Around the Bay in a Day
To my fellow Rotarians, I’d firstly like to thank those of you who sponsored me for this Around the Bay in a Day (ATBIAD) ride and also the messages of support I got as well. To date WE have raised $635 for the Smith Family which certainly exceeded my estimated target of $500 and that was done with the sponsorship from just 16 people. Some of you have been very generous! One was anonymous, so I’ll never be able to thank them, unless they confess to who they are!
I thought you might like to know how my day transpired!
I got shot out of bed at 4.30am to meet my ride into town at 5.10am. It was arranged to meet our group (I was riding for the BASF Team), no, not because I’m a pro rider, but because my ride mate works for them and they gave me a free water bottle and a riding jersey………….Yes, I’m easily bought!
We set off from Southbank at 5.45am, yes it was still dark, but not cold and the day was predicted to be 30o and no rain, so I left the rain jacket behind (I was carrying enough food etc without that). It didn’t take long and we were on the Westgate Bridge. I then remembered how steep the damn thing is! I was puffing and blowing by the time I got to the top.
I had a tail wind heading towards Geelong which helped, but two punctures in quick succession just passed Werribee stopped me in my tracks and left me with no spare and that was all before 8am!!! I was tempted to throw the bike into the bushes and walk home there and then, but I remembered that I actually like my bike and I’d have to report back to “my sponsors”. So I grew something of a spine and kept going.
I knew that Steve Briffa was also doing the ride, so I kept an eye out for him. I knew he was riding for the Banyule CC team and at one stage I was behind four of them, but none had a bald head, so they weren’t Steve. About an hour later a peloton of riders went past me and again Banyule CC team members were amongst them and this time one did have a bald head, so I suspect that was Steve, but he quickly disappeared ahead.
As is often the case with large groups of riders I was in a group doing about 35km/ph (It wasn't me, it was all tail wind) just near Avalon when (of course) the front guy goes down taking about four others out with him. Hitting the road in Lycra at about 35kph is not pretty to watch, but then I suspect getting run over by the other bikes would be worse. I got to watch and that was bad enough. I did stop to help clean them up and for a couple their day was over. This did put me further behind my group.
Finally I got to Geelong after 3 hours of riding, but my team had gone ahead, so I decided to keep going. I got 10mins down the road and realized that I hadn’t taken a break, no wonder I was knackered. Stopped at a Girl Guides Drink Station but was too tired to eat any of the muffins they tried to flog me.
Started off again after about 10mins thinking "it was all down hill to Queenscliff from here"……………I was wrong. You tend not to notice long, steep inclines when you’re in the car, but you do tend to notice them when you’re on a bike and they stretch off to the horizon. “Who put that there” (the cleaned up abbreviated version) I heard myself mutter under my breath more than once.
Did finally get to Queenscliff by 10.45am which was heaps earlier than last year (once again the tail wind), so I thought I was on track to get back to Melbourne early. No such luck! I’d missed getting on the 11am ferry by 10mins, so I was destined for the Noon ferry, but that didn’t matter since I had an overwhelming urge to lay down……………permanently!
I had caught up to my team mate and we laid there eating lunch. Bought some insurance in the form of a spare tube, but the ferry didn’t finally leave until after 12.30pm putting me in Sorrento at 1.05pm. By now the big black rain clouds that the Weather Bureau said weren’t coming had arrived and started to rain as we headed through Blairgowrie! All I could think about was the rain jacket back at Southbank! Once I was drenched, it decided to stop raining and the sun and 30o heat came back!
Now a tailwind to Geelong means a headwind to Melbourne and it rarely let up. That combined with some of the hills in the Mt Martha area and my distinct lack of fitness had me riding as slow as 10kph in a number of parts of the journey. At this point I had visions of being late to work on Monday!!!!!
I decided that it was now a mental game and being mental myself I decided to ride one hour at a time and then rest as I worked my way back to the Melbourne CBD. I decided to think about the bits of my body that didn't hurt, .................but enough about my left eyebrow!!! I was in agony. At one stage I looked out over the bay and to my horror I saw the CBD silhouette in the distance...........I was STILL miles away; this is going to take ages!!!!
I can honestly say not much more went wrong from there. I dragged my sorry self back to Melbourne and it felt like I got every red light on the way. I got myself back to the Alexandra Gardens at about 6.05pm, sore but happy to have finished.
This was my fourth ATBIAD so should I put my hand up for this again, I expect you to talk me out of it!!!! But seriously, a great personal challenge and I thank you for your support of me.
Regards
Martyn Thompson
