Around the Bay

I did the Around the Bay bike ride last weekend. 210km of fun riding in a pack, with 14,000 other cyclists. It was a pretty cool day. We set out about 5.30am from work, and headed south (in a clockwise direction around the bay). This is meant to be the harder way to go around, mainly because of prevailing winds assisting the other direction better. Sure enough, we cycled into a headwind most of the way down to Sorrento and caught the occasional shower of rain, and arrived there about 9.00am. Luckily we got straight onto a ferry, and were eating lunch by 9.20am on board as we powered across the heads. It was very cold on board, and I soon had all my clothing on trying to stay warm. Funny how you feel really strong as soon as you stop?

We were met by our support crew on the other side in Queenscliff, and fed gatorade and bananas which helped a bit. The ride into Geelong was a bit boring, but we managed to stay together and worked reasonably well.

Out of Geelong, after a another stop to eat hotdogs, we headed up the Geelong Rd Freeway. Peter and I sat out in front for a long while, powering along at about 37km/h for as long as i can remember. We had a slight tailwind but were feeling strong.

Once we did the 90km or so and reached the bottom of the West Gate Bridge, of course we had to race to the summit for the polka dot jersey? Yep, just had to. Tired, yes. Sore, yes. But able to race to the summit to beat everyone else, of bloody course.

About 3.15pm we arrived back to South Melbourne, tired but very happy. Good day out and a great workout.