There is some organisation of the mixed MTB/Road riding week but really it just happens. Meeting times for the next ride are decided at the cafe while refuelling after the last ride. Routes are often decided in advance but even these are flexible and often include shorter options for those less masochistically inclined.
Those who take part come from all around: Sydney, Melbourne, as far as Brisbane and of course a large contingent of locals.
Fortunately the heat that Victoria is now suffering through and the Bay Critters are sweating through came just late enough that we could get our big rides done without expiring from heat exhaustion.
This is what Ride Week 2011 looked like for me based in Mt.Beauty:
26/12 am - 1hr of singletrack madness, pushing myself to my limits (and beyond) with a couple of the van der Ploeg boys. 12km & 370m vert
26/12 pm - 2.5hrs on the roady up to Falls Creek return with some extra climbing. 65km & 1530m vert
27/12 - 2.5hrs, another Falls Creek ascent return. 58km & 1300m vert. The main group summited Mt.Buffalo today but I missed this ride as I was picking up my Ride Week house guest, Jodie Willet, from the airport and we just squeezed in a quick ride in the afternoon.
28/12 am - 1.75hrs of more MTB singletrack action. 21km & 750m vert. We had some great MTB park action with one of the largest groups I've ridden with on a mountain bike outside of a race!
28/12 pm - 1.75hrs of climbing on the MTB again. Not content with one ride a day, Jodie and myself summited Big Hill with another 25km & 1000m vert. A pretty hot, long climb which was worth it for the hectic descent through super sketchy rock gardens and ultra-high speed fire road. Max speed of 62.4km/h on the MTB, not so bad.
29/12 - While the bulk of the Ride Week crew smashed themselves on a 150km round trip to Yakandandah I gave myself a far lower volume day of another 1hr of mountain biking. Not so great for the numbers today, just another 12km & 410m vert.
30/12 - MORE MTB action today. Another summit of Big Hill but this time at gentleman's pace. Throw in some park action before and after and you've got 3.5hrs ride time with 46km & 1640m vert.
31/12 - The Queen stage of Ride Week. The New Years Eve ride has also been dubbed Gerry's Hell Ride (some of them have been truly Hell-ish) in the past and can be either road or MTB. This year it was a Mt.Hotham ascent. Nothing crazy but when my masochistic house guest mentioned her desire to be 'bleeding from the eyeballs' I knew we'd be doing the extra k's to Dinner Plain and not taking it too easily either. 6.5hrs, 170km and 3180m vert. A solid day.
Fortunately, as it was NYE, I felt less guilty about making the mix of cider, beer and red wine my recovery drinks of choice throughout the rest of the day/evening. Perhaps any advantageous adaptation may have been hindered by the evenings festivities but it was worth it! Saw the year out with a great party for Dan VDP at the Farm with many like minded boozy athletes, loads of laughs and a generally bloody great time.
In total - 20hrs, 410kms and over 10,000m vert. One of my bigger weeks lately but probably pretty standard for some!
Look forward to more mates and good times at Ride Week next year, get on it!
