It was a quick pack up, get the gear downstairs and then we, Team Bravien, were off to Flinders Lane to find a cafe for breakfast.
We found said cafe on Centre Place and whilst the boys smashed bacon, egg and cheese muffins, I had a raspberry and white chocolate muffin with a piccolo.
Formal proceedings had us leaving from the Melbourne Treasury building - the very place where we finished the 2012 Wheel Classic. The Victorian Treasurer said a few words, as did Steve Helmich, the Chair of Future2. And then, we were away.
We rode as a group through the tight streets of Melbourne until we hit Frankston. Typically slow due mostly to traffic lights, and we copped a lot of reds.
Onto the famous Beach Road and just as we started to get our roll on, I got a rear flat - a nasty pop rivet straight through the crest of my brand new turbo tyre. Unfortunately that pop rivet dinged the Tarmac's carbon frame a little - but that's riding bikes. And quite frankly, that was minor damage compared to Julien who managed to hit a traffic cone, drag it, collide with a metal pole and then throw himself, and his bike, down the road. OUCH!! His souvenir will be a delightful case of gravel rash all down his left hand side. He's "fine" and still covered the remaining 80k.
On the upside, we changed my rear flat at a servo and this gave me the opportunity to explain this great cause we are riding for to a few people who were refuelling. And that resulted in a few more gold coin donations - every little bit helps for Future2.
So this is the point where we split into groups:
Team Bravien ride Group 1 as we like to stick together for support. That way, Gerard can have his flat's changed for him, AZ can suck wheels, Mitch can drive the pace and Jez can sprint for town limits (2 from 2 today!!).
It was nice to get the group rolling along towards Sorrento and with a lovely tail wind heading south, there were times when we easily sat on 50km/h. That always feels good! So after the slow start out of Melbourne, we managed to get the average speed back to 30km/h by the day's end.
Sorrento gave us the opportunity to rest up a little after 106km ticked off. We caught the 12 o'clock ferry to Queenscliff where disembarkation would see another 40-odd kms until we reached our destination of Geelong. During the ferry ride I needed to fix Craig's bike which had been put together badly - basically, the handlebars and steerer were not connected properly to the fork which holds the front wheel in place and connected to the bike. Hmmm, let's face it, you don't have to be a pro rider to recognise that's a fairly important part of the bike to get right!! Anyway, it was sorted enough to get him home to Geelong where a bike shop could sort it properly.
Ray, AZ, Mitch, GT, Roger Dodger and I lined out and took track turns to finish up nice and quick for the run home. (Track turn: about 500m at a time at the front of a single line of riders and then rolling to the back to rest before coming through again). See the ride details here.
Everyone rode strongly today and we had a great time on the predominantly flat parcours. Although I think we would all agree that Gerard's banana only nutrition plan did not, ummm, go exactly to plan. Let's just say he will be supplementing his banana plan with other food groups tomorrow!
When we got off the ferry it was 25 degrees. When we got to our finish some 40kms later, it was 33 degrees. Thankfully a little shop at the Big4 Tourist Park had Coke, coffee and jam tarts - that'll sort out the post-ride fatigue (thanks Mitchie)!
...and to finish off the day we spent a great night out at the Belmont Hotel where I could not go past the MASSIVE chicken parmi (and garlic bread, calamari, beetroot salad and several bottles of tonic water). Mitchie provided the pièce de résistance in the form of a Golden Gaytime! BOOM! That's how we roll...
WATCH THE VIDEO HERE!
Formal proceedings had us leaving from the Melbourne Treasury building - the very place where we finished the 2012 Wheel Classic. The Victorian Treasurer said a few words, as did Steve Helmich, the Chair of Future2. And then, we were away.
We rode as a group through the tight streets of Melbourne until we hit Frankston. Typically slow due mostly to traffic lights, and we copped a lot of reds.Onto the famous Beach Road and just as we started to get our roll on, I got a rear flat - a nasty pop rivet straight through the crest of my brand new turbo tyre. Unfortunately that pop rivet dinged the Tarmac's carbon frame a little - but that's riding bikes. And quite frankly, that was minor damage compared to Julien who managed to hit a traffic cone, drag it, collide with a metal pole and then throw himself, and his bike, down the road. OUCH!! His souvenir will be a delightful case of gravel rash all down his left hand side. He's "fine" and still covered the remaining 80k.
On the upside, we changed my rear flat at a servo and this gave me the opportunity to explain this great cause we are riding for to a few people who were refuelling. And that resulted in a few more gold coin donations - every little bit helps for Future2.
So this is the point where we split into groups:
- the first group contains the most experienced and generally quicker riders,
- the second group is the largest in number who travel slightly slower than the former, and
- the third group who contains the least experienced and somewhat slower riders - and Peter Bobbin aka The Bobbinator (back for his 5th wheel classic)
Team Bravien ride Group 1 as we like to stick together for support. That way, Gerard can have his flat's changed for him, AZ can suck wheels, Mitch can drive the pace and Jez can sprint for town limits (2 from 2 today!!).
It was nice to get the group rolling along towards Sorrento and with a lovely tail wind heading south, there were times when we easily sat on 50km/h. That always feels good! So after the slow start out of Melbourne, we managed to get the average speed back to 30km/h by the day's end.
Sorrento gave us the opportunity to rest up a little after 106km ticked off. We caught the 12 o'clock ferry to Queenscliff where disembarkation would see another 40-odd kms until we reached our destination of Geelong. During the ferry ride I needed to fix Craig's bike which had been put together badly - basically, the handlebars and steerer were not connected properly to the fork which holds the front wheel in place and connected to the bike. Hmmm, let's face it, you don't have to be a pro rider to recognise that's a fairly important part of the bike to get right!! Anyway, it was sorted enough to get him home to Geelong where a bike shop could sort it properly.
Ray, AZ, Mitch, GT, Roger Dodger and I lined out and took track turns to finish up nice and quick for the run home. (Track turn: about 500m at a time at the front of a single line of riders and then rolling to the back to rest before coming through again). See the ride details here.
Everyone rode strongly today and we had a great time on the predominantly flat parcours. Although I think we would all agree that Gerard's banana only nutrition plan did not, ummm, go exactly to plan. Let's just say he will be supplementing his banana plan with other food groups tomorrow!
When we got off the ferry it was 25 degrees. When we got to our finish some 40kms later, it was 33 degrees. Thankfully a little shop at the Big4 Tourist Park had Coke, coffee and jam tarts - that'll sort out the post-ride fatigue (thanks Mitchie)!
...and to finish off the day we spent a great night out at the Belmont Hotel where I could not go past the MASSIVE chicken parmi (and garlic bread, calamari, beetroot salad and several bottles of tonic water). Mitchie provided the pièce de résistance in the form of a Golden Gaytime! BOOM! That's how we roll...
WATCH THE VIDEO HERE!
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