The Dandenong Ranges: 2015 Hells epic (Sherpa duties)

The date of the 2015 Hells 500 epic was set for the Easter weekend, and I had this farfetched scheme over four weeks of riding to do only 4 rides, but which would total 1,150km's & in excess of 26,000 vertical.

The best laid plans of mice & men.......

An unfortunate crash at the very start of the Gippsland sent ripple effects all along this grand scheme of mine, and was the main catalyst which caused me to have a hell of a time on my Everest attempt of Old Warburton Road last weekend. I really wanted to do the Hells epic, but I just couldn't recover from the Everest in time. Several mates of mine including Martin English, David Smith and John Van Setters were planning on doing this year’s epic and partnered with the One Heart Foundation’s Ride From Poverty initiative to “Make their Epic count”.

Their goal is to raise $10,000 towards building a school in the One Heart Children’s Village in Kenya, helping to make a difference in the lives of orphaned, disadvantaged and abandoned kids . Check out http://ridefrompoverty.cc/ for more detailed information about how you can use your influence and peddling power to make your Epic count.

Dave Smith & Martin English teamed up to Everest the 1:20, & aimed to complete the 2015 Hells 500 epic and had this crazy notion of climbing 10,000m on the 1:20.

They were aiming at 36 laps of the 1:20, which would take them close to 500km's to do. There were hiccups. Dave Smith got really sick during the week & was forced to pull out. Gary Beazley was also really sick throughout the week, stepped in, and started the ride with a cold which would really test him in the freezing cold conditions. We still wanted to keep Dave's spirit live on so we nicknamed him the Ghost of David Smith throughout the ride. Follow him at #ghost of David Smti

I had till 5:30pm to ride. Normally I would wake up at the crack of dawn but I was struggling to recover from my Everest and slept in until 6:00am instead. The forecast for the morning was for a minimum of 8. When I woke up it felt bloody cold. I looked up the weather and saw that it was 4 degrees. Never trust the weatherman.

There were hundreds of riders taking on the 1:20 in the morning, and all rugged up. I was able to ride freely, but felt that I was lacking energy to push as I normally would, and wasn't quite 100%. I was there to offer support, and to go up the front to help set pace as much as I could. Early on it was difficult finding a rhythm. Each of us had so much experience riding the 1:20, that we would automatically start to push without thinking about it. When riders were overtaking us, the first instinct was to jump on their wheel and get sucked along, but again on an Everest this wasn't feasable. Lastly anytime we came upon riders to overtake, the instincts always kicked in to give that extra little gas to fly off on them once we passed.

The laps flew smoothly on what was a very cold day. It was freezing cold until well after 1:00pm and we were really feeling it on the descents. There were a number of guys who came down to offer support, and old friends who we bumped into.

I managed 11 laps before having to say goodbye to leave to go to a birthday party. The guys were sitting on around 4,000 vertical when I left them, and doing all right given the cold weather. I promised to return early next morning. I didn't get home till close to midnight, and when the alarm went off the next morning at 5:00am it was tempting to throw it.

Sunrise on Mount D

I stopped off at Maccas on the way there to pick the boys up some Coffee's. I drove up the 1:20 and it was bad timing as they were descending just as I got there. The coffees would have gotten cold so I did a u-turn and followed them to the base. The coffees disappeared in a matter of moments, and I did need to ask how cold it was overnight (only around 5 degrees)

I had till 8:30am to ride & as I missed them at the top could only manage one lap with them. Martin still was in good spirits, but Gary was death boiled over. His speech was slurring, and could tell his cold had worsened overnight in the cold conditions. This was the 3rd Everest that I've ridden with Gary. He is as solid as a rock, & had faith in him. He's one stubborn man & at that stage were sitting on around 8,000 vert, and only a short way away from finishing their first goal of completing the Everest, and I knew Gazza could push through that. He seemed a little doubtful of getting to the 10,000 vertical & I encouraged him to pull something special out.

Martin was still having the time of his life, and was still chatting away freely. On the lap I rode with them Gary seemed a ghost of his normal self, and dropped off the back several times. I tried encouraging him along the way. I knew he wasn't doing his body any favors but had great faith that he could survive, that he could pull out the ride of his life. It was a shame that I had to leave them again, as I had to go help my mother in-law move house, and left them with 6 laps left to do.

Gary & Martin started their Everest at 6:30am on the Good Friday, and finished it at 3:00pm the following day. Gary stopped just over the 10,000m vertical mark. Martin went on to smash Justin Ashcroft’s Everesting distance record by riding 508km's, and finishing with 10,818m vertical. John Van Seters joined Martin for his last 2 laps after himself riding an epic in the ‘nongs only hours earlier, which included some night time rolling with these guys. It was a fitting way to hand over the 1:20 crown from one champion to another.

I was privileged to have been part of this record breaking ride. Friday was a beautiful day, but cold throughout, and Saturday was a chilly morning as well, and this was a very challenging super Everest. This was Martin's second Everest & Gary's fourth. I'm not upset I didn't get to do the epic myself. I still managed 12 laps of the 1:20 with 173 km's & 3,600 of vert, and got to see one truly impressive piece of climbing from Gary & Martin

Here is a link to my Strava Activity here: