The Lone Bandido |
|||||||||
| November
2002. Scribe : Don Cardosi Subject: The Lone Bandido - Otway Classic Hi all..... Following on from Phil Irvine's excellent description of his lone Bandido week-long epic from Adelaide to Melbourne I thought a mini report on the much more modest Otway Classic Challenge might be of interest. Challenge?? What challenge - except for the 50 maniac racing cyclists from Geelong ,Bendigo, Ballarat and elsewhere, along with some inexperienced lunatics who went beserk just after we left Geelong, quickly leaving behind the rest of the 250 odd participants. No one wanted to sit two abreast, taking turns at regular intervals. Oh no ? they wanted to jump to the front, so there was a seething bunch 3, 4 and 5 riders wide, filling the road until the occasional on-coming car had to hit the dirt. No surprise that the cops turned up 35 kms into the ride and buzzed the bunch a few times to get some of the riders to pull their heads in. What challenge - except for the ball-biter climbs, particularly after Dean's Marsh. Boy did the bunch split then - and I waved goodbye. This I thought would provide time to start appreciating the sunny and balmy 22 degree weather and the beautiful scenery of the Otway State Forest...... that is until it started raining sweat and I could no longer see clearly. Off with the sunnies, drink more, and thank goodness for the arm warmers, wiping the forehead like wind screen wipers, acting like a chamois, for the litres of sweat pouring off the head. But what goes up, eventually had to go down. And eventually it did, with an exhilarating 10km decent into Lorne. Almost everyone stopped in Lorne, so it was great coffee, a huge salad roll and french pastry. And life was good, watching the stream of riders making there way to the various cafes and bakeries along the main street, responding to questions from locals and tourists wondering what all the snot covered cyclists were in Lorne for, but all this was with the brilliant backdrop of blue sky, blue water and relaxed atmosphere one can only find in Lorne. Then........... Back into it, with a side tail wind with a group of 6 who I had joined for lunch in Lorne. 10 kms down the road 20 of the racing boys (and one bell bottom), plus a couple of left overs from Round The Bay In A Day (you know - hairy legs, tri-bars and company sponsored riding jerseys ? one worked for Holden and the other Ford), hit our group hard and the 6 from lunch disappeared out the back on the first hill. And again what challenge? - except for the fact that a tail wind for this group just meant you had to go harder Then...... After belting up and down the Great Ocean Road for 20 kms with this group, we turned left inland after Anglesea, to take the back roads into Geelong. This meant we had the tail wind right up our butt-holes - beauty we can roll home! You must be joking - they went harder and faster, reducing the bunch to 14. A few left and right turns saw the peleton working up the road, then down the road in cross winds but it was mainly a full-on tail wind most of the way. Finally, we make it back to the main Geelong ? Barwon Heads highway ? downhill, 6kms to go, we've made it, nearly home!!! Oh no. Not yet. It was obviously the time for the attacks to start!!!! The biggest gears went on as Pink Boy jumped on his 12 cog (this guy was decked out in Mercatone/Marco Pantani pink ? nicks, jersey, socks, shoes, helmet, bike, rims, sun glasses, mitts ? you name it the whole lot was pink!!!) And he was hot ? we'd only done 157 km and he needed to lift the pace ? it was just like the Dido's winding it up for 6 kms out from the Mordialloc sprint in a tail wind. A handful of us chased him at 55 kms an hour, caught him ? then he went again, we chased, he went again, and so it was until traffic lights 1 km from home brought us together. And we rolled in for the last few hundred metres. Sheeit ? what a ride!!!!!!!!!!!! Rolled into the Barwon Fun Park (there sure was some irony in that name as the start finish place for the ride), got changed, had a snag and coke, waited 5 minutes for a massage, told the masseuse it had been a pleasant ride, left and was home by 4 pm. 163km total distance. 31.24 km/hr averge speed Started Geelong 8 am- arrived Lorne 10.45. Departed Lorne 11.13 ? finished 1.25pm Recommended ride in good weather. But horrendous if cold, wet and windy. P.S. Caught up with an old racing buddy sponsored by The Freedom Machine bike shop and he was doing the ride for the thirteenth time. He sees the ride as "unique". Maybe a Bandido team could be a goer for next year? (And we could show them all what hard and fast riding is all about too?) Don (still recovering) Cardosi the end…. For the Bandits Mega site : http://www.baysidebandidos.com Click on the images below…(they will be added to later) |
|||||||||
Image Thumbnails - click on the image to enlarge |