Payne Road is one of the most popular local iconic climbs around Beaconsfield. As the name suggests, it is a pretty challenging climb, and was on my wish list to Everest. I had planned a group Everest late in October 2014, but this fell through when I got sick for an extended period of time. I gave some thought to coming back & Everesting at another stage, and decided not to Everest it, as I have a number of climbs that I'd rather do over this one. I admit as well that the changed my mind as the climb is quite tough for its average gradient, and I wasn't sure if I was badass enough to do it.
https://www.strava.com/segments/1232133
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| Nathan Pasco with a smile on his face early in the ride |
When I heard that a chap by the name of Nathan Pasco was planning on Everesting it, I thought I’d get the second best chance of Everesting by coming along & being a tourist instead. I had been sick the 3 weeks leading up to the day, and wasn't able to commit to riding until the day before, as still wasn’t 100%. I had hoped to get a big ride in, but just couldn’t tell how the health would hold up on the day.
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| The World famous Cardinia Pub in the background |
The weather was perfect, if not a little bit too warm. Nathan had started in the wee hours of the morning at 3:45am. It was lucky that he got quite a few laps in before the sun came up. The climb offers no shade and its easy to cook on it on a hot day. There was a southerly on the day, but thankfully the hill shaded us from the winds. Considering the circumstances, I did good sick, knocking out 50 laps of Payne Road, totalling 184km’s & 5,000 vertical. Part of the reason why I didn't want to Everest this one was the subtle gradient changes. Every 20 - 30 metres there would be a subtle change in the gradient of half to a degree variants, and you had ride this one very smart, and know exactly when to push, and when to conserve energy. Today, we glided and found the right pace.
Nathan was at about 6,500 vertical when I left him. I was confident that he would finish it when I left around 6:00pm. I was blown away to hear that he finished at 3:30am the next morning, and thankful that he had great support overnight with Rob Walker & Mark Auhl showing up to ride in the wee hours of the morning. Here is a link to his ride here, and deserves many, many Kudos: https://www.strava.com/activities/231232164
Nathan finished in just under 24 hours, and that wouldn’t have tickled, and he certainly has earned the reputation of being the master of "Payne". I was really happy to have knocked out so many laps whilst sick. I rode well until around the 4,000 vertical metre mark, and then things went a bit blurry towards the end, and honestly don't know whether I was there helping Nathan or vice versa. This was the 8th time I’ve been a tourist on an Everest ride, and staggered that all 8 have finished (The Serpentine, Falls Road, Invermay, The Wall, Payne Road, Mount View Road, Melbourne Hill Road & William Road). I still had a while till I got back to full strength, but this ride really helped to give me some confidence to get my health back in check.
Nathan put this nice message on Strava the next day:
I can't thank all of you enough for getting me over the line. Feeling a combination of euphoric and drained today, as well as sore in places I didn't think I would be. (Triceps, fingers, shoulder...) I wouldn't have finished without everyone's support, so thankyou all. Especially Brendan who stuck with me for 5000m. And Rob who was there at 5.30am, as well as two other stints. And Mark and Rob, who came back at midnight, to get me through the last few hours, cannot thankyou enough
thanks again everyone for the Kudos, Comments and support, I'm starting to feel normal again now... Looking forward to getting into the hills again this weekend with the Domestique rides. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas, and it involvels lots of riding, and "cycleish" gifts
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