Round the Bay the Ratbag Way

New Helmet with Mirror &Visor

At the Ferry in Sorrento

The hustle, the bustle, the crowds of cyclists!

We human beings are a funny lot!  We love doing things together, and at the same time, and to the extent that things become crowded and unworkable.  In summer, we flock to coastal resorts and the normally quiet towns get traffic jams.  Lots of people go away for long weekends but not for short ones.  And today was a case in point as well.

The "Round the Bay in a Day" ride is tomorrow and there will be thousands of bikes on the road for it.  But not today.  The ride is not today it is tomorrow.  So today  there were only a few cyclists on the road and I did the same ride people pay to do through Bike Vic. , round the bay in a day, 210k.

Set off time was about 5:15, and there were a few small packs of road cyclists I could ride behind and so made quite good pace - about 30kph on the flat for much of the trip to Sorrento.  Mostly they consider me harmless.  I can beat the most tricked out, aero tucked time trial cyclist down a hill but its best to show some restraint - any decent uphill and I am much slower!

Bought a few essentials at a service station (sunscreen, chocolate milk drinks) and was at the ferry about 9:30.   The ticket-seller-lady was quite interested in my bike and helmet visor.   It was nice and roomy on the ferry but soon I was in Queenscliff and back on the job.

I had only a few more stops the whole way to Melbourne and these were * to pee by the roadside * to buy a Mars Bar and some soft drink.  So food and drink for the whole trip was apple juice, biscuits, 3 bananas, 2 litres of chocolate milk, a litre of soft drink and a mars bar, mostly consumed on the bike.

The wind was behind me all the way down the Geelong Road and I only passed 3 cyclists on the 70k distance.  They were all riding together and I whooshed past them quite quickly.
   
 It was one of my last warmups for the 1000k Great Southern Randonnee, and I did the 210k Round the Bay ride in about 10.5 hours.  The ferry ride took maybe an hour so maybe 22k average.   This was last years post.

The next day (Sunday, the actual ride day) I pootled (Pootle or tootle: noun: short ride on a bicycle. Slightly longer than a blocky) in to the bike festival event at the start / finish of the Round the Bay in a Day.  There was a Smith Family / Charity Partner stall there and I donated $20.00, so I did my bit in a round about way.

On another topic, the top photo is my new helmet with mirror installed.  Compare with this post.  It worked well today.

The wonderful Klapprad Cup site has new pictures and videos of this year's event.  Last year this
 German - crap  - folding - bike - race lampooned The English and this year they are mocking Christianity!  The site and videos may offend some pious people. I am wondering who they will lampoon next year but Pro Cyclists would be a possibility!    

All for Now!

Steve Nurse