Recollections of MT Hotham and Beyond

Jamie Leggate, Saturday 6 December 2002

Last Thursday at the hairdresser, a 20's something experiment in facial piercing quizzed me ....

"So whotcha  ya doin this weekend?"
"Going for a ride in the country"
"Oh yeah, where?"
"We're riding from Bright to Omeo, over Mt Hotham and back again".
"Wow! How far is that?"
"About 200kms or so"
"Gee, what motivates you to do that?"

Saturday 6th December 2002, 6:30am, Bright in rural Victoria Tracey, Ken and yours truly rode up to join a group of 20 other riders in what was sub10 degrees. Jerseys bulging with food, cold weather clothes, tubes, pumps and that little secret energy source all cycles include should they need a boost. The usual musings about weather conditions on Mt Hotham was on everyones mind as the previous day had been very cold and talk of snow on the mount. ( 'Take all the clothing you've got' was the wisdom from the veteran riders). We rode 20kms in formation to Harrietville which seemed flat at the time. Turning left after Harrietville we started our 30km climb to Mt Hotham's summit.  The first 20kms and spirits were high.  It was essentially an in-saddle spin to the snow line. Looking ahead we saw what had been referred to as the 'meg', a stepper climb and definitiely out of saddle.  Into 'the meg' quickly showed that the gradient was significantly more than we had enjoyed the last 20km.  Grinding away in 27 at 8kph gave me plenty of time to count the number of stones in the road surface as I rode over them. This proved a tough climb with heart rate well up. Some reprieve from short downhills before we were once again challenged by a solid climb.  As we passed a couple pretending they had mechanical problems and another chap walking up we put our heads down and once again entered road inspection mode. (If you have long enough to look a road surface it is very mesmerising, almost pleasant).  Puffing continued and after the odd 'I'm at my limit cough' we finally bridged Mt Hotham.

Regaining heart rate and resting legs we rode undulations for the next 13Km to Dinner Plains (a contrived mountain village clearly constructed to a tight budget). Coffee, muffin and $8 lighter we shed some warm clothing as the day was proving to be ideal riding weather.

We rode on to Omeo, 40 kms of basically undulations although there were far more descents than climbs.  Of course for every lovely descent meant a grind back up.  From an escarpment we could see Omeo some 600m below.

A relatively sharp descent sent a quick message to my brain, coming home had some challenges.

Smile gone we rode into rural Australia in the 1950's.

'See Omeo and die'.  It's saddening to see the effects of time and progress on what will surely be a ghost town in 20-30 years, (maybe even sooner).

A 30 minute stop.  Refuelled and rested we were all keen to get the 7km climb out of Omeo behind us.

Now this was one of those climbs that tested all your strength and resolve. Halfway up we stopped to remove thermals. If I'd had a 37 on the back I would have used it.  This was definitely not fun.  Just what is my motivation anyhow?

Finally over the top and I felt like I had done it, the rest will be easy.  Wrong........  more to come.   Up and down, up and down, another solid 5km climb and a break for a 'GU' satchel and some water.  We struggled on to Dinner Plains for a water refuel.  Now I'm making this seem quick but my trip computer said it was about 3:20pm.  We'd been in the saddle for almost 8 hours.

Leaving Dinner Plains we had a 13km ride back to the peak of Mt Hotham. This proved tough and we just hit rise after rise after rise.  We finally got to Hotham Central where all the chair lifts depart, went through a short tunnel and rounded a bend expecting to see the descent.

I actually sped up to the bend because I thought, 'I'm there - it's all downhill'.  I rounded the bend only to see the rise continue in a crescent shape for 400ms ahead.  The strength just seemed to leave my body.  I got out of the saddle, looked for little red pebbles on the road and crawled up to the peak.

We all know what it's like to be exhausted and finally recognise the tough part is done.  Well I had that feeling.  I sat back and started the descent.  The ascent looked steeper from the other direction than it did going up.

Swooping down a long straight, a little jiggle and then the bike stopped. Looking at the brakes I could see they weren't at fault. Someone had put a short steep rise in front of me.  Clashing gears back to 39 -27 out of the saddle I reverted to a new pebble count.

Over the top, a couple more nasty surprises and then a very relaxing 20km descent into Harrietville.  It's done.

Earlier, we had agreed to meet a the pub and have a beer.  A beer and chicken chips were savoured.

'Lets ride back in a peloton' someone declared.   Back in the saddle I felt like a one week old inmate at Long Bay jail.

The final 20 km proved to be downhill all the way and we sat on 38 to 57kph, the fastest 20km of the day.

Tracey, Ken and I were all pleased with the days outcome.  We achieved what we had set out to do some 9:50 minutes in the saddle) earlier and 225kms later.

You know the rest, showers, drinks, some new friends and that nice glow that you get when you recognise it's been
a big day.