Brissie to the Bay 2011

[Yongkun]

i sure hope so. weatherzone says 90% chance of raining, just dont let it be in the morning.

[nitramluap]

weather forecast for sunday: rain

BOM reckons it's going to be fine (at the moment).....

http://www.bom.gov.au/qld/forecasts/brisbane.shtml

And warm! No need for leg warmers that day. 12 is balmy!

I hope I can shake this man-flu before then...

[Comedian]

BOM reckons it's going to be fine (at the moment).....

http://www.bom.gov.au/qld/forecasts/brisbane.shtml

And warm! No need for leg warmers that day. 12 is balmy!

I hope I can shake this man-flu before then...

Group hug!

In a manly way.. not like any sort of way that makes any of us uncomfortable.. or makes us think differently about any of our fellow forum posters. Of course if that was their choice then all good...

(Is that the sound of digging I can hear??)

[nitramluap]

Group hug!

In a manly way.. not like any sort of way that makes any of us uncomfortable.. or makes us think differently about any of our fellow forum posters. Of course if that was their choice then all good...

(Is that the sound of digging I can hear??)

"Not that there's anything wrong with that!"

[Comedian]

I hope you all had a good ride - I had a great time!

Thanks to the stumeister we smashed it! He was a machine and I sat on his tail! I honestly couldn't have done it faster than I did. My average heart rate for the 2:59 was 149. I had a flat too.

http://j.mp/lnXJaI

Very importantly though my friends have given me over $400 for the sufferers of MS. My work team raised nearly 4500. I genuinely hope it makes a difference for those suffering from MS.

[Crittski]

Was great weather, and had a great ride, except for the cramps!

Was disappointed to see a jerk wearing the Vodaphone team kit insist on barrelling up on the left of a bunch of riders, and throw an empty can into some poor persons front yard.

[stats]

My first ever organized ride and would recommend this ride to everyone.

Did the 50k in under 2 hours so pretty happy except for some official just before halfway who was quicker with his stop command than I was with unclipping....down I went but no damage

How much harder is the 100k?

[nitramluap]

Great ride.

I finished the 100km in 3:16 minutes - although my actual time was 3:46 as I had to stop to help an injured rider. No other stops as I had enough water & food in my bike. Those last few hills were painful! Had to back off a little as I had some calf cramps threatening but I kept them at bay. Top speed for the day: 80km/h Some of those traffic lights were a bit frustrating, especially the one's at the bottom of the hills!

Well done to the organisers and to everyone out there who rode sensibly (which was 99.9% of riders).

I had the GoPro running for most of the ride so I'll cut something together and pop it on YouTube sometime this week. Hopefully there will be some good footage there.

Cheers,

Paul

[Yongkun]

i had a slow 100km, ate lots of bars and cookies, took lots of pictures along the coast. nice ride.

[licensed]

I participated in the 100km ride and it was my first group ride as such and i really enjoyed it. I must say however that the way out to wellington point was much more enjoyable than coming back (long, boring, lytton road i think? etc.). I'm pleased with my decision to purchase a decent 2nd hand road bike so i can do this ride and similar ones from now on.

[pumapants]

My first 100k ride a what a great one to start it on. Elapsed time of 4.31 (had a chat to a few peeps at the stops) and a moving time of 3.48. No cramps or flats but rear was at 60psi at the end so just made it. Riding along the ocean was fantastic, bit of a change from the bush scenery between Ipi and Boonah I am used to. Looking forward to nitramluap's video, was keeping a lookout for you but missed you.

[RobM]

Great ride.

I finished the 100km in 3:16 minutes - although my actual time was 3:46 as I had to stop to help an injured rider. No other stops as I had enough water & food in my bike. Those last few hills were painful! Had to back off a little as I had some calf cramps threatening but I kept them at bay. Top speed for the day: 80km/h Some of those traffic lights were a bit frustrating, especially the one's at the bottom of the hills!

Well done to the organisers and to everyone out there who rode sensibly (which was 99.9% of riders).

I had the GoPro running for most of the ride so I'll cut something together and pop it on YouTube sometime this week. Hopefully there will be some good footage there.

Cheers,

Paul

Saw you (youre in the red velomobile right?) helping that rider into the ambulance - was he alright? What happened to him? Thumbs up for helping out

[winstonw]

I've not particularly enjoyed the B2B in the past. A lot of the road closer to Bris is rough and the traffic lights are a bore. Bris to Gold Coast is much better in both respects.

Anyhoo, I didn't commit until 5am this morning, after checking the weather, registered on the day. Great feature in my view, which I didn't mind making the larger donation for.

had clocked up 200k in the previous 2 days, so wasn't particularly fresh for today's 100. nevertheless, glad I did it. averaged 27.3 kph.

a couple of incidents:
- I got away in the 3rd group where most seemed to have good bikes....but the guy a few metres in front of me had his seat post snap about 800 metres from the start. He pulled to the left and the seat bounced around in front and to the right, and I just managed to veer right of it. Fortunately, I was being cautious and riding the first k at the back, so didn't knock anyone else off when I veered.
- some of the witch's hats down Wellington Pt way must have been pushed to the left, and a guy in front went straight into one, and flicked it high in front of me. Fortunately I just missed it.
- then the usual few suspects trying to get away from lights in a hurry stuffed their cleat-in and came to a roaring halt.

I am always amazed how some guys refuse to travel 2 abreast except when passing, no matter how many warnings the organizers gave. No wonder some drivers think cyclists are arrogant.

Food and hydration:
estimated energy expenditure 15Cals per km = 1500 Cals.

breakky 2 hours prior - 250ml low sugar electrolyte and bowl of cereal with LSA, brewer's yeast, MSM, strawberries, multivitamin, 100mg aspirin to keep blood thin.
another 500 mls electrolyte between breakky and start.

1 x 800 ml electrolyte bottle per hour, and an additional 500ml at the Wello Pt stop.
1x 35g muesli bar every hour after the first hour.
1 whole orange at Wello Pt.

2 litre electrolyte over the 3 hours after finish.
ham and salad sandwich

no cramps, just a bit of weakness in the quads in the latter climbs.

[term]

I had a great time, I was riding by my self, and found it hard to find some good groups to hook onto, started out in wave five ended up with a lot of wave 2 and some unlucky guy from the first wave who got 2 punctures. No punctures here so all good, only saw one person down, that was the one mentioned further up with the medic there.

Who ever designed the last part of the course was clearly taking the piss, I'm not bothered at all by hills but we seemed to be going out of our way to go up every hill on the southside, which is fine by me but by the last one there was a lot of poor people legging it heh

Was a fun day all in all, I'd do it again, managed a 30km/h avg there was a bit of solo riding though looking for another group to hook upto, first 50 was 33kmh

My garmin data incase anyone wants to review the course.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/94829927

[Le Velo]

A good Day in general. Cooked 24km with the push there and back from Sherwood.
Managed to hold it to a 31,5 average till arrival at musgrave park then a gently roll back home.
Was in the 3rd group to leave for the 100km and found also that there wasn't any worthy groups to hang on to apart from the odd 2-4 riders so ended up being a solo effort (note to self for the headphones next time)
The hills didn't bother me at all as I still had a bit left in the legs and gave it all till the end but sure make it a bit difficult having already 100k in the legs
My observations were a lot of flats on the return for some reason and only 1 rider down (same as everyone mention) hope he is ok
The witches hat sectio. Was a bit tight at a few spots and all the red lights on the way back were getting annoying with the stop / starts
Will probably do it again next year

[Disco]

My first organised ride. Was surprised by how many people were on the start line, we ended up being in the one of the last groups to leave for the 100km and got held up when one in our group had a couple of punctures - so much so that the 50km group started to go past us on Wynnum road.

We did the first half of the course (with the stop for repairs) with our whole group that had a couple of guys in it who were struggling a bit - they insisted we split and we managed to make up some time on the second half (ave 25km/h for the first 50km then managed to pull about 30km/h for the second 50km).

Was a pretty enjoyable day, the last couple of hills were a tad nasty for some, we had enough in the legs still so didn't struggle too much with them. Like others have said, the red lights stopping starting was a complete pain in the arse, but unavoidable, you can't expect them to close the roads off for hours at a time...

With the ride to the start line and back home managed to punch out 120km for the day.

Looking forward to the Gold Coast ride.

[Max]

I haven't done much riding the last few months, and boy did it show. I was doing fine until the 40Km mark, after which I started getting some cramps on the inside of my knees. I was very happy to get to the 50Km stop! We filled up on water and Ronald McDonald cookies (best-kept secret!) and plodded on. At about 60Km, my legs started really hurting. I got halfway up a hill when my knees locked up and I had to push through the cramps. Pain+++++++ Got to the final rest stop and hobbled to the water stop. Forgot I'd drunk both bottles, so only refilled one. Kept on riding, and got to Wooloongabba, expecting just to ride straight down Vulture St the way we had in previous years. I was jubilated to see that intersection, only to see the arrow telling me to turn left. W. T. F.

So off we went, down a very busy Ipswich Road... at this point I found myself thinking, "Gee, maybe they're going to put us onto the SE Freeway path.. that'd be nice". But no, we rode past the SE Freeway bikepath and onto some evil side streets. Stephens Road hill was my undoing. Again, my knees locked up and I just couldn't keep riding. I did the walk of shame to the top of that hill. I dunno about you guys, but I really felt, at that point, like someone was playing a cruel trick on me. Tacking those hills on the END of a long ride just seemed a touch unfair. Note to organisers: if you need to make up the distance, fine.. DO IT AT THE START OR MIDDLE OF THE RIDE. Don't throw it onto the end of the ride. It was also at this point that I ran out of water.

So anyway.. we got to the end. And, I think we might've been the last to finish. LOOOOOOOOOOOOSERS. But we finished. I had a moving average of around 23Kph, which is much better than past 100Km rides (usually around the 20Kph mark). So despite the pain, I'm glad I did it, and I'm feeling OK about the average speed.

It was a cold/dark morning and I know bed was a much more tempting offer, so it was good to see so many people out there. A remarkable lack of plonkers this year; I didn't see anyone doing anything stupid. It was also good to see the police joined the ride on their bicycles. I think it had two positive effects: a) it reminded motorists not to be arses (I didn't experience any motorised plonkers this year, did anyone else?) and b) it reminded cyclists not to be arses. Overall, a good result.


Max

[nitramluap]

Saw you (youre in the red velomobile right?) helping that rider into the ambulance - was he alright? What happened to him? Thumbs up for helping out

Yeah, that was me. I came past him (and the guys helping him) about 30 seconds after the incident, although I didn't witness it. Initially I thought they were just having a break, lounging about on the grass... until I saw the rider lying on the road. I turned around.

He was riding in a tight group of strangers and was at the back. The group approached a 'pinch point' but it appears that instead of all being in the middle of the lane, they were to the left of the lane and then swerved out to miss the concrete pinch point. He was at the back and missed it.

His wheels apparently clipped the kerb and he went straight over landing on his left hand side, impacting his head, left elbow and left hip. He was knocked unconscious for a few minutes and when I got to him he'd started regaining consciousness. I just made sure there was nothing serious and treatable that needed attention - there wasn't - and assessed him ready for the handover to the ambos. They came quickly. The only thing I did was put a space blanket on him and kept him warm & still and monitoring him for any signs of deterioration.

The space-blanket came from my first-aid kit - first time I've needed it - which I carry at all times in my Mango. I have a range of goodies in there for just such occasions. While it wasn't cold to us, the bitumen was cold, he was sweaty and given the potential for spinal injuries we couldn't really move him safely so he had to stay put. The risk of hypothermia is quite high despite not appearing so. The space blanket helps prevent hypothermia.

They guys that were all there before I arrived did the right thing - well done to all of you, whoever you are. The most important thing is to make sure someone unconscious has a clear airway and is breathing. They did that. One other rider stayed with me until the Ambos arrived (Darren I think his name was - sorry if I got that wrong ) - top bloke. He took off his jersey and used it as a pillow for the injured and it got a bit bloody.

I'm sure the rider will be fine but he certainly needed a CT scan of his head/neck/chest and x-rays of his limbs and it will be at least an overnight stay in hospital on neuro observations.

[nitramluap]

The witches hat section. Was a bit tight at a few spots and all the red lights on the way back were getting annoying with the stop / starts
Will probably do it again next year

The witches hats were WAY too tight and to be honest, a very dangerous way of dealing with the mixture of bicycles and traffic. The traffic density on those particular roads wasn't that great so they could have done without them entirely.

If you though they were tight on a road bike you should have seen my face going through there! I reckon I had about 2mm spare on either side.

I've got it on video. I actually went into the 'road' section where the witches hats were and as the speed limit for the cars was 40km/h, I could keep up with them!

[Comedian]

The witches hat section. Was a bit tight at a few spots and all the red lights on the way back were getting annoying with the stop / starts
Will probably do it again next year

The witches hats were WAY too tight and to be honest, a very dangerous way of dealing with the mixture of bicycles and traffic. The traffic density on those particular roads wasn't that great so they could have done without them entirely.

If you though they were tight on a road bike you should have seen my face going through there! I reckon I had about 2mm spare on either side.

I've got it on video. I actually went into the 'road' section where the witches hats were and as the speed limit for the cars was 40km/h, I could keep up with them!

I greased one of those witches hats with my foot. It was like witches hat, 1 foot of road to ride on, and then a horrible road edge drop of probably 15 cm. If you went off you'd crash, hit a hat and you'd crash...

I mean I ride a lot and could manage that, but for many people, and particularly ones that were exhausted that would have been quite hard. Not great.

The mango wouldn't have fitted in the "valley of death"!

[nitramluap]

I was jubilated to see that intersection, only to see the arrow telling me to turn left. W. T. F.

I was ready for that one Max as I'd looked at the route before-hand and had it on my GPS. Despite that though, I still wasn't expecting those last few hills... crikey!

It would have been better (and probably safer) at that point to take us the quickest & smoothest route back into West End, rather than the hilly diversion and the busy roads (Ipswich & Annerley).

Great to hear you finished and had a good ride (apart from the painful bits)!

Paul

[nitramluap]

The mango wouldn't have fitted in the "valley of death"!

It was very tight!

I have it on video too which was interesting to watch. You can clearly see that my left wheel must be a matter of millimetres from the bitumen to dirt/mud dropoff (and boy was it a dropoff in places ) while my right wheel was actually going over the lip of the witches hats!! You can see the right side of my Mango tilt up as I go over each one!

I got to a section where it was clearly too narrow and I flicked out quickly between them onto the car section. Fortunately a driver saw my predicament and gave me some space - thank you whoever you are! Once I was in the car lane I could overtake the other cyclists

[Le Velo]

The witches hat section was manageable for bikes indeed but not the most comfortable section of the ride.
Looking forward to see the video of the mango going through there.....
Good work for stopping and assisting the fellow cyclist ..... when I went past there was a few people around so didn't feel the need to be a spectator

[nitramluap]

Good work for stopping and assisting the fellow cyclist ..... when I went past there was a few people around so didn't feel the need to be a spectator

There was no need for more people to stop and it was clear that everyone going past was concerned so nobody need feel guilty - although it is always hard, I know.

It was safer, particularly given the pinch point there, for people to just keep on moving. I might suggest to organisers to throw down some witches hats in the lead up to all pinch points...

[MacG10]

This was my first 100km ride and finished in 3:43. It was also my first organised ride and I therefore started of still in commute-mode - riding very far to the left of the road. This got me stuck on the inside of a lot of riders in the first section. Couldn't really find a bunch that I could tag along with so rode alone for the majority of the ride. Felt like I had a bit extra in my legs at around the 60km mark so decided to go a bit harder to the finish - was quite surprised to find myself pushing past a lot of other riders up the hills. The traffic lights didn't really bother me as I encounter about 15 of them on my commute to work. Not quite sure why some of the slower riders thought it was ok to filter all the way to the front at a red traffic light - only to be overtaken again within the first 25m after the light changed to green.

Whoever decided to put that big hill in at the very end is probably still laughing today.

All in all very happy with my time and many thanks to the many volunteers and organisers.