Melbourne is a relatively flat city. Instead of riding the usual Beach Road, some cyclists from Melbourne will head east of the city centre towards Mount Dandenong to test their climbing skills. The most popular of all is the "1 in 20" climb which starts from the Basin to Sassafras via the Mountain Highway. It's named after its steady gradient of an average 5%. This route is not as tough as the climb I did in Genting Peres, Ulu Langat. The route starts from the 60km/h signage near the shops. There's even a yellow painted "Start" marking on the road. Each kilometer are marked to give the riders indication of how far they have left. The distance is 6.75km in length. The road is relatively quiet on weekends but it is very narrow and riders had to be cautious of passing vehicles.
Reading up some of the postings in the internet, a time of sub-14 mins will put you as one of the best times recorded and a time of under 20mins is respectable.
I started my ride from home at around 7.20am. Little did I expect that riding from home to the Basin would be a lot harder than climbing the 1 in 20 due to the short but rolling hills via the Toorak Road and Burwood Highway. The Basin is about 33km from the apartment. I didn't see many cyclists along the way, only 1-3. I tried to draft behind each cyclist I see but they dropped me at the hill. I was expecting the worst when I start my "1 in 20" climb. I was glad when I reached the Basin but still I had a long way to go. the climb and the ride back. There are quite a number of cyclists there either starting their climb or already made their descent from the top.
Starting the climb I didnt really know what to expect, although I really wanted to go under 20 mins. I started at a good pace but not fast. In my mind, I thought there will be a steep climb somewhere along the route (which I found out there's none), so was kind of saving some of my energy for that big climb. As I reached the mark of 2km to go, I look at my watch it was already 17plus mins.
There's no way Im going to make it under 20mins, but I push it as fast as I could. I saw the 250m to go mark and push a little more and was trying to find the finish mark sign in front of the 60km/h signage, but didnt find it. There's two 50km/h sign in front, so I guess that was the finish line. Stopped my watch "21:22". There was a thought of going back down and to try it again but had to save up for my ride back later. Although a little disappointed with the time, I'll just accept the effort I've put in for the day. I guess the ride from the apartment has already zapped my energy level.
Luckily the road up to the mountains are shadowed by tall trees and offers scenic view of flora and fauna. This offers riders a cooling ride up eventhough the temperature on the day soared to near 30C.
Reaching Sassafras, I made my way up again to SkyHigh Mt Dandenong. Entry fee applies for cars and motorbikes, but didnt see any charge for cyclists. When I reached the security checkpoint, the guy just told me to go in to P2. Took a long break at the top of SkyHigh and had some food I brought with me. Just couldn't resist to get someone to take a photo of me up there, at least I have a proof that I did ride up there.
At the descent, I accidently took another route, instead of making my way back to the Basin. I ended up in Upper Ferntree Gully, which is still alright since it leads me to Burwood Highway as well. Top speed reached almost 75km/h at the descent. Cyclists will need to be cautious here since at certain parts there will be tight corners awaiting.
As I reached the foot of Mt Dandenong, now it's the dreaded ride back home. As I was passing Deakin University, thought I called up my ex-colleague, Syazrin, who's studying her Master degree in Melbourne for brunch. I had a Subway six-inch for my meal and I just felt so lazy to ride back. After an hour break, made my way back slowly. The weather is not humid as in Malaysia but I can feel the sun ray piercing thru my shirt and burning my skin. It was huge sigh of relief to see the shops along Toorak Road, as it indicates that I'm near home. Total distance covered for the day was 96km.
Upon reaching home, I was still feeling a little hungry so cooked myself "Cha Bee Hoon".
Post recovery brunch
Later that night, Andrew called me to have dinner at Josiah's place. Den was cooking his specialty, Cabonara pasta. After dinner, we ended playing Nitendo Wii till the "wee" hour in the morning. Looking at the photos and videos, you'll realised how foolish each of us looked playing the motion sensored game which took the world by storm. Anyway, I suck at playing video games and I really got wiped out in most games played.
Check out the funny antics......
Now my body is aching!
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