The way points of this bicycle route:
Time to set off, crack of dawn, full of yummy breakfast and raring to go!
Just a word of warning...
... if it's blowing a gale ...
... pray it doesn't do it in your face all day (it did on the day in 2007) ...
Left onto Old Dandenong Road - much less traffic down here than almost every other road headed SE
Aargh! Big hill, lots of traffic. Good news is in 125K you get to go back down this thing...
It's all a bit hilly here, some b'stard is bound to go flying past you but remember that you're doing a century and they're... NOT
up a hill, hey nonny no, down a hill, hey nonny no. You're on the Around The Bay In A Day path too
Go left! Stop first and grab a drink at the BP station
This is the break for breakfast at Olympic Park - load up on food and water here in time for the ride proper...
Bloody hell this was pretty windy, at this stage it was at our backs so we had NO IDEA what was coming up...
the hills start here, they go down then they seem to go up just that bit more...
HILL!!!
HILL!!!
At this point we realised that the gale really, really wasn't going to help much. 20K's at full throttle. Not good. 2 hours for the Bay2Bay is out of the question, it's going to be a matter of toughing the thing out...
You're about to crack 100K for the day... keep riding!
You lucky, lucky b'stard - turn left and go up hill, into a gale. Arthur's seat is coming up, but at least it's a slow and steady ascent...
Serious, fast downhill stuff for the next 10K, if it wasn't blowing a hard crosswind. In the real world it feels like you're about to fall off all the time so 40K not 60+ is the rule... I think we'll come back next year if the weather's better and this next section will be hugely enjoyable!
Nice man at the roundabout says turn right and who are you to argue, 70 miles under your belt and Frankston would be a pleasant idea but for this damned wind
Turn right in a minute, the wind was about to get EVEN WORSE. 20K seems like rocket speed...
That's it - now you've done the official bit. Load up again on food and drink and start the ride home if you're feeling up to it!
Oh goody, no cover. And no friends to drag me home. Fortunately I was in serious training and had lost all sense of, well, sense. Head into the wind and some more hills, and remember, this bit you're only doing because you just turned down a lift home...
At this point we're going to take the slower, more scenic route that involves more opportunity to stop for a while...
Tunnel!
Only this bit of the entire bay has proper cliffs. This means you go up and down a lot.
Yay! highway! By now I was pretty stuffed and Frankston, only 11K's away, would take the best part of an hour...
The very last UP
.. and the very last down bit - just too tired to go fast
Just cracked 100 miles! Your reward is to ride DOWN a big hill for a change
Franger! Trains! Home!
Well done - that's a century in old money and a $2.50 Sunday Saver looks like good value at this point
