Straight off the bat, this was a challenging ride.  Mt Buninyong followed by Mt Egerton left me knackered after only 48 km and  575 meters of climbing; with more than half the distance left and only half the climbing done, I was pondering having to limp home whilst chugging into some fruit cake at the Mt Egerton CFA rest stop.  I knew that after the 67km, the ride was basically downhill into Ballarat from the backroads of Springbank, so contemplating another 500 meters of climbing in the next 19 kms was playing with my cycling will.  My memory of the course did not compute with those numbers.  I had thought that Mt Egerton to the highest point of the ride was a steady slope.  However the advertised climbing for the event was 1071 meters, so that difference had to primarily be on the road from where I was now to the boundary of Bullarook and Springbank; and there was a decent downhill towards Gordon in between.  God almighty this was going to be painful.  This is potato farming country.  If this is the hills that spud farmers have to deal with for the betterment of their crops, no wonder Cliffy Young was an ultra running genius!

Ballarat had put on a “crisp” morning for the event.  The southerly had made it chilly, but blowing at upwards of 30kmh, it was at least going to provide a push to the next milestone.   I had mentally placed the two-thirds event mark as a perfect rest stop and given that such favourable conditions may not exist in coming events, it was a case of getting on with it.  I felt vindicated in my whiny thoughts when passed by one rider doing the Spud 100 course (160 Km), who exclaimed in a thick Arnold Schwarzenegger like accent (with a similar build) how the Central Highlands hadn’t lived up to his expectations of a gently undulating ride.  Great to see the event attracting international attention.  It’s well worth it.

As Arnie turned right to continue on the 160km, the welcome site of the road unmistakably turning into a long descent had arrived.  My Garmin indicated this was almost exactly on the 67km mark and an ideal time to rest.  If anyone from the event organisation is reading this, I would suggest an official stop would add significantly to the event and even though I took the opportunity anyway, I had well and truly bonked by the time I reached the Dunnstown corner stop, a further 15 km up the road.  On the way, the Western Highway overpass between Bullarook and Bungaree has a very low guardrail and in my tired state, I kept to the middle of the road to feel safe.  I wouldn’t want to cross over in a side wind for fear of toppling over.  The head wind had laid to waste the downhills that are enjoyed in this section, but at least blowing in your face, it wasn’t going to carry you off the flyover.

I received a second wind after stretching my legs at Dunnstown and and felt like I flew into Ballarat.  Caffeine is a wonderful thing.   The ride around Mt Warrenheip is bumpy, leading into  a serious downhill into Ballarat proper, before kicking up to and around Lake Wendouree.  That red inflatable course marker was a pleasure to ride under.  I had finished the event with a personal elevation gain record of …. only 853 metres.  What the hell!  What happened to the kilometre of climbing?  Falsely advertised obviously.  Had I psyched myself out at Mt Egerton?  Would I have felt better knowing that I was two-thirds of the way through the climbing?  I think so, but nonetheless Mt Egerton is a deceiving ascent.  It looks like a relatively steady but not overly steep climb, but hits 10% for a lengthy duration.  Gives Mt Buninyong a shake, so enjoy the descents into Buninyong from Mt Helen and off Mt Buninyong towards Yendon as they are shortlived.

I’ll look forward to doing this again.  I think with a more optimistic mindset.  Riding 100km with 1 km of climbing isn’t as difficult as I had imagined!!!