https://app.strava.com/segments/8096254
"How many times has the weatherman told you stories that make you laugh?"
Always the Sun - The Stranglers
I tried for my second Everest on Swans Road on 18th
April 2014, and was looking to knock 36 laps out of Swans Road which is 4.2km’s @ 6%.
Autumn had set-in and we were fast approaching winter, & I learnt an
expensive lesson. Just because you want
to do it, and it’s there, doesn't mean that you will do it.
I had several reservations about this climb, which is a lot harder than the average gradient suggests. The climb had a number of undulation changes, and several pinches reaching 15%. I had descended it in heavy winds before and
it was downright dangerous being flung around by strong cross winds. I always
said that if there was a Westerly wind I wouldn’t do it, and even now I wonder
why I considered it with a forecasted 20 - 30km Westerly. I contacted one of the local riders I met at
the Nationals earlier in the year Matt Ayers and told him what I was thinking
of doing, and Matt runs a Strava Club: “the Second Sunday Group” and published
a comment saying that I was going to Everest and suggested riders come
down.
http://app.strava.com/clubs/43157
Guess I went from considering to do it, to feeling
pressured, and went from the logical “is this possible?” to “I’m doing
this!”. Mistake number 1.
Photographs by Matt Ayres
I decided to have a sleep in and start around 12:00pm, and
mistake number 2 was not starting earlier when the weather was fine. On my first lap it was 17 degrees and the
weather was nice, and halfway up the climb, the weather suddenly turned to
shit. A massive cold front rushed in,
and the weather went from 17 degrees to 11 degrees, and an icy cold wind picked
up, and gusts over over 80kmph bucketed me at the top. Just to add to my misery it started to rain
quite heavily. I was riding into a head
wind on pinches going up to 15%, and I was trying to go slow and pace myself,
but I was shovelling shit uphill, & my heartrate was racing at 186bpm. The conditions were atrocious and mistake 3
was not waiting out the storm and start in reasonable conditions.
The first two laps killed me, and even though the weather
stabilised, it continued to fluctuate throughout the day making it challenging
for the body to stay warm. The winds
remained constant throughout my ride, but had died down, but I copped headwinds over 90% of the climb. Matt Ayres came down to roll some laps with
me, and took some amazing photos and was great to go and get a Frozen Coke for me. Then Gary Beazley who had Everested Mount
Alexander & the Serpentine showed up.
Gary was a rock, and rolled 8 laps with me. He glided up the climb, and I knew that I was in trouble as I had to push to keep up with him, and was wrecked. Those first couple of laps had left me shell shocked and I was finding it difficult to find my composure, and recover. I’ve ridden in some bad, bad weather, and
really needed to HTFU!. When Gary left,
I wasn’t confident. I knew realistically
I had to be really fresh at that point of the ride and I was struggling. I had time on my side, and when the sun set,
I headed up to my brother-in-laws place for dinner, and a shower.
When I got back out on the bike I felt quietly
confident. I had recharged my cells, and
time was on my side. I had planned on
riding till midday the next day. When I
got outside I found that the temperature had plummeted 8 degrees and was now only 5 degrees outside. I usually I don’t mind
riding in these sorts of conditions, but the wind was still active, and the wind had an icy bite to it and really chilled me to the
bone. I used so much strength to stay
warm, and pumped out lap after lap. I found my tempo, but even though it was only 4km’s per
climb, felt like each ascent was up a Mountain.
I had time on my side, but knew the conditions weren't ideal to ride
throughout the night. I considered riding
as long as I could, then take a few hours to recover, and look at finishing my
Everest in the warmer daylight hours. I finally admitted defeat, and
just couldn’t keep riding. At
midnight I had completed 20 laps and around 5,000 vertical. I still had 16 laps to go, and couldn’t see
myself finishing. I felt I had that
strength to do another 4 or 5 laps, but what would be the point? I’d just get closer to failure yet
again.
In two rides on Perrins Creek Road I rode 480km’s, completed 85 laps & climbed 16,500 vertical metres. Neither of these rides compared to the hardships that I went through today. I was now 1/3 in Everest attempts, and didn’t beat myself up as this was easily one of the hardest rides I’ve ever done. I was defeated by a headwind, and the cold , and I admitted that I shouldn’t have tried to Everest in these conditions. The weatherman got the forecast horribly wrong, but who trusts the weatherman?
 |
| Photograph by Jason Poon |
Swans Road broke me, but I will be back again someday to finish what I started!
Here is the link to my Strava Activity:
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