Buckley's Ride 2020

The ride map from Ride with GPS

New camera used for this ride is the Canon Ixus (top),  its more compact than the Olympus so I could carry it in my top pocket.

At the start, Audax organiser Sarah provides a briefing

Another photo from the start

Rick Harker near Altona on his Cattrike Musahi, note hat in sunvisor mode.

Rick Harker behind a small mob near Altona

Past Altona

GPS in action on the road to the You-Yangs outside Werribee

Rick Harker past Geelong

Rick on the Ferry, note hat in mudguard mode, he had been soaked by back wheel spray.

My trike back in Albert Park.

Hi

As I have done for a few years now, I've taken part in the Audax Australia's Buckley's Ride. It was only yesterday, and I was happy with how it went.  I'd acquired a fairing during the year and although I was using it on an Audax ride for the first time, I had ridden with it for 200k's plus a few weeks ago so was quite ready to try it out again.

And I think it worked well.  There was light rain all the way to the ferry in Queenscliffe, and the fairing helped keep that off me and I was able to leave my rain jacket in the luggage compartment.  I kept up with a small pelleton to the outskirts of Altona, and then I had to stop for a pee, so lost them for 30k or so till near Lara when I overtook them.  I didn't stop except to pee and get food from the back of the bike till Queenscliffe and a few people overtook me but in general, I was on track to catch the midday ferry with a few minutes to spare.  This meant there was no particular exertion to catch the ferry.

Had a good chat over lunch with Rick Harker on the ferry which had most of the Buckley's riders on board.  Over in Sorrento I took it fairly easy but was gradually thinking of a planned finishing time mainly as motivation to get me over the hills between Dromana and Frankston. There was a tailwind, and it wasn't too bad.  I am slow up hills!

Anyway, the cool weather helped and and I was able to combine a bit of energy with a reasonably fast but heavy bike to get back at my target time, doing the ride in just under 11 hours for the 217k, an average of 19.7kph and much faster than the 15kph required for Audax completion. Last year I did the same ride 45 minutes slower. Can't really say whether the difference was due to training, the weather or a better bike, but I was glad to have the fairing on board.

A few things could have been improved. If I'm going to have muesli bars in the front storage area, they should be pre-unwrapped. Not much fun and quite hard to do this while riding.  Some sort of spray deflector for the front would be good. I was getting spray on my glasses making things blurry. Or I could take them off and have dirt-laden water in my eyes, and a deflector or mudguard might have helped.


Thanks to Sarah and Audax for organising the ride and good riding weather (Very hot 40C+ weather is just as likely this time of year). I look forward to receiving the new bling and modelling a surround for it. Will report on that when the time comes, and I guess I will need to do another 200 to get the other bling type on offer.

Best Wishes

Steve Nurse