Thanks fellas. I'll take a picture of my sac after the event and post it for yers.

BTW, got my blood tests back and I don't have aids or anything that don't work properly. So my little turn the other way was just from mistreatment and nothing major, which is a relief with the ride coming up. Still my old man rekons I'm weak as urine since he rekons when he was a young fella he'd shear 200 sheep a day then have a couple of ports to get him going then suck down beers for the rest of the night. The way I go, that'd kill me.

If yer sac aint black, get off the track!

can't wait the that ride report saccy !!

I would love to do that ride one year, I'll definitely be keen to see how hard it is. Maybe a long term plan to do it in 2007 or 2008 is what I need.

The break has passed through the feed zone in Seppeltsfield as the peloton falls back to 5'15 behind. It's all over for them. The riders are taking on plenty of fluids now due to the heat.

Vansevenant and Chavanel have bridged to the lead group, where McEwen and d'Hollander have attacked. The group splits in half.

lol. That's gold pshaw.

Maybe we could plan to have an Aussie thread attack on it next year? We'll draft jock and climbo the whole way.

That's if I ever get on a bike again after this weekend.

Question for youse fellas since yer smarter than me. What would youse eat on the ride? Powerbars? Dried fruit. Fruit portions wrapped in glad wrap? Cold pizza? What yers rekon?

Team aussie, I like it!

jelly snakes !

Dont leave them unprotected in your pocket for 7 hours in the sun, my jersey from the highland fling still has a sticky snake patch that washing wont remove.

In emergency bonk situations I suck the pocket!

Bludy 'ell. That what me mate eats already. I'm always bagging him for eating that crap thinking they wouldn't stick to his bones (since that's all he is). But if you fellas rekon that's the go then I'll have to raid his stash.

That's a great mental picture pshawry.

it obviously depends how far and how hot.

For me, a lot of it comes down to cost -- it can get pretty expensive if you have gel packs and powerbars every day. I mix it up, using powdered sports drink (Gatorade or Powerade), Milo , Glucodin (very cheap at Coles), lollies, sometimes chips from a servo toward the end of a ride. I usually take 2 bottles, one mixed REALLY strong with Gatorade, and the other with plain water. I sip the strong one and dilute it as I go.

We don't need to know these things.

Well, 200km up farkin great whacking hills. Cost no barrier. Just whatever will get me to the end and isn't to much of a pita to carry. Milo? Dry or in milk? Wouldn't the milk gunk you up?

Yeah I was going to carry some zip lock bags of gatoraid to flavour the water I get along the way. The gatoraid/water bidons is a good idea. Get sick of gatoraid after a while.

Let me digress for a minute: bloody system has stalled. By the time racing is due to start it'll be fire 'n' brimstones and adcock will be under 3 feet of water. I'm predicting weight training at the Elle tonight.

Tour over on day 1....

13:48 CST 104km/44km to go
The four leaders, Luis Leon Sanchez (Liberty), Simon Gerrans (Ag2r), Robbie McEwen (Davitamon Lotto), and William Walker (United Water) have about 12 seconds on the remaining 16 riders, with UniSA working hard to bring them back. You can't let guys of this calibre get away.

13:51 CST 109km/39km to go
The chase is splitting up even more as Samuel Dumoulin (Ag2r - Prevoyance), Giovanni Visconti (Milram), Sebastien Chavanel (Bouygues Telecom), Simon Clarke (South Australia.com - AIS), Gene Bates, Chris Jongewaard (Uni SA - Australia) and
Mitch Docker (United Water - Australia U/23) follow at 150 metres.

Current race situation

Luis Leon Sanchez (Liberty), Simon Gerrans (Ag2r), Robbie McEwen (Davitamon Lotto), William Walker (United Water)
Samuel Dumoulin (Ag2r - Prevoyance), Giovanni Visconti (Milram), Sebastien Chavanel (Bouygues Telecom), Simon Clarke (South Australia.com - AIS), Gene Bates, Chris Jongewaard (Uni SA - Australia) and Mitch Docker (United Water - Australia U/23) at 0'10
Ivan Santos (Liberty Seguros), Eros Capecchi, Daniele Colli (Liquigas), Glenn d'Hollander (Chocolade Jacques), Ben Brooks, Sergey Lagutin (Navigators Insurance), Shaun Higgerson (South Australia.com - AIS), Sean Sullivan, Russel Van Hout (Uni SA - Australia) at ?
Aaron Kemps (Liberty Seguros), Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole), Cadel Evans, Wim Vansevenant (Davitamon Lotto), Elia Rigotto (Milram), Alexandre Pichot (Bouygues Telecom), James Meadley (South Australia.com - AIS), Rob McLachlan (Uni SA - Australia), David Tanner (United Water - Australia U/23) at 2'30
Peloton at 12'45

For me it's growling dog (six inches of snarl), bananas, and some form of sugar based lolly for bonk stomping. But it's only 200kays saccy. You'll only need sugared water!

Wasn't there a pie shop on Mt Buffalo?

The Dogs are not too bad, but bananas are post-ride only. Apparently, they can do bad things to some people.

I've tried for a couple of minutes, but me brain wont tell me what a growling dog is.

Only 200km? You forgot the whacking great hill bit. I'll be out there from sunup, till sundown.

Pie shop?!! You beauty. Although Buffalo's to late. I need it ontop of Falls Creek.

Mushashashashishi. Or that bugger wots gonna bite your arse.

Blaaa, you're not wrong about Gatorade becoming too much after a while. I alternate the 3 flavours that are available at my local Safetyway.

jeez, 200km -- I've never ridd that far. I've gone off Milo coz I got sick of carrying it. Apart from cost, for me, it's also is about what I can be bothered carrying. I found the sealable plastic bags to be too messy and sticky after a few goes, so I was using empty vitamin containers -- much better -- I can get 150g of Gatorate powder in a large, plastic Cenovis bottle!

On a longish ride, which, for me, is only ~100km, I find it makes a big difference if I take a 5 or 10min break at ~70km to gobble down whatever I have -- or at least roll along. Dropping the intensity probably increases gastric emptying. Anyway, a short break while I'm guzzling or eating seems to give the legs a good chance to 're-group'. If you can take a long break it makes a big difference.

If I run out of stuff, I'll buy another Gatorade or 2, and if that still aint enough towards the end, I'll buy one of those 200g packs of strawberry cream lollies from a servo and a pack of chips for the salt.

If I stuff things up, and don't feel quite right, I'll sit down for at least 10 or 15mins and scoff a couple of packs of chips and about a litre of water

With 2000 riders I'm guessin you won't be able to rely on buying any food along the way.

oh, is it some kinda race or huge organised ride?

Alpine Classic is just a big organised ride. www.audax.org.au/alpine.htm

Sadness.

Thanks 531. Guess I'll have to OD on vitamins over the next few days to free up some bottles.

Where you buy that thing jock?