Jur,

No flak whatsoever from the public.
Lots 'n lots of lycra clad riders of all shapes and sizes and ability, celebrities like Danny Frawley, Michael Klim and former Olympic gold medal cyclist Scott McGrory, also the Suntour team riders came as well. We all left Bendigo under police escort, all 200+?? of us, what a sight!! I stayed close to the front of the peleton as it was quite windy and I could see that breaks would happen when the weaker riders suddenly went out the back as the course became undulating. After about 40kms the short course riders, which were the bulk of the group turned off, and the rest of us long course mugs continued. I stayed with the leading bunch, working at the front through some pretty testing hills up until the 100km mark at the base of Mt Alexander. Then their YOUNG legs took over, even though I had been training on both sides of this climb for months, they ate me for breakfast....I was very disappointed with my climb, my worst effort for a long time, plus, cramps were making the climb even worse, I normally don't cramp up and I hate getting dropped The descent was down the steep side, very fast, lots of fun, put it this way...cars can't keep up
I came home with a few guys doing track turns at a fast pace with a strong tail wind, cramping up again 10 km from the finish, limping in in about 10 -15 th place, not a race, but somewhat competitive.
I had hoped that some of the celebs might have done the long course, I was itching to stick it to some of the ex AFL footballers, but alas, I got lumbered with young guns.....and some older guns too....all in all a great day, wish you could have made it.
BTW, I'm thinking of doing a 100km Audax ride at Avoca next month...see you there?