Two Days of Thrills and Chills: Thunderbolts 2024

Written by Nicole Oh
Images by Ready Aim Media

The bike is clean and the body has recovered, which means it’s time to reflect on what was an epic edition of the Graveleur Thunderbolts Adventure last weekend.

230km with 5,400m of vert over two days is a solid weekend of gravel riding, but I wasn’t too concerned about the demanding course before the event, as I have spent most the year doing long adventure rides, interspersed with regular racing. But most significantly, I was equipped with a new gravel rig, Charlie the Checkpoint, complete with a full array of GRX gears and working brakes, and a set of Roval carbon wheels that I treated him to a couple of weeks previously. It was like riding a magic carpet, compared to the 11kg aluminium CX bike I had been riding for the past 18 months.

Day 1 started pleasantly enough, rolling out with a group of 7 mates at the back of the pack. It wasn’t exactly warm or sunny, but it also wasn’t raining as we had feared. The first obstacle came soon enough in the shape of a river crossing; safe enough to ride through, but deep enough to get your shoes and socks wet 20 minutes into a 6 hour ride! Most of us took the “dry” feet option removing our shoes and socks, not knowing there were four more crossings not too far away!

A few warm up lumps, samples of stunning scenery, a lot of cows (oh, and a missed turn) saw us through to the first water stop, with the day’s big 7km climb not too far away. Being built like a wombat, I’m not a massive fan of climbing anything steep and longer than 5min, but this climb was less evil than I anticipated. A tarmac climb with a relatively consistent gradient meant it wasn’t too hard to get into a nice rhythm, although without my lovely 30/34 granny gear, things could have been a lot different.

At some point either on the climb or waiting at the top, it started to rain. I thought I was so well-prepared, with a dry warm base layer, rain jacket, spare socks and toe warmers to put on at the feed station. But riding up a 45min climb then standing around for half an hour in freezing, wet conditions was a bit too much of a shock for the body. The next hour and a half riding across Barrington Tops in -2deg and sleet was challenging, to say the least! My feet were frozen, as were my fingers, I couldn’t feel the brake or gear levers, and I couldn’t see from mud in my eyes and fog. Our group of 7 had well and truly split up now, as it became a matter survival in getting yourself to Dingo Gate.

I was more than a little concerned about getting down the descent from Dingo Gate, as we had been warned that it was technical and sketchy, combined with poor visibility and freezing hands. We spent a good 10 minutes defrosting our hands over the support vehicles heaters. I had some dry(ish) long fingered gloves and hand warmers to put on, which in the end were not really needed.

After only a few minutes of descending, the mist cleared and it was suddenly 5 deg warmer, and we were greeted with the spectacular views that couldn’t be seen all day.

Spirits were high for the final 5km flat roll into camp with Johnny and fellow Gravel Grannies Amy, Lilly and I (pictured). I basically rode my bike straight to the shower block on arrival. It felt so good to be clean and into warm clothes.

Cold bodies and wet shoes gradually gathered around the bonfire until it was time to refuel with a delicious dinner. We were tipped off that the Moonan Flat pub was warm and cosy, with a fire that would dry your clothes in the time it takes to down a beer (or wine in our case), as well as comfy couches and good wifi (for that all important Strava upload), so we headed there post-dinner. On return to camp, it had appeared that most people had retired to bed already (at 8.30pm), probably testament to the physically and emotionally hard day out on the bike.

We awoke to cold but clear skies on day 2, with some members of camp having slept more soundly than others! I pledged to go a little easier today, and we soon had Lilly’s portable speaker pumping out tunes at the front of the party bus, as we tapped up the first climb of the day. That was until we encountered the wall known as “The Bitch”. Just 2km long, but with an average gradient of 12%, there was no such thing as party pace, you just had to get up it without falling off.

 The top of the climb was damp, misty and foggy, and I had flashbacks to the day before of slowly turning into a popsicle. But this time there was nothing to worry about. This patch of cold weather was short-lived, and it wasn’t long before we were back under sunny skies, which remained for the rest of the day.

We had also reached the best stretch of road of the whole two day route - a long gentle sustained descent with safe sweeping corners meant you could really hammer it and get good speed without fearing that you were going to bin it. There were a few others around us who all seemed to have the same idea, and I was having a great ol’ time… Until we hit the actual technical descent that we had been alerted to in the pre-ride briefing. I absolutely love going downhill… On tarmac. But off-road I certainly don’t have the skills or experience to match, so it was a case of getting down in one piece.

From there we were all nervously anticipating the infamous right-hand corner, where many people had come to grief in previous years. Amy had given us the heads up that is was approaching, although her failing memory seemed to forget there was a 25 minute climb before it! However, the views along this climb were truly spectacular, so no real complaints about this one. In the end, we all went down the descent so carefully that we didn’t even notice the dodgy corner, unlike our friend Alex who we later found out had overcooked it, gone over the edge, ending his day prematurely! (Note: pay attention to the rider briefing!)

The feed stop at the bottom of the descent produced one of the highlights of the day… Blue cheese, salami and crackers! On long adventure rides like this, I much prefer savoury food than sweet, so the cheese was genius (as were the instant noodles the day before).

The final 50km was lumpy but pleasant. It was warm and sunny, the roads were top notch and my legs still felt pretty good. The last 20km consisted of a fair chunk of downhill tarmac (my favourite), and I was enjoying sending it in a bit of a chop-off with Johnny to make good time back to the pub. Like pretty much everyone else, we refuelled on beer and hot chips in the beer garden, as weary but happy riders arrived throughout the afternoon.

Overall a great event and weekend away - well organised, good vibes, and absolutely stunning countryside. It was challenging enough to feel a sense of accomplishment, but not enough to break you (if you came in well prepared), even with the truly sh*t conditions on day 1. Part of the adventure is not knowing what to expect, but now knowing what to expect will probably make the experience all the more enjoyable… Next time.