Ossie Nicholson Ride

 

Basic time and distance stats for the ride. I used the gps as a speedo throughout, as navigation was simple and most of the ride was on familiar roads.

Official version on Audax brevet card. I stopped at all the official checkpoints, and this proved to be just the right places for rest and refuelling stops.

Just before Frankston on the way back. There was a very welcome tailwind from this point on. Also, traffic was light, so most often I had a lane to myself. Lights worked well.

Portsea food stop, a lamington eaten on the spot and another stored for later.

Delivery of lamington and hot chocolate from the Portsea shop.

Atop Arthur's seat, which I walked up, pushing the bike due to the steepness of the hill. The chairlift operation was most impressive, and so quiet I could hear singing (happy birthday) and conversations from the gondolas as I ascended. At one point I waved to a gondola, and got a "nice bike" response. "Better if it had a really big motor on it" was my obvious reply.

Audax kit at Mount Martha, includes Brevet card and Take - a - look mirror. Peter Donnan recommends it!

Mt. Martha stop, Paul on left. I had ridden with him and Bryan Taaffe late last year. This time, I was faster than Paul on the flat and downhill, but he was much quicker than me on Arthur's seat. I saw him briefly again at Portsea, he was leaving as I was arriving.

Bryan Taaffe on Beach Road

A bit slow for Bryan, a bit fast for me. For about 20k we were on a compromise speed of 30kph. Bryan is training for an around - Australia ride and was good for about 35kph on this sort of stretch. With my level of training I was good for about 25kph. After Bryan had flitted off, I was able to join in a small, relaxed, chatty pelleton doing 25 or 26 between Mordialloc and Frankston. I needed to recover my energy a bit!

Bryan at the start.

At the start, there are some gun riders here including Rishi Fox. There is free parking under this bridge in Port Melbourne, but I rode there and back, at least partly because the lighting wires makes the bike harder to pull apart and put in the car.

Hi, Just a few photos at this stage, I will add some comments later. There was a big hill in the middle of the ride (Arthurs seat), and due to my general lack of fitness and low gears on the bike I had to walk up it. That put me a bit behind, but I was generally very satisfied with the ride. Average speed a bit over 17kph, Regards Steve Nurse

Update April 25: Not much to add beyond what I have written already. Bryan got in at 2:46 and averaged 32.2 kph, almost bang on what he had predicted. He sent me some photos and screen grabs, here they are below. He is planning an Around Australia trip to start later in the month, and I will keep readers informed of any start dates and links to that ride. I don't mind living vicariously. But just a bit.

2 problems with the bike on the ride, but so minor its hardly worth mentioning. I had left pointy screw ends on the boot lid catch and got small cuts on my hands from them. Sometimes the top fairing mount bolt bangs into the pedal when steering. I haven't learnt to avoid this, and will do a bit of fixing of it today.

Many thanks to the ride organizer, Dieter. He had a mechanical problem with his bike, which meant he couldn't be there at the end to accept Brevet cards. But he had texted me saying what was going on, and said he'd organize the Brevet card. And sure enough, a few text messages and a day or so later, he had picked up the card from our letterbox. This was above and beyond the call of duty, typical of many Audaxride organizers!

Final Update: Bryan has now set up a web page for his ride around Australia, here is the link. He is fundraising for youth mental health and will take off on his lap when weather clears up north. Here is the link.