#notthebluffknollhalfa3.55cheerstoshaye

Ecstatic to achieve my goal of completing the Bluff Knoll Half in 3hrs 55minutes 15secs on 12th February 2017 Anno Domini!!! see #notthebluffknollhalf segment and also improved my time up Bluff Knoll to 58minutes 56secs, see BluffKnoll carpark to summit segment and my second fastest descent of 52min09 was 2min 23secs off my best of 49min 46secs. See BluffKnollhalffirst attempt strava data

Amazing day. Thanks to Shaye was able to overcome lack of petrol money and my worn out (300,000km+of hard courier driving mostly) old 2006 car went the distance in stormy weather. Had to take the long way around due to the roads closed north of the Stirling Ranges.
The first 8km to the carpark took us 62minutes, and Shaye had to wait for me to catch up a coupleof times. See On the road to the BluffKnoll carpark segment

 Shaye was fantastic to run with and ensured I wasn't too slack on the road section,and not far behind on the mountain. Good chats along the way, and in the last few km she really pushed me to finish off strong with a series of finishing bursts. With a 3.15 marathon PB its no surprise she was the stronger runner on the road sections, and it was a huge blessing to have a runner of her ability there to drag me along on the road sections.  It was her first ascent of Bluff Knoll so an awesome effort on her first attempt.

On the 8km road to the Bluff Knoll carpark

Amazing cloud formation like a wave breaking as the cloud cascaded over the summit of Bluff Knoll ahead of us, the road got very steep just after this spot going up to the carpark

Cloud cascading over the summit ahead of us.

One of the waterfalls (in summer!! due to the very heavy rain of over 100mm 2 days earlier which was the second highest ever in Perth and flooded the Avon River,plus destroyed a bridge and a few roads near the mountains and almost caused us to give up on this trip) on the way up the mountain...

Inside the cloud on the summit.

No views on the summit due to an amazing cloudscape encompassing the summit,but the strong cold!!! winds of about 80km/h-100km/h on the summit combined with essentially being in the middle of a cloud made for a surreal incredible and memorable experience.

in the carpark the hard part done but still a challenging although mostly downhill 8km to get back to my car and wondering if we could go under 4 hours or not. The sign says 3-4 hours to go up and down Bluff Knoll and we have just done it in under 2 hours with heavy packs after an 8km warmup not easily replicated or beaten. 

 The final push to the end was not easy, but being mostly downhill was psychologically appealing although the uphill sections were attractive also due to the opportunity to rest the quadriceps a bit. Had a bit of hip niggle just after leaving the carpark but it settled down. At this stage with 3hours 9min on the watches we wondered if we had any chance of getting there in under 4 hrs 16min perhaps sub 4 hours. But with Shaye pushing the pace at the end and challenging me to try some finishing surges we went more than 4 minutes under the 4 hour mark in the end. We covered the last 7.9km in about 45min!!! After targeting a sub6min perK "A-target" and a sub 7min "B-target" (if I remember correctly), the fact we averaged about 5min 39 perK for the last 8km was amazing, even with the strong finish...See the final segment push to Chester Pass Rd.
Massive thanks to the Creator Triune for giving us the courage to persist with this challenging mission which involved a 2am 5 hour drive from Perth,and then another 5 hour drive home afterwards... Huge thanks to Shaye who was the excellent outstanding company for this stormy mountain adventure mission! Glad I could assist her with the opportunity to climb Bluff Knoll for the first time... About the 15th time? for me... Magnificent challenging memorable day!!!