Umm..I want to join the nut brigade

[Keely]

Hey C,

You should check out the BV Forum. The Around the Bay in a Day discussion has lots of advice being thrown about for those already starting their training.

For those who don't know about this ride it is around Port Phillip Bay (Melbourne, Australia). There are 4 options for this ride - 50km, 100km, 210km or 250km. It is held in October and up 10,000 cyclists do the ride. Most people aim to complete the 210km ride in between 7-9 hours. One of the major challenges of this ride is the changeble weather we seem to have here in Melbourne. You generally have an awful head wind for at least half the ride! The day can start out lovely and then change to absolutely horrible - 2 years ago it was sunny in the morning and then changed to cold and wet in the afternoon. People were suffering from frostbite because they were ill-prepared for the cold change.

[crazycanuck]

I'm knackered..We drove approx 400km today to check the route out. Oh how I love my dear (It's 160km round trip from my house to the start of the ride) I've attached a few photos for you whilst you're eating brekkie.

It's undulating but nothing as bad as some of the hills on the 100km off road ride we did. I think my main concerns would be the following: 1-The elements-there's very little shade as with many many roads in WA. If it's windy i;ll be ingesting dust for lunch. If there's a burnoff or bus 2-Farm machinery/wide loads-you can see by the photos there's very little space! I'll be paying attention! 3-The idea of being self reliant. Apart from the checkpoint stops there's nothing except farms in between.

I have a spare weekend in may where I might just go out and do some of it for training.

Enjoy the pics as i''m def not taking my camera on the day of the ride! The first is a little bobtail(?) lizard that was sunning itself on the road..they're just too cute to pass by. The rest are just roads along the ride route.

C

[jobob]

One thing I've noticed when I drive a route - it always seems longer when I drive it than when I actually ride it.

I don't know why that is, I guess when I'm on a bike I'm not as aware of the distance. Does that make sense?

[jobob]

Looks like a neat route! Make sure you have lots of water with you.

Perhaps , since it's so remote, the brevet organizers might have a roving SAG with water, but don't assume it. It might be good to email the organizer and ask if there will be any sort of support provided. (Or it might actually say on the brevet info, I didn't look - still, would be good to double check w the origanizer).