The Hard Men of Cycling - Cpical, Hannos, Madgan and Russell!

Playing domestique to a group of men is a little nerving, especially when you hear the words, "Your gonna make someone a really good wife one day." That hadn't been the aim...

We rode out of Bright with 6:20am group, the sun was barely up and we had taken our bikes back to the end of the peloton. Hannos was excited; his shiny red BMC-something-something gleamed in the early morning light. Picture below is of Hannos with his BMC-something-something that needed a new crankset... the night before. Who knows SRAM Red?

Fitting a SRAM Red Crankset... minor-last-minute-mechanical-detail

Cpical... I know, I know, its blurry.

Cpical, as always was calm, it was just a ride, it would be fine... pace yourself and you will be okay.

Another of my favorite sayings from Cpical, "no, it will be fine."

and

"It is okay." or "Yes, it was hard."

Magdan (below) was looking forward to the ride, sure, his daughters think he was riding in the tour down under, I don't think we'll tell them that it was with a bunch of hacks, professional hacks are even worse.

Madgan was under strict instructions, "no jokes whilst riding uphill..."

Russell (bellow) had been positive from the get-go and new the time he had to qualify in for some-really-really-long-arsed-Audax-ride-in-Pars-that-would-probably-give-you-saddle-sores thing. As we rolled out to climb Tawonga Gap there was mentions of this mystical metal called steel that almost no longer exists and is only found in places like Brunswick, Fitzroy and St Kilda... its NOT real.

I decided on the way up Tawonga Gap that my day would end at the hotel in Mt Beauty, my mind couldn't see the finish line, I couldn't imagine it and I wasn't ready to push myself through that much pain. I decided that rest was on the cards and I would also be able to organise things for dinner and not be rushed. A much nicer experience for everyone this time around.

I met Steve (below) as I was going up Tawonga Gap, I was in the big ring... um, I didn't look and I couldn't figure out why it hurt so much, my bad. Steve had started his 10th Alpine Classics that day, he's done pretty much every Audax ride you can imagine. Today wasn't going to be the 10th for him, he wasn't well so I went up with him to the top of Tawonga and suggested that he come back to Mt Beauty with me and I would make some toast and tea.

Steve... the ring in and newest member!

Meanwhile the boys (men) had probably been working their arses of up Falls Creek, their enthusiasm has been outstanding, their personalities had been eye opening and a pleasure to experience.

EVENTUALLY... okay, it wasn't that long, they all arrived back at the hotel.

Madgan's rule had been not to sit down or else he wouldn't get up again, Cpical finally found his competition (if he was in to competition.. which he isn't), in the way of Hannos and that BMC-something-something, Russell's consistency is something that I haven't been able to master yet, perhaps its my youth which holds me back?

I went about refuelling water bottles and making sure everyone was okay, Russell was first out the door knowing all well and good about the time limits that faced him and if he cooled down before the climb over Tawonga Gap he'd suffer even more up Mt Buffallo, I sent Steve off with Russell in the hopes that he would have some company going up the hill.

I was told stories about the impressive wobble in that BMC-something-something as it descended from the top of Falls Creek; only to hear later that Hannos hadn't taken his wind vest with him for the descent thinking he'd be fine. He froze most of the way down and only heated up about 5km from the bottom of Falls Creek.

I considered climbing Falls Creek once the boys left but decided that I deserved the break, I filled the bath and spent an hour looking at the mountain before enjoy an hours sleep.

Princess Missy....

Cpical updated me on their progress once they had reached Mt Buffalo, its the last climb of the day and its the hottest time of the day. I was happy to receive the text messages telling me that each of the boys had made it to the top. They had all done such a good job and it was only a matter of time before they where home.

Hannos was the first in, followed by Cpical and Madgan, and last but not least Russell... who'd stopped for coke.

Special thanks to Steve for taking the photo of all the current members who could make it, obviously you can see the core team who did the 200km. POMA is also featured in the picture, he completed the raid this time, having proven himself capable the year before.

Russell, Hannos, Cpical, Missy, POMA, and Madgan

Drinks where had, stories where told of seeing those magical steel demons, 404's battled sticks and survived, whilst the fly that followed Hannos up Mt Buffalo meet its demise as we departed from a little place called Dreamers.

"Excuses don't get you up a hill." - Russell Noble (Psike)

I was totally hiding his name but realised, hey, what's the point? He's got twitter... the WHOLE world knows who he is. Anyway dropping the cloak and dagger conversation. I've got a major problem.

I need a whole lot of HTFU and positive thinking to get through the next two weeks (16 days, but, whose counting?) to make it to the Alpine Classics; actually start it and finish it. Normally for a little bit of motivation I would put my Britney Spears sound track and listen to Stronger (she sung that.. right?).

Today its going to take more than Britney to get me up those hills I'll be taking Lady GaGa though, thats for sure.

Motivation play is now in place, points to remember are.

• I've told everyone I will do it - Failure is not an option
• Its ONLY 200km
• I'll be doing the Murray to Moyne to raise funds for a medically based charity and this is good training

Shit that Russell said that actually makes sense...

• "It'll hurt and you're gonna love it." Russell Noble (Psike)

He's got a point, no matter how many times I say I'm gonna stop climbing mountains and work on the flat stuff, I keep climbing mountains, I do enjoy the pain of climbing, its not something I dislike.

We will be going past our hotel on the way back down Falls Creek as we head towards Tawonga Gap, so it is an opportunity to change anything that I'm not comfortable with and by then we'll have two climbs down with only two remaining (Tawonga Gap and Buffalo).

Goal setting is really important, but its even harder when the goal starts to scare you, what if I don't feel my best on the day, am I allowed to cry?

Russell did say that he was looking forward to a ride that wasn't going to be to fueled with testosterone, I'm happy about that and I owe it to Hannos, Psike, Cpical and Madgan to follow through. I pushed them into doing it, so to pull out now wouldn't be cool.

So I'm in, I'll cut all fat (as much as possible) in my diet for the next 9 days, I'll carb load in the final five days and taper in the final 5 days... this is going to be a sufferfest, but, we'll have some good times on the way.

I've been discussing with Champ all morning about my choices for this ride, he's said, don't do it. But I do sort of like doing things when he's told me not to, his reasons are...

• neck and shoulder aren't 100%
• its a REALLY long way

So in true Missy style, I'm going to ignore Champ and do what Russell has said to do, so to start with I'll be quitting with the negative jibber jabber and keeping it positive.

Psike - Steel is real... *insert rolling eyes smilie*

In recent days there has been a lot of trash talk on my facebook page regarding the choices of new bikes and what to buy; especially in the lead up to the Alpine Classics. There's a lot of bling on the market and no doubt we all have different tastes, I just wanted to start out by saying, "Steel isn't real."

Due to the large amounts of trash talk, I thought it about time that I introduce Psike, he's from Canberra, the nations capital, so its fair to say in all honesty that he knows... nothing, right?

Not entirely, he does know something about HTFU though, it would take a while to mention all the Audax rides that he has done, and there has been a few, so I'm not gonna bother, it would probably also make me feel slow and sucky (not far from the truth). 

Psike has thoroughly suggested that I HTFU a little bit and stop sooking that I haven't be able to ride because I got hit by a car and wrote of my bike and therefor haven't been able to train and did I mention that my mother broke her ankle and I'm looking after her?

Breath.

However, Hannos, just got a new bike, a 2010 BMC SLC01  and to top it off, he had some beautiful Zipp 404 Clinchers to make it hotter and sexier. Which lets face it, 404's are hot; sure those who don't have them say they're too heavy and not to mention the word that they're over priced... I don't need a man, I just need a new bike every six months and some 404's, perhaps an upgrade to Di2 when I graduate from University in a million years and a pink helmet.

I'm about to take possession of a 2011 Felt AR4, its got full Ultegra, which is what I'm happy with, I was tossing up between the Felt and the 2011 Cannondale SuperSix, but I didn't want the Tecktro breaks and the FSA Cranks that came on the 'Dale. I've heard the 2011 Felt AR3 (SRAM) is stiff and fast; looking forward to having carbon between my legs again. I've been off the bike since the 14th of December. My new 404 clincher shouldn't be far away, and I'll be the proud owner of a very nice looking bike, lickable even... don't ask.

As you can see there's a lot of hormones and carbon floating through facebook, twitter and the odd internet forum (helmets rule), I think ultimately we're living out our fantasy's on our bikes and this seems to include lots and lots of riding (take it as you choose). Psike has decided to take the piss out of our carbon bling and sexy wheels, jealous is a green eyed monster.

I really can't take the piss out of him too much cause I have a feeling that he'll be providing a lot of the motivation to get me and Hannos through the Alpine Classics, even with our carbon and 404's we're actuall riding at the speed of snails. 

Psike's position in this team was thoroughly discussed amongst the team and it went something like this.

I said, "this dude Psike from the forums is gonna come to and he's done lots of Audax rides and is awesome!"

Hannos said, "who?"

Cpical said, "okay."

Madgan said, "sure... what are the sleeping arrangements?"

That's how careful our consideration is when it comes to choosing team members, ultimately I seem to have the final say, I'm not sure why, could be because of my amazing influence on others or my hard work and determination.

Psike has said that he doesn't care how long it takes as long as he's in within the time limit, so that puts us at a maximum of about 13 hours, worst case scenario.

As long as there is a bottle of Patricia (Brown Brothers) at the Penthouse at the end of the day, I'm easy. I'll find a picture of Psike later in his hat, I'll steal something from facebook and deface it as much as possible.

Only about two weeks until we all attempt to kill ourselves and I just read recently that that Bling kid does about 1000km a week...