Ronde van Diemen's Land 7th-13th Feb 2013

[BenevolantDictatorD]

The annual February training ride returns to the Round Tasmania format as we reverse direction and head west first this time. The format is the same as the previous 10 training/bunch rides. Each rider looks after themselves, organises their accommodation, food, itinerary, and when and if they are going to ride.

The distance covered will be somewhere up to 1,100 kms depending on which group you choose on any one day. The distances vary between 119kms and 180kms each day so you will need a reasonable level of fitness to undertake the full ride. There are certainly plenty of hills to test your legs on and I think there are a couple of kms on the flat every couple of days.

There is no compulsion to ride the full distance every day, or ride every day, or even ride with anyone else on the day - its a bunch ride and up to the rider. The only thing that is essential is some communication to make sure you can be accounted for to prevent calls for emergency services!

For those without a support vehicle there will be a sag wagon to carry clothing, water, spares, food, or you if you break down, etc at a shared cost rate of $100 for the whole trip.

The journey will be split into two 'groups' - long and short -and you can choose whichever or neither. the 'long' group stays in Derwent Bridge the first night and the 'short' group stays in Bronte Park. After that the stops are the same.

Thursday 7 Feb sees us leave Hobart through New Norfolk to finish either at Bronte Park or Derwent Bridge - 148 or 170kms.
Friday 8 Feb - the Derwent Bridge crew go Queenstown, Strahan and finish at Zeehan - 169kms. The Bronte crew go Queenstown -Zeehan - 153kms.
Saturday 9 Feb - The short crew heads north via Hampshire and finshes at Ulverstone for 161 kms. The long crew takes the old highway via Hellyer Gorge to Ulverstone for 180 kms.
Sunday 10 Feb - Both crews via Exeter to Bridport for 171 kms.
Monday 11 Feb - Short crew straight to Scottsdale and then St Helens for 120kms. The long crew turn left outside Bridport and go via Waterhouse to St Helens for 141kms. The Waterhouse road has some gravel but should be fine.
Tuesday 12 Feb - St Helens to Swansea. The long group up St Marys Pass and down Elephant Pass for 123 kms. Everyone else via Chain of Lagoons for 119kms.
Wednesday 13 Feb - Back to Hobart via Richmond for 136kms.

Totals for long group - something like 1,090 kms in a straight line at an average of 156kms/day. For the short group its 1,008 at 144 kms/day.
No need for any info from you as yet.

[joomz]

Sounds fantastic. Good excuse to visit my home state. Pencilling into diary now...

[BenevolantDictatorD]

The ride down to Strathgordon might be a good start for your training program for this one?

[BenevolantDictatorD]

The Ronde Van Diemen’s Land – round Tassie – aka the February Bunch Ride - April update

The annual February Bunch Ride returns to the Round Tasmania format as we reverse direction and head west first this time. The format is the same as the previous 10 February training/bunch rides. Each rider looks after themselves, organises their accommodation, food, itinerary, and when and if they are going to ride.

The distance covered across seven days will be somewhere between 1,000 and 1,100 kms depending on which group you choose on any one day. The daily distances vary between 119kms and 180kms so you will need a reasonable level of fitness to undertake the full ride. There are certainly plenty of hills to test your legs and I think there may be a couple of kms on flat roads every day or so.

There is no compulsion to ride the full distance every day, or ride every day, or even ride with anyone else on the day - its a bunch ride and up to you as the rider. The only thing that is essential is some communication to make sure you can be accounted for to prevent calls for emergency services!

For those without a support vehicle there will be a car and covered trailer to carry your gear, water, spares, food, or transport you and your bike if you break down, etc. The cost for the support vehicle will be $100 for the whole trip. The money covers petrol costs and driver expenses. Of course if you organise your own support there is no additional cost for you.

The journey will be split into two 'groups' - long and short -and you can choose whichever or neither. The 'long' group stays in Derwent Bridge the first night and the 'short' group stays in Bronte Park. After that the starting and stopping towns are the same. Within the groups there will probably be self-selected sub-groups that look after each other. As with every other year I expect the groupings will change on a regular basis – it’s amazing how a solid head wind brings everyone together.

The itinerary

This basic set up as follows. 8:30 am is the usual kick-off time. The average speed on the road varies from 30kph down to around 22kph. I expect there to be somewhere around 25+ riders on the road each day – but not the same riders and not all going the full distance. With that number of riders if you can maintain around the 22kph speed there will be someone to ride with.

On most days there will be food and drink stops along the way at regular intervals with the only real stretch being the 80kms from Derwent Bridge to the café at Linda just short of Queenstown.

Thursday 7 Feb sees us leave Station St Moonah and go through New Norfolk to finish either at Bronte Park or Derwent Bridge - 148 or 170kms.
Friday 8 Feb - the Derwent Bridge crew go through Queenstown and Strahan and finish at Zeehan - 169kms. The Bronte crew go through Queenstown to Zeehan - 153kms.
Saturday 9 Feb - The short crew heads north via Hampshire and finishes at Ulverstone for 161 kms. The long crew takes the old highway via Hellyer Gorge to Ulverstone for 180 kms.
Sunday 10 Feb - Both crews via Exeter to Bridport for 171 kms.
Monday 11 Feb - Short crew straight to Scottsdale and then St Helens for 120kms. The long crew turn left outside Bridport and go via Gladstone to St Helens for 141kms. The Gladstone road has some gravel but it is ‘B’ road gravel.
Tuesday 12 Feb - St Helens to Swansea. The long group head up St Marys Pass and down Elephant Pass for 123 kms. Everyone else goes via Chain of Lagoons for 119kms. If anyone wants to go via Campbell Town it’s just shy of 200kms.
Wednesday 13 Feb - Back to Station St Moonah via Richmond for 136kms.

Totals for long group - something like 1,090 kms in a straight line at an average of 156kms/day. For the short group its 1,008 at 144 kms/day.

Monday is the Regatta Day public holiday in Southern Tasmania so we should be on the west coast before the holiday traffic and we will still be in St Helens when they have headed home.

What next?
If you are planning to undertake the Ronde you will need the three basic things – food, clothing and shelter. Food and clothing are reasonably easy to manage on the day but accommodation tends to need a bit of lead time to confirm. You will have a reasonably large range of accommodation to choose from on any one night and I have listed those most likely to be where the majority will be.
Bronte Park – the Highland Village or the caravan park (no cabins I assume) are the choices. The cabins at the Village are old hydro shacks and the pub served seriously nice food last time through.
Derwent Bridge – the Wilderness Hotel has a range of accommodation and the Chalets are just up the road.
Zeehan – the caravan park was a bit tired last time around, as was the Cecil Hotel. The Heemskirk Motor Inn may be worth a try this time.
Ulverstone – no shortage of places in town with pubs and B&Bs. The caravan park on the way in is a Big4 with all their normal trimmings.
Bridport – as with Ulverstone – a holiday destination with plenty of B&Bs and a nice caravan park.
St Helens – another holiday destination so plenty of choices with pubs, B&Bs and another Big4 cabin park near the bridge.
Swansea – must be the holiday isle – another tourist town with lots of choices. I might try the Swansea Holiday Park this time.

What do you need to do now?
The really good thing about a bunch ride is the lack of commitment necessary. If you are not sure you want to come along – wait and think about it later. If something happens the week before the ride and you can’t go – the only issue is accommodation bookings you may have made. If you make a last minute decision to ride – that is reasonably easy as well.

However – as with all good bunch rides – once you are on the start line there are some basic requirements around safety and looking after each other. Someone will collect information that might be needed by emergency services – a bit more than the usual bunch ride but expected for a ride of this length. After that normal bunch rules apply with some minor coordination for riders around where the support vehicle will be at any point in time.

If you are going to use the support vehicle for transport of gear etc there is a bit of coordination to get your gear in it in the first place and then to get it to and from where you are staying. This far out we don’t have a designated driver but we will get one somehow.

[BenevolantDictatorD]

The days are starting to get longer - time to start training for La Ronde.

If you haven't been along on a February ride for a while just send me a PM with an email address and I will add you on the list. Email addresses will not be shared without your consent e.g. if you are looking to share accommodation or transport etc.

[just4tehhalibut]

I posted something else about Bike VIC doing another event in Tassie, I don't know your or their route enough to see any conflict except the big one, on Mon 11 Feb your ride and the Bike VIC circus will both be making for St Helens. I know that the Bike VIC is camping but generally you'll get people on the ride booking accommodation in whatever town they stay in, not everyone wants 9 days straight of tent city, so unless you want to change your route I'd suggest that you get your people to sort out their accommodation and book now before the rush.

Since Bike VIC works with the towns that they stay at so that shopping, food, entertainment, festivities happen your crew might find it interesting to rock up to St Helens, soak up the night. You'll have to ignore the route marshals trying to direct you to the campsite, might also have to compete at the pizza shop. And you'll have to take care when leaving town the next morning, for the 1000 cyclists heading to Bicheno and the road trains carrying their camp, possibly taking another route to Bicheno if they can avoid sharing the same road with their cyclists. Sounds messy but won't be boring.

[BenevolantDictatorD]

As per discussion below the extra people in St Helens may make accommodation a bit difficult to find. But wait - there is always another plan. Scamander is another 18kms down the road. For those with us on the last big loop we rode Scamander to Bridport on that trip so no great issue I think. The accommodation in Scamander was pretty good from memory with a variety of choices from the pub though to cabins at the caravan park.

For the mad ones amongst us staying in Scamander would reduce the trip to Swansea via Campbell Town down to 180kms to make it more doable. I'm excited already. I'll include all this in the next update/itinerary.

[BenevolantDictatorD]

The Ronde Van Diemen’s Land – round Tassie – aka the February Bunch Ride - September update

The annual February Bunch Ride returns to the Round Tasmania format as we reverse direction and head west first this time. The format is the same as the previous 10 February training/bunch rides. Each rider looks after themselves, organises their accommodation, food, itinerary, and when and if they are going to ride.

The distance covered across seven days will be somewhere between 1,000 and 1,100 kms depending on which group you choose on any one day. The daily distances vary between 119kms and 180kms so you will need a reasonable level of fitness to undertake the full ride. There are certainly plenty of hills to test your legs and I think there may be a couple of kms on flat roads every day or so.

There is no compulsion to ride the full distance every day, or ride every day, or even ride with anyone else on the day - its a bunch ride and up to you as the rider. The only thing that is essential is some communication to make sure you can be accounted for to prevent calls for emergency services!

For those without a support vehicle there will be a car and covered trailer to carry your gear, water, spares, food, or transport you and your bike if you break down, etc. The cost for the support vehicle will be $100 for the whole trip. The money covers petrol costs and driver expenses. Of course if you organise your own support there is no additional cost for you.

The journey will be split into two 'groups' - long and short -and you can choose whichever or neither. The 'long' group stays in Derwent Bridge the first night and the 'short' group stays in Bronte Park. After that the starting and stopping towns are the same. Within the groups there will probably be self-selected sub-groups that look after each other. As with every other year I expect the groupings will change on a regular basis – it’s amazing how a solid head wind brings everyone together.

The itinerary
The basic set up as follows. 8:30 am is the usual kick-off time. The average speed on the road varies from 30kph down to around 22kph. I expect there to be somewhere around 25+ riders on the road each day – but not the same riders and not all going the full distance. With that number of riders if you can maintain around the 22kph speed there will be someone to ride with.

On most days there will be food and drink stops along the way at regular intervals with the only real stretch being the 80kms from Derwent Bridge to the café at Linda just short of Queenstown.

Thursday 7 Feb sees us leave Station St Moonah and go through New Norfolk to finish either at Bronte Park or Derwent Bridge - 148 or 170kms.
Friday 8 Feb - the Derwent Bridge crew go through Queenstown and Strahan and finish at Zeehan - 169kms. The Bronte crew go through Queenstown to Zeehan - 153kms. For those that haven’t done the Derwent Bridge to Queenstown leg before this is one of the best bits of riding in Tassie. Something to look forward to.
Saturday 9 Feb - The short crew heads north via Hampshire and finishes at Ulverstone for 161 kms. The long crew takes the old highway via Hellyer Gorge to Ulverstone for 180 kms.
Sunday 10 Feb - Both crews via Exeter to Bridport for 171 kms.
Monday 11 Feb - Short crew straight to Scottsdale and then St Helens and Scamander for 134kms. The long crew turn left outside Bridport and go via Gladstone to St Helens and Scamander for 141kms. The Gladstone road has some gravel but it is ‘B’ road gravel. The Bike Vic ride will be camped in St Helens this night so best to keep going to Scamander to get some accommodation.
Tuesday 12 Feb - Scamander to Swansea. The long group head up St Marys Pass and down Elephant Pass for 109 kms. Everyone else goes via Chain of Lagoons for 105kms. If anyone wants to go via Campbell Town it’s around 185kms.
Wednesday 13 Feb - Back to Station St Moonah via Richmond for 136kms.

Totals for long group - something like 1,090 kms in a straight line at an average of 156kms/day. For the short group its 1,008 at 144 kms/day.

Monday is the Regatta Day public holiday in Southern Tasmania so we should be on the west coast before the holiday traffic and we will still be in Scamander when they have headed home.

What next?
If you are planning to undertake the Ronde you will need the three basic things – food, clothing and shelter. Food and clothing are reasonably easy to manage on the day but accommodation tends to need a bit of lead time to confirm. You will have a reasonably large range of accommodation to choose from on any one night and I have listed those most likely to be where the majority will be.
Bronte Park – the Highland Village or the caravan park are the choices. The cabins at the Village are old hydro shacks and the pub served seriously nice food last time through.
Derwent Bridge – the Wilderness Hotel has a range of accommodation and the Chalets are just up the road.
Zeehan – the caravan park was a bit tired last time around, as was the Cecil Hotel. The Heemskirk Motor Inn may be worth a try this time.
Ulverstone – no shortage of places in town with pubs and B&Bs. The caravan park on the way in is a Big4 with all their normal trimmings.
Bridport – as with Ulverstone – a holiday destination with plenty of B&Bs and a nice caravan park.
Scamander – another holiday destination so plenty of choices with pubs, B&Bs and another caravan parks.
Swansea – must be the holiday isle – another tourist town with lots of choices. I might try the Swansea Holiday Park this time.

What do you need to do now?
The really good thing about a bunch ride is the lack of commitment necessary. If you are not sure you want to come along – wait and think about it later. If something happens the week before the ride and you can’t go – the only issue is accommodation bookings you may have made. If you make a last minute decision to ride – that is reasonably easy as well.

However – as with all good bunch rides – once you are on the start line there are some basic requirements around safety and looking after each other. Someone will collect information that might be needed by emergency services – a bit more than the usual bunch ride but expected for a ride of this length and the distance away from home. After that normal bunch rules apply with some minor coordination for riders around where the support vehicle will be at any point in time.

If you are going to use the support vehicle for transport of gear etc there is a bit of coordination to get your gear in it in the first place and then to get it to and from where you are staying. This far out we don’t have a designated driver but we will get one somehow.

[BenevolantDictatorD]

22 probables lined up at this point. If you haven't received an email recently and are interested in joining the ride send me a personal message and i'll tap you in to the administrative processes - which are generally minimal.

[BenevolantDictatorD]

10 weeks to go

26 lined up so far with at least 22 on the road each day.

[BenevolantDictatorD]

2 weeks to kick off.

[BenevolantDictatorD]

Well pedallers - its getting a bit late to start training for the Ronde.

We have 15 riders signed up for the trip - not the same 15 every day but 15 anyway. We could have as many as 25 making the first part of the journey to New Norfolk in the morning. If you want to join - 8:30 on the bike track at the little park just north of New Town High near Albert Road. For those looking to join us on the last leg the RBWR team is likely to head Orford way to meet up next week.

Each year I manage to dial in a good set of weather numbers and once again the Regatta Day long weekend has coughed up some wonderful weather for the February training ride. Expected temperatures are in the range of 18 to 23 maximums which will make it pleasant riding. No rain forecast for any of the segments although the possibility of a late shower might cool the road for the next day for us. What else could we ask for? Tail winds maybe?

Two out of three's not bad I reckon. The breezes should be against us, or at our side, most days - and the "solid headwinds" predicted for Thursday afternoon until we get to Strahan are somewhere around the 30+ to 40+ kms. That's 300kms into a full on headwind. Now that's good training weather. The upside - I reckon the bunch will be stuck together waiting for the "stronguns" to take their turns on the front. That could be any one of the other 14 riders cos its not likely to be me!!

Watch this space for a wrap up when we get back. As per every year there will be some good tales to tell.

[master6]

Best wishes to all participants..................a 6.30am trip to the front garden for the newspaper revealed a magnificent day ahead.

[BenevolantDictatorD]

Seven smiley faces to match the seven "interesting" days on the Ronde. A brief synopsis follows.

Day 1: Hobart to Derwent Bridge - 170kms
It all started in a rush with a sprint up to New Norfolk to get the first 40kms out of the way as quikly as possible. Later in the day note was made that the ones on the front hammering into the head wind turned weren't going the distance. Hmmm. anyway - we followed them. The bunch reduced and a nice rest under the shade of a tree as our first puncture was fixed and a regroup occurred. The pace continued though the stop at Gretna and out to lunch at Ouse. Half way. And there were some tired faces already. Then the hard bits started with the climb out of Ouse claiming the first set of cramps and the tail car ws summoned. Another retirement at Black Bobs and more again at Tarraleah. The head wind continued with true gusto. The tail car had to go ahead, do drop offs and come back for more. The last rider finally arrived at 7:00 and looked very much like me ! All in all a typical first day - too much adrenalin - and far too much headwind.

Day 2 Derwent Bridge to Zeehan - 170kms
The headwind continued but hid in the tree tops for most of the day. Soon after hitting the road came the descents. Mount Arrowmith was wet and that subdued just about everyone. Then there was Victoria Pass - dry - and wow. At the bottom we emerged into the open and crossed Lake Burbury. What a view only best described as splediferous. Despite all expectations the cafe at Linda had closed so Queenie it was for lunch and decision time. The majority decision was to head straight through to Zeehan and the minority tooke the full route via Strahen. i have added another favourite bit of road to my list - the trip from the turnoff to Strahan is a very very nice bit of fast undulating and interesting bit of riding. Last one in again looked like me.

Day 3: Zeehan to Ulverstone - 180 kms

It was all a bit of a blur around how many riders were left on the road at any one point as the tail car got well used and much banter occurred around booking a spot in the back seat. Mount Black was the first ascent. Some thought it was nice on the way up. I grovelled up there. Now the descent was a bit different - phwoar. Tullah for coffee and the last sho for a while. Decision time came again with the drizzle coming down and the option of a short cut had the group wavering. One went short. The rest of us enjoyed the warm rain and a dodgy descent down into Hellyer Gorge. They say the ascent was really fast. Like Mount Black I once again grovelled. Away we went again and stopped for lunch at Lotta (4 pm) with a wonderful surprise of hot roast meat folls and minestrone soup. Off again down to the coast and along to Ulverstone for the night. Not surprising I was last in again.

[BenevolantDictatorD]

Day 4 Ulverstone to Bridport - 140 or 160kms - not sure

By this time some bunch riding started to occur with fewer attacks and more cameraderie. A nice trundle through some wonderful farming country saw us at Franford and the Blu Barn Cafe for an excellent feed with the best service of the whole trip. Quier whispering about the hill over Holwell being the reverse of the Gran Fondo ride proved to be unnecessary as we had a few small hills to go up before a magic long and fast descent. Denman's road proved to be a reasonable dirt road but gave us a quick short cut. Next stop was Sidmouth but only a quick one. Off again over the Batman and up the East Tamar where the energy from a caramel slice at Frankford suddenly erupted as a procession of hill sprints. I paid for that later. Onto Bridport Road and through to Briport for the night. Me last again

Day 5 Bridport to Scamander - 160 kms

Two groups set off with the smaller unit heading through Scottsdale and the larger heading East through to Gladstone over a "nice" parch of about 10kms of dirt road. Two punctures slowed the faster riders and a regroup fro early lunch at Gladstone. Off again through the undulations and then left at Herrick to climb Weld Hill and then Weldborough Pass. Going up wasn't fun but comeing down was a real hoot. Over the hills at Goulds Country and we arrived in St Helens catching up to the Great Vic Bike Ride. Coffe and cake and then the short trip over the hill to Scamander. Guess who was last.

Day 6 Scamander to Swansea. - 100+ kms

The schedule was to go via Campbell Town but that didn't get much traction so we all went along the coast either via Chain of Lagoons or over St Marys Pass for a pancke at the Pancake Parlour on Elephant Pass. We were in amongst the GVBR for the trip all the way from Scamander to Bicheno which made things interesting in terms of traffic behaviour but we made it. A good feed at Bicheno and then over Cherry Tree Hill and down to Swansea. Last again.

Day 7 Swanse to Hobart - 140 kms

Three groups left at various times for the reasonably flat trip to Orford. The pending Break-me-neck climb saw ridiers heading off on their own and the bunches were split everywhere. the RBWR crew tagged along with the first of the bunches from Buckland. the one at the back managed a good 50 kms solo into a reasonable head wind. coffee and cake at the Ricmond Bakery and then home over Grasstree to add another 20kms of headwind.

[BenevolantDictatorD]

Part 3 - the summary

It was one of the tougher trips I have been on. The headwinds on days one and two made it a hard start to the journey. Some of the hills were tough and most of us had some sort of injury at some or most of the time. After that it was a great trip. One where there is a real sense of having achieved something against the odds. I managed to be last six out of the seven days so must take the prize for consistency. Special thanks need to go to our terrific support crew - Barry and Lorraine - who only had posistive for us all the way around.

Next year - not sure yet - back to the three day format around the Regatta Day long weekend - and hopefully I will be able to book a holiday/Christian/Scout camp somewhere in the North to use as a bse for riding some new and different roads. I'll get some details up as soon as I can. For those looking for another "Ronde" the schedule is for 2017 - once every four years is enough!