Surviving the Great Southern Randonnee 1200

This ride seemed to throw everything at me. From extreme heat to southerly wind and rain; illness & mechanical concerns.

!Training

To be fair, I didn't get much training in over winter. Actually, it may be more honest to say that I did not get any training in over winter. The weather was pretty awful, I had a short bout of illness. That said, following three road 1200's and a dirt 1100km event in eight months, I was overdue for some time off the bike. However I did get a small weather opening to get some hill training in :).

As you can see, from the snow and ice in shot, it was perfect weather conditions to acclimatise to riding in Australia in early summer, or perhaps it wasn't :>. That said, Mt Ruapehu has been warming up somewhat since then. (See: Mt Ruapehu could blow at any time).

I did get a pair of back to back 200's in shortly before departing for Australia. Whilst the wind served well for strength training, the rain on the 200 home may have been the instigator for mechanical issues experienced 900km later.

I’ve digressed, time to talk about the ride. The briefing mentioned being ware of kangaroos, wombats, and magpies with these black and white birds described as dressed up as New Zealanders. Fair cop. Obviously no need to mention wallabies, they have proven afterall, that they are clearly no threat. (Although the locals seem to be claiming a recent draw between the All Blacks and the Wallabies like a victory).

Moonlight

Ride Data:
Distance:	1,206km
Time:	89h00m
Elevation gain:	7,625m
Ride Data:	Strava / Garmin Connect
Location:	South-West Victoria, Australia  Oct 29-Nov 2, 2012

With the ride beginning from Anglesea at 6pm on  clear and calm night, for the initial Bellerine Peninsula loop. This first 200km began in the early evening and featured sunset followed by a still moonlit night, of which was most beautiful at the point when the moonlight was being reflected off the water over Port Phillip Bay.

Aided by good conditions and an early bunch, and a short time sucking Hamish’s wheel until I was dropped swapping my water bottles from my back pocket. Ooops, a little trickier to do in motion from under a reflective gilet. 197km & 3 controls (plus a secret control) down and a meal break in 8.5 hours, and I was well ahead of my planned schedule, a quick snack and I feeling great and ready to rock on!!!

Some may like it hot, but I sure don't!

I was still making good time to arrive at Apollo Bay (271km) before 7:30am, with a mere further 213km planned for the day, I was on schedule to arrive at Port Fairy (483km) at about sunset (8pm-ish) as planned. Unfortunately, it was a bit uphill & downhill for me all at the same time me as the morning became day and I started coming to a grinding halt unable to keep myself cool. In New Zealand I would have dunked my head in a stream to cool off, but here is Australia ‘t'is a dry and barren land with no such options available. I found the Lavers Hill climb to be arduous. On the one hand, this was a mere "Australian Mountain" and not much more than a false flat by home standards, but with the sun beating down, a lack of shade and the temperature at 32degC and rising, the energy was being sapped from me turning this into an epic climb. I consumed my three water bottles consumed in a mere 31km, and once I reached the top, there was a fairly hefty margin applied by the proprietors of the store on top of the hill. AUD$21 certainly doesn't go far there!

Following the joy of the descending, the ride through to Port Campbell (367km) was scenic, but featured as little shade as possible, with views of the ocean to taunt me by never quite close enough to offer the chance to jump in for a swim. The temperature continued to soar, with my Garmin fenix watch peaking at 37 degC. I can assure the last and warm mouthful of water in a bottle is neither thirst quenching, nor refreshing.

An ice bath would have been great at the Port Campbell control but I settled for beans on toast followed by some COLD ice cream. After spending an hour so at the control, gaining some respite from the sun I headed back out bound for Hopkins Falls and Port Fairy. I was soon struggling in the heat and pausing for rest whenever a shaded opportunity presented itself. The time advantage built previous evening all but evaporated as I arrived for for a quick break for soup at Hopkins Falls (435km) on dusk. I started experiencing cramps at this control but pushed on for Port Fairy. Riding late into the evening, without the temperature seeming to get much any cooler, eventually arriving at Port Fairy (483km; 11:25pm) struggling with the heat and unable to eat and promptly collapsed into a heap obviously the floor in the corner, hoping to feel better after I woke up. The offer of a comfortable bed being a few too metres away for me at the time lol.

90 minutes later I woke with simultaneous cramps in right calf; left quad; right foot & left hand! I felt rested and awake but also like I was being slowly roasted. Still feeling hot and flustered I was struggling to eat and get food down, and could barely drink a cup of tea! I was incredibly uncertain of my capability to complete the ride. In fact I was almost certain I would be recording a rare DNF at this point. Peter McCallum was quite big on telling me to HTFU (refer rule #5) at this point and advised me it hadn’t been hot at all of course, hails from North Queensland. I must invite over for some winter rides, perhaps in the deep south? A big thanks to the vollies at Port Fairy who helped me get back on the road.

Randonneuring is all about the finishing and not racing, or lowest net time. It is crucial to never redraw until it really is absolutely impossible to complete the event. I made some calculations of latest time I could leave for the next checkpoint at Macarthur and keep within the time limit. It came down to, if I could keep scrambled eggs on toast down I would continue. With this successfully I achieved  Phew, not feeling great but I was still rotating. Julian and I set off for Macarthur together.

Arriving at Macarthur (532km) right on the close off time, I had soup for sustenance and headed onward for the well setup Dunkeld (600km) control where I was able to move on soup and consume a solid baked spud before heading up and through the Grampians with Mick. We tried to ride together but had different strengths so as the it briefly warmed on a sun exposed clibn and I soon found myself riding alone again climbing, at least until reaching a temporary road closure for a quick snooze during a 46 minute wait before charging with springs in my legs for Halls Gap (665km). I appeciated both the scenery and increased shade that this hillier, and more forested section of the ride presented.

A brief snack at Halls Gap before heading out for the return trip to Moyston (697km). This section seemed to drag on for a mere 31km, but after getting my card signed and turning around with a tailwind, I could understand why. This provided a nice quick return back to Halls Gap (729km).

Leaving Halls Gap, just before dusk left a chunk of night riding back to Dunkeld (794km) and featured a certain amount off kangaroo slalom as I made my way through the Grampians to Dunkeld, during which the wind turned and the temperature finally began to cool  down. At Dunkeld I enjoyed another spud and a two hour sleep during much of the rain before heading back to Macarthur (863km). With the wind now a south-westerly with showers in the air, I was more-or-less riding home conditions now. With the weather bringing my body temp down, I was feeling much better and felt like I had powered down to Macarthur and onto Port Fairy (911km) regardless of the strong head and cross winds. Some of the other riders told me later that they thought they were going bit be blown over, but blowing at 50km/h – surely a mere gentle breeze?

I was pleased to arrive in Port Fairy (911km) in better health for many reasons. Perhaps one of the more important was that this time I would be able to the apple crumble that I unable my previous time through this control.

A pain in the ball bearings

On the ride back to Hopkins Falls (960km) I began to feel some movement in my cranks for the first time, and by the time I reached Port Campbell (1028km) it was becoming excessive. While I ate dinner, some of the helpful volunteers took a look and soon had the very worn ball bearings living in a grease bath that would hopefully survive the remaining 200k. All the grease had been washed out in by rain some time earlier, so the bearings wore themselves out.

I don’t usually ride the Madone  in the rain unless it is during a 1200, so with no play before I started it was disappointing to encounter this issue in the middle of such a long ride. I did get drenched at home the weekend before departing for Australia, so that may not have helped.
.
I have subsequently discovered that Trek uses a proprietary flavour of bearings in the Madone, that can only be ordered from Trek. A Madone BB90 is not like other BB90's. Non-standard components are not exactly ideal for long distance cycling. My LBS suggested riding with them so worn was not a good idea because with this design (no press-fit bearings and no sleeve) as it could lead frame damage.

The return trip over Lavers Hill in the dark seemed to take an age, conscious of the bearings and crank movement I took it easy and battled a fare amount of tiredness too. I rode some of the section through to Hordern Vale (1102km) with Sarah & Bec (see Sarah’s GSR Video). The climb up to the Hordern Vale control sort of reminded me of the uphill arrivial at the controls on PBP last year.

Bringing it home

I was able to get a couple of hours sleep, once again at the same time as heavy rain before leaving on rain break for the descent to Apollo Bay and a coffee to warm up before the final push back to Anglesea (1200km).

By the finish I was having reasonable difficulty changing the front derailleur due to extensive crank movement, so spent most of it pushing the big-ring (refer rule #90). It felt a strong finish in my legs, but likely only in the context of already have 1100km in the legs.

I was pleased to finish, following an over-time-limit on the Kiwi Hunt, and after it wasn't looking good at Port Fairy, after riding in the heat on day one. To top things off, the Town Crier arrived at the post-ride barbeque and welcomed all the international riders (including those from New Zealand even). We were presented with Aussie flags and kangaroo pins.

Completion of 1200’s continues to leave me with a feeling of accomplishment, and I’d like to think I have more many more 1200’s in me yet! With 1200 routes selected proudly by local organisers to show off there part of the world, they present an excellent way to get out and see the world. I felt well looked after on the GSR, and think I will be back again when it is next schedules in 2016.

Apparently I was not the only person to suffer from the heat. About a quarter of the 1200km field, and 10 of the 12 1000km riders were unable to continue. I hope you all find conditions more in your favour for your next rides.

And a huge thanks to ride organiser Stephen Rowlands and the army of vollies that organised the ride, kept us fed, watered and rotating for 1200km.  (sorry I can’t recall all of your names right now. And a special thanks to Dave for transport to and from Melbourne.

Also see:

I didn’t take many photos on this ride, but you can enjoy more multimedia from the ride visit the links below.

• Audax Australia’s GSR 2012 Photo Gallery
• Cath Stephenson’s “Best Of GSR 2012”
• Cath Stephenson’s GSR 2012 Deeper Water Video
• Sarah Chaplin’s GSR2012 Video
• Audax Australia's GSR2012 Results (google docs)

Tramp: The Moonlight Southern Crossing

After a few false starts on the fourth? attempt I finally completed the Moonlight Southern Crossing. Prior attempts having been thwarted by weather and well, a sheer lack of Moonlight.

Trip Data:
Distance:	37km
Time:	12:56:51 (moving)	21:40:31 (elapsed)
Elevation:	Ascent: 2,357m	Descent: 2,224m
Trip Data:	Garmin Connect
Location:	Tararua Range, NZ	24 July 2010

It is hard to say exactly what it is that gives this trip its magical appeal. Perhaps it is the statistical unlikelihood of having a clear night in the Tararua Range during the middle of winter? Let alone underneath the full moon! The Tararua’s are renowned for their imperfect weather,  as Geoff Spearpoint observed in his book “Waking to the Hills”

Weather plays a major part in Tararua affairs, mist normally covering the tops for 250 days of the year. Southerlies bring the snow and freeze them; westerlies bring the rain and wet them; and the northerlies blow until it is a marvel there is anything left.

I had arranged to do this trip with Mike and Sam, and we were all watchful of the weather forecasts and weather model information in the week leading up to July's full moon. The best weather looked like it would be on Sunday evening, but the storm passed through quicker than expected over Friday night, Saturday was a cracker of day.

 

Sam and I hatched a very approximate plan over the telephone which optimistically featured the fastest times we had travelled over each section of the route. Oooopps. Not the best way to estimate time! At least walking straight through, without staying in any huts saved me from having to splash out on the recently increased price for a new annual hut pass.

 

Flat battery number one: After seven weeks of being an incredibly fuel efficient Subaru - stationary on my driveway! The battery was dead and would not turn the motor over. Thankyou awesome neighbour Ken for helping me out so we could go tramping! I must say I do prefer to walk or to cycle, but must make sure I the car moves out of the driveway at least occasionally!

 

I collected Mike and Sam enroute to Otaki Forks. Oooopps battery issue two: I had not replaced the batteries in my SPOT after removing them before flying back from the USA recently.  Sorry - no digital breadcrumbs for the worrying family at home. No problem as long as we do not need that SOS button!

 

Shortly after crossing the bridge over the Waiotauru River we saw Spencer, whom I had not seen for a couple of years. He reported ice on top; crampons recommended; couldn't get into Kime Hut as it is frozen over. We noted that regardless of the not so balmy conditions he had reported that he had travelled without an ice-axe. After a quick chat Spencer kindly drove my car back to Wellington to save me the effort of returning to Otaki Forks to collect it!

 

A few minutes before reaching Field Hut darkness encroached as we travelled for our last few minutes in the bushline with the use of our headlamps. Once beyond Field Hut and above the bushline the moonlight provided enjoyable conditions under a beautiful night sky.

 

With Mike on the trip and his knowledge of astronomy we were able to celestials the prominent celestial body in the sky to our west. All without needing to refer to Wikipedia to pretend to be smart. Now above the bushline we had Venus as a prominent celestial body to the west.

 

The lack of snow was notable as we walked across Table Top. At this time it was difficult to co-relate with Spencer's crampons recommendation. There were a few patches of firm snow as we crossed Dennan followed by thin layers of snow leading to Kime Hut. There was substantially less snow than when I was here last year, however, on this occasion it was much nearer to frozen and a lot more slippery.

 

Upon reaching Kime Hut the door was frozen shut, just as Spencer had warned.  Sam used his ice-axe to remove the frozen ice from the large metal latch to gain entry. I was pleased to have thought ahead by carrying extra fluid with the Kime Hut water tank frozen solid, which was always going to be likely at this time of year.

 

Departing Kime it was onward and over Field Peak (which counter-intuitively is nowhere near Field Hut of course). Once reaching the descent of Field Peak on it's southern side it was icy and slippery. Once again, just as Spencer had advised. My ice-axe has been on many more trips than it's been required in the past. Tonight it was essential to assist my rather less than assured footing on this mixture of ice and rock.

 

There was some cloud about when we reached the summit of Hector and the memorial cross, but not enough to block the light of the moon, or as Mike would prefer to correct me, the light of the sun reflecting from the moon.

 

As we descended Hector and made our way through the Beehives, the track itself was a little treacherous having formerly being wet, but now was frozen solid. Where possible we walked on the safer route over the tussock alongside the frozen track. Where rock covered in 'black-ice' was the only option my steps were far more tentative, as I grovelled through with my ice-axe held by clenched iron-fists. This made progress pretty slow. Ideally there would either be lots of snow to make crampons ideal, or no snow at all. The mixture of snow and rock as tricky, particularly on

 

Once over Atkinson there was a lot less ice around as we continued around the Dress Circle and over Aston, now with Jupiter clearly visible to the south east. Once at the top of Alpha where there was no snow or ice at all. We spent a few moments relaxing on top of Alpha. Enjoying the night sky and the still air which is so rare in the Tararuas Range.

 

We approached Alpha Hut quietly, but found it empty on this glorious evening.  Without needing to worry about disturbing others, we had a reasonably long rest an a snack before departing a little after 4am. We were already a long way behind our intended, and optimistic time but only had the Marchant Ridge left between us and our destination at Kaitoke.

 

The Marchant Ridge an area of geography that often subject to much slander among trampers. I have often felt this is this isn't necessarily justified. Many trampers lament the lack of views on this goblin forest coated ridge, yet the goblin forest of the nearby Cone Ridge celebrated. With the Marchant so often described with, well lets just say with many short err, "adjectives". The current topographical map BP33 shows eight spot heights along this ridge, with a mere150m of altitude descended between the first last of these. It certainly seems to be with some justification that many describe this ridge as:

'Uphill in both directions'.

However, I believe that the real reason ridge is so despised is because it is both long and at the end of epic journeys. The Marchant Ridge often being the final stretch of a  Southern Crossing or an 'SK' and it is some 15km long. The mind says you are nearly there, but in reality you are not. The route from Alpha Hut to Kaitoke along the Marchant Ridge covers 40% of the total distance over the Southern Crossing route!

 

 

On this occasion, I stepped in a hole somewhere near the 'top' of Marchant Ridge. After wincing and limping for a few strides, at which time I felt like rolling over the ground screaming like a girl, I just kept walking. The further we went the more my knee swelled. I was unsure if I had an injury, or if a less ambitious trip would have been more desirable after not having been out tramping for a while.  I just kept on moving. The sun was rising by the time we reached the open area on Marchant that was created by a fire here some years ago.  and eventually we found our way to Kaitoke over 21 hours after leaving the car in Otaki.

 

This was a much slower trip than we had optimistically anticipated. That said the GPS data that Mike collected suggests we only spent about 13 hours actually moving - the rest of the time Mike and Sam must have been waiting for me? While they *did* spend a lot of time waiting for me, I’m not sure it was quite accurate!

 

 

Thankfully about a week later the swelling in my knee came down and I can once again see my knee cap – phew!.

Thanks Mike for the photos and GPX file. You can read more about this trip on Mike’s blog at http://www.windy.gen.nz/index.php/archives/487#more-487

And thankyou for leading the trip Sam :)

Invite: Moonlight Southern Crossing - Take II

Hi All,

Fingers crossed for snow on tops and then good clear skies. I'm gearing up for another attempt at a Moonlight Southern Crossing. Looking for a good weather window for one of the nights between 4-8 July.

Moon Rise/Set   Illumination%:
July 3:	1:41pm/3:37am	85.8% @ 9:11pm
July 4:	2:22pm/4:47am	92.1% @ 10:02pm
July 5:	3:10pm/5:44am	96.6% @ 10:53pm
July 6:	4:03pm/6:36am	99.2% @ 11:44pm
July 7:	4:59pm/7:21am	FULL from 9:22pm
July 8:	5:58pm/8:00am	100% @ 12:33am
July 9:	6:57pm/8:34am	98.8% @ 1:20am
July 10:	7:56pm/9:03am	95.8% @ 2:04am

Source: www.timeanddate.com

Let me know if you're keen. Post a comment, or tweet me.

Would aim to leave Otaki Forks toward Field Hut, at about 3pm on a clear day between 4-8 July.

Craig.

Tararua Forest Park: Kime by Moonlight

From Kime by Moonlight

With the full moon visible in the clear blue afternoon sky, snow on the top of the Tararuas I left work early. Could I finally get over the Southern Crossing under the moon? For so long I had waited for the full moon, clear skies and snow all at once. I had to make the most of the opportunity.

I packed my things together and headed for Otaki Forks. As I departed over the new Waiotauru footbridge I was on my way. I almost felt disorientated as I walked along the track "improvements" and past the digger used in their construction. I had been over this track tens of times before but, it now seems as wide than the Otaki Gorge Road that leads here.

There were no concerns about freezing on this windless evening, and wearing a layer too many of polypro I was soon sweating my way up to Field Hut. The carnage and tree falls from the previous time I was here has been cleared from the track, but the remaining patches of thin tree canopy from that storm were notable.

After a short break at Field Hut the ascent continued. I was soon on Table Top under the full moon and mostly clear sky. I was still hopeful of finding some snow as up to this point it has been noticeably absent. Approaching Dennan, I was finally into the snowline at about 1200m. I was having a great time in the snow under the moon. It was awesome. In the excitement and heavy snow I managed to via away from the established track, with, like my politics a slight left-hand bias. After a brief right-hand correction I was back on the established track and found the ice covered waratah posts marking the route.

While approaching Bridge Peak, the clag was thickening and by the time I reached Kime Hut, the moon was barely penetrating through the clag. I stopped at Kime Hut for a brew, optimistically hoping the clag would clear, before ascending Mt Hector.

With the tap frozen I was boiling snow, which was relatively rapid as I was only cooking for one. In larger groups I have found this much more time consuming in the past. After drinking my tea, the clag was even thicker so it was to be here that I would hunker down for the night.

Wellington trampers often refer to Kime Hut affectionately as "The Fridge". Many claim it is warmer outside the hut than inside it.

Arriving here in the middle of the night, surrounded by snow and with myself as sole occupant it seemed a good time to test this theory. Keeping my Casio Protrek watch away from my own body heat so as to accurately use its thermometer function. It is not warm inside Kime Hut, however, it is about one degree warmer than outside.

Outside 2:30am: -0.8 C
Inside 2:40am: 0.4 C
Outside: 9:30am: 0.8 C
Inside: 9:40am: 1.6 C

When departing on Saturday morning, there was virtually no visibility so I was sure to take a compass bearing before heading back down to Otaki Forks. In fact, it was darker than much of the time I had traveled under the moon the night before.

While I did not get across the whole Southern Crossing as I intended, I sure had a great time in the snowy winter wonderland. Try again, during the full moon next month?

Date:	5-6 June 2009
Intended Route:	Southern Crossing via Field Track; Southern Crossing; Marchant Ridge
Actual Route:	Otaki Forks to Kime Hut via Field Track & part of Southern Crossing
Time taken:	22km/8:59
Otaki Forks to Field Hut	5.9km/2:18
Field Hut to Kime Hut I was sloooow	5.2km/2:52
Kime Hut to Field Hut	5km/1:57
Field Hut to Otaki Forks	5.9km/1:51
Total ascent:	2,470m
Total descent:	2,384m
Maximum altitude:	1,444m

You can find more detail at Garmin Connect.