Saturday morning feeling on top of the world.

Yesterday morning I headed off at around 5.10am. The sun was up and the weather was perfect. Still and about 18 degrees. I was pretty nervous, not having ridden up Mt Coot-tha for months. Anyway for some reason, as I approached the first hill after the Botanical Gardens, I decided to give the granny gear a miss and try the hill on the middle ring... it was ok! I thought there would be issues with me not being able to get my legs up and over but there was no issue at all. Buoyed by this and considering that first hill has always been the hardest part of the ride (for me at least) I decided to ride the whole way up on the middle ring and was pleasantly surprised at being able to cope.

I was still pretty slow and got passed by a good few riders as I neared the top. I got a few "you can do it"s and "you're nearly there" which I interpreted to mean that I must have looked like I was struggling... but I actually felt pretty good. As soon as I felt tired, I slowed right down but I kept pedaling. I didn't stop at the top or at channel 7 or channel 9 but I did continue on to the lookout and checked out the amazing view...and just basked in the fact that it was a glorious day and I did it!

On the way back I bumped into Ruth who was heading off on a river loop. She said she would be keen to join me next time.

So. Mount Coot-tha club starts here. Every Saturday morning 5am from the CityCat stop. We'll be back by 7am and the day is yours although it will be all down hill from there after you've had such a glorious triumphant morning! Check the training speadsheet for confirmation of who's going.

Roller Coaster Rider

Testing...testing... yep, we've got Map My Ride data coming through from Bron.

That sure is a wiggly speed line!

I had a text from her today and she said the hills there are a lot harder than anything she's done in oz so while her distances aren't very long, she's getting a good workout.

Doug's tips

As we get to the pointy end of the training schedule, Doug, Wonder-husband, cycling guru and voted best "most muscular" pose in age group 45-55 has been giving us some good tips and ideas for where to train.

Such as: don't ride with flat tyres. Or tyres with any kind of give in them whatsoever. Rock hard tyres are easier to ride on.

Eat and drink regularly while you are riding. Make sure you have at least a couple of mouthfuls of food every half an hour.

Stop for breaks like it's the actual ride i.e. every 25-30kms for a few mins.

Train with varying terrain: hills and recovery sections that you can repeat until the recovery sections aren't quite recovery sections any more. Do interval training with speed too: fast then recover, repeat.

So looming in the next few weeks is this 3 Valleys ride that he has circulated. Check it out and see what you think.

Here's a overview. I'm not sure yet how we would approach it from West End:

Zoom in to the map on the original page

There looks like there might be a few hills in there!

Catching Up

With the school fiesta now done and dusted and all the photo booth pictures sent out, I now have a bit of catching up to do.

Let's rewind to Sunday: fiesta day. We decided to kick-start the day with a short, sharp hill ride doing the hour-long route at 6.30am. Riders: Kirsty, Michelle, Ruth and myself. Kirsty and Michelle had already done this route the previous day too when Michelle had made it all the way up Ivory Lane on her not-so-hill-loving bike. This was Ruth's first attempt and here she is reaching the top:

And the weary celebration!...

What a great way to start the day!

Later on in the mid afternoon at the Fiesta Photo Booth. Celia and Ruth came over to get their photos done for the arse/calves trivia question and had a little bop while they were there thanks to the fantastic River City steel band.

A couple of hours later...

 That's 9 riders all together in the same place at the same time!! (plus Donna, Marilyn, India and Emma-Kate). It's a very rare occurence - no wonder we got a bit excited.

Now let's fast-forward to Thursday where we had 5 riders pick up the Ithaca bike path that I rode on Saturday. Kirsty, Michelle, Emma, Celia and Jacque did the ride and here they are training with the Broncos! Little did those boys running past what greatness they were in the company of.

This weekend: the big raffle ticket push. Look out Fairfield Gardens and West End Market!

Surprise!

Look who all just went up Mount Coot-tha!

I'm so proud! Particularly given Kirsty's asthma AND all three of them having bikes that aren't really built for hills.

This from Kirsty:

Was so hard. Emma did it yesterday so we were encouraged by her huge efforts and Ruth's on the weekend. My asthma was bad. We stopped 6 times going up. We went the easy was up. That is round to the left to the summit. Quick view,  photos, wee and water stop.

 Can you believe Michelle has never been to the lookout! 

Then it was on past all the tv stations. A quick channel 10 photo then speedy down that hill!!! 

Such a sense of achievement. !!!! 

Yes we will do it again. Maybe not next week and We will go same way! 

And this from Michelle:

hi it felt excellent!! So relieved to have made it......we took several pauses to get our breath back, Kirsty and I were on our lowest gear almost the whole way, right from the beginning!!! The view was magic, and there was a lovely rainbow! Exhilarating coming down, all in all fantastic, will def do it again xM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This morning's hill ride

Things are getting a bit nippy at 6am these days but this was my reward when I made it up Dornoch this morning. Only visible for a few brief minutes and then it was gone...

After a couple of moments of wonder, I snapped out of it and got on the the hill route.

For those looking to do some hill practice (that's everyone except Bron who has a good excuse), this is a good one. It takes about an hour and you can really build your leg strength up. Don't neglect your hills; they are your friends.

Dornoch Terrace, Park Rd West, Park Rd, Bikeway to Captain Cook,  Bikeway to Goodwill, Botanical Gardens, Riverside, Ivory Lane, Story Bridge, Thornton St, Kangaroo Point Bikeway, Bikeway to Park Road, Annerley Road past Boggo Road, Gladstone Road and home.

Optional extra is to  go straight ahead at the Gladstone Rd lights and head down towards the Corso on that little path just before you go onto the Green Bridge. You can then turn right at the bottom and head up the winding TJ Doyle Memorial Drive which, after avoiding for too long, I have found isn't that bad after all.

 Further to my point yesterday about feeling a bit unsure of the praise I got for getting up a very minor hill, I felt the complete opposite this morning. I got up Ivory lane with less zig-zagging than usual and as I reached the top a bloke who looked like he was heading off for a run raised his eyebrows and gave me a subtle head nod: 'Not a bad effort - well done' he said and I was genuinely chuffed. That is a bloody steep hill.

 I tried to imagine trying to get up a hill that steep but longer and with monkeys staring at you and bloody wild pigs and jungle on all sides. No wonder Bron hasn't done much riding.

Anyway. Moments later on the Story Bridge a big group of runners was heading towards me. I slowed down to check them out and sure enough it was Can-do, sweating profusely, in amongst his gang of henchmen. I took the time to not smile.

Mount Root-tha

I know! What a play on words.

So with Kirsty out due to a pressing engagement with a country retreat in Northern New South Wales, the Mount Coot-tha challenge had dwindled down to Katina, myself and Coot-tha first-timer, Ruth.

At 6am this morning it was about 8 degrees. I had my arm warmers and my leg warmers and my HEAD and EAR warmer (mmmm) and I was STILL feeling cold (but not my ears mmm they were snug).

We headed off in the pre-dawn gloom along the river chatting away... once we crossed the footbridge in Toowong we had a bit of a pitstop. Time for a nose blow, a drink of water and a re-group before the climb...



Pre-climb iv from cara gartland on Vimeo.

The first hill alongside the Quarry is, as I have mentioned before, a bit of a doozy. It's long and straight. You just have to put your head down and get on with it. Perhaps what I didn't make clear to Ruth is that once you get to the top of this hill and you have that little downhill section... it's then that the actual climb starts. The steepest part of the climb is done, yes, but the long, slow winding road is still ahead.

For those yet to attempt the climb, enjoy this cruisy downhill section and use it to catch your breath, drink water etc.

We took things nice and slow. There were plenty of other riders around all being very friendly (as they whizzed past us). Although Ruth had to get off and push for a while, she managed to get back on again to reach the apex and wasn't discouraged by the undulating back half of the ride. Here's us around by Channel 7:

Cold Ears!

Bobsled, anyone?

 We discussed the fact that it would probably be quite a challenge to push your bike up the hill and when she got back on, she admitted that it was a bit easier. We stopped at the lookout to gaze upon what was a crystal clear morning. It was still bloody freezing!

After that it was downhill to the bikeway and then straight to Seventeen Mile Rocks for a bit of a relax and snack on the jetty in the warm sunshine. Bliss! We came home via Oxley. There were a couple of good hills which I had conveniently forgotten about when suggested taking this route home... but I don't think Katina or Ruth held it against me too much!

At one point somewhere in Yeronga we were going up a very minor hill and were being passed by some MAMILs, one of whom said "well done girls". I smiled and said thank-you but straight afterwards felt the inner feminist getting quite embarrassed by my lame acceptance of that comment. Quite patronising, really. As Katina pointed out - "We've just ridden up f*cking Mount Coot-tha!"  (they'd gone by that stage).

The last hill was Gladstone Road which we all got up with no problem at all. Katina stopped in at Flour Power for some bread and Ruth crossed over to ride through the park on Highgate Hill so I took the triumphant Dornoch Tce descent by myself and felt extremely righteous all the way home.

Congratulations to Ruth who not only conquered Mount-Coot-tha but also continued on for the rest of the ride which added up to just over 51km. Considering what a short time she has been riding, this is brilliant. She is now the 4th member of our group to do the climb. 4th of 11!

It's at this point that I'd like to pay homage to Darryl who has not only taken my weekend morning absences (and the extra childcare responsibility) in his stride but he has also outdone himself on the breakfast front when I get back in. This week, I had seen a Mexican-inspired breakfast recipe on an episode of Jamie Oliver and asked Darryl if he wouldn't mind making it for me when I got back. We went out yesterday and got all the ingredients and, upon my return today, he'd got the whole breakfast almost ready. Coffee in the pot, spicy sauce ready to poach the eggs in. All I had to do was shower, get changed and take pictures of this masterpiece.. Thank you Darryl it was the best breakfast EVER.

2 eggs poaching in chilli/capsicum/tomato sauce; all food tastes better after riding!

Dish of the day... food not bad either

Blurry: my hands were shaking with anticipation.

In case you were wondering, you make up a sauce with onion, garlic, chillies, capsicum, tomatoes, coriander, salt and pepper. Add a bit of water if it's too dry and then poach the eggs in the sauce. Serve topped up with grated cheese and fresh coriander and with hot tortillas. We also added some chopped up bacon. Future plans for this include chilli beans and chorizo. It really is the breakfast of champions. 

17MR&MC

It was a Seventeen Mile Rocks weekend

This was the scene that greeted Michelle and I when we arrived on Saturday morning. The camera phone really doesn't do it justice. The mist was rising slowly off the water and the sun was being filtered by the fog. The light was gorgeous!

We celebrated the fact that we revisited our Seventeen Mile Rocks via Oxley route without any problems and much faster than when we did it previously. The difference was that, in Oxley, we turned on to Ardoyne Road avoiding that hill on Clivedon Ave. The trade-off is there is a smaller hill on Ardoyne and then a long-ish climb on S.M.R road. Worth it, I reckon!

 Note the arm warmers. Definitely a bit of a chill to the early mornings now.

Total kms: 44

Sunday riding and Katina and I rode up Mount Coot-tha again. It is so beautiful up there with the birds and the morning forest sounds. I could just about hear them over the sounds of my own huffing and puffing. I tested out my new leg warmers and head/ear warmer. Very effective! Probably a bit too toasty for now but will definitely be needed as the mornings turn colder. I didn't get any runners passing me this time but I did have the Map My Ride app keep saying "workout paused...." "workout resumed" and I HADN'T STOPPED. Stupid bloody thing making me feel inadequate. Anyway we made it to the top - hooray! - and  here we are looking out over a misty Brisbane:

 We came all that way!

Afterwards, Katina headed off for a ride out to Jindalee and I headed back to West End. As I was heading home, I received this picture from what looks like Seventeen Mile Rocks...

 Looking FAB ladies!

Katina's over the hill!

6am Sunday: There were four of us freezing cold Wonder Women at the ferry stop. Talk has turned to arm warmers. We all want them. Jacqui has already picked some up for $10 at rebel sport. The slow but steady descent into the lycra-clad "serious" cyclist that we all scoffed at this time last year continues!

Jacqui and Michelle headed off on the Toohey Forest route, picking up Jacque and Emma along the way. Katina and I went in the other direction, over the Go Between Bridge and over to Mount Coot-tha Road.

 We crossed the footbridge over the highway, past the Legacy Way tunnel works and pulled up alongside the Botanical Gardens for one last gulp of water and one final nose-blow. Then a big deep breath, crank down to the Granny Gear and away we go!...

It was slow going and I had time to contemplate whether it was better or worse second time round. Possibly a bit worse. Perhaps because I wasn't so nervous so I didn't have all that adrenalin running through me. Katina said it was challenging but she kept on going. There was plenty of heavy breathing going on from both of us. And plenty of cyclists passing us - even a jogger! (how embarrassing). It was only when we rounded the final bend that she tentatively asked if it was much further. Thank God I didn't have to lie when I said "that's it!". Almost exactly half an hour's hard work from the Botanical Gardens to Channel Ten. I still had that feeling of elation getting to the top. It's a grand feeling! We pulled in to Channel 10 so I could get Darren the Security Guard to take our picture...

Thanks, Darren!

 Then we were off again - up over the peak of the mountain and then down and up and down like that for a while until we reached the lookout. It was a glorious morning...(or should that be Coot-tha morning hawhaw)

There was so much glare I couldn't see my thumb over the lens - d'oh!

I'm going to try and do it again in a few weeks. I'll let you know in case anyone fancies giving some or all of it a try.

High as a kite

It wasn't the best start. I'd tried to get an early night but spent much of the night worrying about if I was going to flake out half way up the hill and have to push my bike up the rest of the way on foot. It would seem that there comes a point where you just have to do it and get it out of your system.

The route: (for Celia and Linda as I was stopping off to do some work at the top)

Celia emerged from her house at 5.25am giggling.
 "What are we doing?" she asked  (more to herself than to me, I think) as we set off in the darkness. We met up with Linda at Davies Park a few minutes later as the first hints of daylight were starting show themselves and then we were off along the river, over the Go Between and along the Coro Bike path to the tunnel under Coronation Drive. From there, we rode the familiar path as if we were going to Jindalee but we hung a left to take the pedestrian bridge over the highway and onto the start of Mt. Coot-tha Road.

The first part of the climb is a long straight road from the Botanical Gardens to the base of Sir Samuel Griffith Drive (the road that circles the mountain).

I would describe this section as 2 Gladstone Roads. It's a steep section and feels pretty long. I reckon it's the steepest, longest section of the entire ride so if you get up this ok, the only thing standing in your way is stamina. I have to say it's quite a challenge riding up hill anyway but when you are sort of scared it's even worse! My breathing was very heavy and a bit uneven to start off with but by the time I got to the top I'd calmed down a bit. I managed to get this shot of Celia slogging away as she was about to reach the top here....

You might be able to see here that she has just passed a couple of turns on her left. The one in the distance is the turning if you were to do the circuit clockwise (also known as the front way). The clockwise circuit is less steep but more undulating and a couple of kms longer before you reach the apex. If you want to take that direction, it is marked with a signpost for the lookout. We were going the anti-clockwise way because we're well 'ard and also cos Linda told us and she was in charge.

After this hill, you get a nice rest and even a floaty downhill section (you want to enjoy it but you know whatever downhill pleasure you deriving at this stage must surely be paid for soon after). Then, as you pass the entrance to Simpson Falls on your left, the real climb begins.

I started on my "granny gear" (i.e. the smallest cog) and about midway on the other gears at the back. It didn't take me too long to get down to 1 and 2 which is where I remained for about half of the climb. It was good to have that little one up my sleeve. I still could have done with another one, though.

By my count, there are 11 corners/turns before you reach Channel Ten. The first few turns seem to have plateaus in between so you get a bit of a rest but after a while the incline just seems to go on and on. It feels long. The subtle and beautiful sounds of the early morning forest were completely drowned out by the sound of my very audible breathing. Linda (leading the way) turned around to us at one point and said "that's about the worst of it". She was just saying that to make us feel good. I think this may have been something of a walk in the park for her while Celia and I were huffing and puffing like a couple of heavy smokers.

Arriving at work in one piece, it was (of course) time for a couple of victory shots. This one by Linda:



Buggered.

 Then we roped Darren, the security guard, in to taking one of all three of us:

Still buggered.

Then, being the custodian of the station cos it was stupidly early on Easter Sunday and everyone else was in bed or at home eating chocolate, I invited the girls in for a look around.

Here is the news: Three west end ladies got up a big hill this morning. Have a good Easter and good night.

Then to the canteen balcony for a bit of a view...

After which, Linda and Celia left me to get on with things while they got back on their bikes and headed back to West End.

Cut to the afternoon and, being the wonder woman that she is, Celia drove up the mountain with her bike in the car so that she could park her car and escort me down the mountain on the bike! How lovely!

So. We are continuing in the same direction, anti clockwise. Straight after Channel Ten is a short steep rise past the ABC transmission tower. At the top of this rise, you are at the highest point of the mountain. At this point you can truly say to yourself that you are past the worst of it... which is all very well but it doesn't mean you're downhill all the way after this. The road continues past Channel 7 and rises up towards Channel 9. It's all a bit undulating until we get to the lookout roundabout. After that, it really is downhill all the way.

You get to a point where the road widens and there is a bus slip road to the left. It says ROAD CLOSED at the moment but that's just for buses or cars. Bikes are ok.

Take this road and it will lead you safely down to the turn-off that we saw in the photo with Celia above (the one closer to us with the no entry sign).

So that's it. I'm looking forward to trying this again. Let me know if you are interested. Here are some of my stats:

Time taken from West End to Channel Ten: 1hr. Distance: 12.71kms

A few km splits: 9km: 3'53", 10km: 5'33", 11km: 4'16", 12km: 7'16" 12.8km: 6'31"

Elevation start: 8m, end: 231m

Time taken from Channel Ten to West End: 42min. Distance: 15.71km

Fastest km: 5km: 1'37"

Later on that day, with our glasses charged and basked in a triumphant glow, Celia and I were surrounded by other wonder women and their families at Grill'd.

It was a great, great feeling to have done this milestone and I think we are ALL capable of getting up there.

This morning...

Bron, Michelle and I decided to do the Ivory Lane hill route today. Hills are: Ivory Lane, Park Rd and Gladstone Rd.

I'm pleased to say that all 3 of us made it up the Ivory Lane YEEEHA! I employed Bron's patented "zigzag" tactic and it worked very well. Here's us at the top (this is what out of breath looks like)

On the way back, Michelle had a collision with another cyclist who was trying to overtake her on the left going around the Gray Road roundabout. He ended up falling, with his bike, right on top of her. Thankfully no bones broken but looks like bad bruising. She'll be resting up for a few days I think!

Uphill Struggle

It's GOOD to be back into things. I've had a couple of easy rides and a couple of light sessions at the gym so I feel like I'm ready for some hills now.  I was wondering if anyone fancied doing this little circuit with me tomorrow morning at 5.30? Bron devised this route and I think it's a great one becuase it's short and sharp. You'll get a great workout AND have extra time for breakfast when you get back. Only 17kms but taking in the delights of Ivory Lane, that little hill that leads from Riverside Terrace to the S.E.Freeway Bikeway, Park Road and Gladstone Road.

Fancy it? See you at the CityCat stop, 5.30 tomorrow (Friday) morning!

Hill Log: Ivory Lane

Sitting at about 20 degrees, this one is a corker. I would compare it to Colville Street in length and gradient. About halfway up I thought I was going to fall over but either the fear of doing that or maybe there is a slight let-up in the angle of the hill, not sure, but I managed to pull this one, rather vocally, out of the bag.

This is the handy lane which leads from the riverside bikepath to the Story Bridge or Bowen Terrace. Excellent on the way down, too!

Today's Ride

Riders: Michelle, Kirsty, Celia, Bronwyn, Emma, Cara

Michelle and Kirsty left us at Stones Corner and went back via the SE Freeway bikeway up to South Bank. Emma peeled off at Yeronga and headed back home from there.

Route: "the taxation hill loop"

The freeway route wasn't as straightforward as I was expecting. I should have looked a bit closer at the map but we worked it out. The bikeway sort of heads away from the freeway a bit and onto a couple of back streets. But it is signposted.

 As for the big hill...Well the monster we were expecting turned out to be a not very scary one at all. More of a kitten, really. The length of the hill was quite long - maybe 1500m? Not sure but the incline was pretty gentle. You could feel you were were going up hill but it wasn't in the same league as others we've been doing. The joy of doing that taxation hill is flying back down that was SO MUCH FUN! Toohey Forest Park looked very interesting. Might have to look into doing a jaunt round there.

There was quite a big hill on the way back on Cracknell Road in Tarragindi and of course the Goat Track still leaves me wobbly and breathing heavily.  My phone ran out of battery so I didn't end up recording my stats but having a peek at Bron's (don't you love Map my Ride?) I see that she came down the big hill at 29.25km/hr weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!