Ride Reviews » 6am-ers Cycling

The whole weekend in the ‘nongs – Cyclists paradise

Sep 042011

Saturday ride (due to Father’s Day Sunday) -

(Ride participants: 2Laps, Mad Mike, Diesel, Horny, Crash Test, Taylo, Borris, Gus, Rocket, Smiling Assasin, Lumpy. 6am-ers guests: Brendan, Matt) (This post written by Diesel)

I need a word to describe the feeling I have when I get back from a weekend 6am-er ride which has just blown me away as a fantastic experience. I will have to ponder on that word.

In any case, this morning (Saturday) was just that. Sometimes I get back from a 6am-ers ride (or any ride for that matter) and have an extremely deep sense of satisfaction from the experience. There is so much that contributes to that feeling that it’s very hard to describe in just a few words – or just one. It usually includes:

a high level of physical effort
the company of lots of my really good mates
hanging a bit of shit on each other
a few non-racing races
the observation of some out-of-the-ordinary efforts by someone
lots of hills
sunshine (but not always)
Dandenongs or Northern Hills

The experiences we have as cyclists – and as 6am-ers in particular – are gold (not a word I use often!)… and they’re not things which the average member of our Melbourne community gets to experience. So often I head up those hills early in our ride, thinking about the fact that most people in our city are missing out by sleeping in until whatever hour. Some of them would say, “you fools” – yet many others simply don’t know what they’re missing.

So clearly – I returned home this morning from our ride with this deep sense of satisfaction.

The 6am-er ride today was the Classic de Nongs. A traditional route taking in some of the major climbs in the Dandenongs; One Tree Hill, The Wall and Slaughterhouse. The big group of 6am-ers joined the roll out and most of us tackled One Tree Hill before Rocket and The Smiling Assassin headed off up the Tourist Road for early coffee and return. Horny and Borris had earlier headed for easier climbs. The rest of us smashed it down to Monbulk before hitting the wall (not the normal figuritively ‘hitting’ – the 6am-ers kind of ‘hitting’) and then some more split off to the Black Kettle for early coffee at the top (Crash, Taylo).

The ride from Olinda down to Montrose was the most fun I’ve had on a road bike in quite a long while. It was superb. Smooth new road – a descent – but plenty of effort required to keep it moving along at a reasonable clip.

We then hit the Slaughterhouse (Invermay Road, Mt. Evelyn) and that pretty much finished me off! (a couple of k’s at 11ish%)

Of note, the effort put in my Matt Gunston today was outstanding. He’s come along the last three Saturdays in his MTB shorts and his flexi-MTB shoes and pedals. He’s hardly ever ridden road (yet a great MTBer) but made it through our first two climbs without a problem and then followed it up with a Montrose climb with Horny to finish off at coffee with everyone else. A truly admirable effort and I think a future force to be reckoned with. Nice work Mat.

A great chat over a quick coffee at the Black Kettle and then plenty of endorphins floating around and mixing things up on the route back home.

Gold!

Then Sunday (today)?…

Not to be overcome by the demands of Father’s Day, three 6am-ers headed out again this morning to take advantage of the second balmy Melbourne morning in a row. I’m not sure of the temperature but when I went out to get the paper this morning, wishing I was out on my bike, it was a positivley temperate morning. @bighorn9 described the ride as an, “absolute stellar ride around Selby and the Nongs.” Knowing Horny as we do, I’m willing to put money on the fact that their ride included Selby-Aura Road in at least one direction. And so it should, it’s an absolute stella road.

Two days?… 6am-ers everywhere. Father’s day regardless. And no doubt all us dads also managed to spend some absolutely precious time with our wonderful children.

Life is Gold!

Yellingbo Linzer Torte Trophy Handicaps – Sunday ride 21/8

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Aug 212011

There was an unusual flurry of email activity ahead of this week’s Sunday ride, spurred on by El who had devised an excellent plan to run a handicap race in the middle of the classic 6amer Pav Macca loop which had got up in the vote. I had spent Saturday with the kids in the park marvelling at the blue sky and I couldn’t wait to take advantage of this crisp and sunny pre-Spring weather to get out on the bike.

My mate David Baker had phoned-in his intentions to join the group this week so I had some extra motivation to get up on time after friend’s birthday dinner turned out to be a seven course degustation with never-empty wine and beer. But not even the bloat and dehydration after a short four hours of sleep was going to keep me away from today’s fray – although I really didn’t need to be carrying all this around the countryside:

Coffin Bay Oysters w/ Red Wine & Shallot Vinegar

Eggplant Fritters w/ goat’s curd, mint & herb mayonnaise (v)

Hervey Bay Scallops, Oven Baked w/ Spinach, Garlic & Anchovy Butter

Seafood Board w/ Prawn bocadillos, Yellofin Tuna salad, Tasmanian smoked salmon w/ Lilliput capers & pan con tomate

Tapas Board of Prosciutto di Parma, mushrooms w/ fino sherry & thyme, chorizo w/ white bean puree, tortilla Española & pan con tomate

Salad of Heirloom Carrots w/ organic quinoa, sunflower kernels, Persian fetta & Pea tendrils (v)

Paella, prawns, squid, chorizo, grape tomatoes, green beans, chicken & mussels

Hot Chocolate Pudding, Gundowring French Vanilla Ice Cream w/ PX Sherry (v)

Cheese Selection Board (v)

In the dark we had nine starters from the shop and a solid pace out of the gates got rid of any nervous energy early and we quickly settled into a good rhythm enjoying the perfect conditions – no cloud, no wind, warm. We did the pickups, up our old mate Diesel who’s been away on sabbatical for ages and a way down the track we collected Sleeping Dukey who took the extra hour of doona time and a shortcut from home.

Now Eleven strong, my favourite part of the day unveiled the same warm sun as yesterday from behind Sugarloaf near Lysterfield in a spectacular sunrise. But the warmth was was brought into stark relief as we dropped down behind Cardinia resevoir and the temperature dropped by about 10 degrees.

Coming out of Cockatoo toward Nangana something started to change in the bunch. Two abreast turned into a pace line and the rollers were starting to really hurt me. I fell off the back on a climb and Gilmore, MadMike and I swapped turns from there to keep in touch.

We got to Yellingbo and found the pacemen waiting and having a nice rest. Of course they rolled off as soon as we were in sight, so no relief for our troubles. And it seemed the handicap had been abandoned in favour of flat-out sprint into Emerald. Duke, El, Dave Baker and others put on the fireworks shelling everyone. It’s as exciting trying hold on as it is loathsome spending all your bikkies 75km from home. We regrouped at some point and I re-started off the back with DB, while he kindly paced me back on but cooked me in the process. All I could to was maintenance from there surviving only on the promise of a Linzer Torte at the coffee stop.

The group had grown again once at the Bakery in Emerald and we were 14 or so strong now. I had to eat and drink as much as I could to recover. I think I saw DB finish his Torte in two bites!

Thankfully it’s all downhill (mostly) from Emerald to Belgrave to Wantrina and the food had done me good and the pace had returned to normal so I could stick my head up and enjoy the great weather and have a yak to a few of the crew.

It seems that there were quite a few commitment points awarded today. Horny and Diesel getting back into it on a beast of a ride. 21-tooth coming back after a week in bed (his first sick days taken in 12 years!). The Claw battling it out despite feeling crap. No dimmer switch fellas, great work.

As this glorious, long, hilly/flat, torte-infused ride drew to a close I was left thinking about what it actually was that just happened. It wasn’t really training and it wasn’t quite a race although I’m definitely going to rebuild stronger and I’ve rarely pushed myself harder in any event. Today was definitive 6amers. Marvelling and being inspired by the form of the top riders of the moment. Helping and being helped through a pretty massive day by anyone’s measure. I reckon we’re living a life that wouldn’t be traded for anything, except maybe more sleep!

Cheers,

Autobus

Unusually flat (and against our moto) – but solid

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Aug 162011

The 6am-ers hatched a grand plan some months ago; to run down the beach every couple of months in order to get as many 6am-ers on the road as possible. Well it’s working!

Sunday’s ride down through the Two Bays loop saw 19 riders hit the road on what would otherwise have been a miserably cold and foggy Sunday morning. As we rolled our way along Warrigal Road through Cheltenham, we were lucky if we could see 30 metres in front of us through the pea soup. This was no reflection of the mood however, which is always boystrous when this many of us get together.

It was great to see some not-so-frequently-seen 6am-ers on the road. Darryl the Tree Man was there and would later prove to put in a tremendously admirable effort on the return trip. The Smiling Assasin joined in with his brother for most of the roll down and Brendon (put onto us by the Extractor) joined us for the first time; to be lulled into a false sense of security by coming out on the flat with the 6am-ers on a rare cruisy beach ride. He’s coming out again in a couple of weeks to experience the true 6am-er experience of the hills.

As we hit the first little climb up Kars Street, I felt the twang of a spoke breaking before being subjected to the predictable mocking thereafter:

“You shouldn’t have had that fourth donut Readie. I told you to stop at three but you had to go for it didn’t you?” The Claw

“Don’t for a second think you have too much power Diesel.” Unidentified (probably Foggy)

“Are you glad you raided that ice-cream fridge every night in Sydney now Readie?” The Duke

I thanked the Lord for the forsight to have built 36 spoke wheels and kept on riding, thinking I now had an excuse for not doing the second lap of Two Bays that I had earlier boasted loudly about. Cool.

We hammered pretty quickly around the Two Bays loop, noting that some riders are going particularly well at present. El Mantes is flying, Taylo is as good as I’ve ever seen and Darryl the Tree Man remained solid around the whole loop, clearly benefiting from his recent gym program. All flew up Canadian Bay road well ahead of me… but I had a broken spoke remember.

Oh yeah – and Smithy, Horny and Bender, all of whom had promised to be there, were notable absentees. This one’s for you…

Yes - it's concrete

Many did a repeat of Two Bays Road (I couldn’t because I had a broken spoke remember) and we soon regrouped as the rest of us commenced to roll back along Nepean Highway. Some nice solid turns with the whole group in the mix had us back up to Hampton for coffee relatively quickly. This is where Darryl showed some fantastic grit. He waited just slightly too long to drop onto the back in order to remain amonst it…

… but a few of us dropped back to bring him back on and boy – he put-in big time. I love seeing it when someone with not quite the same power-to-weight as everyone else really puts in to do their finest in order to get to the coffee shop on time. Darryl is clearly on a mission and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the hills with us soon (someone’s probably going to tell me he’s been there whilst I’ve been away?).

Shawie and his bowl of coffee

Gilmore, feeling not quite so smashed-up as last week, spent the whole coffee time fixing a flat. As we all got up to leave when he sat down for his coffee, he was heard to mutter something similar to, “Please don’t ever let Foggy help me fix a flat again?!” – or something like that.

Most of us arrived home to family with 130 in the bank and a satisfied feeling in the legs. Many of us spent the afternoon acting like we were awake, alert and ready to hit the house-work.

Another extremely satisfying Sunday morning with the 6am-ers. Thanks for my welcome back.