Three Peaks

I set out this weekend to have one big weekend on the bike and I sure did accomplish that. Saturday started off with my usual cappuccino ride and then bunch ride to follow. I just felt so good especially after my ride on Wednesday was absolutely horrible. All I wanted to do was keep going even though I knew that today was going to be a very big day. I finished yesterday off with about 120km and I still felt reasonably fresh at the end, which was good.

Today I had been invited to do the three peaks, which included the Gillies Range, Copperlode and then the Kuranda range. I knew it that it was going to be a huge day, but the fact that I was invited by some of the A grade boys made it something I couldn't just let go. I made sure my preparation was good last night and I made sure I was in bed early. When the alarm went off at 4:45 this morning I almost bounded out of bed, I was so motivated to go and bust about some big kilometres. I joined a few others to ride into town where we met the rest of the riders. There were about thirteen in total, which was a good number because it meant if you wanted a rest or a drink you could cruise down to the back and not have to continue doing work on the front. It was 50km into the ride for me to reach the first climb and my legs felt good. I followed the four A grade boys up the climb and we were sitting on a quick pace, averaging about 20km/h. I was able to hang on for a fair portion of the first climb before I made the decision to drop off because I knew I still had a long way to go. After the relatively quick decent down the group sat on a fast 40km/h back into town, where some had pulled off leaving five riders still remaining, with two climbs to go. A quick food and drink stop followed and then we made our way to the Copperlode Dam road climb.

I hit this climb feeling surprisingly strong and before long two riders were off the back. I hung on to Adam and Paul’s wheels for a while before I felt like I cracked. When I came around one of the bends I could see Adam had been dropped by Paul and this gave me some energy to try and get back up there. I caught Adam and quickly past him and then soon found Paul cruising just around the corner. He rode alongside me for a bit and then as I turned around Adam was back next to us. I continued to follow Adam’s wheel, but I was no match for the A grade rider and I had a small moment where I hit the wall about 1.5km from the summit. I managed to crawl my way to the top where I met Adam and then later by Graham. This left only the three of us, with one climb to go.

We somewhat took it steady to the base of Kuranda and I knew this would be a bit of a struggle. We reached the base of the climb after already have travelled 148km and I just told myself that I had come to far to let this mountain stand in my way. As the three of us started the ascent Graham fell to the back and Adam excelled off the front. I could start to feel some cramps in my hamstrings and I was almost starting to dread doing this last climb, but I kept going. I dug deep and finally after coming around the last bend the realisation had set in that I had actually accomplished what I did. Adam, Graham and myself were the only three to conquer the ‘Three Peaks’. On the way home Adam shouted me a well-deserved coke and that really did help me to finish off the last 7km to get home. I finished off the day with 173.8km, my longest ride to date and I burnt off more than 4000 calories. It was such a great experience and now that I know I am capable of it, there will be a few more long rides to come.

A profile of Sunday's 173.8km ride