 

A Happy Chewie!

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's always good to be in the company of friends and we were lucky enough to line up on the start line with an assortment of Smudge Monkees! In particular, I was pleased to start with Chewie, as we had pretty much crossed the finish line together last year. I suspected this year might be a different story!

 

 

More Happy Monkees!

 

 

Finally we were let loose and 5000 odd cyclists took off down the Great Ocean Road on a glorious spring day! Of course my chain tried to dislodge itself within the first few kilometres, but I've learnt a few tricks by now and was able to keep it from falling off completely. Obligatory mechanical out the way, we gently cruised along, the Monkees having pretty much dropped us from the bell! But it was never our intention to keep up with them, just to make it as far as we could with the cards we had been dealt. And that meant cruising along and enjoying ourselves! Maybe I should get sick more often ;)

 

 

 

 

Cycling = Happiness

The Great Ocean Road flew by beneath our wheels and all too soon we were facing the dreaded hill climb of Skenes Creek Road. I blogged about this section last year, so I won't go into too much detail this time round, but I will say that my attitude this time was very different. I just wanted to make it to the top without destroying myself and hopefully have enough left to complete the rest of the ride.

 

 

The top of Skenes

 

 

I found myself passing and being passed, and having enough energy and breathe to joke with people as I went by. My standard line was: "Passing on you're right ... slowly", which got a few chuckles. I played tag with a man, passing him and being passed by him in regular intervals. All in all I had fun, and after 50 minutes or so, I made it to the top.

 

 

 

 

Local Musos!

 

 

One of the fun things about the Fondo is the way the locals get into the spirit of things, which was aptly demonstrated by two bagpipers that greeted all the riders at the top of the hill, appropriately dressed in kilts. I actually love bagpipes, so this made my day and I could have quite happily sat there and listened to them for the rest of the day. Except for one thing, there was no water!

More views from the road

 

 

 

 

If I have one disappointment with the Fondo it is this, the first rest stop, which doesn't come until 50 km into the ride (a necessity due to logistical reasons I think) has been out of something every time I have done this ride. And water is the worse thing you could be out of. With this in mind, Mr Carl and I decided to head to the next rest stop, which was 20 km away and "mostly downhill".

 

 

 

The lack of water meant that I didn't eat anything substantial at the first rest stop and I really noticed it over the next 20 km. The legs had nothing and I wondered if I really was going to end up in the sag wagon. But thankfully, due not in the least to Mr Carl's infinite patience, we made it to the next rest stop, Forest, which had water, and more importantly - a sausage sizzle!

My support train

 

I regretted last year not getting a sausage from the enterprising locals at this stop so short of being terribly ill, I had vowed to get one this year! Thankfully Mr Carl actually did the buying while I collapsed on the grass with a friendly dog. He became even more friendly once I got my sausage, but there was no way I was sharing! The sausage really hit the spot and soon I was feeling back to my old self and ready to go. I wasn't going to quit yet!

 

 

Historical monuments

 

 

 

 

And boy was I glad I didn't! The next section of gentle rolling hills that I remembered as being absolutely horrible last year, were stunning, relaxing and fun! I suppose that's the difference that wind direction makes. Once again the road flew beneath our sausage powered bikes and within no time we had made it to Deans Marsh.

 

 

 

 

 

Stunning scenery

From Deans Marsh there was just one more hill before the finish, and as I spun/ground my way up there I was surprised to see a number of people walking. Admittedly I can relate, I've walked a few hills in my time and any hills at the end of a 110 km ride are going to be hard. I guess I'm used to being the one at the back, walking, and remembering that, I yelled out as many words of encouragement as I could! 

 

Feeling Good!

 

Finally I made it to the top and crossed the finish line, to be greeted by Mr Carl's smiling face. I was really surprised we had made it (well, mostly me, Mr Carl's that stubborn that the only thing that would have stopped him would've been me) and I was even more surprised that my bike had made it as the gears had been getting progressively worse. We've actually done some bike maintenance since and discovered that the rear gear cable had frayed, leaving only about 4 strands intact. That would explain the problems I had been having!

 

 

 

Getting into the spirit

 

 

From the finish we cruised down to the event village for pasta and whatever else we could get our hands on! We also caught up with the Smudge Monkees and a few other friends, all of whom had enjoyed their day thoroughly! The only things that remained to do were pizza, spa and gelati! 

 

Pizza!

 

 

 

Mr Carl and I enjoyed a relaxing recovery that night, surprised that we had made it and surprised that we weren't completely wiped out! We fully expected not to be able to move the next day, but were again pleasantly surprised that we felt good enough to spend a few hours shopping in Lorne (Christmas and birthday shopping done!). We had an inkling, looking at the times on the website, that we had done ok time wise, but without access to a computer, confirmation via Strava would have to wait.

 

 

 

Butterflies - perfect for pint sized visitors!

 

We finished our holiday with a detour to Melbourne, to see my now 1 year old niece, as well as spend my birthday with my sister who shares it! She treated us to a visit to the Melbourne Zoo, and it was lovely to see my niece be captivated by all the sights and sounds, even if some of them scared her!

 

 

 

More Butterflies!

 

 

When we finally made it home we did manage to unpack the car before we uploaded our garmins to Strava, but only just! And what a surprise awaited me! This was the quickest time I had done the course and the quickest time I had gone up Skenes Creek Road! I couldn't believe it! I'd like to think it had something to do with the level of base cycling fitness achieved through the bike tours we did last year as well as some hard work I've been putting in at the gym, but what ever the reason it was a wonderful surprise! Now I wonder what I can do if I actually train! ;)

 

Link to Strava here.