The Weld Flyer

Unfortunately it is very difficult to make jokes nearly dying on a bicycle these days as too many of us are experiencing horrible situations at the hands of other road users but yesterday was my turn to nearly die. Fortunately it wasn't anybody fault but mine. Just unfit and didn't look after myself properly out there. To have gone from being super bike fit only 12 months ago to where I am now is a little disappointing but life has gotten in the way of doing the kind of riding that had me as healthy as I was.

The Inaugural Weld Flyer was the best ride I have done for quite some time. Started early, meeting many of the other riders out at Ranalagh's world famous Summer Kitchen Bakery. The day before I had indulged in the dried cherry danish so I moved it up a gear to go with the apricot danish this time. Good move I think to try something different but am pretty sure the cherry was a superior product. Without a doubt the best danish pastry you will be able to source in this part of the world.

 Out at Judbury for the start, it is always great to check out all the different bikes. With close to 40 starters, there were some excellent bikes on show.

 How did the day play out? Quite a late start to allow the Hobart riders to make it down to Judbury for the start. Anyone who drove down on the day will have been well aware of the conditions by the time they arrived as apparently there was a whole load of snow covering the saddle when they came through. Knowing that we were going to climb to a couple of hundred metres higher than the saddle would at the very least have been a fraction intimidating.

Having driven and partly ridden the course the day before as part of the precheck and course marking crew, I didn't bother with any navigation but some others didn't have navigation sorted and paid the penalty with wrong turns on some very remote roads. I probably need to get my GPS sorted again. One day. Easy start at a gentle clip. I knew that I wasn't healthy enough and that there were a couple of pretty reasonable climbs on the course so tried to leave plenty in the tank. Solid mid pack by the time we reached Denny Ridge climb which is really just a bit of a pimple and nothing to worry about. I did catch three or four people going up this one and was feeling okay. 

The ride out along the Denison River is a fantastic little jaunt on a quiet gravel road. Nice corners a good surface with virtually no traffic. The pain started once you turn off for the climb up Barnback. This really was the hill I had been fearing. I have ridden it perhaps four or five times in the past and not so much that it is a long climb or is steep but you can never find a good pace. The gradient is never steady, with pinch and then flat and then pinch and then flat. Happy to make it to the summit (and first check point) in pretty good condition. I think I had maybe surprised myself about how good I was going and smashed in a can of solo (light on the fizz so you can slam it down fast) and grabbed a banana and a bag of lollies. 

After the cresting, you roll along the ridge line for maybe five kiometres and it is an awesome ride with spectacular views across into the Tasmanian wilderness. Or at least that would have been the case if it wasn't so overcast. 

The descent is a scary one for me and I got passed by quite a number of riders on the way down. I am reaching a point in life where I guess I am never going to have the belief in my body and reflexes and the bike to descend with any great  speed. I will happily just reach the bottom at my own speed safely, thank you very much.

After the descent, the ride down to the Airwalk is one that I do regularly and knew was not going to be an issue. It is a fantastic part of the course that I hope others appreciated. Most of it is gated off to car traffic so you could happily ride like you owned the road and conditions were good.

Only real issue was just a couple of hundred metres short of the Airwalk, ran into poor Matt Hart, who other than being truly one of life's gentlemen is a terrifically strong rider. He had a major mechanical that he was trying to fix. I stood there and watched and chatted for few minutes and once it was clear that I was not going to contribute anything had to pedal on and leave Matt to it. I did let him know that he could easily just roll down the hill to the Airwalk, which I suspect is exactly what he did shortly afterwards.

Next part of the course is along the Huon River on a reasonably flat and unchallenging link till the climb up Lidgerwood Rd. It was along here that I really started hurting. No real reason to, I certainly had not been riding fast or pushing very hard. I had a bad stomach virus only a couple of days previous and maybe still feeling the after effects or possibly I had not eaten enough during the day but very quickly I faded and just struggled to turn a pedal.

I had been telling other riders all day that the Barnback climb was the challenging one and if you clear that then all would be good. I knew the Lidgerwood climb was higher but it never seems as steep and you can settle in and just grind it out which is kind of my specialty. Not going fast but just able to keep moving up that hill.

The climb up Lidgerwood hurt from bottom to top and I hope I didn't mislead too many people about this one being easy. I did jump off and walk large sections of it which is just something that my fragile male pride does not usually allow. At first this was really frustrating and I went to a few dark places but once I started seeing the snow, I actually quite enjoyed going slowly up and was happy to stop and snap photos of the other riders and many more photos of the beautiful orange Warbird.

Checkpoint two at the turn off to Bermuda Road could not have come quickly enough and it was an absolute godsend. Best Audax checkpoint ever. Period. A bit challenging for the crew who had passed the time between riders by building quite a good snowman. The bit of Bermuda Rd before the descending starts is a fantastic place to ride. I know it is one of Benny's favourite rides and it was a pity that as the organiser he missed out on it with the snow and mud. I am sure he would have loved it on his single speed with skinny 28s.

Then the fast descent back down to Judbury, once again grabbing a whole load of brake but was happy to know that barbecue and beer was not far away. A great ride and one that I hope continues to grow. It certainly deserves to be a part of any winter riding program.