Not so much a recreational ride this one. There is just nothing recreational about riding until 3.30 in the morning and setting your alarm for less than two hours later so that you can have time for breakfast and pack everything back up again to be on the road by 6.00AM.
I have really enjoyed my slow immersion into all things Audax down here, with the excellent relaxed riding, quiet country roads and fantastic people that have made me feel most welcome after a big interstate move where I have no real connection. It was a no brainer to tag along with Dave when he nominated "the Oppy" as the single best Audax ride on the calendar.
Dave had promised all of the things that had drawn me to Audax along with a totally flat course and a huge welcoming party in Rochester where you finish complete with Brass Band pumping out the latest and greatest German beer drinking songs.
I am not really across the rules for the Oppy which probably means I am not a particularly good fit for being an Audax member, most of them being a bit OCD on rules and regulations. The general gist is you have 24 hours to cycle a minimum distance of 360km, including having to do at least 25km in the final two hours. Oh and it is all done in teams.
Our team pushed off from Tooborac just a bit south west of Bendigo in glorious cool morning weather. The first 125km passed by pretty quickly as we were all feeling pretty good and if anything, we probably had the wind with us.
A succession of really pretty little towns followed through the afternoon and some good cycling although at this stage the team were starting to experience some mechanical issues, including quite a number of punctures and a broken spoke. None of them game changing but we did find them eating quite heavily into our ambitious schedule.
Being a team event, unless you are the one with the puncture or have special super-powers in bicycle mechanics (not me) it just means you are spending more time standing around waiting to get rolling again than you normally would. Didn't really worry me but it did mean that we were still riding very, very late into the evening.
The other impediment to our progress was a strengthening breeze that shifted and strengthened so that we always seemed to be riding directly into the wind as our big loop moved from a northerly direction to head west and then southerly.
It was a bit of a pity that some of the pretty little towns up in that part of the world were shielded by the cover of darkness, it would have been excellent to check them out a bit more and a slower paced tour in Northern Victoria would be truly excellent.
A bit of excitement on the final push into Rochester with another puncture pushing us hard up against the cut off time and with a final sprint finish and much bad mathematics and head scratching about required average speed to make it, we managed to cross the finish line with just three minutes to spare in the 24 hour event.
Souvenir photo taken at the Oppy statue and it was off to the Audax provided breakfast of bacon and eggs. Managed to stay awake through the speeches and grabbed a second serving of breakfast. Sporting a very impressive saddle rash but was a bit happy about how good I was still feeling on the bicycle during the very early hours of the morning when I had thought that I was probably just going to want to sleep.
It was also fun to be riding as part of a team and be a bit social with the guys, just don't listen to Dave when he says you are going to be welcomed into Rochester by a thronging crowd cheering your cycling greatness being supported by indecently clad dancing persons of the gender of your choosing, along with a flyover by the RAAF and the medal presentation by the President of France.
