The guess work about the weather for the day ahead had now been reversed. For the first four days any rain that had been predicted only seemed to threaten or at worst break after we had crossed the finish line. Day five was giving the opposite as we set off for the start line and the rain seemed to increase to a steady pour. Was the rain going to be with us for the whole day or would it ease off sometime soon?
Today was labelled as the Terra's "Queen Stage", not only were we to climb Mt Buffalo one and a half times, it would also be the longest stage, accumulating 110km between the start and finish lines. The first 11km were under control of the lead out car, taking us from Bright to Porepunkah. It was wet! The rain was constant and the tyres on the bitumen made sure there was as much of an even spray of water from below as the rain was providing from above, plus there were all the rooster tails of water from everybody else in the controlled bunch. After a couple of kilometers along the Buckland Valley Road the group turned off to begin the race start. We were soon onto the day's first long climb of rocky vehicle track, good to be out of the spray created on the exposed roads and to have some perceived shelter of bush land.
The 2km climb was a great chance to get the core temperature to register somewhere between the hot and the too hot zone. Thankfully it transitioned to a descent, fast and muddy, where the advantages of glasses kept mud that was being flung from the tyres out of the eyes, but the disadvantages were not being able to see through the muck collecting on the lenses. The brain was potentially the next thing to over-cook as the length of the descent saw the brakes get quite a workout into fast slippery corners, water bars kept rearing up in front, the mix of water and silt and giving the pads an extra bit of grind, the lines were getting sketchy and vision was fast becoming screened as the dots of mud collected thicker on the glasses. Surely I get the worst of that stuff as Peter is a bit taller and further away from the ground, which must be why he was able to seemingly disappear into the distance. Pete led us out to the next climb, a 5 or 6 km bitumen climb part way up the Mt Buffalo road.
The next ridge we traversed was relatively tame after what Day 3 threw at us. Only a couple of pinch climbs that took us to some more exciting downhill stretches. The wet conditions were now the normal but there were still a lot of places for error if any sense of respect slipped. Rocky surfaces and plenty of branches were the initial challenge, but as we dropped down and the rocks became dirt the trails narrowed and the vehicle rutts became the next obstacle while the overgrown foliage did it's best to apprehend you. Rolling through in second wheel constantly scanning for the best line we approached another team, Pete pulled up alongside them and then got sucker-punched by a puddle of a wheel track he was on. I don't know if his knees got wet but it was at least up to his wheel hubs and gave us all a bit of a laugh as it stalled him without any damaging results.
Feed station one was a perfect chance to get some lube back into the chain before getting stuck into the next series of climbs. Three teams of us headed on through to the start a climb on a soft, boggy track that was lined with a short moss-like grass. Sharing the frustration of the climb with Francis of the Falls Creek team he suggested if he were 20kg lighter he'd be able to float across the top of the mushy, sucky surface. I looked across at him as he glanced back for confirmation. While I suggested it wouldn't help he realised I probably had that 20kg advantage that was really making no difference. As the boggy clay trail rose it slowly changed surface to looser sand stone like pebbles which then pitched to a descent riddled with water gullies. There were several across some short, sharp drops that tested the agility at the speed being carried. Pete was generous enough to demonstrate the potential dangers that lay ahead. With everything still attached and bending the way it should we continued on toward Lake Buffalo. The weather had started to clear so we were finally able to get the rain jackets off. A couple of creek crossings came in handy to clean the mud and grime that had collected on the drive trains, and then it was into the Mt Buffalo climb - a 10km stretch that gave us 1000 metres of elevation gain. I don't know if we solved the problems of the world but we certainly talked a lot of sh1t to help get through the 1hr20min it took us to put the climb behind us.
On the other side it became a balancing act of speed, control and clear vision as once again the fine mud spray coming off the tyres became a speed related hazard. With the glasses slid down the nose I could just see clearly enough over the top of the frame to the track ahead but still a lot of mud seemed to be bouncing off the eye balls, so it was a better risk to keep the glasses in the standard location and squint through the filthy lenses. That descending 10km took us 20 minutes and into the second feed station - more food and more lube!
With only 25km to go and the worst of the hills behind us it was back onto the bitumen for the first 10km of that. We left the road for the last climb of the day. It was only 6km but at that stage of the day it might as well have been 20km of climbing - got to be the last of it after this corner, Pete... OK, after this corner... maybe after this corner... eventually it crested and we opened it up for another fast fire trail descent back to the last of the bitumen to the finish line. The finish line was the best one to reach, yet. We were spent, and had made it back just before the next down pour.!
once again, great photos, Russ
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