The 100 km Bellarine Circuit ride is without doubt one of the most scenic rides of our riding calendar. With its amazing collection of glorious sea and ocean views it also passes through all the main population centres on the peninsula, including Queenscliff, Point Lonsdale, Ocean Grove, Barwon Heads, Drysdale, Portarlington, Indented Head and St Leonards Throw in a few challenging hills and a few kilometres along the bike trail and you generally have something for everyone.
In the past we have found that the only thing that can throw a spanner in the works, is the weather. On a hot day with a howling wind the ride can really sap even the strongest riders. You can therefore imagine my relief when the forecast was for a fine and mild day with a top temperature of about 23C. In my mind these sort of conditions are about the very best we could have wished for.
On Wednesday evening I informed Maggie that I would be setting the alarm for 4.50 am. The fact that I had retired to bed with a bad headache meant that I had not been able to prepare or pack the bike and I wanted to make sure that we would be underway no later than 7.00 am. She merely rolled her eyes and gave me that sort of long suffering stare that must be common to all cyclists' faithful and supportive partners.
When the alarm rudely summoned me back from the Land of Nod at the appointed ungodly hour I was glad to discover that my headache was gone, but felt that I could have slept for another 4 or 5 hours without difficulty. Unfortunately my sense of responsibility meant that would be out of the question. Over the preceding few days I had carefully studied the route map and determined where we had somehow managed to get off course on EVERY ONE of our previous Bellarine rides. This year I was determined that we would complete the entire course without a single incorrect turn. I even photocopied a few pages of the Melways to jog our memories.
After dropping our dog off at my son's house for dog sitting we were finally headed in the correct direction. The sky was overcast but already the clouds were starting to thin, foreshadowing a most enjoyable day's cycling ahead. We made excellent time until we reached the vicinity of the Westgate Bridge where we found the traffic to be backed up for a couple of km. Apparently the bridge boffins had decided to, once again, replace all the bitumen on the bridge. We were to find two lanes closed and scores of blue singletted men with jack hammers busily destroying anything sight while an even greater number of similarly clad onlookers leaned against the railing and smoked.
We finally crawled over the bridge and began to pick up speed again. The fact that we had left so early even meant that we had time to stop in Geelong and enjoy a cup of coffee overlooking the harbour, before continuing our journey to Queenscliff. At about 9.45 am we finally rolled to a stop in Gellibrand St and found a group of 4 riders who had chosen to drive to Sorrento and catch the ferry across. I am not sure whether such a plan actually would have saved any time (or money) but I guess it would have added colour to the day.
I proceeded to unpack the bike and pump up the tyres while waiting for the rest to arrive. Within a few moments my mobile phone started to ring with the first call of the morning. It was Mal and Daryl saying that they had been held up on the bridge and would be about 20 mins late. Within a couple of minutes I had received calls from several others advising me that they had also been held up by the traffic jam. Our two guest riders Toni and Stewart had also narrowly missed the 9.00 am ferry and informed me that they would be on the next one in about 30 mins time.
Although we normally do all we can to encourage punctuality on rides I could appreciate that the drive down to Queenscliff is a long way to come, and for some of the riders it was the first time they had driven down for this ride. I was just pleased that everyone had been thoughtful enough to ring and notify us of their whereabouts. I assured them that we would not leave without them and started to fill in some time doing warm up laps around the town.
It was at this point that I noticed a couple of riders disappearing around the bend at the top end of Gellibrand St. At the time I had no idea of what was happening and assumed that they were also heading off on a warm up lap around town. When they failed to reappear one of the other riders suggested that they must have just decided to head off by themselves. The breakaway group consisted of the 4 who had travelled across on the ferry, followed by Cheryl and Donald who were apparently worried about keeping up the pace and would be acting as the "tortoises".
President Roosevelt said that Dec 7th 1941 was a "date that will live in infamy", perhaps we can also add that Dec 27th 2007 will also live on in infamy in the annals of the Ghostriders. Never before had any group of riders behaved in this way at a special ride.
At the time the 4 riders headed off there were already several other riders gathered for the start. None of us could understand why the group had bolted without any warning or explanation to the ride organiser. This was not only very disappointing but was directly against our normal riding guidelines. After all it is important that the ride organiser have a clear knowledge of where every group of riders is. If we had all taken the opportunity to leave at that time we would have left several of the delayed riders with no idea what had happened or where to go.
If the lead group had just wanted to get started it would have been a simple matter to devise a longer route for them that would have added another 20 or so km to the course and still resulted in everyone getting to Barwon Heads at about the same time. That way the faster riders would have had a chance to stretch their legs and then we could have all joined together for the majority of the course. In the five years history of the group this sort of behaviour had never happened on a previous ride and I certainly hope it will never happen again.
Having said all that I suspect that those who did decide to leave before the main bunch did not act with any malice, but were probably trying to make a statement about punctuality. While I can also emphasize that punctuality is important I also feel that those who were delayed did the right thing by making contact and advising me of their situation. In such circumstances I believe that common courtesy and a desire to make the day enjoyable for ALL our riders should take priority. As it was the two groups never reunited for the rest of the day and I think we were all the poorer because of it.
When the Queenscliff ferry pulled in we were met by Toni and Stewart of Team Alfa. This team consists of staff from the Alfred Hospital and their members have completed a number of long distance rides. Toni will also be participating in our 2008 Great China Ride in two month's time. Our final group of 10 riders included Werner, Garth, Ross, Kevin, Phil (fresh with the glow of just becoming a grandfather), Mal, Daryl (completing his first 100 km since his crash earlier this year), Toni. Stewart and myself. We joined in formation and headed off at a respectable speed towards Point Lonsdale.
The first section takes us right down the main street of Point Lonsdale to the waterfront before doubling back to Shell Rd and heading to Ocean Grove. Fortunately for those of us who had not been on the bikes for some time the first few kilometres are relatively flat. The first short hills are not encountered until you reach the outskirts of Ocean Grove. With the aid of my maps we managed to navigate successfully through the maze of back roads to Surf Beach Rd and onto the causeway to Barwon Heads.
It was at this point that we caught a glimpse of the bolters who were already heading back to Ocean Grove. Although I beckoned for them to stop they continued straight ahead and out of sight. (Even harder to understand than their decision to leave before the official start.) The rest of us continued on into town and found the most appropriate watering hole for our first coffee stop (or in my case the second).
Every year that we make the trip down to the peninsula it seems that the towns get busier and busier. Barwon Heads was packed with people and the amount of development we could see everywhere was breathtaking. It is always nice to take some food and drink on board and we again set off in high spirits for the short loop around Barwon Heads. Fancy new houses seemed to have sprung up on every block.
Then it was back over the causeway towards Ocean Grove. By this time the sky was clear but the air still had a residual coolness in it that made cycling just sooooo enjoyable. The group was rolling well with most people taking a turn at the front. After turning back into Surf Beach Rd we turned left into President's Ave (named after me I suspect) and climbed up a series of hills to Thacker St and finally back onto Grubb Rd. This is another spot where we had regularly got off track in previous rides but this time we managed it without a hitch.
Grubb Rd climbs gently and steadily back to Bellarine Highway where we stopped for a short drinks stop before turning towards Geelong. On the outskirts of Geelong we turned into Christies Rd. A couple of years ago (on a much hotter day) we made it to this spot and then sought refuge on a kindly resident's front lawn where we were all topped up with ice water and some amazing unexpected hospitality. The much more benign conditions in 2007 meant that we were able to continue without a break.
It is at this point that we turned onto the Bellarine Rail Trail and everyone held their breath hoping that they would not be the one to puncture. Werner obviously didn't hold his breath tightly enough because he was the only one who suffered a premature evacuation of air from his rear tyre. While he set about repairing the tyre we took the opportunity to have another rest and offer him free advice and caustic assessments of his tyre repairing prowess. Within 15 minutes we were all underway again and all managed to get to Drysdale without further mishap.
Between Drysdale and Portarlington is the succession of hills known at Scotchman's Hills. While none of these is particularly long or steep, when you are starting to feel hungry, they can certainly slow down your progress. At least they slowed mine down, although the rest of the peloton, disappearing into the distance ahead of me, must have discovered their second wind.
I finally made it to the main street of Portarlington and briefly saw a couple of the bolters group. They were already getting on their bikes and were soon on their way. It was again disappointing that none of them chose to join us in the park for lunch as we had planned. Cheryl and Donald did come over for a short while but were keen to get going as I think they were starting to feel the pinch after about 65 km in the saddles. I gave them directions for the remainder of the ride and sent them on their way.
A short time later the rest of the group set off on the final 35 km leg of the ride. This section is perhaps the prettiest of the entire ride but the head wind that had started to blow made the going somewhat harder than I expected. In addition, my legs felt like they were still having lunch and refused to produce any output of energy. I tried to tuck in behind Garth and Mal but they both seemed determined to set a speed about 1 km faster than I could produce, resulting in me just holding on by a fragile thread.
Fortunately the force of the wind started to slow both Garth and Mal down a little and we settled into a more sedate rhythm. It quickly became a lot more sedate when it was my turn to take a turn at the front. It was with a great deal of relief that we finally turned inland at St Leonards and were able to feel the wind at our sides rather than in our faces. For a short distance we even enjoyed a fantastic section of smooth black top with a beautiful riding surface, but it was not to last.
With about 17 km to go we reached the final left hand turn which leads down to Queenscliff. Cheryl and Donald had sought refuge in the shade here and for some time we all rode along in a single group. This final section is slightly downhill and a welcome relief for tired legs. To our surprise Garth (the Incredible Hulk) started to cramp and announced that he would not be able to continue the ride. He instructed his Dad to ride ahead to Queenscliff and come back for him in the car. The reduced peloton continued on its way, spurred on by the proximity of Queenscliff and the prospect of getting off the bikes at last.
It was starting to become obvious that all of our legs were getting tired and at each rest stop there was a chorus of comments "my back's shot","my teeth are aching", "I've got a bone in my leg", "my bum's on fire" and the like. The sour dough sandwich I had eaten for lunch was also having an unexpected effect on me and I could have added "I've got wind" to the ever growing litany of medical complaints. Ross had also apparently run out of fuel and was feeling the pinch. Obviously tofu and lentils can only take you so far on a bike. You need coffee and cream cakes to make real progress.
As we we were about to climb back on the bikes we noticed a rapidly approaching apparition coming towards us from behind. It turned out to be none other than Garth who had apparently staged a dramatic recovery and regained his second wind (I was by comparison up to my 12th wind after lunch) and was flying along like a man possessed. Did he wait for us? Of course not, he shot straight past and was soon out of sight on the road to Queenscliff.
The rest of us remounted and completed the remaining couple of kilometres to Queenscliff. As I pulled up at the park the GPS finally ticked over to 100.00 km - a good round figure for a day's riding. There was no sign of any of the first group of riders who presumably must have been intent on getting back to Melbourne in time to watch Deal or No Deal on TV.
We still had plenty of time to clean up and change clothes before wandering up to the shops for ice cream and iced coffee. They were delicious. Ross quenched his thirst by chewing on a Brussel Sprout and a delicious sprig of broccoli.
In the post mortem of the day's ride all agreed that it had been a magnificent day, although it was a great shame that we couldn't have all enjoyed it together. Back at Ocean Grove we sat down to a delicious feast at the Ming Terrace Chinese Restaurant. This gave us a chance to practise our chopsticks skills and to exercise our knowledge of Mandarin to the bewildered waitress. It was the perfect way to end a day and also to draw 2007 to a close. The past twelve months have given us some unforgettable experiences and I am confident that the next 12 will be even better.
Happy New Year!
P.S. On the very next day the temperature soared to over 36C which would have either made the ride very unpleasant or impossible. It looks like we certainly picked the right day.