Round the Bay in A Day (or two) 2010

This weekend is the annual Round the Bay bike ride which circumnavigates Port Philip Bay, crossing between Queenscliff and Sorrento by ferry.  This you can see on the Map below is a bloody long way - 200km to be exact. So no, I am not participating. I am not that mad. Yet.

I am however going to do my own version. I am starting tomorrow (Thursday), and will be home by Friday - I sincerely hope. I only negotiated a two day pass out so fingers crossed the legs don't give up on me. If I do return on time, and since the other competitors only start on Sunday, I reckon I have a good chance of winning. Not that's what its about, it's the taking part of course.

I have to confess to reducing the size of the challenge a little. I will be doing the boring bits by train, which for those who know the area means the bits between Melbourne and Geelong on the outbound route, and between Frankston and Melbourne on the inbound segment. Oh, and I will be taking the ferry across open ocean bit of the Bay. There are sharks out there after all.

For those not from Melbourne it basically means I will be cycling from the mid point of the circle on the left, to the mid point on the right. Roughly. I reckon its still over 100km, which is the furthest I have ever ridden. I will be having a stopover in Queensliff, at the YHA. For anyone who saw my piece on the YHA, this is definitely not a Boutique Hostel.

Wish me luck, soft butt cheeks and no punctures.

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Update [rather late 2011]

Ok, I can confirm I finished on schedule and to plan. The first day was glorious and I thought I was in heaven. The rail trail down to Queenscliff basked in sunshine, rampant spring colour and fabulously few people. I found a country pub in Drysdale which was excellent, in fact it was only the pesky magpies swooping me on the bike path that I could dare to moan about. I even saw my first snake as I enjoyed the views of Corio Bay and nearly trod on it. I then spent the evening recuperating on the beach at Queenscliffe whilst watching the sunset, the ships pass and coiffing a sneaky beer or two.

It all went a bit wrong the next day. It rained non stop from the moment I left the YHA at 6am (careful not to wake my two female room mates), cycled down to the ferry, crossed the bay in next to zero visibility, and landed in Sorrento. This was a state in serious drought conditions. This wasn't the time for the heavens to finally open. And open they did, for the next 70km of cycling. The bays that should have been pretty stop offs, were nothing more than dank grey sandpits. I stopped at an opp shop to buy dry clothes, I bought cups of tea... I almost cried. But it kept raining, and I was freezing. I stopped in Mornington to visit my old friend Adrian at his garage. Once he stopped laughing at me, he gave me a cup of tea and biscuit and waved me on my way. The only happy part of the day was when I finally got on the train at Frankston and could change into some dry clothes.

The memories of Day 1 just about overshadowed the torture of day 2, but it was close.

It's all over. Thank God.