On 2005-11-26, alison_b <
[email protected]> wrote:
> It seems like only yesterday my littlest was still trying to reach the
> pedals on her tricycle... then teetering along and picking herself up
> from the ground when she tipped off her new 'two wheeler'... now she's
> off on the GVBR with a group of mates!
Heh, Good luck to her. (If it's not a rude question, how old is she?
Just curious, is all.)
> I must say, it was a *very* orderly start this morning - nothing like
> the chaos of last year. Bikes and luggage and people stowed on trucks
> and buses with a minimum of fuss and no need to drag things back and
> forth following obscure and misleading clues BV really had it
> working well this morning!
*stunned silence*
Any idea how many people are on the ride this year? I'm wondering if
numbers are significantly down after what I see as a monumental cluck up
by BV with too many people on board.
QUOTE]
They're all mid- late-teens, and there are some watchful adults 'tagging along'. This is her third ride, having done Tassie one year and Vic last year, so she knows the ropes.
And yeah, there were a *lot* of difficulties last year - I took a couple of my kids along. But the biggest problem for me last year was not BV organisation (or, something masquerading as organistaion!) but ****** off co-riders who thought that because they were inconvenienced by having to pedal harder than they expected this gave them some 'right' to leave a bunch of peoples' bags uncovered in the rain. (I had to decide - ride to Apollo Bay or get my sleeping gear dry. grrrr...) Oh, and the people walking up the hill who decided they would walk 4 abreast if they wanted because they weren't enjoying themselves.
I won't even mention the folk who thought it was ok to ride at speed in big bunches past what were obviously newbie riders who didn't know their **** from their elbows and then sook because some youngster hadn't 'kept their line' (duh!).
Oh, and there was the time that I left one kid waiting for the sag wagon because she was actually *sick* and racing off to find my youngest 'somewhere ahead' to find out later that being sick didn't give her priority over people who had just decided they'd pedalled far enough that day and it was too hot to bother. That seemed a tad screwed.
But I could also list a number of top experiences - riding to my favourite place on earth, the view at a more sedate pace along the Great Ocean Road, revisiting a district I had lived in by bike instead of the usual car, lots of fun times and interesting chats along the road with people I knew well and others I haven't seen since
I think there are only (only?) about 4000 or so this year, which will make the whole process much easier I guess.
cheers,
ali