MS Gong Ride 2011 - 06/11/2011 (Sunday)

[redcorpsjames]

its sad to still hear that people are rushing to the finish line in this event, I am pretty sure there is cake for everyone

Why is it sad. I like to ride fast is that suck a crime, you still get to see and experience the beautiful surround while going 5kms faster than everyone else . . .

[Mugglechops]

its sad to still hear that people are rushing to the finish line in this event, I am pretty sure there is cake for everyone

Why is it sad. I like to ride fast is that suck a crime, you still get to see and experience the beautiful surround while going 5kms faster than everyone else . . .

I agree, why plod along when you can go fast. I know its not a race but riding 4 abreast across the whole lane at 15km/h wears a bit thin after awhile.

[wombata]

Re the above^^, I had been wondering yesterday why the space was so limited for so many grouped up bikes during the first part of the ride. There's more traffic to deal with, of that there's no doubt, but it did occur to me that it might be a position adopted by the organisers and police to help people grasp that it is mainly a ride, and not a race. That said, where there's room, no problem with riders putting the pedal to the metal as in my view the most common factor in incidents involving more than one person is lack of consideration (and perhaps awareness).

[bigfriendlyvegan]

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.

[Mugglechops]

Nice job bfv. I needed you as support this morning.



I was glad this didn't happen halfway down one of the hills on Sunday. It could have been nasty.

[Alycat]

My third Gong ride. Got to the start about 5 to 6, got away in first "wave", at 6:07, into a reasonable pace after about 3 or 4k. Saw a stack just after Tempe, first of the day. Good pace in the group all the way past Sutherland, broke up on drags to Helensburg, consensus was we had a slight headwind. Safe ride down RNP hill, past by one rider, passed abot 6, yelled passing and all ok. Felt heaps better this year climbing out of the park, pulled up before descent to coast road by police, had 2 hours on the clock. Fast descent and a good ride along coast road, wonderful scenery, great over the Seacliff bridge, made it to finish in 2h55, no dramas, bike perfect.