Around The Bay In A Day 2003



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Andrew Morris

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Given the weather today, I was kind of glad I decided against it (for fitness reasons) this year...

How did people go???

Cheers,

Andrew
 
"Andrew Morris" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Given the weather today, I was kind of glad I decided against it (for fitness reasons)
> this year...
>
> How did people go???

Ride report will come out eventually but lets just say I've never been that cold ever.. waiting for
the ferry with only soggy jersey and nicks was not fun! The return trip from Queenscliff made up for
it though. Ripped apart last years time of 8 or 9 hours (not sure). Came in under 7 hours this year
(30kph avg for 210k!).

Twas all good in the end :)

hippy
 
Was my 1st ATB.
After forgetting my shoes in the morning (the wife drove like a madwoman home to get them while i waited on chapel st) i eventually caught the rest of my team in frankston.

Was a nice ride up until that point, then it rained, and rained some more..Got a flat near geelong and cruised home from geelong with a nice tailwind.

I somehow reset my computer near leopold but i'm guessing my ave was around 26kph. It was just over 28 to frankston and just over 25 from when i reset it to stkilda.
Actual ride time was around 9.25 hours with a freezing 2 hour wait/ferry ride. My knee's havent forgiven me:(

I'm looking forward to next year with hopefully better weather and hoping to improve my time..
 
Originally posted by Andrew Morris
Given the weather today, I was kind of glad I decided against it (for fitness reasons) this year...

How did people go???

Cheers,

Andrew

well it really shows that cycling is an all-weather sport! I'm glad that it wasn't as bas as some of my training rides - I'm glad my wife (who I ride with) convinced me to keep going all those times (she's an ex-mountaineer so a little rain is nothing).
The ride to Frankston was great, it really is much nicer on Beach Road without cars isn't it. The ride from MtEliza to Sorrento was bad - sleet, a headwind and sheets of water on the road, but after 5 minutes I couldn't get any wetter and at least it wasn't cold! The cold bit was waiting in a queue in the steady rain for the ferry until all the cars were loadedjavascript:smilie(':mad:') I spent the ferry trip wringing the water out of my gear the trying to dry my feet with paper towels!

The Queenscliff to Melbourne stretch was sunny and I was dry before Geelong. The Geelong road was great: I could freewheel for kilometres at 25 km/h and easily sat on 35km/h. I was careful to sit below my aerobic threshold for the majority of the trip and felt fresh enough to do a further 50km at the end.
It's easier than an Audax ride.
It amazed me how many people had equipment failure though. Punctures on a wet day I can understand but things breaking on your bike - bad preperation!
 
Hey Prof: I like your username. Wonder why the character is called Prof. Calculus in the English version. Any idea? :)
 
Originally posted by amirm
Hey Prof: I like your username. Wonder why the character is called Prof. Calculus in the English version. Any idea? :)

no idea, Professor Sunflower sounds fine to me:)
 
Andrew Morris wrote:

> Given the weather today, I was kind of glad I decided against it (for fitness reasons)
> this year...

Of the seven in our group, we had seven flat tyres.

Three of us at some point had uncontrollable shivering (onset of
hypothermia). One of use came >< that close to calling for an ambulance.

The front runners in our group started in the group of about 50 people first thing in the moring,
they hammered along quite nicely, passed several hundred others, and when they arrived at the
ferry, they found several hundred more already waiting. They don't know if people were cheating,
or started at somewhere other than the official start point.

One of us came off when trying to mount a bitumen ledge on the freeway, fell over, and hearly had
their heads collected by a passing car.

We hope the weather is better next year.

--
Linux Registered User # 302622 <http://counter.li.org
 
"John Tserkezis" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Andrew Morris wrote:
>
> > Given the weather today, I was kind of glad I decided against it (for fitness reasons) this
> > year...
>
> Of the seven in our group, we had seven flat tyres.
>
> Three of us at some point had uncontrollable shivering (onset of
> hypothermia). One of use came >< that close to calling for an ambulance.
>
> The front runners in our group started in the group of about 50 people
first
> thing in the moring, they hammered along quite nicely, passed several
hundred
> others, and when they arrived at the ferry, they found several hundred
more
> already waiting. They don't know if people were cheating, or started at somewhere other than the
> official start point.
>
> One of us came off when trying to mount a bitumen ledge on the freeway,
fell
> over, and hearly had their heads collected by a passing car.
>
> We hope the weather is better next year.
>
> --
> Linux Registered User # 302622
<http://counter.li.org>
>

I went 'round in 6:30 ride time and was in the first group to the Queenscliff Ferry (little one) we
kicked off 4:55am to beat the rush, we were still passing early starters to near Geelong, got back
~12:30pm. Sounds like your mates were there for the second ferry (the big one).

I got to say that the pace was really fast we had averaged over 30+kph thru the cross wind to
Geelong, then sat around 45kph to Queenscliff in the pissing rain. It was not until a couple threw
themselves on the road did the pace back off a little. Sometimes it wise to sit back a little until
the pace settles.

Eventually a lot of the riders dropped off around ~160k mark, I suspect that this was due to not
eating correctly in the cold and running out of energy.

It was the wetest and coldest ride I have ever done, and waiting the 10 min at the ferry
was a killer.

Kevin
 
"John Tserkezis" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:3f93a18c$0$1089
> Of the seven in our group, we had seven flat tyres.

I was pretty amazed at the number of people sitting on the roadside repairing bikes in one way or
another...

> Three of us at some point had uncontrollable shivering (onset of
> hypothermia). One of use came >< that close to calling for an ambulance.

I wasn't going to call the ambulance but I've never been that cold. I was shivering more than most
it seemed, which was strange I thought, with my extra.. uh.. insulation available! It was the
coldest I've ever been. I do not remember shivering like that before. Of course in my usual style, I
had left my arm/leg warmers in the car because "it feels warm now" and I didn't put my wind vest on
until I was in the ferry!! Damn, that was ridiculous. I was also suffering really sore knees as soon
as I stopped pedalling as well as being nearly blinded in my left eye due, I think, to road grit
smacking me in the face. I had to ride with it closed before and after getting on the ferry because
it hurt so much. I think that's why I rode so fast on the return leg (40-48kph). It was just so I
could get home!!

> The front runners in our group started in the group of about 50 people
first
> thing in the moring, they hammered along quite nicely, passed several
hundred
> others, and when they arrived at the ferry, they found several hundred
more
> already waiting. They don't know if people were cheating, or started at somewhere other than the
> official start point.

We started from Albert Park, but at 5.30-ish. Averaged a bit over 29kph for the 1st half.

> One of us came off when trying to mount a bitumen ledge on the freeway,
fell
> over, and hearly had their heads collected by a passing car.

Was it the ledge where the woman was waving people up and over it? I initially thought she was
waving us up over the bridge but when we got closer we realised what she was on about. If she had've
been further along the road we wouldn't have had to jump the freakin' lip on the road! Had to rip
out the bunny hops a couple of times on this one. 45kph and the bunch disintegrates into a mess due
to chunks of truck tyre all over the road - one suddenly in front of me and two blokes either side -
up she goes! :)

> We hope the weather is better next year.

I'd like to second that motion. Stupid rain.

hippy
- my eye's still red.. no, nothing to do with a bong! :p
 
"K&C Russell" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> Eventually a lot of the riders dropped off around ~160k mark, I suspect
that
> this was due to not eating correctly in the cold and running out of
energy.

Strange thing for me was the fact that I didn't even drink a whole bidon of water for the whole 7
hours on the bike! Normally I aim for one bidon per hour (though usually only manage half that). I
had half a carton of that strange juice+milk stuff on the ferry too. I also seemed to have quite a
bit of food left whereas last year I think I ate everything in sight! Those choc protein bars were
good! My post-ride stretches went out the window because I was struggling so much to stay warm - a
few of us formed a huddle on the boat! If there wasn't a queue I would've stayed in the toilets
under the hand drier for the whole trip across! Unlike last year, getting going on the other side
was actually a warming relief, rather than a painful chore..

> It was the wetest and coldest ride I have ever done, and waiting the 10
min
> at the ferry was a killer.

10mins!!! Oh the humanity! I think we waited 30min+ :p

hippy
 
hippy wrote:

>> Of the seven in our group, we had seven flat tyres.

> I was pretty amazed at the number of people sitting on the roadside repairing bikes in one way or
> another...

I had thought myself quite lucky every time I had passed someone with a flat, till I copped one
myself. There was a lot of glass around.

> ... Of course in my usual style, I had left my arm/leg warmers in the car because "it feels warm
> now" and I didn't put my wind vest on until I was in the ferry!!

We had all made an educated guess that we'd leave any extra clothing behind
to save weight and save carring the things around. The forecast said showers
in the morning clearing later. "To hell with being a little cold or wet in the
morning", we can just deal with it, we have before, so we could do it again.

Or, at least we thought so.

What we hadn't realised was by "showers" they meant "**** down all morning", and by "clearing
later" they meant "well after we get back to the hotel".

> Damn, that was ridiculous. I was also suffering really sore knees as soon as I stopped pedalling

My hip joints failed on me, the others had various other pains in their joints.

> as well as being nearly blinded in my left eye due, I think, to road grit smacking me in the face.
> I had to ride with it closed before and after getting on the ferry because it hurt so much.

We were comparing the relative effectiveness of each others specs/sunglasses/goggles to preventing
road grunge from getting in our eyes. I don't think anyone got away with it.

> I think that's why I rode so fast on the return leg (40-48kph). It was just so I could get home!!

It was miserable.

> We started from Albert Park, but at 5.30-ish. Averaged a bit over 29kph for the 1st half.

Same with us, we had started down the Sorrento half, with the faster guys averaging about 40
something. Me being somewhat a little unfit, had to settle on 25 odd.

> Was it the ledge where the woman was waving people up and over it? I initially thought she was
> waving us up over the bridge but when we got closer we realised what she was on about. If she
> had've been further along the road we wouldn't have had to jump the freakin' lip on the road! Had
> to rip out the bunny hops a couple of times on this one. 45kph and the bunch disintegrates into a
> mess due to chunks of truck tyre all over the road - one suddenly in front of me and two blokes
> either side - up she goes! :)

No idea, I aborted mission when I arrived at sorrento. The guys didn't metion anyone pointing the
lip out, but it appears there were many more who were caught out the same way.

>> We hope the weather is better next year.

> I'd like to second that motion. Stupid rain.

The guys at the aus.motorcycles group were complaining about the wet and cold conditions at
phillip island where the motorcycle GP was on.

They have no idea what wet and cold is about.

--
Linux Registered User # 302622 <http://counter.li.org
 
K&C Russell wrote:

> I went 'round in 6:30 ride time and was in the first group to the Queenscliff Ferry (little one)
> we kicked off 4:55am to beat the rush, we were still passing early starters to near Geelong, got
> back ~12:30pm.

We had arrived at about 4:20, but one of the guys had snapped a spoke on the way there from the
hotel, however, he had it repaired and made it to the start before we had left, so no dramas
there. We though it was due to start at 5:00, but we were left standing there till about 5:30
before finally moving off.

> Sounds like your mates were there for the second ferry (the big one).

We had started down the Sorrento side.

> I got to say that the pace was really fast we had averaged over 30+kph thru the cross wind to
> Geelong, then sat around 45kph to Queenscliff in the pissing rain.

We were lucky and had a tailwind for the first 50Km or so, then it changed to a headwind as we got
closer to Sorrento.

> It was not until a couple threw themselves on the road did the pace back off a little. Sometimes
> it wise to sit back a little until the pace settles.

> Eventually a lot of the riders dropped off around ~160k mark, I suspect that this was due to not
> eating correctly in the cold and running out of energy.

Likely, but we had found many riders were using fairly heavy bikes. We were expecting it to be a
brand showoff contest, however, turned out many appeared to be almost sunday riders out for a
long ride.

> It was the wetest and coldest ride I have ever done, and waiting the 10 min at the ferry was
> a killer.

I lagged behind a fair bit, by the time I arrived, I was facing over an hour in line, in the rain.
After thinking about my options for the better part of two seconds, I picked some shelter and
stood around shivering till my transport come around.

As it turned out, it would have been faster for me if I just turned around and gone back.
Though I was not looking forward to more riding in the rain, and had I copped one more flat, I
likely wouldn't have made it out alive. I only brought one tube, and patches don't work real
well in the wet.

--
Linux Registered User # 302622 <http://counter.li.org
 
John Tserkezis <[email protected]> wrote in message
[email protected]

[...]

> The guys at the aus.motorcycles group were complaining about the wet and cold conditions at
> phillip island where the motorcycle GP was on.
>
> They have no idea what wet and cold is about.

There I must take exception with you. Motorcyclists understand wet and cold as few do.

--

A: Top-posters.
B: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?
 
in article [email protected], hippy wrote:

>> It was the wetest and coldest ride I have ever done, and waiting the 10 min at the ferry was a
>> killer.
>>
> 10mins!!! Oh the humanity! I think we waited 30min+ :p

And some of us shivered at Queescliff for more than two hours. Three cheers for the kids who came
over with three thermoses and some cups, and set up an impromptu coffee stall...

Shane
 
"John Tserkezis" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> We had arrived at about 4:20, but one of the guys had snapped a
spoke on the

I had to wake at 3.45am to meet our group at 5am for start at 5.30am...
4.20am... Tell me you live close to the start! :)

> We though it was due to start at 5:00, but we were left standing
there till
> about 5:30 before finally moving off.

Is there an official start? Gun shot, burning of a car, etc?

> Likely, but we had found many riders were using fairly heavy bikes.
We were
> expecting it to be a brand showoff contest, however, turned out many
appeared
> to be almost sunday riders out for a long ride.

Yep, that's what it was like last year too. A few nice bikes but mostly mtb's, hybrids and "spends
most of its life in the garage" bikes. Maybe the racer dudes start really early to get the 1st
ferry, so they can be 1st across the line?

Some people didn't even bring a single spare tube!

hippy
 
DRS wrote:

>> The guys at the aus.motorcycles group were complaining about the wet and cold conditions at
>> phillip island where the motorcycle GP was on.

>> They have no idea what wet and cold is about.

> There I must take exception with you. Motorcyclists understand wet and cold as few do.

Being a motorcyclist myself, I do know what wet and cold is about.

Sunday was a different ballgame however. Very different from their definition of wet and cold.

--
Linux Registered User # 302622 <http://counter.li.org
 
I got caught up in the frenzy at the start (heading to Sorrento) and was travelling with the LJ Hooker bunch for a while - I think we averaged just under 40 down to Frankston where they pulled off for a breather. Damn I wish I had stopped with them - I'd pretty much blown my ride already, as I had planned to hold about 25 and see what I had left at the end. Then when that rain came down and the shivering began... then there was the the ferryboat captain who wouldn't let us close the doors for airflow reasons - kudos to "the guy in yellow" who forced them closed again.:p

I bailed at Geelong as I started having trouble unclipping at lights - a combination of something strange going on with my pedals (I'd had one stick before, but never both) and me being perhaps too tired to click out properly... Anyway after keeling over for a second time at lights I pulled the pin and went looking for the Geelong station (riding on the bottom of my pedals and scuffing the hell out of them).

Must say V/Line were a bit disorganised given that they were where the sag wagon was dropping people. I turned up at 11:40am and had to wait for 2:30pm for a train with room for bikes! The 1pm service was only 2 carriages. They did offer to "throw them under a bus, but it might get knocked around a bit". Which was fine and good for the older bikes (e.g. my mate who replied "am I supposed to?" when I asked him when he last oiled his chain) but there was a dozen of us who opted to wait for a ride that didn't involve the bike "getting knocked around a bit"... :(

Thanks to all who participated - despite the abysmal conditions, everyone I spoke to was very cheerful and friendly and were an inspiration to do a bit more training so I actually get around next year!
 
hippy wrote:

>> We had arrived at about 4:20, but one of the guys had snapped a spoke on the...

> I had to wake at 3.45am to meet our group at 5am for start at 5.30am...

We woke about 3:00, but I slept in till 3:20 or so. Had breakfast, checked the last minute weather
(fat lot of good that did), and left about 4:00.

> 4.20am... Tell me you live close to the start! :)

The hotel was about 10Km away. (about 20 min).

>> We though it was due to start at 5:00, but we were left standing there till about 5:30 before
>> finally moving off.

> Is there an official start? Gun shot, burning of a car, etc?

A lot better organised and larger scale than any of the rides we have here in NSW. A big blue
blow-up starting arch, start line proximity sensors and some guy yelling "GO!".

Best we can hope for here is enough signs at all the turn points so you don't get lost.

> Yep, that's what it was like last year too. A few nice bikes but mostly mtb's, hybrids and "spends
> most of its life in the garage" bikes. Maybe the racer dudes start really early to get the 1st
> ferry, so they can be 1st across the line?

I hadn't realised (before the event) they were using proximity cards, in which case, it doesn't
really matter what time you start or stop, it's the time inbetween. The ferry is irrelevant, as
there are proximity sensors at the ferry arrival and departure points. You don't get penalised for
waiting in line.

> Some people didn't even bring a single spare tube!

Well, I've learned from my first experience.

Along with my normal complement of carb gels, water and tools, I'm bringing 4+ tubes, patch kit
with small and large patches (just in case of tyre slashes), one in the group will carry a spare
tyre (though I'll unlikely be able to keep up with them), windbreaker or rainjacket for when I
stop to fix yet another @$%!^& flat tyre in the #$!!%& miserable rain, and most importantly- a
voodoo charm to get good weather.

--
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"John Tserkezis" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> A lot better organised and larger scale than any of the rides we
have here in
> NSW. A big blue blow-up starting arch, start line proximity sensors
and some
> guy yelling "GO!".

Sorry you had to come down from NSW for this weather! Hope you had a nice Saturday :)

> Best we can hope for here is enough signs at all the turn points so
you don't
> get lost.

Speaking of which, if it wasn't for the guy behind me yelling "RIGHT! RIGHT!" I'd probably be in
Adelaide or something by now! :) I missed one of those green arrows and just kept going straight
ahead, somewhere in Geelong.

> I hadn't realised (before the event) they were using proximity
cards, in
> which case, it doesn't really matter what time you start or stop, it's
the time
> inbetween. The ferry is irrelevant, as there are proximity sensors at
the
> ferry arrival and departure points. You don't get penalised for
waiting in line.

I wasn't in the timed ride though so none of that makes a difference to
me. Unless they were timing all our little plastic cards? I just logged the whole ride on my
Polar S710, so I have HR, speed, distance, time and various other data to look at. Everybody
go: "ooooh".

> Along with my normal complement of carb gels, water and tools, I'm
bringing
> 4+ tubes, patch kit with small and large patches (just in case of tyre slashes), one in the group
> will carry a spare tyre (though I'll
unlikely be
> able to keep up with them), windbreaker or rainjacket for when I stop
to fix
> yet another @$%!^& flat tyre in the #$!!%& miserable rain, and most importantly- a voodoo charm to
> get good weather.

I took 2 spare tubes and used none - would've been a different story had I not changed my glass-cut
ProRace tyre a week ago. I took many fruit bars and 2 PowerBars (ate 1 Powerbar and maybe 4 fruit
bars + the lunch, but dropped the bananas on the boat), 2 bidons water (drank 1), wind vest,
disposable camera, patch kit, phone, $25 cash, ticket and eftpos card. So, I COULD have bailed at
Sorrento but I didn't.. maybe that's why I still feel really good about this ride? :)

hippy smacks head with fists screaming "HARDCORE!"
 
hippy wrote:

> Sorry you had to come down from NSW for this weather! Hope you had a nice Saturday :)

Aside from the weather, we had a ball!

> Speaking of which, if it wasn't for the guy behind me yelling "RIGHT! RIGHT!" I'd probably be in
> Adelaide or something by now! :) I missed one of those green arrows and just kept going straight
> ahead, somewhere in Geelong.

That's what it's like on some rides here, a bunch of people that just blindly follow another bunch
of people, hoping the ones in front actually know where they're going. Sometimes you get a
substatial crowd that take a wrong turn and realise it at the end of the street when they don't
see any more people. Anywhere.

> I wasn't in the timed ride though so none of that makes a difference to
> me. Unless they were timing all our little plastic cards?

Oh, I was going to xray my card to see if really was a proximity card, the start beeped as we all
passed, though I don't know if it was me or just everyone else. It's possible that only selected
entrants get proximity cards. Strange they made everyone go over the strips though.

> I just logged the whole ride on my Polar S710, so I have HR, speed, distance, time and various
> other data to look at. Everybody go: "ooooh".

I left mine in the hotel for some reason. Though I logged the ride on my GPS. Gives me everything
(except heart rate) including altitude, so would the 710, but I had mine cranked up to 5 second
intervals which would give me only about eight hours worth. No, I couldn't reconfigure it, as I've
never actually used the watch by itself, I've only ever configured it via the PC.

> I took 2 spare tubes and used none - would've been a different story had I not changed my
> glass-cut ProRace tyre a week ago. I took many fruit bars and 2 PowerBars (ate 1 Powerbar and
> maybe 4 fruit bars + the lunch, but dropped the bananas on the boat),

I didn't carry any bananas, they're too heavy. Only food was those carbo gel packs. I collected
and ate the lunch after the queue died down.

> 2 bidons water (drank 1), wind vest, disposable camera, patch kit, phone, $25 cash, ticket and
> eftpos card. So, I COULD have bailed at Sorrento but I didn't.. maybe that's why I still feel
> really good about this ride? :)

In hindsight, I would have been better off going back the same way I came. But in hindsight,
everyone has 20-20 vision.

> hippy smacks head with fists screaming "HARDCORE!"

Maybe because you're used to the weather doing that, we weren't, so it came as a bit of a shock.
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