Well, the training ride has come & gone so quickly and my main concern is the cycle around oz, which is 6 months long, will fly by just as quickly. Previous rides have been an average of 5 weeks long and because we are all so busy, the time flies by without you even realising it.
We all arrived in Bairnsdale on Wednesday afternoon/evening and met up for the ride discussion at 6.30 pm at the Big 4 caravan park. We ended up with 12 riders and 8 in the support crew. The discussions were centred on the forecast of 38C the next day. Jacquei had flown down from Brisbane with Qantas but her bike went to Mackay; then they lost the bike in Brisbane but eventually it arrived at midnight via courier. Very frustrating time for her and worry over in what state the bike may arrive. Theo & John arrived late as they drove down from Pt Macquarie in the one day.
The plan was to leave at 6.30 am on Thursday morning so as to miss some of the heat. The wrong morning to sleep in but it happened. 5 riders headed out at 6.30 am but the rest left about an hour later. The morning weather was quite pleasant with an undulating ride through various types of landscapes. Morning tea was between 9.30 and 10.30 (at the 50 km mark) with all riders, bar one, arriving as planned. Unfortunately Theo's bike (3 months old) had a fatal break on the derailleur hanger. He was taken to Bairnsdale by his wife but no-one was able to fix it for him. So disappointing for Theo but unavoidable and he was then not able to continue with the ride. After morning tea the weather heated up dramatically. The hills increased, the wind got hotter and in their faces and the water supply became luke warm. They arrived at Swift Creek in dribs and drabs for lunch with 1 rider pulling out at lunch break. We were down to 10 riders out in the heat. 2 more riders plus one of the support crew (who rode out to meet them) were brought in via car. At 4 pm we were down to 8 riders with 7 safely arriving at the Omeo caravan park. One rider was still out there on her own so we decided she needed to be brought in before she collapsed. She was disappointed but was not thinking straight at the time.
It was a tough, tough day and everyone of those riders should be proud of there achievements. Great dinner with the whole group at the Golden Age hotel. Early to bed.
11 riders left Omeo at around 7.30 am. The female support crew went shopping for food supplies for the nights dinner at Mt Hotham. Today there were very few (if any) down hills, it just seemed to be one steep hill after another all the way to morning tea. It was hot out on the road but cooler than the day before. Most of the riders were looking stronger today but 4 were still suffering from the ride the day before and pulled out at morning tea break (which was at the 25 km mark). One rider described his problems beautifully stating "I have no petrol in my legs". This left us 7 riders to complete the ride up the mountain without any further dramas. They stopped at Dinner Plains for lunch before riding onto the lodge we had booked for the night. All riders were in by early afternoon and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon at the pub, walking the area or reading in the lodge. Lorraine cooked a lovely spaghetti sauce with Jacquei doing one of her famous Coleslaws and Jan & Allen doing a great tossed salad. Plenty of food with quite a few leftovers- where was Robbo when we needed him. Everyone kicked in with the clean up and it was all finished before we knew it. A small group had a competition at the pool table with Kathy & Collis as the champions until Tim challenged Collis in a solo match. Tim won 2 games in a row before we all headed off to bed.
Theo, Caroline & John left us in the early hours of the morning as they wanted to get an early start back to Pt Macquarie. Planned a 'sleep in' the next day as it was all down hill with only a few ups & downs before the main descent. Very steep descent which required alot of concentration to prevent a nasty fall. Arrived at Harrietville in time for morning tea before racing into Bright where the ride was completed. Robbo was here to meet us but refused to take some of the leftovers.
The ride was enjoyed by most although some were bitterly disappointed with the bike performance, a couple disappointed with their own performance and most disappointed with the weather dished out to them. None were disappointed with the views or the experience. All riders have a much better idea of how much training they will need to do before they start their stage of this years Cycle Around Oz.
We could not have asked for a better training ride- everyone has gained some knowledge from the experience.
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