The Grand Southern Randonnée (GSR) is an Audax event that covers 1200km in 90 hours in the south west corner of Victoria. It runs every four years and is one of the flagship events of the Australia Audax calendar. I was supposed to be riding it this year but life rolled the dice and I lost. My riding companion, Mark Rigby, has kindly agreed to share his story of the event.

I have been a cyclist since the late 80’s including some racing and time trialling in Scotland in the early 90's but towards my late 20’s family/work/life got in the way of cycling and I did little through my 30’s. Finally when I hit forty, I had the classic mid-life moment, dusted off my original Reynolds 653 racer and got back on the bike, completing a complex training plan of 1000k in 10 weeks ahead of riding 200km Around the Bay. Since then, year on year, I have increased my kilometres and climbing. I've taken on plenty of fun rides including a number of Audax events, such as the Oppy 24hr TTT, some mixed terrain rides and a few Alpine Classics. I've ridden through the European Alps and even knocked off an Everesting to name just a few of my exploits since getting back on the bike.

The Great Southern Randonnee was an obvious one (to me) to tackle, based on the same format as Paris-Brest-Paris, the original 1200k in 90hours ultra endurance event. It has been in my mind since the last edition in 2012 so when it came around this year it was a must do. After the 2016 Oppy there was plenty of local interest from other riders I knew and eight put their entries in for the ride, with only one small hitch that none of us had yet qualified. After scanning of the Audax calendar for a suitable 600km qualifier we agreed on the relatively local Traverse of Central Victoria. It turned out to be a pretty grim wet ride from what I remember, with the addition of punctures and frayed heads, so I was surprised to read my initial comment on Strava:“I love riding bikes with these guys, they are the best, they give me shelter when needed, they push and support me mentally when I need it, they accept my wheel even if the pace drops and never question my judgement! As I said, love riding bikes with my friends!”

We now had seven confirmed entries, four for the Sunday 6pm start and three for the Monday 6am start (the Woodend Velos are know for their love of sleep so opted for the classic 3 night version). Unfortunately a few weeks out my closest riding mate (that's me - Ed) had to drop out due to the minor inconvenience of moving house on the same weekend as the GSR. Another of the original group was working seven days a week so it was now down to just two for the night start. I knew Marty was up for a fast ride so the realisation I was going to be flying solo increased my apprehension dramatically. I am a perfectly capable and confident solo rider and do a lot of solitary riding but suddenly the prospect of 1200km solo was a whole new level. A little more care in my preparation and studying of the course was taken to calm myself down.

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