Around the Bay in a Day.....well sort of

One of the biggest and best riding events in and around Melbourne is the Around the Bay in a Day event. The main event consists of a 250km ride around Port Phillip Bay in Victoria. There is also a 100km and 50km ride for the less fit/unispired riders out there. All rides start and finish in heart of the city.

With my new 2XU inspired fitness regime well and truly in force, I thought I'd take on the 250km ride.I've never riden that far before in one go but I'm one of those people who, when it comes to fitness, needs a goal to work for in order to get fired up about doing it.

Unfortunately, a few months out it became obvious that the ride was scheduled to go only a week after the Melbourne Marathon. I thought about it for a long time, but didn't think my ageing body would be able to handle 2 big events so close to each other. So down my lofty goals went. I found out my brother in law Michael was doing the 50km with a work mate, so I happily signed up for that.

The 50km ride started in beautiful Alexandra Gardens - just out of the city centre. From there it crossed through the city streets, over the monstrous Westgate Bridge and down through Bayside suburb of Williamstown before looping back roughly the same way. Despite the magnificent 28 degrees, and sunny day on the Saturday, raceday on Sunday was 15 degrees, cold, wet and windy....just a lovely day for riding.

It's safe to say I was close to freezing at the beginning of the ride because we had to stop at a ridiculous amount of lights through the city as the organisers had not arranged to block off a route for us at the start - foolish....very foolish !! With at least a few thousand people trying to ride in one lane through the city it was a bit crowded and tight to say the least.

Still, we eventually got going once we were out of the city. About 5km in we had the first go up the Westgate Bridge which was surprisingly easy. It was amusing to see a few people on the side walking there bikes up the bridge....hmmmm a looooong way to go for them. From there it was a leisurely cruise down to Williamstown and back. We stopped at the half way point so we could grab a warming coffee. About a 1,000 other people had the same idea, so 30 minutes in the queue and we FINALLY got them - DOH !!

The 2nd half was a lot faster as I think we all just wanted to get back, get home and get warm. Overall, still an enjoyable ride all up. I'm definately going to do the 250km next year......well, maybe.

Here's some pics from the trip.