Atb

I did the 50km ride. Actually for me it was 111km, the longest I've done.
I was originally planning to catch the train in from Glen Waverley, but then
I discovered that the first train would get me to Spencer St after the 50km
ride had started. So I left home at 6:20am and rode into the city along paths
beside railway lines, the Gardiner Ck path then the Yarra Trail. Between
the sharp bends, blind corners and bumpy surface, the ride in was a bit
slow, although pleasant.

We had some navigation problems finding the bridge. Following the
group and signs we took the Queenscliff fork, then somehow ended
up at Beaconsfield Parade being directed south east. Several of us
lost riders then travelled as a group through Port Melbourne and
followed the coast around to Todd Rd before regaining the correct
route. The bridge had two lanes blocked off for rider, although really
only one plus the shoulder were needed. Once across the bridge we
were riding on the shoulder of the freeway. Most drivers were
sensible and didn't use the left lane at all, even though it wasn't
blocked off. One rider with his son on a tag-a-along was surprised
that they hadn't blocked off the left lane.

Travelling out I was riding solo and averaged 24km/h. Riding back
I was following one other guy most of the way and averaged 26km/h.

The ride home from Docklands was harder. First I was tired.
Next I had a head wind. And finally the last 10km were mostly
uphill, with more climb than that little West Gate Bridge.
My knees are a bit sore - feels like ligaments.

This was my first time on an organised event, so it was good to see how
things were organised. I got a better idea of what speed I can achieve
when drafting at a safe distance. I spent 5 hours in the saddle, so if I
can travel in a group the full ATB may be possible next year.
For next year I need:
Ride with a group who stick together.
Replace current MTB road tyres with narrower and higher pressure tyres.
Remove lock, packrack, gear bag etc.
Add a second drink bottle.
More riding preparation.
Time to convince my sister and some others to do the ride next year.

MikeyOz said:

What a sensational day, 5 of us headed out at about 4.50 am this morning, rode out along the west gate with the sun starting to come up, and it was all good from there, 2 guys in our group, had done stuff all training, so I ended up being a wind break for most of the day and dropping back to encourage them through, finished with a 7hr15 mins ride time still, luckily they are fairly fit anyway, thats the only way the actually finished, so almost no mishaps, just one guy being attended by an ambulance hope is ok.

Was just a beautiful day, sun, cycling, mates and lots of food afterwards, just doesn't get much better than that.

Have to say the whole thing was pretty well organized, was good to see them turning people back that had the wrong directions at the ferry, I mean how bloody difficult is it, very well done by BV.

One of our riders obtained a nasty squeaky bike which we fixed at Sorrento after the ferry trip, great ferry trip, great food on the ferry as well. Lots of encouraging, cheerful volunteers, managed to get my brother through his first ATB, he was wrapped, a bit sore, but he loved it, other than a very minute case of heat stroke I feel great, guess my training is paying off, have a week to prepare and rest for my first Half Ironman.....

looking forward to hear other good stories from the day.

Congratulations on a successful day 🙂 And to all the other riders... It was a great day for it weather-wise.

Leaving for Pt M this week too - purely as a spectator though! (Ok, spectator, photographer, team driver, masseur, cheer-squad... ) Best of luck for it.

cheers,
Ali

Yes sir it was a beautiful day.🙂

233k's from the front door at an average of 30 exactly. And a Huuuuuuge tan line to prove it😄

And to add to this the Fdjeux knicks i bought yesterday for $40!!!!!!!! (instead of $200+, not brand new, but I couldn't find one scratch on them.) are sooooo dam comfortable. AND the arm warmers I bought for $10 are an absolute perfect fit! I finally found a long but skinny pair of arm warmers to suit my chicken arms.

Great day.

MikeyOz said:

What a sensational day, 5 of us headed out at about 4.50 am this morning, rode out along the west gate with the sun starting to come up, and it was all good from there, 2 guys in our group, had done stuff all training, so I ended up being a wind break for most of the day and dropping back to encourage them through, finished with a 7hr15 mins ride time still, luckily they are fairly fit anyway, thats the only way the actually finished, so almost no mishaps, just one guy being attended by an ambulance hope is ok.

Was just a beautiful day, sun, cycling, mates and lots of food afterwards, just doesn't get much better than that.

Have to say the whole thing was pretty well organized, was good to see them turning people back that had the wrong directions at the ferry, I mean how bloody difficult is it, very well done by BV.

One of our riders obtained a nasty squeaky bike which we fixed at Sorrento after the ferry trip, great ferry trip, great food on the ferry as well. Lots of encouraging, cheerful volunteers, managed to get my brother through his first ATB, he was wrapped, a bit sore, but he loved it, other than a very minute case of heat stroke I feel great, guess my training is paying off, have a week to prepare and rest for my first Half Ironman.....

looking forward to hear other good stories from the day.

Yes what a great day. But I made the mistake of riding with a mate from Shepparton who I hadn't seen in 4 years. He didn't tell me he was now B grader!!! So he dragged me around at speed and saddle time was 6 hours 42 min. This was the first time I've ever made the 9am ferry.
I recall going passed a really squeky bike just before Queenscliffe. Was that you guys? That squeak would have driven me nuts. Saw the ambo too. Did you see the guy on a scooter before Werribee? Now that's game. What about the dudes on unicycles around Mt. Eliza. How the hell were they going to go down Oliver's Hill?

Nice day but boy am I sore now

Considering I decided to do ATB three weeks ago (so my preparation has
consisted of a shake down run to make sure I can handle Hammer Gel) I
was quite impressed with our groups performance. Vlad had gastro, TRW's
just coming off a bout of gastro and hasn't got many kms under his belt;
his longest before today was in the order of 70 or so.

We really wanted to be on an early ferry so worked quite hard to get to
Sorrento in 3 hrs 15 mins, would have been 3 hrs except we spent 15
minutes looking for TRW's Camelback bite knob thingy which went
walkies. Never did find it.

Ferry was awesome, seeing so many bling bikes stacked up in one space
was an experience that will stay with me forever.

After the ferry it was get to Melbourne by hook or by crook.
Unfortunately Vlad really suffered from the gastro so we didn't go as
quick as we'd have liked but still got in with a cycling time o 7hrs 35
mins which I reckon is a damned good effort for three ordinary blokes
with no prep.

Loved the day, feeling sore now, work's going to be pretty ordinary
tomorrow. Finished off 'round Vlad's house where he cooked up a storm
with salad, pasta, beer coffee. Fscking perfect day.

Well, apart from the puncture Gods. Three! Two weren't much of a
problem, slow which I noticed when we got on the ferry so changed it
while crossing, and the third when we crossed the finish line. The
second happened 200m after a call of nature stop which cost us 20 odd
minutes or so and Vlad had a snake bite which cost us another twenty
minutes.

I'm now going to bed and getting up whenever I wake up. This is one
Monday morning where the alarm clock can go hang.
--
Cheers | ~~ __@
Euan | ~~ _-\<,
Melbourne, Australia | ~ (*)/ (*)

The un-offical ATB started for me at 5:30am at Kerford rd with a 4 mates. We headed south/east towards Frankston & beyond, rode through Sorrento & to the Portsea back beach, hooked a u-ie & returned.
About 225kms door to door. Averaged about 29kms/hr.

Best weather in years. That slight southerly later in the morning was a blessing.
No mishaps, or flats.
Saw 2x amulances attending, but considering the mix of riders & the sheer numbers out there that could be regarded as a fair result.
I kinda thought that offical ATB jersey looked pretty spiffy too.
3x unicycles spotted, anyone see them do the hills?

Deest said:

Yes what a great day. But I made the mistake of riding with a mate from Shepparton who I hadn't seen in 4 years. He didn't tell me he was now B grader!!! So he dragged me around at speed and saddle time was 6 hours 42 min. This was the first time I've ever made the 9am ferry.
I recall going passed a really squeky bike just before Queenscliffe. Was that you guys? That squeak would have driven me nuts. Saw the ambo too. Did you see the guy on a scooter before Werribee? Now that's game. What about the dudes on unicycles around Mt. Eliza. How the hell were they going to go down Oliver's Hill?

Nice day but boy am I sore now

yep that was us! The black pegasus outfits... dont worry it was really p*ssing of Justin as well... the bike he was riding weighed about 20 kgs!! and Squeaky but 2 squirts of lube and it was gone, thank christ!

yeah the Scooter guy! we cheerd him on as we went passed him... thats what I call a "hard ass", we were debating all day, if he swapped legs at all, and changed muscles he used, or we could imagine him finishing the day with this massively muscled right leg and a skinny limp left leg! But yeah those hill descent would have been pretty hairy!

getting the first ferry is great!

Deest wrote:

I,ll write properly laters but just a quick note here

Quoted message said:

MikeyOz said:

What a sensational day, 5 of us headed out at about 4.50 am this
morning, rode out along the west gate with the sun starting to come up,
and it was all good from there, 2 guys in our group, had done stuff all
training, so I ended up being a wind break for most of the day and
dropping back to encourage them through, finished with a 7hr15 mins
ride time still, luckily they are fairly fit anyway, thats the only way
the actually finished, so almost no mishaps, just one guy being attended
by an ambulance hope is ok.

yeah.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Was just a beautiful day, sun, cycling, mates and lots of food
afterwards, just doesn't get much better than that.

Have to say the whole thing was pretty well organized, was good to see
them turning people back that had the wrong directions at the ferry, I
mean how bloody difficult is it, very well done by BV.

One of our riders obtained a nasty squeaky bike which we fixed at
Sorrento after the ferry trip, great ferry trip, great food on the
ferry as well. Lots of encouraging, cheerful volunteers, managed to get
my brother through his first ATB, he was wrapped, a bit sore, but he
loved it, other than a very minute case of heat stroke I feel great,
guess my training is paying off, have a week to prepare and rest for my
first Half Ironman.....

looking forward to hear other good stories from the day.

Yes what a great day. But I made the mistake of riding with a mate
from Shepparton who I hadn't seen in 4 years. He didn't tell me he was
now B grader!!! So he dragged me around at speed and saddle time was 6
hours 42 min. This was the first time I've ever made the 9am ferry.
I recall going passed a really squeky bike just before Queenscliffe.
Was that you guys? That squeak would have driven me nuts. Saw the ambo
too. Did you see the guy on a scooter before Werribee? Now that's game.
What about the dudes on unicycles around Mt. Eliza. How the hell were
they going to go down Oliver's Hill?

My gf kathy saw them. I hadnt thought about Olivers Hill. I wonder.
Does anyone know.

I was really disapointed with myself. Will have to do some serious
work. I seem to have somewhat lost my bottle. I was riding strong all
day. Apparently our ride time was actually 10 mins lest than last year
which was a personal best. Our total time was [censored] but wth. Both Ian
and I have been crook.. me for more than a month, so I
am sort of happy with the physical performance especially in the light
of other stuf I will write about later. But I was really [censored] and [censored]
scared on the desents and nervous in the bunches. Have to do something
about that. I used to have those skills.

All usefull advice accepted btw.

Ohhh I finally bonked halfway up the west gate. Ian abandoned me there.
Scum!!! And I made a hash of the downhill.. couldnt do more than
about 30 .. I just dont know whats wrong with me. At the bottom I
dragged op some energy and set about riding Ian down. I couldnt do much
over 30..(faster than I did the downhill tho, weird.) down on the
drops giving in everything.. but noone passed me from then on. 500
metres from the finish I came up behind Ian.. I dropped in behind him
and tried to breath quiet. I knew I didnt have a sprint left. He looked
behind and righ.. I drifted left. He looked left and I drifted right.
, We came up to the entrance. I turned inside him and beat him on the
line by a wheel. Kathy was there. and got the pic. I am absolutely
keeping this girl 🙂

Quoted message said:

Nice day but boy am I sore now

I,m not, Feel great. Hungry tho

What a crackin day! I rode 6h 28m @ 33.8kmh which I was wrapped with.

Beautiful weather, no incidents that I was involved in, and to top it all off, there were dolphins swimming next to the ferry!

Walrus said:

What a crackin day! I rode 6h 28m @ 33.8kmh which I was wrapped with.

Beautiful weather, no incidents that I was involved in, and to top it all off, there were dolphins swimming next to the ferry!

Soooooo. when is the BR debut??? 😄
with that kinda speed you got nowhere to hide now. LOOKyboy 😄😄

flyingdutch said:

Soooooo. when is the BR debut??? 😄
with that kinda speed you got nowhere to hide now. LOOKyboy 😄😄

What's the minimum requirement for a BR anyway?

Deest said:

What's the minimum requirement for a BR anyway?

You need a bike. Helmet too. Spare tubes, pump, food, drink help too :P

hippy

flyingdutch said:

Soooooo. when is the BR debut??? 😄
with that kinda speed you got nowhere to hide now. LOOKyboy 😄😄

Unfortunately my weekend rides are few and far between, but I do want to join you guys.

hippy said:

You need a bike. Helmet too. Spare tubes, pump, food, drink help too :P

hippy

Bummer - no need for money for coffee and muffins then?

On 2005-10-16, Deest (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

hippy said:

You need a bike. Helmet too. Spare tubes, pump, food, drink help too :P

hippy

Bummer - no need for money for coffee and muffins then?

Goes without saying. Are you insinuating that we are not a proper
cycling group by not having a mandatory muffin stop?

--
TimC
Weeks of coding can save you hours of planning. --unknown

dave said:

Deest wrote:

Quoted message said:

My gf kathy saw them. I hadnt thought about Olivers Hill. I wonder.
Does anyone know.

I saw them somewhere along the ride, but they were walking - can't
remember exactly where.

Quoted message said:

I was really disapointed with myself. Will have to do some serious
work. I seem to have somewhat lost my bottle. I was riding strong all
day. Apparently our ride time was actually 10 mins lest than last year
which was a personal best. Our total time was [censored] but wth. Both Ian
and I have been crook.. me for more than a month, so I
am sort of happy with the physical performance especially in the light
of other stuf I will write about later. But I was really [censored] and [censored]
scared on the desents and nervous in the bunches. Have to do something
about that. I used to have those skills.

RTB bunches are very jittery at the best of times, and especially
towards the end when most of them are blown. No blood sugar (bonk/hit
the wall) and your brain stops working very well - balance goes
bigtime.

Quoted message said:

All usefull advice accepted btw.

Practice, and possibly, eat more, and/or carbo load before big
rides.

TimC said:

On 2005-10-16, Deest (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

hippy said:

You need a bike. Helmet too. Spare tubes, pump, food, drink help too :P

hippy

Bummer - no need for money for coffee and muffins then?

Goes without saying. Are you insinuating that we are not a proper
cycling group by not having a mandatory muffin stop?

--
TimC
Weeks of coding can save you hours of planning. --unknown

No. You are not a proper cycling group if you do not have a mandatory coffee stop. Must have coffee. My wife makes the best muffins anyway

Deest said:

No. You are not a proper cycling group if you do not have a mandatory coffee stop. Must have coffee. My wife makes the best muffins anyway

right! give us an address and we'll swing by on Sunday 😄

PS anyone spot any blatant chalk propoganda™ (of a bv-political nature😄) on the ATB?

cheers
FD

MikeyOz said:

What a sensational day, 5 of us headed out at about 4.50 am this
morning,

you slept in! We got going at 4!

As everyone else has said, it was a perfect day for it. The
lunch was good (except the green bananas!). The waits for
the ferry were normal (that's just the way it is, can't
make them go any faster or get more ferries!)

Notables for me - Seeing Crowey and a (blind?) stoker on
a tandem being pushed up the Mt Eliza hill by two more of the HLP
lads, good teamwork! Running into heaps of people I knew at
random (including an old work colleage I'd not seen for years!),
clocking up 250-odd k's for the day. My two friends getting through
ok - we finished together despite Lawrence's best efforts to
kill himself on the last bit through Mordialloc! I'm going to
fix his bike - squeaky, rattly el-cheapo ... (might fix it into a
nice bike instead, he's eyeing off a synapse, and they're a pretty
handy bit of bicycle).

And, a decent tailwind down Oliver's hill and Mt Martha... mmmm

It just goes to show that events like the RTB are sucessful
if the weather's good. If it'd been cold & wet like in 2003, the
stories
would be vastly different. Hopefully next year the signage will
be improved at some places (especially in Geelong and around Altona,
and
coming in to Docklands around Lorimer St from Beach Rd). The
finish at Docklands was a big improvement over Catani - despite it
being a
dustbowl it was at least large enough for the size of the crowd and
there
seemed to be plenty of food etc available.

Pin-on numbers aren't a problem, but wristbands would probably be
easier to
manage - but not necessarily for everyone - I know a number of people
who's wrists are too large for the current standard size
livestong-style bands.