Tassie Bike Ride

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Hi All
Me and my husband are doing the Great Tassie Bikeride in Feb 2005. We will be cycling the west coast of tasmania. As this is our first atempt at a long distance ride, we would appreciate any tips that the experts could give us, hill climbing (training) etc. Also what is the best insect repellent to buy, or any hints or tips to give us.

Hi All
Me and my husband are doing the Great Tassie Bikeride in Feb 2005. We will be cycling the west coast of tasmania. As this is our first atempt at a long distance ride, we would appreciate any tips that the experts could give us, hill climbing (training) etc. Also what is the best insect repellent to buy, or any hints or tips to give us.
OK.
First - the west coast is hilly. Let me repeat that _HILLY_. Think multiple 1000m climbs in a day...
So to train - go find a hill, load up the tourer, and climb it repeatedly till the elevation gain ads up to 1000m or so, then do it all again. OK now do that for 10 days and make half of them rainy.... (check out the lonly planet for some gradient sections.)

I just rode the western tiers (up the middle) and its was really cold up the mtns. Something like 2 degrees and sleet on 5 Jan.

If its your first tour why not go the east coast?

T

Hi
Thx for the tips, we can't do the east coast as we are doing the ride with 1,500 other people from Bicycle Victoria. We have been doing abit of hill practice we are going up mt dandanong this weekend, we have never done it before so it should be interesting. We normally do 20kms a night after work although its hard as we both work 10 hours a day, we normaly finish a ride with a hill climb also.

Regards Steve

Oh Oops sorry should have seen that little bit bout the organised ride..

Should be ok then with that backup. Just the rain to contend with. But with 1500 others is should be excellent fun!

Good luck- and still get out hill climbing :)

T

Hi All
Me and my husband are doing the Great Tassie Bikeride in Feb 2005. We will be cycling the west coast of tasmania. As this is our first atempt at a long distance ride, we would appreciate any tips that the experts could give us, hill climbing (training) etc. Also what is the best insect repellent to buy, or any hints or tips to give us.

Hi
I did the Great Tassie Ride with BV in 1997. It also went down the west coast. As others have said, it is a hilly part of the island. Be prepared & you will really enjoy it. The scenery is awesome and you want to be able to appreciate it, not just endure the riding.
We had hot days of ~35c & then cold, rain & a bit of hail for 2 days.

In short,
- do as much training as you can.
- take both sunscreen and thermals & GOOD rain jacket.
- carry some extra snacks &/or energy food. There are few shops along the way.