I was worried about the weather especially since it is a 90 minute drive out to Woodend for us, but the weather was okay, not ideal, but it didn't snow or hail or anything equally untoward.

When we turned up at 9:30ish it was drizzling but cleared a few minutes later but rained once more for 10 minutes or so again about 45 minutes later. It was at this stage i was beginning to wonder if we had made a terrible mistake and not having any wet weather gear the outlook looked bleak. But it didn't rain for the remainder of the day but was cold (7-13 deg) and windy.

I'm pleased with how the boys went, Jamie who hasn't ridden a bike since he got his car license 4 years ago and Connor who has only really been riding a bike for the last couple of years and does the occasional 20-30km family rides.

The first half of the ride to the lunch stop was dead easy, with a fantastic long downward hill that saw 74km/h on my speedo just coasting. We stopped in Lancefield and had a big lunch and a laze in front of the fire and a gossip for an hour or so.

But going out in the cold and getting back on the bike again was no easy feat.... then to discover the 2nd stage was longer and uphill!

There was a couple of times i think Jamie wanted to get off the bike and walk, but then Connor would catch up and Jamie's pride wouldn't allow him to be beaten by Connor Connor did comment towards the end "that he couldn't feel his legs anymore" my reply was "that is a good thing"

I had to give Connor a bit of a push now and again on the last 5 kms or so, not out of nessicity, just more to keep the pace up.

When i put the bikes on the rack i noticed the bike i lent Jamie had a big buckle in the rear wheel and was rubbing on the brake pads, after some thought we concluded that, just after the morning tea Connor had run up the back of Jamie and must have caught a spoke in the process buckling the wheel.... so Jamie had been riding with rubbing brake pads for most of the ride.

Some of my observations along the way:

• There was quite a broad range of ages on the ride the youngest i saw must have been about 8 and the oldest.... well lets just say considerably older than me.

• Also the bikes, there was some very old bikes being used.... i was spotting stuff that i haven't seen for 25 years and some that looked like thay hadn't had any maintenance on them for that long if not longer.

• People with mega expensive bikes (carbon and the like) who IMHO don't deserve them, i watched so many bikes on bike racks bashing against each other on the HWY just because they hadn't been tied down, bikes being thrown on top of each other in the backs of cars.... it made me want to cry!

• I was impressed by the consideration of the drivers (locals?) although a lot of it was in 100km/h zones it seemed most drivers didn't mind slowing to pass a group of riders at 40km/h

• I also noted after the ride that not once was i worried that we were lost or going the wrong way, everything was clearly signed and you always could see riders ahead and behind.

• Actual riding time for the 60kms was 3 hours 10 minutes
  
• Average speed 18.5 kms/h
  
• Max speed 74kmh (loved that long hill)
  
• All up with stops for lunch etc approx 4.5 hours

1. Jamie26/04/2006 01:05:08 AM
Homepage: http://www.chibiko.net/Gallery/

Ill be honest.. there were stages closer to the end of the ride that i was soooo close to getting off the bike.. my major downfall was connor could fly past me on the up hills...due to the faster gearing connor could keep his candence and motion up on the hills... the fact i havent done a decent ride in 4 years is a sign that you never really lose it and that the saying "its like riding a bike" is true.. for the uneducated I'm not the smallest or fittest of peeps but its good to see i can still do things that require stamina.