It’s easy to be intimidated. Hills hurt. Deciding to ride up one of the biggest, more iconic, scariest
climbs in all of Australia can do your head in. The fear of the unknown takes hold, how steep does it get?
Is it snowing at the top? Will I make it? WHY ARE WE DOING THIS? The TMCC took a trip to the Victorian Alps to find the answers.
Relay style team events, typically endurance based, have been quite popular in the mountain bike scene for quite some time. But pure road racing events in this format isn’t what you’d call common. JetBlack, a brand known for its MTB roots, came together with the Southern Highlands Cycle Club to put on the 3rd installment of the Marathon NSW Road Championships.
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“That’s going to be hard to beat! Forget about the ride tomorrow, that’s going to be the highlight of the weekend without a doubt!”
The Jayco Herald Sun Tour’s Stage 4 was incredible. The route took riders up the Arthurs Seat climb 3 times, and Wade from Cycling Tips and Rapha set out to make it a day to remember by organising Bay 13 on a sweeping corner halfway up the climb. The idea was to get as many people there as possible, and try to recreate that Tour like atmosphere up in the mountains as the race went past.
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The date was put forward months ago, the leave passes were all signed, the netball season was over, the houses would sell themselves – finally everyone* was free and it was time for the next installment of the TMCC epic ride.
As is often the case, the allure of quiet roads and beautiful scenery meant we would once again head up Macquarie Pass into the Southern Highlands, but this time go further into the Highlands passing through a few small towns along the way.
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Stupidly long winter rides have the potential to be spectacular, something you’ll be talking about with your mates for years to come. They can also be a wet, cold, and a generally miserable experience. Finding yourself 50km away from home absolutely freezing, knowing you’ve got to ignore the near frost bite pain in your hands and feet, and ride home, can be a nightmare. This is pretty much what happened the first time we attempted this ride (Macquarie Pass, freezing and wet).
Almost a month later, it was time to try again. This time there was no sign of rain at all, fantastic. All we had to contend with this time was the wind, easy right? Just a few gusts, nothing to worry about.
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With the winter riding season officially underway, weekend rides often become the only chance to get out and ride with the sun on your back. A good turnout, and slightly milder conditions, made for a relaxed ride out to Jamberoo.
I’ll let the photos do the rest of the talking.
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Recently the mountain bike division of the TMCC travelled to Kowan Forest just outside Queenbeyan for this years Mont 24 hour. The average rider who competes in a 24 hour race typically does so in a team of 4 or 6. The idea is that each team has one rider on the course at all times between 12 midday on the Saturday and 12 midday on the Sunday, laps ares done in a relay fashion.
At this years Mont 24, a sold out entrant list of 2800 tackled a 16km course sprawling through Kowen Forest. While mostly through thick pine forest, certain sections of the course traveled through open fire trail and more standard Aussie bush.
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Owen puts the power down through the quiet streets of Jamberoo
The alarm goes off, it’s Saturday morning, time for a nice big ride with the bunch. No pressure to get back for work, a chance to go a bit further than usual, maybe somewhere you haven’t been for a while. Saturday morning rides are great. A quick glance outside reveals its wet. No problem, it isn’t raining now and the road will dry up
once the sun’s out. Then it happens, you get a message on your phone, it can only mean one thing at this time of the morning. “Mate, its pouring here, coming down heavy”. Its 30 minutes before the meet up time, and already being completely ready, just short of clipping in the pedals, we decide to give it 20 minutes. Not more than 10 minutes later comes another one, this time from the official TMCC ride organiser, “Men, raining cats and dogs here, back to bed for me”. Followed by “I’m riding, going to get wet but stuff it, cya soon”
Months ago an opportunity arose to join a local group of riders in the Victorian Alps. The planned ride would be so epic it would take the group over a “warm up” category 2 climb, then two HC category climbs – all in the one day, over a stretch of 240km. Two riders from the TMCC put their hands up and joined the group.
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