THERE AND BACK AGAIN, AGAIN

How to accidentally qualify for the GSR

By EAT MORE LARD

June 14^th, 2016

IT'S ALL IN THE PLAN

I’m sure there was a headwind on the way out. Now we have reached the most easterly point and turned tail for home, why is there still a headwind? 30 hours and 500kms into a 600km ride, the mind can be easily tricked by the legs. Or were we really that unlucky?

Many months back, the idea of the Audax Great Southern Randonnee 1200km ride (known simple as the GSR) seemed an excellent idea. Three and a half days on a bike riding 1200km along an iconic coastline with the bare minimum sustainable sleep. Such challenges don’t come easy. After all, any journey worth taking is usually a hard one. In the case of the GSR, it was the need to complete a 600km qualifying ride and with the clock ticking, the nearby Traverse of Central Victoria looked like the ideal opportunity. It’s a simple route. Starting in Bendigo, you turn left to Stawell, chuck a u-turn when you get there and head back to Bendigo. They you turn right to Shepparton, throwing the wheel homewards in a similar out and back plan.

Talking of plans, most of it was centred around having enough battery charge for lights and GPS devices but more importantly was where to find the best bakery stops. Our merry band of seven converged on a caravan park in darkest Bendigo late on Friday night, pondering how much gear and food to carry, what clothes to wear, preparing bikes and working out how little sleep we could get away with over the next two days.

TURN LEFT

It’s 5.30am, very dark and somewhat cool but, mainly, its raining! Who would have thought that we wouldn’t want to the leave the fluorescent lights and the salubrious surrounds of the APCO servo? It would be wet for the next two hours, with continuous wet roads and cool temperatures our company for the whole day. We had barely left Bendigo when we suffered the first puncture of the day. We would have to deal with 5 more before we got to Stawell (and only one more for the rest of the weekend!).

With the wet and the dark and the punctures, it was surprising how quickly the first 90km to Avoca and baked goodness passed. We checked with the staff to see what time they closed. “See you on the way back”, I replied. The most lovely roads of the weekend were the undulations of the Pyrenees running out of Avoca through to Landsborough and on to Stawell, our most westerly point of the ride. Two punctures in the space of 5km split our group and we arrived at Stawell in two groups to a disappointing and limited choice of food options. Last in, first out. There wasn’t much to keep me at Stawell as two groups became three on the return leg to Bendigo. The 80km grind back to Avoca felt tough. Dead roads and lots of false flats to take the zip out of the legs. It was good to get a few more serious bumps in as we approached Avoca for the second time, night rapidly encroaching.

Chips and gravy, coffee and sugar was our most welcome fuel as we continued onwards, spying the occasional other light on the road ahead or behind. Traffic had been light all day but was now almost non-existent and we made good time with a friendly tailwind. During a short break at Dunolly to fix yet another puncture, Mark pushed on ahead. “I’ll just ride slowly up the road” he said. It took us 15km to catch him after much gnashing of teeth and gears, in that order. One last kick and we were back in Bendigo, ahead of schedule and with enough time for food, shower and fours hours sleep before we did it all again.

TURN RIGHT

3.30am is a rude hour any day. There were less gripes and groan than you would expect. Maybe when you are in the head space of this sort of event, it is purely an acceptance of what would normally be the unacceptable that gets you through it. Light rain was making its presence known on the roof of the cabin. It would be another wet start.

The road east out of Bendigo rose and fell in a serious of rollers, the subtle change of gradient helping to temper the monotony of straight roads and total darkness. As the day came up, the fog rolled in making for an erie ride - the silence only interrupted by the sound of humming gears and creaking knees. With daybreak came our first stop at the Rushworth bakery, another one where we would be back, this time before lunch. It was early and the bakery had only just opened but the coffee was good and the food welcome. The rain had stopped on the run in, but not long after we rolled out, the rain jackets came back out. The road briefly offered some interest as we passed the Waranga Basin, by Australian standards an immense body of (shallow) water used for irrigation. Once through Tatura, however, the roads were straight and flat and suddenly busy and we lingered only briefly in Shepparton before the return leg.

On the way back we started to see riders coming the other way, waving as we passed. The rain had stopped and the roads were starting to dry out. Back through Rushworth - more chocolate milk - back on the same familiar roads. Terry was complaining of pain on one side so we tucked him in behind a wheel and kept on rolling as a slight headwind began to bite - after 550km, any kind of headwind hurts!

30km out from Bendigo and the roads were busy but at least the sun was threatening an appearance. Terry seemed to be struggling. We pulled over and he described the classic symptoms of a hunger flat, otherwise known as “le bonk”, as it turns out the first one he had ever had!. Sugar came out of pockets as we resurrected him on the roadside. Ten minutes later he was back to the old Terry.

With weary legs, it was one last little pull into Bendigo and here we were, back in the surrounds of the APCO servo where it had all begun 33 hours earlier.

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A massive congratultaions to the whole Macedon Ranges team: Marty, Mark, Terry, Sam, Jacques and Brian. Thanks to Alan at Audax for organising the event and to my family for agreeing to meet me at the pub for a steak and a few pints and then carry me home.