Round The Bay in a Day Oct 2005

Trip Report

On 16 Oct 05, Max Pfeifer (14), Iain McCoy (18) and Roz Beste (a lot older than the other two) managed to complete the 100km Century part of the Round the Bay In A Day ride in 10 hours 45 minutes.  More than 10,000 riders were registered for the ride and it was perfect weather on the day. 

Some mechanical problems with one of the unicycles (a crank which kept coming loose) delayed us for a while around half-way but there were 'mechanics' riding en route who helped us out a few times until we could reach the lunch spot where there was a better equipped bike-mechanic who managed to fix the problem completely.

The real star (or the most mad, depending on your perspective) of the day was George Carra who decided to ride the full 210km 'Round the Bay' route. He was going in the opposite direction to us and passed us near Dromana around 9am (He started from Docklands at 5am, we started at 7.15am from Sorrento). When we saw him, he had already had a fall (complete with blood all down his leg - but I think it was not as bad as it looked) He was delayed at the ferry and didn't actually finish - but managed an amazing 130km to Geelong station in about 12 hours.

The support from the other 10,000 riders on the route was fantastic. Everyone seemed to want to say 'hi', 'well done', 'good on you', 'you're my hero', 'you're completely nuts', 'good to see they didn't nick all of your bike' or whatever.... as they rode past us, which was all very motivating when you are feeling shattered and you really don't want to spend a minute more sitting on your seat. 

We were not the only unusual 'bikes' in the ride. There were a few recumbent bikes, including some with aerodynamic shells making them look like cycling torpedoes, 2 guys on scooters (with a front  24" wheel and a smaller rear wheel pushing themselves along with one foot on the foot plate and one on the ground. Don't laugh - apparently they beat us!), and some amazing people on hand-cycles (a kind of wheelchair bike where you pedal with your hands - they beat us too.)

Thanks go to Jane Pfeifer (Max's mum) who organised a place for us to stay in Mount Martha the night before the race, and gave us a ride to the start and home from the finish, as well as Amy Pfeifer (Max's sister) who together with Jane gave us lots of support and cheering at various places along the route. Thanks also to Guy from www.unicycle.com  who lent a new 36" unicycle to Max for the training and race, and Barry Clearwater who lent his 36" unicycle to Iain for the race.