Around the Bay in a Day — Sunday 6th October

[CmdrBiggles]

Who's going...?

I'm in. 135km ex-Geelong (Cunningham Pier) start.

[DavidS]

I have done this a few times. Had a ticket for last year but couldn't go as my vertigo was bad the previous night. Decided not to get a ticket this year.

I really want to do Round the Bay on my new bike but have to be well before I can do it again, 210KMs which is what I do is a long ride.

It is a good event, certainly challenging. Those doing the 300KM are insane, but if you are capable why not?

DS

[CmdrBiggles]

I have done this a few times. Had a ticket for last year but couldn't go as my vertigo was bad the previous night. Decided not to get a ticket this year.

I really want to do Round the Bay on my new bike but have to be well before I can do it again, 210KMs which is what I do is a long ride.

It is a good event, certainly challenging. Those doing the 300KM are insane, but if you are capable why not?

DS

I am aware of a few pull-outs/cancellations at this time, one of which was an accident Saturday morning has left his body battered and bike mangled from a severe crosswind at the Anglesea Road roundabout (exposed area, westward turn point for Moriac further on).

Two AUDAX riders from Geelong are in the 300km!

Big question is why these rides are so very, very expensive — for what they are!
Consider: if I did the Around the Bay in a Day myself, the only cost I would incur is the one-way ferry ride ($17) and some munchies en route. But my (late) entry is $313 (!). Nobody has an explanation as to how a ride catering for thousands can be so over-the-top, cost-wise.

[P!N20]

Big question is why these rides are so very, very expensive — for what they are!
Consider: if I did the Around the Bay in a Day myself, the only cost I would incur is the one-way ferry ride ($17) and some munchies en route. But my (late) entry is $313 (!). Nobody has an explanation as to how a ride catering for thousands can be so over-the-top, cost-wise.

Insurance and traffic management.

[CmdrBiggles]

My final Round the Bay training ride completed from 7am to 10.15am this morning 64.7km, with a longer than anticipated brekky), the return run from Queenscliff considerably more testing than the forward (tailwind!), then throw in a few wobbling, wandering caravans and unexpected heavy traffic - well, it is Friday...

Sunday is forecast for NW winds to 35km/h - useful for the 800+ Geelong to Queenscliff starters, but a potential niggly back to the city from Sorrento.

There have been quite a few pull outs in the past week - people realising the end of the school holidays means no Monday off (except me!) to put the feet up!

[Duck!]

Looking at the wind prediction, it's going to be a challenging day for riders doing the full loop; NW wind 15-20 knots early, then shifting more to the west through the morning, so a headwind or cross-headwind from the start to Geelong, but then a good tailwind from Geelong to about Dromana. Then as the eastern side curves northward, it'll be a crosswind again to about Frankston/Seaford, then a headwind again for the final 45km or so as the coast curves more to the northwest. The breeze is indicated to ease a bit throughout the day, but is still looking like 10-15kt (18-27 km/h for the landlubbers), which is plenty strong enough when you've already got 150km in the legs for the day.

I'm not doing it - did it once to tick off the bucket list, but too many gumbies riding to make it an enjoyable ride. The best parts of the day for me were the ride from home into the start and the ride back home after completing the full loop, an extra 110km, for a total of 320km for the day!

[CmdrBiggles]

Looking at the wind prediction, it's going to be a challenging day for riders doing the full loop; NW wind 15-20 knots early, then shifting more to the west through the morning, so a headwind or cross-headwind from the start to Geelong, but then a good tailwind from Geelong to about Dromana. Then as the eastern side curves northward, it'll be a crosswind again to about Frankston/Seaford, then a headwind again for the final 45km or so as the coast curves more to the northwest. The breeze is indicated to ease a bit throughout the day, but is still looking like 10-15kt (18-27 km/h for the landlubbers), which is plenty strong enough when you've already got 150km in the legs for the day.

I'm not doing it - did it once to tick off the bucket list, but too many gumbies riding to make it an enjoyable ride. The best parts of the day for me were the ride from home into the start and the ride back home after completing the full loop, an extra 110km, for a total of 320km for the day!

I suspected as much. However, early morning in Geelong is calm (like this am); not windy, unless there is a lingering mass of instability overnight and into the morning. Heading down to Queenscliff, anything from the N/NW will be a bit of a tailwind — useful on the nefarious 'Leopold Hill', which, while a 4% grade, causes a big speed drop. Fun fact: the Bellarine Rail Trail runs to the N nearby and is only a 2% in grade — noticeable, but not enough to cause a profound speed drop. Best kept secret — don't tell anyone!!
I'm packing a spray jacket and merino armies, electrolyte gummies, freeze-dried strawberries, glucose bears and Mars Bars.

This morning I got a decent taste of weather that could be served up on the 'morra — a very fast (on new Goodyear tyres) brekky ride in a light NW breeze to Barwon Heads. Then coming back, watching an ominous grey-black cloud mass creep forward in the west, the wind shifting direction. Just 2km from home the first signs of trouble — a noticeably gusty and cold W-SW wind (from NW earlier in the morning) and large raindrops falling on my head...

Final approach to my quiet court in Elvis-lovers country, the sky darkened abrubtly and the wind gusted strongly from the S. In the door and changed and in the space of 5-6 minutes, open the loungeroom blinds and watch as the heavens open up with successive downpours, each lasting 15 to 20 minutes each! After lunch, you would be very hard pressed indeed to believe there was storm and tempest 2 hours earlier — all the roads dry, just wet grass (and two wet, grumpy cats...).

I'm more worried about the loss of speed approaching Mount Martha and Ollie's Hill (AT) Frankstenstan.
135km or thereabouts is quite enough for my chicken legs, with a eminently suitable crash-cart landing in the CBD with rellies for the night before returning home Monday am.

[Duck!]

Ollie's Hill is a gentle approach from the south, the big grind is Mt Martha, and from there it's undulating with no other horrendous climbs; the next hardest is the Sunnyside climb out of Mornington toward Mt Eliza - it's the longest of the lumps, but not as steep as some of the little pinches. However it is quite exposed in a NW breeze, as is expected tomorrow, so that will take a toll. The final approach to Ollie's is about 1km, but you're a fair way above sea level at the bottom of the preceding dip, so there's not that much elevation gain in that stretch. The hard side of Ollie's is hitting it from the north.

On the descent, let it rip! Put it in the big ring, stay off the brakes and send it! It's a sweeping pair of right/left curves that can quite safely be taken at high speeds, in the absence of clueless gumbies who will burn their brakes holding 30 km/h down there.... In the right wind conditions, I've taken that descent at 80 km/h and overtaken cars!