CW Seong took on Peaks Challenge Falls Creek for the first time in 2019, and shared his story with us:
I had only been cycling on a road bike for 18 months when I tackled the 2019 Peaks Challenge Falls Creek; my mates thought I was either crazy or too ambitious.
12 months prior to Peaks, I had a nasty downhill crash, which resulted in an elbow injury requiring surgery. But what was harder than the recovery was the mental challenge of going downhill again. I’m by no means fast but I figured if I was going to get over my fear, I was going to have to do more downhills.
The road to recovery was slow and painful but I gradually became stronger than I was before the crash. I looked forward to long climbs and was encouraged by how much I enjoyed them.
I learnt about Peaks from some friends who rode the Legend before and thought I needed to challenge myself. Unfortunately during the last month of preparation, I sustained a calf muscle tear which persisted for weeks and was slowing me down.
So, I drove to Falls from Adelaide (almost 1000km, 11hours each way) and gave the ride my “best” - my goal was to enjoy the experience and try to finish the ride. And I did it!
I fought through the pain in my calf, took pictures of the beautiful views during the ride, made some friends along the way and finished in the cold, windy and wet conditions.
Not bad for a rookie “fair-weather” cyclist! 10 hours and 22 minutes... I’m very happy with that time considering I had “more left in the tank”.
I’m yet to decide if i’ll Be back next year but i’m certain that one year i’ll be back to better my time; regardless of distance, injury and weather conditions. Fingers-crossed!
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