R
Rhubarb
Guest
This is a ride report written by my riding partner for the day, Anthony.
I've been meaning to post this for a while but have just finally got around
to it. I hope you enjoy the read, it was quite an unexpected day to say the
least.
----------------------------
The story,
We took off at 8am in decent weather for a ride to Healesville on our MTB's.
We were to climb Don Rd to the dirt section, then continue on past the road
closed barriers and make our way to Mt Donna Buang. We would then descend
16km down to Warburton, eat and ride the 45kms of warby trail home.
WHAT HAPPENED
We rode to Healesville in really windy conditions, it started to rain around
Healesville and as we started to climb Don Rd.
On the climb we pedalled really low gears and just spun our way up the
mountain, it was really cold, maybe 3-4 degrees but as we were climbing it
just felt nice and fresh. We stumbled upon a road closed barrier and ducked
under it and kept riding, figuring that this was a good sign because on the
twisty, narrow roads, their would be no traffic to avoid! When we hit the
dirt section it said 16kms to Mt Donna Buang.
I was expected some undulating roads to Mt Donna B, but instead it was lots
of steady climbing. We were now getting rained upon quite heavily but I
couldn't feel it as we were climbing at decent speeds and working quite
hard. I was quite astonished at just how high we had climbed as the top of
the bitumen at Don Rd is over 700hundred metres above sea level and we had
been steadily climbing ever since (another 40 minutes approx).
As we neared the end of the climbing section Rhubarb motioned to me that we
were both covered in ice from the sleet that had been falling on us. I
thought that this was really cool and just enjoyed the sensation of the cool
stuff landing on me!
We continued to ride for another 20 odd minutes when we noticed big patches
of snow and ice on the side of the road, before too long, and we were now
climbing again, the whole road surface was completely covered in snow. I
then noticed that we were back on bitumen again as I could just see the
white line of the road under the snow. I asked Rhubarb how much further and
he replied maybe another 2-3 kms, we rode another 2-3 kms in the snow,
getting thicker too i might add, and i asked him again how much further to
the summit of Mt DB but by this stage we were freezing cold, concerned about
our energy levels, fluid levels (i didn't want to drink cold water when i
was so cold and wet) and because it was a closed road, we knew that we would
have to get ourselves out of there.
Our dilemma was we had now been climbing for approximately 2 hours and we
knew that shortest way to safety was to keep going, we also knew that the
weather was getting far worse the further we went, but at the same time we
are both the sort of guys that hate quitting things.
Rhubarb stopped to get a powerbar and tried to open the wrapper and
couldn't, I couldn't either as my fingers (cut off gloves) were frozen
pretty much solid. He ripped it open with his mouth to find the bar inside
was frozen pretty much solid. We continued on for another ten or so minutes
when the snow became too thick to ride in, I was starting to doubt what kind
of 16km descent would be ahead of us down to Warby (all snow etc.) and
whether it was now better to turn back. We turned around, and that's when we
really found ourselves in the sh*t!
After only a few minutes i saw a H (Healesville sign) 30kms! **** that's
like a 25km mountain descent, with snow ice and below freezing temps.
Snow and ice was all over our bikes, our brakes were basically useless, you
had to clamp them on 3 or 4 times further back than you would usually do so,
we couldn't detect puddles, pot holes that had ice over them, rocks under
the surface of snow etc, and now I was F**KIING FREEZING.
Rhubarb looked pretty good at this point but he was clearly concerned about
our safety. I had a constant slight panic going as we were heavily in the
****, my fingers were useless, my face mostly numb, my ankles numb, feet wet
and numb and my bike was starting to play up.
Trying to keep up with Rhubarb going downhill was not easy as we both had
our moments on corners and riding over sticks and small branches, to make
matters worse all of a sudden i could not pedal. My cranks would rotate but
no drive would go through to the back wheel, as we were coasting I wasn't
immediately concerned but it wasn't all down hill, and i needed to pedal to
keep warm!
We stopped and i got off my bike, the rear gear cluster was full of ice and
frozen solid, the chain could not sit amongst the teeth of the gears, it
happened instantaneously I was pedalling and all of a sudden it was frozen,
i only had my granny rear gear left and decided that we didn't have to time
to spare so we took off again.
We were shivering, grunting, not talking, seriously in the sh*t, I was
thinking of riding home still at this point, thinking that all i needed was
some serious effort and i would warm myself up...Rhubarb on the other hand
kept saying we needed to stop at the nearest house, 10km out of Healesville.
To cut a long story short, well shorter, a woman opened her front door, we
both kind of walked forward towards the heat, grunting, shivering, in real
trouble, and walked into her family room where she had a fire going, we got
clothes from her, soup and stood there defrosting. My hands were bloody
killing me, i couldn't put them in front of the fire to start with, aching,
throbbing etc.
When i took my helmet off, a layer of ice that was lying directly against my
scalp fell onto her floor. SH*T, we were in the sh*t!
As I type this (Monday morning) I still cant feel my pinky's, ring finger,
middle finger tips! (makes typing hard) NO SH*T, WE WERE WORRIED ABOUT OUR
LIVES UP THERE!!!
My face was burnt by the snow, ice etc. All red and stuff, my fingers are
stuffed, and i was cold all weekend, but it was a good experience to walk
away from.
Thanks for reading...learn from my mistakes...I make them often
-------------
Thanks for reading.
I've been meaning to post this for a while but have just finally got around
to it. I hope you enjoy the read, it was quite an unexpected day to say the
least.
----------------------------
The story,
We took off at 8am in decent weather for a ride to Healesville on our MTB's.
We were to climb Don Rd to the dirt section, then continue on past the road
closed barriers and make our way to Mt Donna Buang. We would then descend
16km down to Warburton, eat and ride the 45kms of warby trail home.
WHAT HAPPENED
We rode to Healesville in really windy conditions, it started to rain around
Healesville and as we started to climb Don Rd.
On the climb we pedalled really low gears and just spun our way up the
mountain, it was really cold, maybe 3-4 degrees but as we were climbing it
just felt nice and fresh. We stumbled upon a road closed barrier and ducked
under it and kept riding, figuring that this was a good sign because on the
twisty, narrow roads, their would be no traffic to avoid! When we hit the
dirt section it said 16kms to Mt Donna Buang.
I was expected some undulating roads to Mt Donna B, but instead it was lots
of steady climbing. We were now getting rained upon quite heavily but I
couldn't feel it as we were climbing at decent speeds and working quite
hard. I was quite astonished at just how high we had climbed as the top of
the bitumen at Don Rd is over 700hundred metres above sea level and we had
been steadily climbing ever since (another 40 minutes approx).
As we neared the end of the climbing section Rhubarb motioned to me that we
were both covered in ice from the sleet that had been falling on us. I
thought that this was really cool and just enjoyed the sensation of the cool
stuff landing on me!
We continued to ride for another 20 odd minutes when we noticed big patches
of snow and ice on the side of the road, before too long, and we were now
climbing again, the whole road surface was completely covered in snow. I
then noticed that we were back on bitumen again as I could just see the
white line of the road under the snow. I asked Rhubarb how much further and
he replied maybe another 2-3 kms, we rode another 2-3 kms in the snow,
getting thicker too i might add, and i asked him again how much further to
the summit of Mt DB but by this stage we were freezing cold, concerned about
our energy levels, fluid levels (i didn't want to drink cold water when i
was so cold and wet) and because it was a closed road, we knew that we would
have to get ourselves out of there.
Our dilemma was we had now been climbing for approximately 2 hours and we
knew that shortest way to safety was to keep going, we also knew that the
weather was getting far worse the further we went, but at the same time we
are both the sort of guys that hate quitting things.
Rhubarb stopped to get a powerbar and tried to open the wrapper and
couldn't, I couldn't either as my fingers (cut off gloves) were frozen
pretty much solid. He ripped it open with his mouth to find the bar inside
was frozen pretty much solid. We continued on for another ten or so minutes
when the snow became too thick to ride in, I was starting to doubt what kind
of 16km descent would be ahead of us down to Warby (all snow etc.) and
whether it was now better to turn back. We turned around, and that's when we
really found ourselves in the sh*t!
After only a few minutes i saw a H (Healesville sign) 30kms! **** that's
like a 25km mountain descent, with snow ice and below freezing temps.
Snow and ice was all over our bikes, our brakes were basically useless, you
had to clamp them on 3 or 4 times further back than you would usually do so,
we couldn't detect puddles, pot holes that had ice over them, rocks under
the surface of snow etc, and now I was F**KIING FREEZING.
Rhubarb looked pretty good at this point but he was clearly concerned about
our safety. I had a constant slight panic going as we were heavily in the
****, my fingers were useless, my face mostly numb, my ankles numb, feet wet
and numb and my bike was starting to play up.
Trying to keep up with Rhubarb going downhill was not easy as we both had
our moments on corners and riding over sticks and small branches, to make
matters worse all of a sudden i could not pedal. My cranks would rotate but
no drive would go through to the back wheel, as we were coasting I wasn't
immediately concerned but it wasn't all down hill, and i needed to pedal to
keep warm!
We stopped and i got off my bike, the rear gear cluster was full of ice and
frozen solid, the chain could not sit amongst the teeth of the gears, it
happened instantaneously I was pedalling and all of a sudden it was frozen,
i only had my granny rear gear left and decided that we didn't have to time
to spare so we took off again.
We were shivering, grunting, not talking, seriously in the sh*t, I was
thinking of riding home still at this point, thinking that all i needed was
some serious effort and i would warm myself up...Rhubarb on the other hand
kept saying we needed to stop at the nearest house, 10km out of Healesville.
To cut a long story short, well shorter, a woman opened her front door, we
both kind of walked forward towards the heat, grunting, shivering, in real
trouble, and walked into her family room where she had a fire going, we got
clothes from her, soup and stood there defrosting. My hands were bloody
killing me, i couldn't put them in front of the fire to start with, aching,
throbbing etc.
When i took my helmet off, a layer of ice that was lying directly against my
scalp fell onto her floor. SH*T, we were in the sh*t!
As I type this (Monday morning) I still cant feel my pinky's, ring finger,
middle finger tips! (makes typing hard) NO SH*T, WE WERE WORRIED ABOUT OUR
LIVES UP THERE!!!
My face was burnt by the snow, ice etc. All red and stuff, my fingers are
stuffed, and i was cold all weekend, but it was a good experience to walk
away from.
Thanks for reading...learn from my mistakes...I make them often
-------------
Thanks for reading.
