I approached last weeks Climbing Camp feeling a little anxious as I am a terrible climber and I had not the ideal preparation on the training side.

Bev and I drove up Friday afternoon and stopped at the Ovens Hotel for Dinner, we had a great feed even though they had no pasta on the menu!  We arrived at Marouka Lodge around 9.15pm & were one of the first to arrive,  we chose our room, unpacked our gear and met some of the later arrivals.

The next morning at 8.00am Carl gave us a briefing and a rough agenda for the day and what to expect. Carl said that the Mt.Hotham climb was in 3 stages and the secret to hill climbing was to try and pace yourself and not go out too hard. (hmmm I have heard him say that before somewhere) The weather was perfect and started we riding around 9.00am, there was a few rolling hills for the first few  km's, but some of the descents were unbelievable and even with my hands on the brakes I was still clocking around 78km an hour. We headed down to the tollbooth and stopped to re-group.

Our next re-group was at Harriettville, the majority were going to ride a further 25kms to Bright for lunch, but I decided not to ride to Bright as I was worried how I was going to handle the climb back. Richard, Bev had the same plan as me so we refueled at the local store at Harriteville and a agreed that we would meet at the picnic ground which was 1/3 of the way.

The first few Km's outside of Harriettville were a bit of a shock to the system, but I just concentrated on keeping a nice even pace and kept an eye on my heart rate. I got to the dreaded "Meg" that I heard so much about and even though I was slow, I was surprised that I managed to climb it with not too much problem. I got to the picnic ground and waited for Richard and Bev.

The second stage was around 8-9km's back to the tollbooth and this was very pleasant apart from seeing the road way ahead in the distance knowing what was still left to climb! We re-grouped at the tollbooth and then proceeded to do the last stage. The first few km's were not too bad, but CRB hill (I hope that's the right name ) was an absolute killer. After CRB there were a couple of welcome descents followed with some more gentle climbing. The last 3-4 km's was really tough, I am not sure if it was because I was fatigued, but I kept on looking at my computer and each corner thinking to myself surely this must be the next corner! Finally I was at the top and really enjoyed the last 2-3 km's riding back to base.

I was lucky to get back to just before the rain started, I could not believe how quick the weather had changed, perfect one minute, then pouring with rain the next. It was great seeing Bev coming down the last hill absolutely saturated with a huge smile on her face and watching some of the other riders finishing. It was also fantastic to see Karen ride the last few km's in the pouring rain, so determined to finish.

Richard and I enjoyed a few beers at the local pub while Carl, Bev and Claire prepared the famous aboc spaghetti Bolognese and garlic bread. Dinner was fantastic, (spaghetti always tastes better after a good ride) and gave us all a chance to share our experiences and our achievements over dinner. The only downside on Saturday night was not being able to watch American Flyers (sorry Carl, just kidding) and Nick talking or should I say yelling in his sleep!

The next day was pretty much left open and the majority of us rode down to Dinner Plain for breakfast which was around 11kms, mainly downhill and then we made the a small climb back to base where we packed up all our gear, helped clean up and said our goodbyes.

Thanks Carl for organizing a successful and enjoyable weekend.

Rob.