And they're off! GVBR

[alison_b]

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!

(Gawd, I'm getting old!!!)

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!

ali

 

[Dancier]

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!

(Gawd, I'm getting old!!!)

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!

ali

The thing I am most amazed about is the number of riders travelling down one road at a time. At least with the ATB ride, people were coming from different directions which still made it conjested, so for me it would be an early start every day to miss the rush if that's possible.

 

[Stuart Lamble]

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.

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[alison_b]

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

 

[Stuart Lamble]

On 2005-11-26, alison_b <[email protected]> wrote:
> 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 have to admit I never had a problem with that; maybe I managed to get
in before those people, or maybe I was just lucky.

> Oh, and the people walking up the hill who decided they would walk 4
> abreast if they wanted because they weren't enjoying themselves.

That's just stupidity. With enough people, you'll get plenty of that,
alas.

> 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.

You can lay the blame for that, at least partially, on BV; there seemed
to be a lot of people who didn't know what to expect, or who didn't know
how fit they needed to be (moderately), and the blame for that comes
down to communication -- which was what I felt BV was most sorely
lacking.

> I think there are only (only?) about 4000 or so this year, which will
> make the whole process much easier I guess.

At about 4000, I expect BV to be able to cope. At double that, which is
what I think it was last year? No way in hell. But in any event, it's a
moot point for me; I got burnt by BV, and doubt I'll return for a
seventh.

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[MikeyOz]

On 2005-11-26, alison_b <[email protected]> wrote:
> 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 have to admit I never had a problem with that; maybe I managed to get
in before those people, or maybe I was just lucky.

> Oh, and the people walking up the hill who decided they would walk 4
> abreast if they wanted because they weren't enjoying themselves.

That's just stupidity. With enough people, you'll get plenty of that,
alas.

> 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.

You can lay the blame for that, at least partially, on BV; there seemed
to be a lot of people who didn't know what to expect, or who didn't know
how fit they needed to be (moderately), and the blame for that comes
down to communication -- which was what I felt BV was most sorely
lacking.

> I think there are only (only?) about 4000 or so this year, which will
> make the whole process much easier I guess.

At about 4000, I expect BV to be able to cope. At double that, which is
what I think it was last year? No way in hell. But in any event, it's a
moot point for me; I got burnt by BV, and doubt I'll return for a
seventh.

--
My Usenet From: address now expires after two weeks. If you email me, and
the mail bounces, try changing the bit before the "@" to "usenet".

hope Tara Moss makes it through safely...... but she is going to be popular on the ride with many of the male riders.... and possibly female.....

 

[TimC]

On 2005-11-26, MikeyOz (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> hope Tara Moss makes it through safely...... but she is going to be
> popular on the ride with many of the male riders.... and possibly
> female.....

She riding again?

I didn't know who she was when I started last year.

I was ridden past by her, on one of the latter days, along with her 40
school children singer out a kind of waltz "music", and ringing their
bells.

--
TimC
You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull
his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you
understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send
signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that
there is no cat. -- Albie E. on radios.

 

[Michael Warner]

On Sat, 26 Nov 2005 11:27:38 +1100, alison_b wrote:

> 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!

I was interested in this ride last year, but I've since heard that a
typical day for a decent cyclist involves getting out on the road early
to avoid the crush, finishing the day's stint at about 9:30am and
spending the rest of the day hanging around pubs and generally trying]
to kill time. No thanks.

--
Home page: http://members.westnet.com.au/mvw

 

[Stuart Lamble]

On 2005-11-26, Michael Warner <[email protected]> wrote:
> I was interested in this ride last year, but I've since heard that a
> typical day for a decent cyclist involves getting out on the road early
> to avoid the crush, finishing the day's stint at about 9:30am and
> spending the rest of the day hanging around pubs and generally trying]
> to kill time. No thanks.

Depends on how quickly you ride. For me, a typical day involves getting
up around o'dark thirty, getting dressed in cycling gear, packing up the
tent and suchlike, getting the tent and suchlike on the luggage truck,
getting breakfast (all in that order), and then hitting the road --
usually around about 7am. I usually got into the camp at the end of the
day's ride anywhere between 10am and 3pm, depending on distance and
number of uphills.

But yes, "killing time" is not an inaccurate summation of the rest of
the time. I'd often try to find the local library, and was often
disappointed when it closed at midday, leaving me with very little to do
for the afternoon.

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