I set of first again and had a great ride along an undulating rough gravel road through native bush - it was mountain biking heaven. The other four caught me at Christies hut and we got ready for the mega climb ahead up to the top of the Old Man range. It was steep - real steep. I was the first to walk quickly followed by Paul and Mark. Trevor rode far more than I thought possible but eventually succumbed to walking as well. I was amazed to see Barryn still riding though seemingly effortlessly cranking up the impossible grades into the distance. It was sunny and hot. Sweat was pouring of us all and I wondered if I had enough water. Looking up we saw that Barryn was finally walking as well - he was human after all! Up and up. I stopped to get something from my camelback and Paul trudged past. Setting off again I was horrified to see I was now faced with a long uphill grovel behind Pauls bare buttocks. Taking his shorts off to air his nether regions may have been great for him but not so for the rest of us.
I needn't of worried about water - snow melt (yes snow) was starting to run down the track. It was plentiful, cold, very refreshing and a real relief considering how much liquid we were sweating away in the heat of the day. The climb was long but somehow less daunting when done with others. Eventually the gradient eased and we saw Barryn ahead in the distance with someone else - who was it? Closing in I was surprised to see Dave King way up here. He had ridden in from a side track to catch up with us. We had a rest, chatting and admiring the endless, breathtaking view from our perch in the heavens.
We continued on still climbing through massive bogs until Dave left us at a hut heading of down to Alexandra on an alternative side route. A sign pointed downhill where Dave had disappeared saying Alex was 27km away. The way we were going though continued uphill with Alex at least 50km away....hmmmm.
The climbing now led into proper snow drifts which slowed our progress to a crawl. There was no way we would get to Alex by nightfall at this speed. It was hard to know how long the snowdrift would go on for as it disappeared over the ridge above. Sinking up to your knees into the deep snow and dragging your bike through became very tiring. I thought about the easy 27km downhill to Alex behind me...temptation!
Thankfully over the ridge the snow stopped and we could see in the distance that the drifts were only intermittent. We could ride again. The country was utterly spectacular and desolate with bizarre rock pillar formations and views that stretched beyond multiple ranges to snow capped mountains in the clear blue beyond. It was entrancing. What a place to ride a bike!
We eventually made it to the Obelisk - the high point of the whole brevet at 1700 meters - and stopped for a snack.
We could see Alex a long, long, long way below. The downhill seemed to take forever and was much too bumpy for my rigid bike. My hands and wrists suffered badly and it was a relief to get to the bottom for a feed of fresh plums.
On the last stretch into Alex I ended up riding and chatting with a roadie who had been following our progress on the website. Distracted I missed the turnoff to the river trail but hooked onto it a little further on. Catching up to the other four we rolled into Alex around 7.30pm and headed to the campground for the night. It had been another very hard but utterly superb day. I slept well.
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