Postby bigfriendlyvegan » Mon Nov 07, 2011 9:43 pm
I got my first fix-it job before the Gong ride even started. I was flagged down near Sydney Uni and helped a guy with a chain stuck under his chain catcher. I've had many jobs within the first kms, but never in the negative kms. I got to the start site and saw a huge number of cyclists waiting to start. I met up with Wayfarer at the volunteers tent as I had done in previous years and since we were both partner-less this year we decided to pair up for the ride down.
The red mobile support jersey give you amazing powers and we were able to jump the start with another mobile support team. If you have four regular cyclists, a set course and a beautiful Sunday what do you have? A race, of course. Completely unofficial, unsanctioned and pretty much uncontested, but we really wanted to beat them to the end - just for shiggles.
We had a stupid number of jobs to do on the way down. The first job was a guy with a cut right across is tyre and all the way through the casing. I tried booting it, but didn't hold out much hope and we had to leave him on the roadside waiting for a lift home. The majority of our jobs had a much better outcome than this, however, and we had several people we had helped meet us at or near the finish line and thank us for our help. The whole point of the mobile support crew is to get people to the finish line and it is genuinely upsetting when we can't do that.
Highlights of the day include the BMX bandits, two guys who road the whole way on kid sized BMXs, Miss Netherlands, who Wayfarer wrote about in his post, and Mr. TT, a guy in full Case de Pagne kit with aero TT helm and full carbon Ridley TT bike with rear disc wheel. The oranges at the lookout were awesome, as if they had been planted by God himself and fertilised with unicorn manure. I could have stayed there all day eating them. The biggest highlight, of course, was the ride there itself; it was a glorious day and I was riding a bike with 10,000 other cyclists.
Wayfarer and I challenged each other all the way there. Being at the back of the bunch (which is probably why no one from here saw us) meant we had some good open sections of road with no one ahead of us and no police escort down RNP. Whenever the road was free we absolutely flogged it; I don't think my heavy old steel touring bike has ever gone that fast in its life. I hope I didn't slow Wayfarer down too much.
Thanks to all of the riders; it is always a pleasure to help people when they need it. It makes us feel like Bicycle Repair Man (as in the Monty Python hero) each time we can get someone back on the road. It is always fun seeing someone pull of with a flat or other problem and then pull up right behind them, "Stand back, we're professionals and we're here to help".
Wayfarer, thanks for the great ride. I hope you enjoyed your initiation into city riding; we'll have you on a fixie with a messenger bag in no time. See you next year, or maybe before.
BTW, we beat the other team down to the Gong, passing them with about 100 m to the line. Wayfarer yelled "Passing Right" to them on the pathway and they obediently moved over without looking back. We buzzed past them and took the victory. Before anyone start whining about racing, 8 hours for 90km is not a race.