Around The Bay In A Day 2003

[Shane Stanley]

in article [email protected], John Tserkezis wrote:

> 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.

The timing was only for those who paid an extra $15 to hire the anklet transducers -- I think it was
the first time they've been used. I suspect they put everyone over the strips to avoid the chaos
that trying to split people up could have caused.

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

No-one is used to that sort of weather, not even Melburnians. The Geelong Freeway sounds like it was
real fun for those who went clockwise, but it was hell for those heading towards Geelong.

Still, apart from the delays at the ferry, the organisation was pretty darned good. And the
volunteers were terrific.

Shane

 

[JAF]

I definitely agree that the Geelong freeway was absolute HELL for those going anti-clockwise. The driving rain was made even worse as it was coupled with a very strong headwind that made the rain sting as it hit you in the face!

The change in direction at Geelong (and therfore the wind!yaay!) almost lifted the spirits until turning right up the hill to head out of Geelong and I had a bloody puncture. This isn't too much of a drama, except my 2 spare tubes just had normal length valves, and my shimano 540 rims need extra long valves!! After much swearing and cursing I was able to get enough air in (just) to head off again. 10k down the road and my riding partner got a puncture as well. Well over 3000km training between us for this thing and not one puncture, then 2 in 10km! Thanks to the support crew at Queenscliff who were able to get some pressure back into my rear tyre.

As with everyone else waiting the 45mins for the ferry is the coldest I've ever been. I think the feet were the worst.

From Sorrento back to St Kilda made me remeber why cycling is so much fun. I was most pleased with my efforts in powering up the big hill behind Dromana (well maybe not powering, but i didn't stop!)

All up took almost 12hrs to finish, of which only 8.5 was actual riding. Looking forward to better conditions ->time next year!

James

 

[Kingsley]

On Mon, 20 Oct 2003 22:46:40 +1000, hippy wrote:

> If there wasn't a queue I would've stayed in the toilets under the hand drier for the whole
> trip across!

Don't underestimate these little babies, one of them will dry your nicks and jersey in about 15
minutes. Although you do have to pull your nicks away so the hot air gets right to the, ah, bottom
of the problem, so it's not something I'd do with people waiting

I had a 10 minute affair with one on an absolutely shitty, wet, cold and windy day. The kids always
sit on their lemonade for 1/2 hour anyway. By the time they were finished, I was toasty warm & dry,
the rain had passed and we stepped out into cool and dry with patchy sunshine.

So next time it's shitty, and you're thinking about chucking it in, stop at a pub, slackers, etc.

-kt

 

[Hippy]

"JAF" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> I definitely agree that the Geelong freeway was absolute HELL for those going anti-clockwise. The
> driving rain was made even worse as it was coupled with a very strong headwind that made the rain
> sting as it hit you in the face!

We got the same thing going in the opposite direction. For once, getting entries in late had an
advantage.. mmm... tailwind. ;-)

> and my riding partner got a puncture as well. Well over 3000km training between us for this thing
> and not one puncture, then 2 in 10km! Thanks

JAF, meet Mr. Murphy.

> As with everyone else waiting the 45mins for the ferry is the coldest I've ever been. I think the
> feet were the worst.

Totally needed a full change of kit at the half way point. I wonder if my shoes are dry yet?

> All up took almost 12hrs to finish, of which only 8.5 was actual riding. Looking forward to better
> conditions ->time next year!

See, you wanna do it again after THIS year.. I didn't want to do it again after last year! I
think this has something to do with doing it faster.

hippy

 

[Hippy]

"John Tserkezis" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:3f94de4c$0$28121
> > 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!

Good to hear.

> 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.

Well, I've not seen the official start point on either ride. We just roll out from where we parked.
I heard there was a timing option, but I wasn't going to pay extra for timing cards when I have
$500+ worth of monitoring hardware strapped to my bike!

> I left mine in the hotel for some reason. Though I logged the ride on
my GPS.

What sort of GPS is it? I started looking into these a while back. (I'm a gadget head)

> 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.

Bananas are meant to be good due to their potassium content, but I don't particularly like the taste
unless they are really ripe and they are messy when squished and they are heavy, as you said. I also
found that they don't sit well in an already pack jersey pocket! I took a gel but I didn't use
it - I prefer a variety of food and more often than not, I prefer more solid "real" food - though
considering a Powerbar real is a little strange! Those ProteinPlus bars were nice.

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

Nah, that would've been a cop out. Just remind yourself that silly or not, you finished the ride
when a lot of others gave up.

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

Au contraire.. I come from a warm place. Melbourne sucks for me! I hate rain and I don't like the
cold. I have a bit of a reputation for dressing inappropriately.. and I don't mean high heels and a
mini! I tend to leave all those nice warm cycling goodies at home and then the temp drops below
zero... you'd think I'd learn...

hippy

 

[John Tserkezis]

hippy wrote:

> Well, I've not seen the official start point on either ride. We just roll out from where we
> parked. I heard there was a timing option, but I wasn't going to pay extra for timing cards when I
> have $500+ worth of monitoring hardware strapped to my bike!

Ah, that explains it. There was probably various staggered start points, which explains why my
mates kept overtaking people along the way even though they were close to the start. They were
only at the head in their particular start point.

>> I left mine in the hotel for some reason. Though I logged the ride on my GPS.
>
> What sort of GPS is it? I started looking into these a while back. (I'm a gadget head)

Magellan 312, I had my iPaq and GPS sleeve, but didn't want to use that, because it isn't
waterproof. (I used it on saturday while doing the bike shop crawl, because it was dry). Email me
off list if you want, there are pros and cons in all the options you have available.

> Bananas are meant to be good due to their potassium content, but I don't particularly like the
> taste unless they are really ripe and they are messy when squished and they are heavy, as you
> said. I also found that they don't sit well in an already pack jersey pocket!

Nothing does if you ask me. You get all sorts of things popping out every time you hit a bump. I
used my camelback. To hell with the weight, everything stays exactly where you leave it.

> I took a gel but I didn't use it - I prefer a variety of food and more often than not, I prefer
> more solid "real" food - though considering a Powerbar real is a little strange! Those ProteinPlus
> bars were nice.

I don't get hungry on the bike, so gels work for me.

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

> Nah, that would've been a cop out. Just remind yourself that silly or not, you finished the ride
> when a lot of others gave up.

Well, I did give up. As it turned out, probably just as well I didn't ride back, I've just
finished cleaning the bike, and picked out at least six pieces of glass out of the tyres. One
piece that actually gave me the puncture the first time, was still embedded in the tyre (I had
missed it when I checked on site).

I'm sure I would have had another flat on the way back. With no spare tubes, and patches that need
dry surfaces to work, I would have been left standing in the rain, worse off than what I otherwise
would have been. I still had some distance left in me, but I quickly lost any enthusiasm that was
left when I nearly became hypothermic while repairing the flat.

There is also the minor point of the fact that I hadn't done any training for the past three
weeks, and the 55Km we did the day before was the most distance I had covered on the bike in one
go for about six months.

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

> Au contraire.. I come from a warm place. Melbourne sucks for me! I hate rain and I don't like the
> cold. I have a bit of a reputation for dressing inappropriately.. and I don't mean high heels and
> a mini! I tend to leave all those nice warm cycling goodies at home and then the temp drops below
> zero... you'd think I'd learn...

We do learn, just we didn't expect it to get that bad, (though it appears that it came as a
suprise to everyone else as well).

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[kochan]

Started the day off with only 2 hours of sleep, thanks to V8s doing
burnouts and ricey civics playing Doof at full music just off Acland
St (I was staying in a motel so I could get some sleep without
having to wake up at 3 in the morning, yeahhh right).

Friend (Goin halfway) and I headed out for Sorrento at 5.25am when they called us through and took it at a fairly slow pace all the way to Frankston.

That was the start of the hills so we headed up Mt Olivier and Mt
Eliza without any hassles. Started pissing down with rain midway
from there to Mt Martha...and it didn't bloody stop.

Friend turned back not long after (He didn't have a ferry ticket and had to get back by 12) and it just poured all the way right up to Sorrento. Wettest, crappiest 30+ kms I've ever done (into a head wind too) and enough to make you ask yourself why the hell you signed up for this in the first place.

Then had to wait 20 mins shivering in the freezing rain for the next ferry while kids eating their lunches in air conditioned (read heated) Camrys pointed to us and asked their parents why we were on bicycles on a day like today (Rolls eyes). The ferry wasn't much warmer as the doors to the lounge were kept open (as one person mentioned earlier - for 'airflow' reasons')

Cross to Queenscliff and off went the rain coat and on went the earphones and MP3 player. Pretty straight forward up till past Geelong...turning point there.

Checked the time and I had 2 hours to do 60+ kms (To make it under 12 hours) . Had a tail wind so I dropped the last powerbar I had and absolutely hammered myself averaging 30-35kms down the Geelong Freeway. Overtook quite a few folks, on Roadbikes et al.

Had a cherry ripe (Thanks BV vic) 25kms out from MEL and then again a couple of kms from the West Gate Bridge. Came up over it with 15 or so minutes to go and felt myself low on energy again. Had some Glucose tablets and by the time I got to Port Melbourne I had 5 mins left. I went like the clappers on Beaconsfield Parade and finally rolled through the gate on 11 hours and 58 mins.

Total Riding time: 9 hours 26 mins.

I felt pretty pumped at the end of it with all that Adrenalin but
when I got back on the bike to get back to the hotel after - the
pain settled in My knees and bottom had not forgotten me.

The first part of it was a lousy ride, but I ate right, drank right
(5 powerbars, 2 bananas, some chocs and the lunch wrap - along with 5 litres of water) and finished up pretty strong - even felt like I could've ridden home *^^* I'm sure past years have had better weather but hey I'm happy I finished my first ATB, under 12 hours even and on a MTB with Slickies

Mind yous, I only started riding 5 months ago and hadn't pedaled a bike (even rentals) since 18 years ago)

Biggest tip of the whole ride? Bring music if you're alone like I was - it weighs extra, but its worth it for Queenscliff -> Geelong -> Mel, I would have died from sheer boredom otherwise.

 

[Shane Stanley]

in article [email protected], John Tserkezis wrote:

> There was probably various staggered start points

No, just the one. But it seems a lot of people ignore it and set off early -- that way they can
pretend they did it faster than they really did.

Shane

 

[Marvin Martian]

After reading all the experiences, I am glad I pulled out of it and can only say well done n big
congrats who braved thru those elements.

Done the ATB 5 times .. am sure as hell not crazy enough to do it in that rain. I actually woke at
2am had breakfast getting ready. Then from my room I could actually hear those winds. Stepped out of
the house a few times to check on the conditions and the clouds were already rolling in .. quickly
fired the PC n checked the weather charts and saw the rain band is just out of Geelong. That pretty
much convinced me to stay home and sleep. I can hack getting wet but sure not gonna get wet before
the ferry n freeze and risk getting a nasty cold or something. Drove over to the bay around midday
and saw the conditions and boy I was glad I stayed

Well maybe next year with better weather. Considering what ATB has been 10 or 11 years this is
probably the worst condition for it. I've ridden in ATB where it was like riding thru a brick wall
into a head wind .. the winds on Sunday was comparable but made worse by the rain. Well done again
to those who made it thru.

"hippy" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> "JAF" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> > I definitely agree that the Geelong freeway was absolute HELL for those going anti-clockwise.
> > The driving rain was made even worse as it was coupled with a very strong headwind that made the
> > rain sting as it hit you in the face!
>
> We got the same thing going in the opposite direction. For once, getting entries in late had an
> advantage.. mmm... tailwind. ;-)
>
> > and my riding partner got a puncture as well. Well over 3000km training between us for this
> > thing and not one puncture, then 2 in 10km! Thanks
>
> JAF, meet Mr. Murphy.
>
> > As with everyone else waiting the 45mins for the ferry is the coldest I've ever been. I think
> > the feet were the worst.
>
> Totally needed a full change of kit at the half way point. I wonder if my shoes are dry yet?
>
> > All up took almost 12hrs to finish, of which only 8.5 was actual riding. Looking forward to
> > better conditions ->time next year!
>
> See, you wanna do it again after THIS year.. I didn't want to do it again after last year! I
> think this has something to do with doing it faster.
>
> hippy

 

[Shane Stanley]

in article [email protected], Marvin Martian wrote:

> That pretty much convinced me to stay home and sleep.

You weren't alone. According to an announcement at the end, there were 8500 entries, and they
guesstimated that 1500 stayed in bed, with another 2000 pulling out early.

Shane

 

[cate hall]

> 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?

Yeah, I passed some very nice light and expensive road bikes on my heavy old mountain bike. Didn't get one puncture but will put that down to luck.


made the trip in under 8hrs. Very glad there were many who knew where they were going. There were quite a few turns from Geelong where it was difficult to choose which one to take - no signs.

Waiting an hour for ferry, wet in freezing wind was worse than any riding. Looking forward to next year though, this was my first, maybe I'll try a lighter bike when I can afford it. See if it makes it any better. Taller gears would be good.

Cheers. Good to see so many MTB's (and sleek Bianchi's etc

 

[Fahren]

[Yeah, I passed some very nice light and expensive road bikes on my heavy old mountain bike. Didn't get one puncture but will put that down to luck.

made the trip in under 8hrs. Very glad there were many who knew where they were going. There were quite a few turns from Geelong where it was difficult to choose which one to take - no signs.

Waiting an hour for ferry, wet in freezing wind was worse than any riding. Looking forward to next year though, this was my first, maybe I'll try a lighter bike when I can afford it. See if it makes it any better. Taller gears would be good.

Cheers. Good to see so many MTB's (and sleek Bianchi's etc ]

Sorry, above message was actually by me. Cate hadn't logged out of system so my message came up in her name. Cate isn't quite that arrogant.

Has anyone tried the Protein Drink they couldn't get rid of quick enough?

 

[Scotty]

yeah we did ok...group of 7 started the route to Queenscliff via Geelong first. The freeway was a
major pain in the butt. We started a little late
ie. just before 6am and got drenched just after Werribee (I think it was as we're from Adelaide). We
lost 4 of our group on the Westgate Bridge (!!) but they made it around in their own time but
had to wait a couple of hours for the Ferry as one was out of action (hit the wharf or
something). Lots of people had punctures or mechanicals...none of our group did though. Not many
people who wanted to help out with pace making...for most of the day that was true too. We had a
couple of guys who did turns for a bit but had to be encouraged to do so. We averaged just over
the 30 km/hr for the trip but was a tough day all round. We did have a group hug (3 fellas) on
the ferry and I could tell others wanted to join in but couldnt overcome their shyness!!! (we
didnt care we were keeping warm!)

Last year we went the other way...and the conditions were pretty good and it sounds like that it was
the better route this year too!

cya all next year again Scotty

"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???
>
> Cheers,
>
> Andrew

 

[Hippy]

"Fahren" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Has anyone tried the Protein Drink they couldn't get rid of quick enough?

Yeah, 2 tins! It's going to save me buying Milo for a while!

hippy

 

[Shabby]

Originally posted by Hippy
"Fahren" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Has anyone tried the Protein Drink they couldn't get rid of quick enough?

Yeah, 2 tins! It's going to save me buying Milo for a while!

hippy

Oh, and it was so practical that they gave us 2kg to carry home. Luckily I only had 5km to go, but my jersey pockets weren't quite big enough to hold them.

And don't get me started on the concept of "Powerade Light" with 50% calories. I needed a "Powerade Extra Heavy" at that stage.

 

[Drs]

"Shabby" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Hippy wrote:
>> "Fahren" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>>
news:[email protected]:[email protected]...
>>> Has anyone tried the Protein Drink they couldn't get rid of quick enough?
>> Yeah, 2 tins! It's going to save me buying Milo for a while! hippy
>
> Oh, and it was so practical that they gave us 2kg to carry home. Luckily

2kg? What did they give you?

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[Dave A]

"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???
>
> Cheers,
>
> Andrew

Somebody sent me "Around The Bay In A Day 2003 in pictures" (a word document), it was hilarious.
If you want a copy please email me an I'll send it to you, as I do not have facilities to post to
a website.

Regards Dave

 

[The Dubliner]

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

What a dissapointment.

I'd like to think it was an accident, but the bloke who took me out just after the service station on the way to Geelong just didn't realise that he had a back wheel behind his **** when he cut me up.

Luckily, It was only a 1km walk back to the servo witha cracked rib, broken derailler hanger and buckled front wheel. 20 Minutes of shivering, and $130 cab charge back to Melbourne.

 

[Hippy]

"The Dubliner" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'd like to think it was an accident, but the bloke who took me out
just
> after the service station on the way to Geelong just didn't realise
that
> he had a back wheel behind his **** when he cut me up.
>
> Luckily, It was only a 1km walk back to the servo witha cracked rib, broken derailler hanger and
> buckled front wheel. 20 Minutes of shivering, and $130 cab charge back to Melbourne.

Ouch! I hope you heal quick!

I heard someone broke their collarbone too after hitting a pothole in the wet.

hippy lucky one

 

[John Tserkezis]

hippy wrote:

> Ouch! I hope you heal quick!
>
> I heard someone broke their collarbone too after hitting a pothole in the wet.

I think I rode back with his mate on the sag wagon. Only noticed a bent spoke on the bike, not
sure if he hit a pothole, but something certainly went through the spokes and stopped him. Landed
on his elbow and took some bone out, not sure which one, as I was told he was screaming too much
to be more specific.

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