Crucifixion revisited

It has been some time since I attempted to do the ride that I conceived in a previous period of being drawn to the hills. I entertained the notion a couple of months ago, but the idea died in the arse for some reason of other, most likely because I would have struggled to finish. So, today it was that I headed to the lonely corner of surrey park in box hill. It lived up to it's name, and off I set.

My ride out to the Dandenongs was full of self recrimination, doubt, and a general lack of keeness, but fortunately, after a coffee in the Basin, and setting my headphones in place for a solo hammer fest, the one in twenty was more accommodating than usual, with my legs feeling strong. Whilst my time was nothing particularly special objectively, it is the best I have done for the past 2 years. I was getting in the groove too, with beats from the Jam, The Pixies, and Pink, amongst others to distract and inspire me.

I headed south to climb the Devil's Elbow (via Churchill's road and One Tree Hill), which felt pretty good. Pushing out 300watts whilst taking it relatively easy was satisfying, with 3 or 4 efforts at about 450watts to spice things up before the end. Felt really good over the top, and enjoyed the linkage of the end of this climb with the descent down Sherbrooke road, which I fear may be the most ordinary descent in the dandenongs. It certainly has the most chopped up road. It was rapidly followed by one of my favourite parts of riding in the Dandenongs- the road between Kallista and Monbulk. Nothing particularly difficult about it, and there is a bit of traffic, but it just flows beautifully.

Coming up to the Wall, I was hardly feeling the climbs in the legs, and was entertaining thoughts of adding in extra climbs. I was only half way through and those thoughts were banished before the end of the ride. Still, it bodes well for my condition in general. I pushed it up the Wall fairly consistently, getting out of the saddle whenever I was sagging and on the steeper sections. Completed the climb in equal time to my previous best, and wasn't pushing it too hard. Felt satisfied in Olinda, and it was off down the Mount Dandenong Tourist road to the Northern end of the 'Nongs.

The descent down Inverness road is one of the guilty pleasure of cycling. It is so fast and the surface so smooth, not to mention steep, that you can forgive the hazardous single lane sections. Before you know it, the turnaround comes and the gradual increasing incline eases you into it. Soon enough, it is steep, and maintains this to the left turn into the first single lane section, which remains pretty steep too. It then flattens out for some respite, before the road turns right for the nasty last pitch up to the Tourist Rd. Maintaining speed along this flatter section is difficult, and wasn't there for me today. Soon enough I headed up past Mt Dandenong Fire Station and up to Sky High- another steep pitch. At the top, my thoughts of further climbs were banished, as I could predict the cramping to come if I continued.

The roll down to the One in Twenty was sweet (after the always dragging short stretch up to Olinda), and the descent was glorious in sunshine on dry road. I decided against the solo coffee break as time was getting on, and pushed on through into the westerly wind. The short hill up Boronia road was brutal as usual. I have taken to attacking it as hard as I can, as it sucks whichever way you do it. Trip home was uneventful, and the coffee machine was on when I got there. Happy days!

Overall, I felt as good as I ever have after a crucifixion ride. The speeds up the hills would be better if I had kept off alcohol for the last 2 months as I had planned and lost a couple more kg. Nonetheless, all things considered, I feel pretty good. Given the self defeating thoughts I have been having in the past few weeks and especially at the start of the ride, I needed a good ride, and all in all, I got it.