Kep Track and Back

Instead of boozing and listening to Cold Chisel on Australia Day (yesterday) I decided to take on (what I thought was) a 100km ride from Mundaring to Bakers Hill, along the Kep Track (Kep is the local Aboriginal word for water, and the track follows the water pipeline).

To keep me motivated, I invited a mate, Fabian, who is an absolute bike-riding animal. Left home at 0530, arrived in Mundaring by 0615, where I worked on stretching my left hamstring for about 10 minutes (this is undoubtedly the tightest muscle in my body, and needs a good stretch before I ride). Fabs turned up around 0645, and we hit the track. The Kep Track is generally considered an easy ride (minor gradients), but it is the length of the ride that tests you.

Rode to Wooroloo (25km, 1.5 hrs), took in some food and an energy gel, and then headed to Bakers Hill (17km, 1 hr). From Wooroloo to Bakers Hill, there was a section of track that is frequented by horses (lots of them), about 3km in length. Horses break up the track surface, and leave about a half inch divot each step. The dual suspension MTB could not keep up with the bumps, and all the jarring was transferrin via the seat into my lower back. VERY ANNOYING, but thankfully the track took a slight down slope on this section, so I was able to stand up and absorb some of the bumps in my legs (hmmm, don’t I have to return on the same track??).

Got to Bakers Hill, where we engulfed a couple of meat pies (very famous pie shop in “Bakers” Hill), and swallowed as much liquid as our bodies would allow (the temperature was climbing steadily, getting close to 30 deg C). I refilled the Gatorade bottle and the CamelBak bladder, and started back to Mundaring. A quick check of the Polar, and I had already ridden for 2.5 hours, with an average HR%Max of 78 – pretty good, and I was still feeling comfortable.

NOW, what I haven’t mentioned is that the Kep Track from Mundaring to Bakers Hill is slightly down-sloping, so we were able to keep a reasonable pace with reasonable exertion (remember, my HR%Max was 78). Heading back was a VERY different story. Slightly uphill, almost all the way.

Remember those horses hoof prints; well they are MURDER when you have to sit in the saddle and pedal through them.

Side point: would the world really miss horses if they were to suddenly disappear – I mean, do they serve any other ecological purpose, other than recreation???

By the time we got to Wooroloo, my back was starting to spasm. More food and another gel, and I felt a bit better, but then the leg cramps started. By this time, the temperature was starting to rise to the mid 30’s, and I was in a dark and nasty place (plus I had a pounding headache).

I was cursing everything around me, including the persistent little flies that were trying to drink the sweat and salt off my face. With a little bit of encouragement from Fabs (“c’mon buddy, move those legs” was his favourite), I managed to push through the cramps and blinding headache back to Mundaring. It was then that I looked down at the handlebar-mounted lie detector and it only said 85km – WTF (a reassessment of the map today reveals that number to be true – I had miscalculated the distance).

Another look at the metrics for the journey back from Bakers Hill and my average HR%Max was 89. Bloody hell, no wonder I was fugged on the way back. Nonetheless, we still managed to make it back in the same amount of time as getting out there (2.5 hours) so I was pleased that I was able to raise the effort level even with the extra obstacles on the way back (uphill, cramps, headache, heat, hoof divots, flies, etc, etc).