Grand Ridge Road Ride Report

Post date: 22-Sep-2013 03:17:27

What a terrific day! All week the Bureau of Meteorology had been forecasting a hot sunny day, and when Saturday rolled around it did not disappoint. As the riders climbed to Balook to mercury climbed into the lower 30's, but down in the Latrobe Valley it reached a hot and sticky 35 as some riders took refuge in the Thorpdale Hotel and cooled of with a few beers. Life in the lead group sure is tough.The day started of cool enough as we left Yarragon in a thick fog, but almost immediately the sun great us as we climbed above the clouds towards McDonalds Track. As advertised the views across the Latrobe were magnificent. The low cloud smothered the valley like a thick layer of cotton wool.The group quickly split in to several groups due to a mixture of rider speed, navigational challenges and photographic opportunities too good to be missed. The bunch was soon to reform at the Mirboo North's premier randonneur refreshment point, the Strzelecki Bakery before heading off westward into the most remote part of the ride. With 90km between checkpoints, 45km of which unsealed, this was the most demanding part of the course. Fortunately our hardy bunch were sufficiently provisioned for the task ahead, and all but one arrived in Balook with out incident. One rider, not content to attempt the ride on fixie, also took on the additional challenge of achieving the most punctures. His tally of five matched the previous best, but came at great expense to his nail polish.

Balook marked the end of our visit to the Grand Ridge Road, as we started to make our way back to Yarragon through the Latrobe Valley. The 20km descent from Balook is one of the best outside the Alpine region. We had been gaining altitude steadily for most of the previous 60km, the descent towards Traralgon was a sweet recompense for our efforts.

With over 70km left to go the Traralgon South Store was not only the last offical checkpoint but also the last place on the route selling ice-cream. Although the last 30km had been all down hill a randonneur always has to take on sufficient fuel for the road ahead. Very tasty food in this case.

The finale leg of the journey was punctuated by several gratuitous hills. As a ride organiser its important to get good feedback from the riders. The term "gratuitous" is one I borrowed from one of the riders. It was comforting to know we had suffered equally.

Of the ten riders who started the ride, all finished. The first group rolled in to Yarragon at 7pm, 12 hours after the start. The lantern rouge completed, as befits the honour, within minutes of the cut-off time. The Yarragon Hotel was the scene of the post ride debrief, both types of refreshment (food and liquid), and congratulations to Audax debutant Franco. Plans for future Mixed Terrain events were discussed enthusiastically, or at least everyone was too polite to say never again as long as I live.