Peaks Challenge. 235 kilometres, 4500 vertical metres, 3 major climbs. Named by GCN as one of the top 10 one day gran fondos. I first heard about this event when we went to Bright on a short trip in the middle of winter prior to a work conference in Melbourne. I remember thinking at the time: 235km is a crazy distance, especially with all that climbing so I quickly parked it into the “too hard/ridiculously long category” and forgot about it.
Fast forward to mid-October 2023 when I received a text at work one morning from Karl at Ride Holidays asking if I would be interested in taking part as someone else had dropped out.
I looked at the details again. Although I have done a few rides with over 4000 metres of climbing, the furthest I’ve cycled in a day is 205km – and that was during the Ride London event in 2013 (which included riding to the start and home again) with just 1400 metres of climbing. It’s now been 5 years since I’ve taken part in an epic event, the last one being Haute Route Alps in 2019. Would my body still remember how to spend over 10 hours riding a bike? Would I be motivated enough to train again for such a massive ride? And with the infamous Back of Falls climb tackled with 200km already in the legs, would my legs still work by the time I get to the notorious WTF Corner at the start of the climb?
Within 24 hours I had paid the deposit and bought return flights to Melbourne before I changed my mind.
As the weekend in Falls Creek approached it became clear that it was going to be hot. Very hot. In fact a severe heatwave warning for the whole of Victoria with a forecast of 35 degrees in the Omeo Valley by Sunday afternoon.
From a training point of view, I felt ready after having spent 3 months gradually building my endurance with rides of increasing duration and climbing. However I was rather concerned about the heat having a history of meltdowns during heatwaves on previous holidays in France. And during my last long training ride 2 weeks previously (210km, 2600vm) on a hot Waikato summer’s day, whilst most of my body felt good several hours in, my feet definitely did not and became increasingly painful and numb as the afternoon got hotter and hotter.
Arriving at Falls Creek village on the Thursday before the event meant that we had 2 days to relax, build the bikes and have a couple of short rides to spin out the legs. The village was full of very fit and lean looking cyclists. Peaks Challenge 2024 was a sold out with 2000 cyclists (of which only 200 were women) as it was the first one since 2022 as last year’s event was cancelled due to a landslide.
Sunday 11th March 2024
At around 6.15am we headed off into the start pens in the dark. It was already clear that it was going to be a warm day – although I had a hoodie on to keep me warm at the start, most people didn’t bother with any extra layers.
It was quite difficult deciding which start pen to go into. On the Bicycle Network website there is a chart showing the W/kg for various riding times according to the final finishing time of riders from past events but personally, I didn’t find it particularly useful. In the end I looked at previous long rides I had done even though they were some years ago: (Marmotte 2012 175km / 4800vm / 9 hours 29 minutes moving time, Haute Route Alps 2017 Stage 5 Alpe d’Huez to Megève 183km / 4600vm / 9 hours 54 minutes, Haute Route Alps 2019 Stage 3 Courchevel to Alpe d’Huez 145km / 4400vm / 8 hours 43 minutes). I estimated that it would be about another hour to account for the extra distance with some of it downhill and hopefully hiding in a big group on the flat. So I joined the 11 hour pen (in the end, it turned out to be quite a good guess!).
At yesterday evening’s mandatory briefing, there were a few warnings about the descents, particularly the first one from Falls Creek Village to Mount Beauty, and also the second descent from Tawonga Gap.
The 11 hour wave set off just after 7am. Six minutes in and a woman who had been in my pen (I had noticed her as she was wearing a hydration pack) over took me at speed. There was then a wide, non-technical lefthand corner – she wobbled, missed the turn, shot across the road and went over her bike. Her ride was over.
I slowed down a bit after this. All the way down, there were already people at the side of the road seemingly waiting for something or someone, presumably because of an ill timed mechanical.
It was about 30km down into Mount Beauty, although there were also a few short uphill sections on the descent. I concentrated on doing my own thing and staying out of trouble on the way down.
It was nice to reach the first proper climb – Tawonga Gap. At the briefing, it was announced that the 11 hour wave leaders would be waiting at the bottom of the climb. But they were nowhere to be seen so I pushed on. At 7.5km with 476m of climbing and an average gradient of 6.3%, Tawonga Gap was a lovely shaded climb gradually going up through a forest. Occasionally a gap in the tree cover gave a hint of the heat which was to come later in the day.
Each turn on the descent of Tawonga Gap was numbered. A few of the turns were specifically mentioned during the previous day’s ride briefing but I couldn’t actually remember which were the ones we had been warned about…!
The 20 km or so from the bottom of Tawonga Gap, Germantown, to Harrietville was the flattest section of the ride. It consisted of what seemed to be one continuous line of cyclists, occasionally bunched up into small groups, but usually riding 2 or 3 abreast as one long snake heading to Harrietville. It was nice to be back on familiar territory having cycled in the opposite direction during our visit to Bright last August.
In Harrietville (74km) I made a quick stop to fill up the bottles and to use the loo. There were long queues for the portaloos and rather bizarrely, no one had noticed the adjacent public toilets!
The climb up Mount Hotham started soon after we turned left out of the feed station, 1303m of ascent over 30 kilometres with an 4% average gradient….which is a bit misleading as there is a false flat middle third, and even a couple of short downhills in the final third.
The first 10km or so of the climb gradually wound up through a forest which meant it was nice and shaded.
There was a short 300m section called the Meg with a 11.8% gradient and an arrival arch to mark the end (the music was also good!).
I climbed at my own pace and by the time I reached the middle flatter section I was in a group and so I sat in.
The final third leaves the forest cover where you are rewarded by views all around. By now the sun was blazing but it didn’t feel too hot (yet) probably because we were so high up. As this top section is quite exposed I am guessing it could also be windy and gusty at times but luckily there was little wind on the day of our ride. It reminded me a bit of the top part of the Taiwan KOM with the view of the road snaking up the side of the mountain and ramps in the distance. There were 2 more steep sections to contend with, CRB Hill, 700m of around 10% and then Diamantina, 1.4km at 9%. As my legs still felt good neither was particularly difficult.
I finally saw the 11 hour wave leaders just after CRB Hill as they climbed past effortlessly with no one on their tail! They did however say that they were ahead than the 11 hour pace.
After just over 2 hours of climbing I was at the top of Mount Hotham (where the 11 hour wave leaders were waiting).
We then descended into the aptly named Dinner Plain (116km) for lunch. The temperature noticeably increased as we descended and Dinner Plain was hot with little shade. I refilled my bottles, used the portaloo, replenished my pockets with bars and sweets from my valet bag, grabbed a chicken wrap and managed to eat it all. People were leaving the feed station in small groups but as the 11 hour wave leaders were still there, I decided there was no point setting out in a small group so loitered and waited for the 11 hour group to go in order to conserve energy for the next long and rolling section of the route.
The section after Dinner Plain was hot as hell. It was like riding in an oven. With heat reflected off the tarmac and very little wind, Garmins were reading 40 degrees. There were further rest stops in Omeo (166km) and Anglers Rest (188km) and I found that 2 bidons were only just about lasting me until the next stop.
The section after Dinner Plain is also not as flat/rolling as you may think with a short 3km (ish) climbs before and after Omeo where I had to work quite hard to stay with the group on the ascent and the descent.
It was great being in a big peloton and the 11 hour wave leaders seemed more than happy to do all the work at the front! As the group was occasionally surgy with abrupt changes in pace, I was pleased that I had done some of the Thursday club races coming into this event.
And then, on an innocuous section of the ride somewhere between Omeo and Anglers Rest, when we weren’t going fast at all up a gentle uphill, a guy on the inside left lost concentration, drifted right and took out the guy on my immediate left. And then the man behind rode straight into them and flipped over his bike. Ride over for them.
At Anglers Rest (188km) I now had a decision to make. Our group had arrived about 10 minutes ahead of the 11 hour ride time schedule and I could see the wave leaders milling about and looking like they were in no rush to leave. I was a bit worried about more surgy group riding over the next 11km and arriving at WTF Corner in a large group as the road ramps up so I decided to set off once it looked like several other people were leaving. But first I heeded the advice of the organisers and carried my bike over the Bike Eating Bridge (rough wooden surface with splinters and nails sticking out).
The section between Anglers Rest and WTF corner where the Back of Falls climb starts was nice – it really reminded me of cycling in the hills of Provence. It was good to be in a smaller group as it meant that I could rest my legs and refuel a bit before the final climb.
Everything you read or watch about the Peaks Challenge will warn you about the start of the Back of Falls, marked by a sharp left hand turn which takes you off the main road and the road suddenly narrows and steepens to 17% at WTF Corner.
There was even the Grim Reaper and one of his “victims” waiting for us at the side of the road. In reality, I thought WTF Corner was a bit hyped up, the 17% section is very short….but the rest of the Back of Falls climb certainly was not and was every bit as horrendous as everyone says it is.
It was like a warzone. Absolute carnage. I have completed a lot of mountainous cycling events in France and Italy and I have never seen so many bodies lying in the shade on the side of the road, and cyclists stopped and hunched over their bikes cramping and vomiting. I could see more people walking in their cleats and pushing their bikes, than people actually cycling.
With 200km in the legs already it felt unrelentingly steep, and with the sun on our backs, it was just so incredibly hot. Even the effort of chewing and swallowing was too much and I really had to force myself to eat a few Shotbloks and to keep hydrated so that I too wouldn’t succumb to cramp.
Apart from the clip clop of cleats on the tarmac and the occasional audible groan from others as we turned each corner to find another steep section, the climb was quiet. No one was talking. There might have been nice views. I have no idea. I just concentrated on looking up the climb.
By this time, I was doing less than half the power I was putting out on the first climb of the day. A measly 80 to 100 watts for long periods – just enough to keep upright. But at least I was still on my bike and moving upwards. After what seemed like a very long time on the climb, I looked down at my Garmin and found that I had only covered 3 of the 12 km needed to get to the final rest stop at Trapyard Gap. Still another 8km of this hell to go.
Luckily I never cramped and I had plenty of water and food still. But my feet were hot, numb and very painful. I became jealous of those lying in the shade by the side of the road and contemplated getting off my bike many times just to stop the pain in my feet but I knew that if I climbed off the bike I would have great difficulty getting back on the bike again, not least because it was so steep. So onwards I pushed in the heat. Mind over matter. After a while there was some respite with a flat and even slightly downhill section but then after a corner the road ramped back up again.
As I got higher, it became noticeably cooler and with that I realised that I was starting to feel a bit better again. Finally, after 12km of climbing I reached Trapyard Gap at 212km, the last rest stop before the finish. There were people wrapped in space blankets; others were asking for anti-emetics and paracetamol to stop vomiting and to stop the pain. Here I ate the tastiest bag of salt and vinegar crisps I have ever had in my life.
I set off again this time by myself for the final several kilometres of climbing through a forest, just a smattering of cyclists with people riding by themselves or in little groups of 2 or 3.
By the time I finally reached the top of the Falls Creek climb and the plateau I found myself with 2 others – a Brazilian guy and an Irishman.
We suddenly realised that if we upped the pace and worked together we might manage a sub 11 hour time. Not that there was any real time goal in the beginning (the goal was just to finish in the 13 hour time limit). For the last 15km we TTTed on the most lovely smooth tarmac on the plateau, with the lake on the left, back on familiar territory having done 2 warm up rides on the days before. Even during the last 10km we passed someone having a nap on the side of the road, helmet as his pillow, the effort clearly too much for him to contemplate riding the short distance to the finish line just yet.
The Brazilian and I did most of the work and we eventually lost the Irish guy a kilometre or so from the Rocky Valley dam due to cramp.
The dam was a welcome sight! We slowed down and started chatting, and exchanging our stories. I didn’t even notice the final rise after the dam – by now euphoria was setting in and it just felt effortless. We descended the last couple of kilometres down to Falls Creek Village carefully, not wanting to slide out on the gravel and potholes, or the final sharp left hand turn across a shallow drain to get into the finishing chute.
I don’t think I’ve ever looked so happy/relieved in a finish line photo!
And then it was over: 235km, 4400vm, 10 hours 1 minute of riding time. Official time 10 hours, 48 minutes and 50 seconds. The hardest, longest and hottest one day bike ride I’ve ever done.
My times on the main climbs were:
- Tawonga 36:05
- Hotham 2:01:13
- Falls Creek 2:15:46
- Total climbing time: 4:53:04
Other key ride stats:
- Total number of bottles drunk: 11
- Total number of stops: 5 (Harrietville, Dinner Plain, Omeo, Anglers Rest, Trapyard Gap)
- Total number of pees: 4 (quite proud of this, considering how incredibly hot it was)
- Number of times cramped: 0
Two days later
I feel like I have the worst jet lag and brain fog! Somehow, however, my legs, back, bottom etc all feel fine with no pain or muscle aches at all.
Some thoughts on preparation
1. Training
- As I already had a good base from training for the 160km Lake Taupo Challenge at the end of November, I gradually built up my endurance from the second week of December onwards, and adding in more climbing, distance and duration week on week.
- During the week I did shorter more intense sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays working on V02. I did these efforts either on the turbo/Zwift or sometimes I drove out to do reps on the local hills. I would do one long ride at the weekend of 6-8 hours.
- On average I did about 15 hours on the bike each week (2 hours of which was commuting to work very slowly on my old mountain bike). The most I did in one week was 17 hours. I took a recovery week every 4th week. I did 8 rides in total with over 2000m of climbing. As the longest climb where I live is only about 20 minutes of riding time, we went to Ohakune for the weekend to climb up and down NZ’s only hors categorie climb, up to the Turoa Ski Fields (3000m climb on this ride in total). My longest training ride was 210km and just over 8 and a half hours.
- I kept an eye on the Bicycle Network training plans over the weeks (they publish low, intermediate and high volume 12 week training plans for the event) – really just to have an idea of the length of weekend rides they were suggesting. I didn’t do any intervals during my weekend rides (the Bicycle Network training plans suggested various intervals during the long weekend rides) – I just rode my bike for increasingly long periods of time. Any intervals were done during the shorter weekday sessions. If I had time and if the weather was good, I would sometimes try to fit in a shorter 2 hour aerobic ride on the weekend.
- I was lucky that the weather over the summer was stable and dry so never lost a weekend ride due to the weather. It helped that I only work 3 days a week.
- Apart from cycling, I did a pilates class and a weights/core session each week. Training for the Peaks gave me a good excuse to temporarily stop running!
2. Keep it interesting
- It can get very boring during the same routes and hills for months on end. Training for this event actually gave us – Mark was training for the Cape Epic – the motivation to explore the area where we live a bit more and found some new routes going further afield on lovely quiet roads. Also, on some Thursdays, instead of doing an interval session, I did one of the local road races which was a good one hour workout and also gave the opportunity to work on group riding skills (needed for the section after Dinner Plain to the Back of Falls climb in particular). Although as the event day approached I became increasingly paranoid about being knocked off my bike during a race so I resumed solo riding again.
3. Nutrition
- Find some bars/snacks/sweets that you like (and are prepared to never want to eat again after the event) and use this during your training. I always stopped for a café snack during my training rides – some of the training guides talk about riding continuously instead as there’s no café during the event! However I thought it was good to practice eating a sandwich mid ride and then riding on a full stomach (haha) as there is a lunch stop at Dinner Plain where you get given a sandwich wrap. During the event, I only ate my own food apart from the lunch wrap. I also took out my own breakfast for the morning of the event as I didn’t want to risk eating a random sugary cereal.
4. Weather
- Perhaps we were “lucky” in some ways that it was a heatwave this year. It meant that we didn’t get cold waiting in the start pens (there is the option of a clothing drop at the bottom of the Falls Creek descent where the clothing gets donated to a local charity) and we didn’t need any arm warmers or any extra layers at all at 7am even though we were descending for 30km down to Mount Beauty. Afterwards, lots of us in the group commented that we had been starting our training rides early in the mornings, partly to avoid the heat of the day. We all said that perhaps we should have done more heat acclimitisation prior to the event! Having said that, some previous editions of the Peaks Challenge have been extremely cold and wet.
5. Control what you can
- Work out your nutrition strategy, your clothing, your equipment, your pre-race breakfast. I packed my cycling kit, helmet and shoes as hand luggage and figured that there might be a (very small) possibility of renting or borrowing a bike if the airline misplaced my checked-in luggage but it would be hard to buy new shoes at the last minute. You can’t control the weather.
6. Practice group riding skills
- I was lucky that I finally met up with the 11 hour wave leaders at the lunch stop in Dinner Plain. I don’t think I would’ve kept up on the ascent or descent of Hotham if I had come across them earlier as they seemed to ride faster than the pace required and then waited at the rest stops. So it meant that for the long rolling section from Dinner Plain (116km) to Anglers Rest (188km) I was always in a big peloton. However it is also important to know when/if the group might be doing your legs more damage! Group riding can be surgy (very on or off) and intermittently you may be riding harder than you’d like – for this reason, I decided to set off with a smaller group to cover the 11km to the bottom of the Back of Falls climb. I think it is important to be comfortable riding in a big group, coping with changes in pace (particularly on some of the short uphills in the section between Dinner Plain and WTF Corner), knowing how to ride safely and when to let the group go.
So how do the climbs compare to the Alps?
As I’ve done a lot of cycling in the France and Italy, I tried to carry out some Google searches to see if anyone had done a comparison between the 3 main climbs in the Peaks Challenge and some of the more well known European climbs…..except I couldn’t find anything.
So how does it compare? In terms of gradient, and hairpin corners, I would say that Tawonga Gap and the lower third of Hotham (excluding the Meg) are the most Alpine like with fairly regular and consistent gradients (6% average gradient over 7.5km for Tawonga Gap, and maybe around 6-7% on Hotham) – I enjoyed both of these sections as it was easy to get into a nice climbing rhythm. The top third of Hotham is where it becomes more interesting – exposed with steep ramps. The scenery there reminded me of Mont Ventoux with bare rock and long exposed sections….but the ramps probably most resembled those towards the top of the Taiwan KOM climb. At 30km, Mt Hotham is longer than Ventoux from Bédoin (about 20km), or the Stelvio from Bormio (also around 20km) but I found Hotham easier than either of them – it’s a bit less climbing overall, and you get to rest a bit during the flatter middle third.
The Back of Falls climb however cannot be compared to anything else that I’ve done! Probably mainly because it is climbed with 200km in the legs already. And it was just so incredibly hot.
Would I do this again?
No. I had a great day out with no incidents, accidents or mechanicals and the ride probably went as smoothly as it could have. I definitely could have cut down on my time in the rest stops – but a lot of that was spent loitering around waiting for the main group so that I could benefit from the draft of being in a big group.
Thanks to Dean, Chris and Karl at Ride Holidays for the incredible trip organisation – all logistics were taken care of and all we had to worry about was riding our bikes, and to Tony at EFR Cycle Coaching for my training programme.
Thank you also to everyone who was part of this Ride Holidays Peaks Challenge team – what an awesome group of people!
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