General Cycling Discussion - Bikeforums Challenge II

Ok, here's the idea in a nutshell, ride from Perth to Melbourne Australia. I'm going to post the route ASAP, and you guys, if so inclined, and keep up with where you are on the map based on how far you ride everyday. "So guys, today I only made 40 miles, so I'm out in the boonies and I'll have to camp out over night." The distance will be about 2500 miles, and we will have until the end of June, when our TdF challenge will start. If you cannont ride right now, feel free to join the ride at any time....So say you can't START till May, well, just go through the thread, figure out where people are and how far they have left to go, and join in. I think this is going to be a total blast myself.

I'm in.

By the way - why didn't you tell me you were in Perth Fubar? I would have looked after you while you were here.:D

I'll actually be doing the ride for real later this year so I may as well start the cyber ride now.

So this is like a virtual ride through austrailia with bay area scenery, and mild weather. Nice.

We'll have to travel a fair way before we catch any Bay scenery. The main road across the country is inland a lot of the way with very little to see. I still love the ride though. I've done it 4 times and will do it a 5th later this year. (That's the real ride of course.)

Be sure to take lots of photos this time so we can all see where we have been.

Originally posted by Sailguy
Be sure to take lots of photos this time so we can all see where we have been. Absolutely. I've got my digital camera now so I'll be taking far more photos than absolutely necessary. (But I promise not to post them all.)

I'll have to poke around at home and see what photos I have from previous rides.

Guys, I had a hand in deciding this route, it isn't totally the most direct route possible because there were a couple of places I wanted it to pass through. You'll see why when you start to get close to the finish (I won't reveal any more just yet). I'll be making the official route announcement shortly.

OK, spankys, the route is on the attachment. A couple of stats you might be interested in - the overall distance is 3,915km/2427 miles. As I said, not totally the most direct route after Adelaide, but almost certainly the more interesting one. Apparently the prevailing wind is from east to west at this time of year in that area, so you'd be against it. I hope that means you'll all be seeking out as many headwinds as you can in the coming weeks to really get the experience.

For anyone who is not intending to ride the whole distance or wants to monitor their progress, I've thrown together a very rudimentary spreadsheet that has some place names and distances from the start/finish of various localities on the route. Let me know if you want a copy. Apologies for the delay in posting this, but I wanted to eat my dinner first! :p

All those insults from the "truth" thread should be directed at me - I forgot to attach the map.

How about topo information? I'd also be interested in climbs.

Count me in. Now should I use my Flying Scot, or keep with my triple equipped tourer?

Originally posted by Sailguy
How about topo information? I'd also be interested in climbs. It's very flat for at least two thirds of the distance. There's a 7km climb out of Perth (not too steep) and then rolling hills for the first 100 to 200 km. Then it's pretty flat for a long time.

There's no way I'll do 2427 miles before the end of June but what the heck I'll ride as far as I can.

Zack

Here is the itinerary for the 'real ride' I'll be doing later this year.

Of course we're going to head across the water and take in Tasmania as well but the route to melbourne may be of interest.

I'm sure Chris's route is more scenic from Adelaide to Melbourne. We're taking the shortest route.

Monday 8th September Perth to York 97 km
Tuesday 9th September York to Bruce Rock 146 km
Wednesday 10th September Bruce Rock to Southern Cross 157 km
Thursday 11th September Southern Cross to Coolgardie 188 km
Friday 12th September Coolgardie to Norseman 168 km
Saturday 13th September REST DAY
Sunday 14th September Norseman to Balladonia 191 km
Monday 15th September Balladonia to Caiguna 182 km
Tuesday 16th September Caiguna to Madura 157 km
Wednesday 17th September Madura to Border Village 196 km
Thursday 18th September Border Village to Nullarbor 186 km
Friday 19th September Nullarbor to Nundroo 150 km
Saturday 20th September Nundroo to Ceduna 147 km
Sunday 21st September REST DAY
Monday 22nd September Ceduna to Poochera 148 km
Tuesday 23rd September Poochera to Kimba 181 km
Wednesday 24th September Kimba to Port Augusta 162 km
Thursday 25th September Port Augusta to Clare 196 km
Friday 26th September Clare to Adelaide 136 km
Saturday 27th September REST DAY
Sunday 28th September Adelaide to Tailem Bend 99 km
Monday 29th September Tailem Bend to Bordertown 175 km
Tuesday 30th September Bordertown to Horsham 158 km
Wednesday 1st October Horsham to Ballarat 186 km
Thursday 2nd October Ballarat to Melbourne 111 km
Friday 3rd October REST DAY - Spirit of Tasmania 6:00 pm
Saturday 4th October REST DAY
Sunday 5th October Riverbend to Burnie 110 km
Monday 6th October Burnie to Launceston 100 km
Tuesday 7th October Launceston to St Helens 165 km
Wednesday 8th October St Helens to Swansea 120 km
Thursday 9th October Swansea to Hobart 153 km
TOTAL 4165 km

when exactly does it start? i did 26 miles today in the freeeeeeeezing rain... where is spring? :(

let's say Monday, April 7 2003 is the official beginning of our cyber tour. If you are so inclined, you can search on the internet for photos of where you are and we can post them up...make things more fun.

Suuuuure.. start it two days after my century. I couldn't get it in the last challenge, and now I can't get it in this one. I see how it is.

It's a conspiracy I tell ya!

Well, I can't ride Staurday!!!!!! I'm doing a 10k run!

OK, the ride starts Saturday, April 5 2003.

I'm in.

No way I'll get 2427 miles, but I'm personally going to try for 1800 to 2000. I had only planned for about 1300 in that time period.

I just wanted to ask what the concensus is regarding the use of trainers in this challenge?

I would love to get a copy of that spreadsheet, just to chart my progress.

If anyone finds cool pics from the route on the internet, please post the links here or the actual photos.

Thanks again for setting this up guys.

Happy riding,

PBW

As long as you can accuretly track mileage on your trainer, then there is no problem. I don't want people to just estimate mileage based on time and percieved speed.

Why not, count me in as well. Being from the wet coast of Canada, I'm not used to the heat so I'll only go as hard as I can... might even look up my sister when ( if ) I get to Melbourne.

Sweet. What a way to kick off the ride than with 100 miles at the get-go.

Yeah, I was planning a century this weekend, too. As far as a request for topo information goes, everyone who offered a map with those features on it last night wanted money for it, I'm broke right now so they can forget about it! If I can find a free on line topo map I might post it. Incidentally, I'll be able to post some photos from the final stretch of the ride when people start getting close to the finish, I rode that section last November.

OK, for those who were looking for a relief map of some kind, unfortunately I haven't found a satisfactory one on-line yet. I was directed to one website via PM that had some tools that required software a lot more advanced than mine, and I found another with some glaring inaccuracies in it, so for the moment we'll have to make do with the profile info that Media Creations posted.

There is one 'climb' on the Great Ocean Road section toward the end between Port Campbell and Lorne, it's Lavers Hill and it's about 500 metres vertically, but apart from that, it's pretty darn flat. P. B. Walker, if you e-mail me I'll send you a copy of that spreadsheet. It's not very spanky, but it does have the distances in both miles and kilometres on it.

Forecast for Saturday the 5th of April is fine with a late humid change and a top of 30 celcius.

It should be a lovely day to start our ride.

Looks good!

But damn!!!!! I have a long time arranged commitment over part of the period (a building project, 3 week timespan) curses, with no cycling (no cycle, its work in the midlands) . Do my best over the rest of the time available. :mad:

Chris L .... www.whereis.com.au
has some pretty good maps of Australia on line.
Don`t know if they would be suitable tho`

Need to do about 833 miles a month to do this bad boy.

Originally posted by willic
Chris L .... www.whereis.com.au
has some pretty good maps of Australia on line.
Don`t know if they would be suitable tho`

That's what I normally use for my street directory. I'll have a look there later on and see if there's anything else that might help.

Originally posted by fubar5
As long as you can accuretly track mileage on your trainer, then there is no problem. I don't want people to just estimate mileage based on time and percieved speed.

No problem there. My cyclocomputer is hooked up to my rear wheel. Unfortunately, my trainer is harder than the real road. My average drops about a mph or two on the trainer.

i will do my best.. i am splitting up my training as the weather improves, between running and cycling.. gettting ready for the canadian death race. 125kms doesn't seem like a far distance cycling but running it is evil.. especially through the rockies, three mtns and and one bad as... river. 24 hours to run it.. 15 hours to bike it.. finish and you are a winner :)

now if i get a grizzly to chase me.. i may just come in a lot sooner ..lol

i will try to get to melbourne. at least find a beach along the way ;)

Originally posted by juciluci
gettting ready for the canadian death race. 125kms doesn't seem like a far distance cycling but running it is evil.. especially through the rockies, three mtns and and one bad as... river. 24 hours to run it.. 15 hours to bike it.. finish and you are a winner :)

Alright, now I'm officially jealous. I've been meaning to get back into running for a while, and something like this is just the motivation I need. :cry:

By an interesting coincidence, the weather out here is improving right now, too. Are there many leeches in the rockies? :rolleyes:

BTW, the challenge officially started for me today. Unfortunately I had some serious work to do on my professional studies today, meaning only 34.4km. Barely puts me out of the Perth suburbs. At least I cleared enough time for tomorrow's century.

just got back from a run(20km) in about 4-5 inches of brown sugar snow.. living downtown is alright but it gets soggy in these freak storms. no sidewalks for 3 days now and roads?lol...

will do some trainer after lunch as it looks like the city will not be cleaned up for a while.. don't mind bruises but a break is just not going to fit into my schedule right now
Chris..... here is the site, even in august the snow and torrential rain can be detrimental to the run, by sept.1st the biking is superb.
http://www.canadiandeathrace.com a bear stopped two runners last year...grrrrrr and there are times checkpoints... only 5!! in 125kms.. you can go single or a team
it was on OLN last year and lol DR. Death himself has won the triple(snowshoe,run,bike) i don't know how many times.

it's in alberta..i have never been there, about a 5 hour plane ride for me and total elevation is close to 17,000 ft. so this will be quite an experience .
but do-able :D

p.s. no leeches.. they contain themselves to parliment :)


4.01 pm.
just finished 49.7 miles to start our second journey.

Originally posted by juciluci
p.s. no leeches.. they contain themselves to parliment :)


Oh no they don't, there are plenty at Lamington National Park. I remember pulling off about 30 one day, then removing another five after riding home! :eek:

Decided it was about time to pull my finger out today. 262km - a challenging but extremely rewarding ride. The Byron Hinterland has some of the best riding I've ever seen. Straight into a stiff headwind early, then a couple of savage climbs, my legs were totally shot after about 100km. However, there's magic in those rainforests, and I was able to tap into some of that power. I intend to fully explore it in the future.

However, I think I need some kind of professional help. 262km, and all I want to do is go for another ride right now.

Originally posted by Chris L
Decided it was about time to pull my finger out today. 262km - a challenging but extremely rewarding ride. So - should we all just give up and go home now?:D

Well done. You're well on the way now.

that's fantastic.. sounds like a really great ride.. i am jealous :)
i had to ride in slush, hail and snow yesterday and the same but melting in the sunshine today!.. yesterday 49 miles, today 88... the rest of the week will be small or none as i JUST have to finish packing....:(

don't you love the daylight savings.. yeahhhh getting up in darker dark to go riding...

Started the challenge off with 100 miles. A small recovery ride today, then back into the commuting grind.

Well, I had fun at the run....I am burnt to a crisp and my leg muscles hurt really bad....Mostly from kayaking and wind-surfing but nonetheless, I am in bad shape right now. I am coating myself with Ale-vera trying to get the sunburn under control and I'm drinking and stretching like a fool trying to get my legs muscles loose for this week of riding. Just wait until after May 6th when school ends.....I'll make you guys eat my dust!

j/k

take an aspirin.. it does help with the sunburn.. and if the aloe doesn't help.. a mix of vinegar and water(i know.. it smells) will also take the sting out
:( glad you had some sun.. tho i am sure you are not thinking you are lucky at this moment.

i know you will kick azzzz.. at least mine.. i am in the process of moving.. so i may not be online in a few weeks.. or longer :(
hope you get cycling soon.. good luck.:beer:

Got back from a weekend golf getaway today and forced myself to get out and ride with only 2 hours of daylight left. Glad I did. I was whipped before I started, but once I got on the road I felt great. 34 miles in so far.

Originally posted by fubar5
Well, I had fun at the run....I am burnt to a crisp

What you need is the juice from a slightly overripe tomato. Works wonders. Heck, the aborigines used it for 40,000 years in the skin cancer capital of the world - can't be all that bad.

How does that work?

I'm 24.5 miles or approximately 40 km into the ride. I'll play the part of the broom wagon on this challenge :)

Zack

My weekend total was 69.2 miles on two separate rides. Hopefully I can pick up the pace but right now its raining in Vancouver and I prefer dry roads.

I haven't even started yet...I better get crackin'.

Originally posted by fubar5
How does that work?

If you're talking about the tomato I have no idea, it just does.

I just flew from Perth to Adelaide on Friday, does that count?:D
I won't even try this challenge, with winter already starting I will be lucky to get 500km a month, which would leave me stranded on the Nullarbor somewhere.

CHEERS.

Mark

Originally posted by Dutchy
I just flew from Perth to Adelaide on Friday, does that count?:D Why didn't you get in touch. I could have loaned you a bike and we could have taken a ride together. Oh well, maybe next time.:D

Originally posted by Dutchy
I just flew from Perth to Adelaide on Friday, does that count?:D
I won't even try this challenge, with winter already starting I will be lucky to get 500km a month, which would leave me stranded on the Nullarbor somewhere.

And after flying that distance, I suspect your arms are probably a little sore, too.

:roflmao:

407.47km so far. Just passed through the town of Southern Cross. Just another 3,508km to go. :D