My Audax Alpine Classic

So I went back down to Bright, Vic for the Australia Day long weekend for the 4th time for the Audax Alpine Classic. This year was my second year of entering the event after getting a road bike last year and deciding that instead of hanging around waiting for my boyfriend to finish I would have a go myself, 4 years ago I had a hybrid and hated hills – I have come a long way and while I still hate hills I now love the challenge.

This year I entered the 130km course while my boyfriend did the crazy 250km total annihilation course offered for the first time this year. I asked him why he wanted to do it given it meant starting at 4am and enduring darkness, cold and 12 hours of riding, he answered ‘because it was there to be done.’ Though to be fair he also just thought it would be very beautiful and an amazing experience. Not sure I will ever have that kind of drive to challenge myself to the physical brink but you never know, judging by the average age of a lot of Audax fanatics it seems to be something you work up or as I suspect a serious addiction! The bright night sky and the views at dawn over Mt Hotham sounded incredible and I doubt many people would experience that on a bike so there was some considerable pleasure in the pain. Here are some photos Nick found of his route – he didn’t manage to take any of his own.

This is near Omeo (much greener time of year)	And this is nearing the top of Mt Hotham.

My ride started at a more civilized time of 7.20am and the mood was a mixture of nerves and excitement among the few hundred riders in my distance. The festival entertainers were out in force dressed in traditional French outfits teasing the crowd and trying to crack some smiles amongst the more serious riders:) Some were old hands at Audax and others were new, even to cycling – one guy had his helmet on backwards and said he wasn’t a cyclist, hated hills and only rode Beach Rd in Melbourne - was he in for a shock! I doubted whether he would make it but hats off if he did!

The ride to the top of Tawonga Gap is fairly easy though it gets steep towards the end and already some people looked in trouble. The main difficulty at this point is riding in such a large bunch with many riders unused to riding in a group and I was fairly nervous about people changing directions unpredictably and all the other issues with less experienced riders – it was slow going but thinned out once the gradient really starting going up and I was able to find my rhythm – even passing people including some of the little light weight females, so that settled my nerves:) The view as you descend into Mt Beauty is great – a very pretty area and though I enjoyed my first descent with my new Continental tires (wow they were awesome) I saw a lot of 8% on my speedo and couldn’t help thinking about how it was going to be coming back up after Falls Creek and in the heat of the day!

The ascent up Falls Creek is a long one – really long. 30km up hill is something else physically and psychologically but the spectacular views, clean air, cool temp at that time and the modest average 4% gradient for the first third of the hill with about 10kms of undulations giving your legs a rest in the middle meant it was a very pleasant climb. However, the last 10km, as I had been warned, really hurt. The average at this end is more like 7 or 8% and I have never seen km pass so slowly! I was doing around 10 – 11km/hr and it was definitely time to get the MP3 player out for some of my radio podcasts to distract me from watching the meters tick. Already riders were flying passed me downhill racing each other and some even giving me words of encouragement, which was lovely. I chatted with a few people as I climbed and some were really struggling others seemed to find it easy! I really wanted to tell one guy to get his heart rate down but given he suddenly tried to go even faster as I overtook I didn’t think he would take kindly to this advice (especially form a girl) but he really must have been at the upper limits of his red zone and I feared he wouldn’t get there – I hope he did. I do love the camaraderie though on these rides – for the most part strangers are incredibly friendly. It is why I love Audax rides, it is about getting there as your own personal challenge not a competition with others (though of course there are always those who feel it is a competition and can often do silly things as a result).

The last few km’s up to the Ski Chalet was slow and hard – my legs just couldn’t push any harder and though I could see the Chalet it felt like an age away – that is when the battle got very mental! I made it to the top – I was a bit shaky as all my food had suddenly run out and I made my way inside to force down some food and sit down – it was a good sit. The views had been amazing as I got higher and higher and the air got fresher and cooler.

I stayed for just under 30mins at the top then got back on the bike to start the exhilarating downhill that was so so much fun but my teeth chattered for the first half. I had most of the downhill to myself with only a few cars passing me. The road surface is great and the corners are rarely tight so you can really have fun. I really think everyone should experience going down Falls on their bike. It was a little bit creepy being so alone but at the same time it was magical.

Tawonga was as expected hot and with my legs a bit tired, hard. Halfway up I stopped for water, had some tipped over my head by a volunteer and powered on with some parts of the climb completely still of breeze and mostly 8% - it was slow and hot. The last couple of kms again felt like they would never end but I eventually reached the top let out a ‘wha ho’ and stopped for a sweaty pic:) I sped down Tawonga with the feeling of home near and at the bottom eventually got another guy to realise that I wanted to ride with him against the wind back into Bright. Once teamed up we took turns and managed to get back along the straight at 34km/h picking up a third rider for a bit along the way.

I had promised myself that upon finishing I would grab some food and instantly go to the river at the finish line and jump in. I ate my finish line jelly and fruit while dangling my feet in the river and then jumped into the clear cool alpine water filled with kids playing. It was the perfect finish to a hard but really really fun day.
If you are thinking of doing this ride - do it! It is a lovely place to have a family holiday and get some amazing riding in. Did I also mention the cheese and wine in this area....ah so good!