Admittedly we were a little late to the start line so we missed getting into the 25-29km/hr bunch. The first 10-15kms involved passing some pretty slow people. And people who failed to keep left or indicate their movements!

The first and only real test is the Morington Penninsula Freeway hill that I rode several times during IM training that killed me the first time and left an everlasting bad memory. The boy sped up because he has no weight to carry him up the hill, I didn't push it because of my knee and wasn't passed by many people at all. With that done it was going to be an easy ride home!

The course undulates from here to Frankston and it was a pretty nice ride as we were close to the front of the pack we were riding with.

A stop was required at the bottom of Olivers Hill for the bathroom. Then it was an easy ride to Mordi for lunch.

While the food was good, it didn't agree with my stomach and I hadn't drunk enough during the day. So the last hour was a bit painful, I had a headache, a stomach ache and little patience to deal with all the red lights we got during the ride from the beach to the city.

Drink more. There was an option to get lunch at the end, it would certainly have been my preference, however the boy does better with a break so we went for that option. I probably would have done better to just stick with my own nutrition and respect the distance more in terms of hydration requirements.

We crossed the finish line, and I took a quick moment to stretch my back out or at least move it around. I think all the stuff I was carrying didn't help my back.

Once we'd finished the boy commented that we should have done the 210 because that wasn't a challenge. He was disappointed because the tailwind made it pretty easy. He retracted his statement towards the end of the day as he started to tire in the afternoon!


The number of people and in the end my dehydration.


A lot of people (19,000) do this ride and the roads aren't closed, meaning cyclists have to contend with cars. Due to the sheer number of people it's sometimes difficult not to be riding at more than 4 abreast. Completely illegal I'm aware, but unavoidable at times, considering slower riders sometimes failed to keep left.

I think some marshaling along the course or perhaps a bigger police presence may have assisted. There's been a lot of whinging from motorists about cyclists not obeying the road rules yesterday (though I didn't see anyone run a red light).

Apart from that it's an impressive event. Getting our lunch was too easy, people were friendly and up for a chat, there looked to be quite a bit going on at the finish line. Will probably have a second crack at the 210km next year.