Falls Creek - Base in the place!

Over New Years we had another opportunity to get up to the high country for some pretty big kms. This time it was with Tri-Bal, a Melbourne based triathlete club, with coach Stu McKenzie dishing out the riding plans for the hardcore multisporters and us, the cycling ring-ins. I've done a few training camps over the years - this one was one of the best in regard to organisation and rider support. Daily ride plans, intervals/race pace segments, a follow car loaded with water and sugary drinks, and most importantly a ride leader, Stu, who kept us from being a wandering heard of individuals.

This week was tougher than the Tour of Bright, no question. After ToB I've only been ticking over easy kms without any lung busting intensity. My main objective for the week was to get some kms into the legs and get back into some harder efforts for the first time in a few weeks. It'd be interesting to see where my power numbers would be and to get a feel for how much form I'd lost by taking it easy for a few weeks.

Day 1: Falls - Tawonga - Falls. 5hrs. 121kms.
Day 2: Falls - Reverse Rosewhite - Bright - Tawonga - Falls.  6hrs. 180km
Day 3: Mt Beauty - Harrietville - Mt Beauty. 3hrs. 92km.
Day 4: Back of Falls. Easy Ride. 1.5hrs. 29kms
Day 5: Falls - Bright - Falls. 4.5hrs. 121kms.
Totals: 20hrs. 543km.

Highlights:
- Power numbers not being far off where I was leading up to ToB.
- Racing Nick Bensley (SoleDevotion), Casey Munro (Rapha), and Luke Bell (Pro Triathlete) up and over Rosewhite Gap.
- The scoffs I heard when I asked who I chased up both sides of Tawonga. Ironman legend Jason Shortis aka Shorto was the reply. He goes alright up a hill.
- Nailing the Strava segment for "Falls Descent" on Day 5.
- Having a support car with us all the time. Very pro. Very handy on hot days!
- Pizza at Max's Restaurant after day 5.
- Bakeries in Bright and Mt Beauty. Many coffees and many calories consumed.

Lowlights:
- Almost being taken out by a 4WD and a truck seconds later on the road into Bright.
- Making friends with a snake up Falls Creek.
- Cafe Velo in Bright. Service teething problems... again....
- Going home.


Picturelights: 

Altitude pretzels

Von on the Falls hairpin.

Von doing it easy up the final 6kms.

Sunset at Falls.

Big day proof.

LegoLand

Kat, Me, Von, and Michelle messing around on the Falls Ski Cam.

Kat Lee taking her own sunset shots.

Von and Kat over the back of Falls. 15km of flat-ish roads out there I didn't know about.

Telstra tower at Falls. This thing is a MONSTER. Good 3G speeds up there!

Next Up:
- Keeping up the kms, the 'new' training, and working on the resume...
- Recovering from round #2 of dentistry/wallet drilling. (Still doesn't hurt as much as racing bikes).
- Heading over to Adelaide to catch the Tour down Under.