While you were all doing ATB or BR(x)...



"PiledHigher" <[email protected]> wrote
in message news:p[email protected]
> tortoise Wrote:
>> But I did that last year......

>
> Then stop being soft and do the Melbourne to warrnambool and melbourne
> marathon double.


Yeah, but what about the swim? And the run?

--

A: Top-posters.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?
 
"hippy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> http://www.thehippy.net/nucleus/index.php?itemid=121
>
> Now come on you lot.. you can't be THAT tired!
> Hit me with your ATB and BR reports!! Make me
> jealous! Awesome day for any riding - praise Tigger,
> the God of Spring :)
>
> hippy (found 750ml Ice Breaks.. uh oh!)
>
>

Hippy,

The day was great for riding, little wind, though a cool start. We did not
catch the final bunch of early leavers until 5 km from Queenscliff, on time
for the 9am Ferry.

I assumed that it would be the end of the MTBers on knobbies. Forgot about
the 100km challenge. The large bunches struggled to get by some of these
less experienced riders who were spread left to right across the lane at
times. By the way there were some well setup MTBs which got along at a good
pace.

Lunch was better than previous year, plastic bag to throw to the seals (only
joking) was much better than the paper bag that melted in your hands
previously.

Rumour has it that some poor soul nail the sign on the medium strip, which
is in a shocking location on the road at Rosebud? Some will no doubt
remember dodging this one.

Got home with 6:18 ride time and 35kmph ave, veerrry happy.

In summary, I dont think the bunches worked all that well together as in
previous years, signalling was not so hot, and the 100km Challenge really
created a lot of cycling traffic. Having said that, anything that gets
people out on their bikes is good for cycling.

Kevin
 
<snip>
> freeway. and your right about werribee, the roads & winds sucked and
> the population stunk more than the sewerage


haha. Good, so it wasnt just me thinking that...


GPL
 

>
> The day was great for riding, little wind, though a cool start. We did

not
> catch the final bunch of early leavers until 5 km from Queenscliff, on

time
> for the 9am Ferry.
>
> I assumed that it would be the end of the MTBers on knobbies. Forgot

about
> the 100km challenge. The large bunches struggled to get by some of these
> less experienced riders who were spread left to right across the lane at
> times. By the way there were some well setup MTBs which got along at a

good
> pace.
>


I was one of the MTBs doing the 100km, on slicks though! Average 25Kph and 4
hours ride time, probably only that fast from the being sucked along by the
bowwaves of roadies zooming past at depressingly frequent intervals.

I know what you mean about some of us MTB'ers being all over the place
though. Painfully so. I was winding myself up a hill before Frankston when
one decided she'd had enough, swerved to the right and stopped right in
front of me. Blam. She's on the ground and I'm doing a swan dive over the
bars. Fortunatly she was OK, and I'd like to say that only my pride was
hurt.. I'd REALLY like to say only my pride was hurt, but my right knee wont
let me.

Anyway, I recovered OK enough to record 73Kph down Olivers hill into
Frankston and then found the first-aid tent at the rest stop and got patched
up.

I'm already thinking about next year, and doing the full 200K. Although
after reading the various horror stories about 2 hour waits for ferries, I
recon I might just ride Melb-Sorento, pick up the lunch and then ride
straight back to Melb. I know thats not really in the spirit of the thing,
but maybe BV can start a new category, "half-arsed round the bay" or
something like that. Could even get sponsored by NQR.

Flaps.
 
Hi Folks,

our company team (Team EDS) met up with 18 of us in St Kilda Road, another 8
in Williamstown Road, and hit the queue at the bottom of the bridge at
5.25am.

As we progressed up the bridge, I had to feel sorry for the bloke who was
already walking down, sporting a broken chain... Up the bridge was a nice
climb to start the morning, and those orange sticks on the rubber bases look
like they really hurt, judging by the reactions of the two people we saw hit
them at at least 50 km/h. Hope you guys are ok!

The next leg of the ride, from Melbourne Road, through to Kororoit Creek
Road was pretty uneventful, and although I know why BV had the ride diverted
down the off ramps, and back up the on ramps, I think Police controlled
crossings would have been more efficient.

After the ride diverted out along the official cycling route through Altona
and into Werribee, we had split into three distinct groups, being our speed
demons (who we didn't see for the rest of the day) our middle group, and our
slow group.

Our slow group bypassed the Werribee rest stop, and picked up a nice bunch
from the Clipper Group, sitting on about 32 km/h, who we sat with until we
turned off the highway to head out through the back of Geelong, around the
foreshore to our first stop at Rippleside, around 8.15.

After a few punctures, and a torn sidewall, the slow group arrived, had a 15
minute rest, and we picked up the pace to try and catch the 11.00 ferry.

A sore knee slowed me down a bit, until I caught a back wheel of one of our
power riders, who pretty well towed me in slipstream through the Leopold
hills, for the run down to Queenscliff, which we made around 10.15. On
behalf of Team EDS, we hope the guy who had the heart attack around Leopold
is ok!!

After queuing for what seemed like hours, we were allocated a 12.20 ferry,
(our slow guys got the 14.00 ferry), given our lunch bags (did ANYONE get a
PowerBar that wasn't cappuccino flavoured?), had lunch, a snooze, a walk
around to stretch, and wandered down to get on the small ferry, which put us
at Sorrento at about 13.30.

Heading out of Sorrento, our bunch split up again, as one of the guys had a
cleat full of chewing gum and gravel (which we didn't find out about until
Monday at work), over half of us grouped up, and head off, with 3-4 hanging
back, while the cleat was cleaned.

Between Sorrento and Rosebud, we caught an Ericsson bunch, who were sitting
on 35 or so, and shared a bit of the lead, and a lot of the slipstream most
of the way to Dromana, where they pulled off for a break. Heading out of
Dromana, we saw what would have been the "comedy stack" of the day, when the
bunch leaders we were with decided a Barry Plant Real Estate - Open for
Inspection sign was a route marker, and a traffic island was collected at
very slow speed...

The ride up to Mornington, especially Balcombe Hill sorted out any and most
of our injuries, and identified any of the hill climbers with any strength
left. Bunching up again, between Mornington and Frankston, my friend and I
soon ended up leapfrogging between bunches and breaking out solo.
approximately 15:00 into Frankston

After a 30 minute (a little too long, as shivering is a bad thing, right) at
Frankston, we grouped back into approximately 12, but soon got split up by
traffic lights, and the crappy road surface through Seaford.

My friend and I sat on mid 30's all the way down Beach Road, moving forward
from pack to pack, amazed by how congested the traffic was.

Final arrival time at Docklands was 17:15, not long before things started
being packed up.

The day went pretty much without any incident except for a single motorist
just before Brighton Baths, who decided to cut my friend off, as a result of
not using mirrors.

A big thanks to the Clipper Group bunch heading down the Geelong Road, the
William Buck bunch between Geelong and Queenscliff, the Ericsson bunch
between Rosebud and Dromana, and BV for putting a great day together
again!!!

A big thanks to the remainder of Team EDS, who made the day very enjoyable!

Cheers,

Andrew
 
"Andrew Morris" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi Folks,
>
> our company team (Team EDS) met up with 18 of us in St Kilda Road, another

8
> in Williamstown Road, and hit the queue at the bottom of the bridge at
> 5.25am.
>
> As we progressed up the bridge, I had to feel sorry for the bloke who was
> already walking down, sporting a broken chain... Up the bridge was a nice
> climb to start the morning, and those orange sticks on the rubber bases

look
> like they really hurt, judging by the reactions of the two people we saw

hit
> them at at least 50 km/h. Hope you guys are ok!
>
> The next leg of the ride, from Melbourne Road, through to Kororoit Creek
> Road was pretty uneventful, and although I know why BV had the ride

diverted
> down the off ramps, and back up the on ramps, I think Police controlled
> crossings would have been more efficient.
>
> After the ride diverted out along the official cycling route through

Altona
> and into Werribee, we had split into three distinct groups, being our

speed
> demons (who we didn't see for the rest of the day) our middle group, and

our
> slow group.
>
> Our slow group bypassed the Werribee rest stop, and picked up a nice bunch
> from the Clipper Group, sitting on about 32 km/h, who we sat with until we
> turned off the highway to head out through the back of Geelong, around the
> foreshore to our first stop at Rippleside, around 8.15.
>
> After a few punctures, and a torn sidewall, the slow group arrived, had a

15
> minute rest, and we picked up the pace to try and catch the 11.00 ferry.
>
> A sore knee slowed me down a bit, until I caught a back wheel of one of

our
> power riders, who pretty well towed me in slipstream through the Leopold
> hills, for the run down to Queenscliff, which we made around 10.15. On
> behalf of Team EDS, we hope the guy who had the heart attack around

Leopold
> is ok!!
>
> After queuing for what seemed like hours, we were allocated a 12.20 ferry,
> (our slow guys got the 14.00 ferry), given our lunch bags (did ANYONE get

a
> PowerBar that wasn't cappuccino flavoured?), had lunch, a snooze, a walk
> around to stretch, and wandered down to get on the small ferry, which put

us
> at Sorrento at about 13.30.
>
> Heading out of Sorrento, our bunch split up again, as one of the guys had

a
> cleat full of chewing gum and gravel (which we didn't find out about until
> Monday at work), over half of us grouped up, and head off, with 3-4

hanging
> back, while the cleat was cleaned.
>
> Between Sorrento and Rosebud, we caught an Ericsson bunch, who were

sitting
> on 35 or so, and shared a bit of the lead, and a lot of the slipstream

most
> of the way to Dromana, where they pulled off for a break. Heading out of
> Dromana, we saw what would have been the "comedy stack" of the day, when

the
> bunch leaders we were with decided a Barry Plant Real Estate - Open for
> Inspection sign was a route marker, and a traffic island was collected at
> very slow speed...
>
> The ride up to Mornington, especially Balcombe Hill sorted out any and

most
> of our injuries, and identified any of the hill climbers with any strength
> left. Bunching up again, between Mornington and Frankston, my friend and

I
> soon ended up leapfrogging between bunches and breaking out solo.
> approximately 15:00 into Frankston
>
> After a 30 minute (a little too long, as shivering is a bad thing, right)

at
> Frankston, we grouped back into approximately 12, but soon got split up by
> traffic lights, and the crappy road surface through Seaford.
>
> My friend and I sat on mid 30's all the way down Beach Road, moving

forward
> from pack to pack, amazed by how congested the traffic was.
>
> Final arrival time at Docklands was 17:15, not long before things started
> being packed up.
>
> The day went pretty much without any incident except for a single motorist
> just before Brighton Baths, who decided to cut my friend off, as a result

of
> not using mirrors.
>
> A big thanks to the Clipper Group bunch heading down the Geelong Road, the
> William Buck bunch between Geelong and Queenscliff, the Ericsson bunch
> between Rosebud and Dromana, and BV for putting a great day together
> again!!!
>
> A big thanks to the remainder of Team EDS, who made the day very

enjoyable!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Andrew
>
>


Oh, and a note to self:

do more than 300 km in the 4 months prior to the event!!

average speed of 25 km/h, and a ride time of 8 hours, 14 minutes
 
hippy said:

I was doing my first ever crit, G grade, 20 mins + 2 laps - think I finished near the front but it was E, F, G+H all on a 800m rectangle and the rear of F was cruising as the first half of G arrived. I didn't watch C/D as I was taking my time getting organised. A/B was much winging from B as 2 had jumped and were on the back of A, then the rest of B did the same. Eventually A got real and took off.
Maybe F next time? Still have no idea just how well the new bike corners!
 
I've been doing the half assed ride for a few years on and off.

I agree with your comment about riders all over the place between Mornington
and Frankston. To pass them, one had to share the car lane with cars
(literally, one silver 4wd was lucky not to splatter me as it passed within
10cm of me---ack!

P

"Flaps" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> >
> > The day was great for riding, little wind, though a cool start. We did

> not
> > catch the final bunch of early leavers until 5 km from Queenscliff, on

> time
> > for the 9am Ferry.
> >
> > I assumed that it would be the end of the MTBers on knobbies. Forgot

> about
> > the 100km challenge. The large bunches struggled to get by some of

these
> > less experienced riders who were spread left to right across the lane

at
> > times. By the way there were some well setup MTBs which got along at a

> good
> > pace.
> >

>
> I was one of the MTBs doing the 100km, on slicks though! Average 25Kph and

4
> hours ride time, probably only that fast from the being sucked along by

the
> bowwaves of roadies zooming past at depressingly frequent intervals.
>
> I know what you mean about some of us MTB'ers being all over the place
> though. Painfully so. I was winding myself up a hill before Frankston when
> one decided she'd had enough, swerved to the right and stopped right in
> front of me. Blam. She's on the ground and I'm doing a swan dive over the
> bars. Fortunatly she was OK, and I'd like to say that only my pride was
> hurt.. I'd REALLY like to say only my pride was hurt, but my right knee

wont
> let me.
>
> Anyway, I recovered OK enough to record 73Kph down Olivers hill into
> Frankston and then found the first-aid tent at the rest stop and got

patched
> up.
>
> I'm already thinking about next year, and doing the full 200K. Although
> after reading the various horror stories about 2 hour waits for ferries, I
> recon I might just ride Melb-Sorento, pick up the lunch and then ride
> straight back to Melb. I know thats not really in the spirit of the thing,
> but maybe BV can start a new category, "half-arsed round the bay" or
> something like that. Could even get sponsored by NQR.
>
> Flaps.
>
>
 
tortoise wrote:
> As an ATB novice with minimal training and cycling experience, had a day
> of ups and downs. Run down to Sorrento was great, then had to wait from
> 9:30 til 11:00 for a ferry. Geelong freeway not a great road to ride
> on, ended up getting 2 punctures, and then for the 1st time in my life
> in my rush managed to bust the valve on my last tube when fixing the
> 2nd one - not happy. Had to cycle 5ks back to a servo into the wind on
> a flat tyre. The route after Werribbee was pretty awful along bad roads
> and down to Altona.
> I was amazed at the number of people with ancient squeaky mountain
> bikes - disappointed not to see any BMXs though
> Lessons I learnt
> 1.Take spare tubes AND a puncture kit
> 2.Go Queenscliffe first to get the worst bit out of the way
> 3.Train more
> 4. Don't run a half marathon the weekend before
>
>

If you asked I would have told you about 1 and 3
training partner managed 2 flats at once btw
2 seems to depend on the year

4 hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm who would have guessed?

Dave
 
"aeek" <[email protected]
> I was doing my first ever crit, G grade, 20 mins + 2 laps - think I
> finished near the front but it was E, F, G+H all on a 800m rectangle
> and the rear of F was cruising as the first half of G arrived. I didn't
> watch C/D as I was taking my time getting organised. A/B was much
> winging from B as 2 had jumped and were on the back of A, then the rest
> of B did the same. Eventually A got real and took off.
> Maybe F next time? Still have no idea just how well the new bike
> corners!


So you're going back for more? Nice one!
You're in Canberra right? What sort of numbers
are they getting in each grade?

hippy
 
aeek said:
I was doing my first ever crit, G grade, 20 mins + 2 laps - think I finished near the front but it was E, F, G+H all on a 800m rectangle and the rear of F was cruising as the first half of G arrived. I didn't watch C/D as I was taking my time getting organised. A/B was much winging from B as 2 had jumped and were on the back of A, then the rest of B did the same. Eventually A got real and took off.
Maybe F next time? Still have no idea just how well the new bike corners!

Congratulations on having a go - it sounds like alphabet soup with eight (count 'em, eight) grades! It might take a while to find the right grade for your speed, especially if you ride a lot and are already well trained. Make sure you have lots of fun finding out!

Ritch
 
ProfTournesol said:
unfortunately didn't start. having returned from the Kosi to StKilda ride with a crushed median nerve and paralyzed small muscles in my left hand, i decided that a DNS was unfortunately necessary to prolong my long and slow cycling career:-(

Next week I fit the Specialized Bar Phat tape

apart from the bizarre experience of replying to myself, I've just got back from the physio - banned from the bike for at least a week:)
 
"hippy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> http://www.thehippy.net/nucleus/index.php?itemid=121
>
> Now come on you lot.. you can't be THAT tired!
> Hit me with your ATB and BR reports!! Make me
> jealous! Awesome day for any riding - praise Tigger,
> the God of Spring :)
>
> hippy (found 750ml Ice Breaks.. uh oh!)
>
>


Although it did not take place on Sunday (due to other commitments and
anticipated late night on Saturday night due to sister in laws wedding) my
alternative ride took place on Saturday morning. Plan was to leave the
hotel in Stawell where I was staying at 7:30 (Once the morning ice had a
chance to melt) and head out to Halls Gap and on to Mt William, but due to
breakfast not being ready at the desired time I was not able to get out the
door until 8:10. In a way this worked out well because I was joined by a
local rider who had been waiting for the local Saturday bunch to meet on the
highway. This bunch had never eventuated so he decided to ride along with
me for part of the way out to Halls Gap. Once in the Grampians the scenery
changed dramatically from what was essentially flat open paddocks to lush
green native forest. I eventually, at the 39km mark, arrived at the turn
off to Mt William. This road starts to climb almost immediately and
continues to do so for 10km (12km if you continue from the carpark to the
top) at an avg of 6.8%. After the first couple of kms I was resigned to the
fact that I would not have enough time to complete the entire climb to the
top as I had to be back in Stawell by 12:00pm. The climb to the carpark
would have to do. All was going well on the climb and I was getting
reasonably used to wallabies dropping onto the road from the bushland to my
left but I was not prepared for a herd of five deer to suddenly come
thundering out of the bushes right next to me. I don't know who was more
surprised, me or the deer. After a few seconds of running up the road in
front of me they disappeared off down the slope of the hill beside the road.
I continued on up the road to the carpark eventually reaching it after
49mins and 23secs. The ride down the slope was treated with much caution
after my earlier encounter with the local wildlife and the possibility of
tourists in cars traveling up the mountain. I also didn't like the idea of
misjudging a bend and going over the edge (visions of what wife might do to
me if I wasn't back for the wedding). Once back at the bottom of the hill I
headed back to Stawell via Halls Gap. Total ride time just under 4hrs,
total distance 99km, Temp range 9 - 12. All in all a great ride in fabulous
surroundings. It gave me the unusual feeling of being in complete isolation
(except for the wildlife) on the climb up the mountain. Next time i'm going
to the top.

Geoff
 
Geoff said:
I also didn't like the idea of
misjudging a bend and going over the edge (visions of what wife might do to me if I wasn't back for the wedding).
Geoff

scrape you off the rocks WITHOUT using teflon???
 
flyingdutch said:
'G grade'.

think i need to move to Canberra...

I can beat that - I raced H grade at the Austral in the mid 90's at Northcote (back when the heats were held on a Wed night before the Sat).
 
"Geoff" <[email protected]> wrote
> total distance 99km, Temp range 9 - 12. All in all a great ride in

fabulous
> surroundings. It gave me the unusual feeling of being in complete

isolation
> (except for the wildlife) on the climb up the mountain. Next time i'm

going
> to the top.


Reminds me of a <cough> sick day <cough> I once had
when I went up to Toolangi (followed the DeBortoli Tour
of the Yarra Valley - Stage 1 route).
As it was a <cough> work day <cough> there was bugger
all traffic (none on the major climb and backroads) and it
makes for a totally great ride when you don't even 'hear' a
car...

hippy
 
flyingdutch said:
'G grade'.

think i need to move to Canberra...

http://actvets.cc/data/Road0405/17Oct.htm

I came 3rd, of 8 and all the summer riders had emerged!
D grade was the biggest with 18.
Fitz's this week (on the tourer), then its 6 crits & a hillclimb/Xmas BBQ for 7 Sundays.