Death Camp. Want to be HACK PRO?

7 Peaks in 7 Days.

Start Date.

December 10th 2011 at 0500.

Location.

Bright, VIC, Australia... MAP here, we will also travel to Lake Mountain here, Mt Buller here and Mt Baw Baw here.

Personal Sacrifice 

Jens, our favorite tough man, "Shut Up Legs!"

Like every time we go out on the road to train or just ride with friends, you could have an accident, you take your OWN risks on this death camp, there is no sag wagon and their is no ambulance sitting behind you, you climb at your own pace and meet your TEAM mates at the top of the mountain. 

No matter how long it takes for your TEAM mates to get to the top you will WAIT for each of them (me) to get to the top.

This man knows what its about, he's a hero...

 How to climb?

Lance Armstrong only just retired.... AGAIN. Anyone else want to go back to grinding up a mountain? I do, probably this isn't the reason why he retired in the picture, but it will do.

Who's going to join us? How many will their be?

Want to come?

Click here

Now that you've answered the above question from clicking here... or there.

Are you ready?

To be all that you can be!

Then I suggest you....

and

Qualifications? Oh yeah, my bad I forgot to mention, you've gotta qualify for this, requirements are as follows...

1. Fitz's Challenge, ACT.

2. DBMA Ride, VIC (Melbourne Cup Day 2011... oh yeah, its back, for the LAST time).

3. You've got the chance to go on trial with Hannos in Sydney, NSW.

4. IF we DON'T like you, then your not coming.

You can fulfill ALL or SOME of the requirements. We look forward to your company and hope that you'll survive the winter training that is required to partake. Keep in mind that there is climbing and of course there will always be other obsticles along the way... expect the unexpected.

Cost has not yet been decided, normally the go is to split accomodation, food and fuel depending on whose in what car.

I suggest you put your leave forms in early ladies and tell your wife/husband that you'll be gone and explain to your kids that your going to make them proud... If you have none of that, suggest you tell your boss to go fuck themselves and their pointless 9-5 job and we'll see you soon.

Go on... DARE YOU!

He was like 7 FOOT TALL... Serious!

Its amazing what you see on Beach Road, I was riding with Madgan, we'd done a massive ride allllll the way to Mordialloc and we where on our way back to Melbourne when we saw this cyclists who was 7 FOOT TALL...

Madgan and I where both massively impressed by the amazing abilitiy of the above cyclist, to begin with the kit is amazing, I'd never seen such impressive Lycra on Beach Road.

I commented to Madgan about the speed of the 7 FOOT TALL man on the massive bicyle and said, "should we chase?"

Madgan didn't reply, then I looked at the calves of the 7 FOOT TALL man.... Moo

Wrong picture...

Much better...

Anyway, due to the size of the calves we realised quickly that we actually had no hope of catching the 7 FOOT TALL Russian on the classy LOOK bicycle.

I know you want to look at that all day, a 7 FOOT TALL Russian man on a LOOK bicycles, I couldn't find a picture of the Russian on a LOOK bicycles, I hope the picture above is satisfying.

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.

Mt Donna Buang; I dream of her often.

I think Mt Donna Buang was the first mountain I'd climb, it was either that or the 1:20, I'm not sure... but you know the storey behind it. We discussed it in the previous post.

Madgan and I where there on Sunday, we hadn't left early which was fine, I understand that other people have commitments, that sometimes I'm lucky to be able to just do what I want. 

You go to a mountain to climb and its what we did, I'd never ridden it with a Garmin before, so to know the first 6km - 7km was full of climbing that involved 8% to 15% gave me a shock.

First time back to Mt Donna Buang in 1 year and 16 days, the climb had never hurt so much, the heat was horrid and my calves where cramping and my feet where hot... new shoes, new saddle; makes an interesting mix for the first day back up a mountain.

The first time I climbed Mt Donna Buang the time was 2hours and 1minute, it sticks in my head because Gunlock beat me by a minute... no more and no less.

Mt Donna Buang for the uninitiated is 16km and an average of 6.2%.

Madgan climbed well, he was worried, he's gonna kick it at the Alpine Classics... it'll be good training for the cycle leg of all those Tri's he does... right?

I must count him as one of the best I've ever climbed with, Madgan and Pical take the cake, they are gentleman and my friends. We are so lucky to have them on this team, I'm so lucky to have the both of them...

Just in case you thought I was lying... there's no proof, I was there and so was Madgan, my calves still hurt and the summit is burnt into my eyes, I know where it is ,I know where I crashed... I know that Mountain and I will get my 1 hours 15 minute time back this year.

I'll train all winter. Thanks Assos.

"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.

The First Cap

The idea came about when I decided that I wanted something to commemorate the 2011 Alpine Classics team that I had put together. I wanted something that was inexpensive that we could all afford and with the cost of good quality Lycra these days being on par with a good pair of Italian shoes I thought caps would be the go.

The designer is Susan from http://www.rocketfuel.net.au/, I gave her my ideas and she bought them to life

The cap has the name of our team on the side HackPRO Cycling Team and our sponsor, Clenbuterol and Spanish Beef, big thanks to Clenbuterol and the Spanish Beef Industry for keeping us going.

On the right hand side we have 2011, to commemorate the ride in 2011.

All the caps have each persons name underneath the brim, as you can see from this picture my name is Missy.

I look forward to introducing you to the members of the team as we have our first rides together, most people are going to stay anonymous and use different names, we are after all just a bunch of Professional Hack who like riding... some of them also like swimming and running.

The only person I have so far promised not to take the piss out of is Madgan, he promised to stop kicking my arse on Beach Road if I didn't take the piss out of him.

Champ, well, we discussed his name last night on the phone, he'd been telling me how he met Richie Porte in Launceston the other night and he said he wanted to be called Bear, after that dude with the TV show. He also mentioned that he once had a Care Bear called Champ, so instead of totally humiliating him with the name Care Bear, I had considered it, but I do value our friendship so I'll call him Champ.

I posted all the caps out yesterday at lunchtime, everyone should recieve them today and I look forward to hearing some feedback.... Oooooo red caps!