7 Peaks Trip 1

On the second day of 2019, my loving (and ever-tolerant) partner Sarah and I embarked on a two-week road trip that would see me attempt something entirely new. Following a night in our beloved Grampians where we hiked up to The Pinnacle for amazing views, and a night camping in High Country, it was time to begin a challenge that had only very recently crossed my cycling radar.

It was time to try my luck at climbing one of the infamous 7 Peaks cycling climbs in one of Australia's toughest mountains, Falls Creek. At 29.5kms long at an average gradient of 4%, this is no amateur climb. After weeks poring over the 7 Peaks website and endlessly combing my eyes over the elevation map, wondering how on earth I was going to complete this climb, the time had come.

Sarah and I drove to the nearby, aptly named town of Mount Beauty, where we ate some pre-ride snacks at the local bakery. I was nervous, as I had no reference point for what was ahead of me, and the roads were wet, the air heavy with humidity of mountain rain.

The highest climb I had completed until this one was an Adelaide staple ride called the Bollards to Lofty ride, which covers just under 700 metres of elevation. This one was going to ask double that from me, something I'm not sure I really understood until I began.

Gruelling is the word that comes to mind, Falls Creek is the epitome of the word grind. For 30 kilometres, it's a mostly steady 4% average all the way from the bottom to the top, with the exception of a couple of short, steeper parts. These include a 1-kilometre sharp pinch at 8% average elevation, another couple of short 800 metre pinches at around 9-11%, and includes one particular 500- metre segment around the half-way that Strava calculates at being 18% average. OUCH!

With wet roads, tired legs from being cramped up in a car for the past few days of travel, Falls Creek almost defeated me. ALMOST. But I persisted, and this persistence on this day in January is what started my journey of completing all 7 Peaks. It's not about the mountain, it's about you. It's about your ability to welcome and watch the bombarding mental chatter that inevitably arises when you try to complete something difficult beyond what you thought you could do.

The beginning of something beautiful.

All smiles somewhere that can't have been too far from the beginning!

Upon reflection, was I making these faces for the camera? Or was I really in agony? Yeah, it was agony.

A smile during a rare reprieve from the constant undulation facing me.

Boy I don't make many nice faces on rides of this magnitude.

The final push to the resort!

What a capture! Not sure if I was cheering for the completion of the ride itself or the thought of a warm shower and eating my body weight in naughty food!