Mitchelton Winery Ride

[wizdofaus]

Anyone here know much about this, or planning to do it? Doesn't seem to have been advertised much, but looks like a good ride - never done a 7km Cat 2 climb before though...

http://www.wineryride.com.au/10826/COUR ... G_COURSE_/

I'm supposed to be rowing 8.5 km the day before (Head of the Yarra) so it might be a tad optimistic!

[btothec]

I'm planning on doing the long course. Haven't signed up yet. As you say haven't seen it advertised much other than the few emails I've recieved from Green Edge about it. CT Blog is running a comp that he just posted on his website.

[Semar]

Didn't know about this! I know the roads well.I live just north of Nagambie.

Northwood road from Mitchelton to Seymour is really nice; past the horse studs of then area. The GV highway to Yea will be a really good ride - would NEVER do it without organisational protection. The ride back to Seymour via Highlands is really lovely hill country. Bit of a climb though, so train. The rest is flat to barely undulating, but still very good. I think organisers have chosen very well.

[Hoady]

Well, I'm in for the 150. You get a bottle of wine in the show bag, which is different. Looks like a hell of a hill in the middle.

[Hoady]

Here's a report in case anyone is thinking of doing it next year.
First off, it was a hard ride. Putting in 70km of undulating terrain before hitting a long Cat 2 climb was new to me, and another 75km to get back afterwards took it's toll on quads, hammies and enthusiasm.
The back half of the course included a few unsealed sections and a crazy series of speed humps before and after some railway tracks that couldn't be avoided; and long flat boring stretches.
So a good ride for hill climbers, but a bit tedious after the hill climb was over.
The organisation was a bit mixed. It would seem the organisers weren't quite prepared for the registration, and there were very long queues at the start. When I got to the top of the hill, to the compulsory midway stop, they were spraying people with hoses. Excellent! No more bananas or electrolyte left. Damn. Being wine people, there were plenty of salad roles (canapes, anyone?).
They were releasing groups from the halfway stop in 30 minute intervals for the descent, so they could close the road to traffic. I arrived a few minutes before the first group was released, and wasted time trying to find electrolytes that didn't exist. So I missed the first release, and had to wait half an hour, by which time, i had cooled down and started to cramp. I'm not sure if I like that arrangement, but understand the sense of it. The cops were out in force to make this happen, and did a great job.
The good things about the organisation was plenty of really good marshalls, very cool goody bag, and an amazing festival set up at the Mitchelton winery start/end point. Winery people know how to put on a party.
GreenEdge team members were mixed in with the starting waves, but later formed their own group which was great to watch as they cruised past me up the major hill. Freaks.
So overall, a great event, but don't underestimate the training required, and bring your own nutrition.

[btothec]

http://app.strava.com/rides/29438397

Had an awesome day yesterday despite the heat. Rolled out in the first group that had Leigh Howard and Simon Gerrans in it. Group was well behaved and the some what rolling road closure worked well. The main climb of the day was a tough one in the heat. Just settled into my own rhythm and let every one steam off in front. Managed to pass a fair chunk of them by the time I got to the top.

Mandatory stop for lunch was a great idea. Had lunch and was about to roll out with the first group again but the Orica Green Edge boys rolled in so decided to stay a bit longer and have a chat to them. Rolled out with the OGE express train and was treated to a very quick ride back to the winery.

[mogwaiboi]

Good effort btothec, my moving time was bang on 5 hours. The heat for me was the killer...the Garmin unit registered 40c at one stage. A mate and I ended up doing the last half pretty much by ourselves, and paid for it at the end.

I thought it was well organised, apart from the registration queue. From a safety perspective it was great to see how many police they had in attendance. After the compulsory rest stop they mentioned how dangerous the descent was, but in my opinion I didn't think it was bad at all.