Bicycle Rides

This ride was the beginning of many things. Friendships were made, rediscovery of my hatred of cycling in the rain, fun, fatigue, and last but not least.....the Sub club.

I began the Great Victorian Bicycle Ride in December 1996 when a friend dropped me off at Tom's Block in Melbourne with my bicycle and all the gear I would need (hopefully I had everything) for the next 9 days of bicycle touring. I didn't know anyone else doing the ride. For several years I'd thought about doing such a ride but never had the real motivation required to do something like that by yourself. I found the motivation in 1996 because the route was along the Great Ocean Road which I have longed to ride for years. However, the road is dangerous because it's skinny and very windy, and it would be a brave person who attempts it by themselves. So what better than an organised ride? With hundreds, if not thousands, of other people doing the ride too!

There were three thousand people on that ride. Many of us caught the buses from Melbourne and about 4 hours later were dropped off in a small town in Victoria in the rain. Not only was it raining (and I missed the part where it hailed) but it was extremely windy. So it wasn't a very pleasant 22 km to start off the ride. And 10 km into the ride found me sitting on the side of the road fixing a puncture. I didn't just have a puncture, I had a blowout! My front tire had quite a large hole in it, and when I pumped up the tyre the inner tube started to bulge out the hole. Well....that meant that I had to ride in the rain and the wind with a flat front tyre since I was worried that if the inner tube poked out the hole in the tyre too much it would burst.

I was rather weary when I finally got to the town of Hamilton. I found my bags (you don't have to carry your gear on the bikes with these organised rides) and then searched for a spot to pitch my tent. There seemed to be quite a lack of space on the sports oval. And just to make matters worse, the ground was really hard and I hadn't brought anything to help hammer the tent pegs into it! Many other people seemed to have the same dilemma, and there were long lines of people waiting to use the hammers which had been brought.

I finally got my tent pitched and since no one camped near me seemed to want to chat I decided to find a new tyre for my bicycle. So, I found the repair tent, purchased my tyre, and sat infront of my tent fixing my tyre and marvelling at how alone you can feel in the middle of 3000 people.

And that's when I met Gabe. He saw me sitting there all alone and came over to chat. I'd have to say that having my tyre blow out ended up being the single best thing that happened on that trip. Gabe was travelling by himself, and he had met a couple of other guys who were also travelling by themselves. We all got along well, and somehow along the way we collected several other people. We camped together each night, and since some of the guys were faster riders than the rest of us and got into camp first each day, they took it upon themselves to find everyone's gear and even set up our tents. My tent, however, seemed to be just a bit too difficult for them, and I had to give a lesson or two before my tent was successfully erected in my absence. *LOL*

The rest day was spent in Apollo Bay. We all went out the night before the rest day, and somehow all of us ended up drinking Sub Zero's....hence the Sub Club.

I treasure the friendships I made on that trip, and some have been strengthened on subsequent rides. Check out the pics below!

The start of the Great Victorian Bicycle Ride, Dec. 1996
....bicycles being unloaded from cattle trucks!!
Bicycles, bicycles everywhere.

The inaugral gathering of the Sub Club members.
Looks like it wasn't just Sprite which was consumed tonight...
Maybe one or two Sub Zero's too???

Back in Melbourne!!
Some of the Sub Club....can you believe we're still smiling,
after 630 km of cycling!!!!