GVBR - Rumours

Peter Signorini said:

"John Venables" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In noticed an article in the Warnabool Standard where it was reported
that 16 people had been taken to Timboon Hospital but the ride director
had only heard about one. I think there has been a lot of problems
with communication.

You posted the link to the Standard item, but you seem to be playing to
the crowd here. According to the item there were 14 treated by ambulance
officers, but only "about 10 cases" transported to Timboon. Not 16.

Quoted message said:

The RAV spokesman put the number of injuries from yesterday's stretch at
14

and said there had been "a couple of collarbones, quite a few fractures
and lacerations, several middle-aged riders with cardiac-related chest
pains and three asthmatics".

Quoted message said:

"I don't remember there being quite so many last year," the spokesman
said.

Quoted message said:

"They're all in keeping with the kind of injuries we'd expect," he said,

adding that none were life-threatening.

From Timboon Hospital's director of nursing:

Quoted message said:

Ms McMeel said a dislocated shoulder and chest pain had been the most

serious cases, with grazes and cuts being the main complaint

This all doesn't sound quite so distressing, given that there are about
twice the number of riders than have been on previous rides, and the
roads around Timboon are a little narrow and quite hilly. As for the
ride director Vincent Ciardull, he quoted one as the worst he had heard
of :

Quoted message said:

Event director Vincent Ciardulli played down the number of injured
riders,

saying that the worst he was aware of was a broken wrist. "There's only
been about five or so who have had to stop riding because of injury," Mr
Ciardulli said when he spoke to The Standard at noon yesterday.

He's not saying he's only heard of one. So it would be great if, like
the mass media generally, you can get the details straight and avoid
putting words in people's mouths.

Fair call.
The injury list is pretty good considering the number of people.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I also agree that the numbers are too high, the camp sites too big. I
spent an hour in the breakfast queue and the bloke next to me had had a
15 minute walk from his camp.

Fair call. I was on the 1988 ride with 5200 riders and it was busy but
far less queuing than smaller rides in 84 & 85. Absolute numbers are not
the only factor. How many kitchens? (I'd think at least two seperate
meals areas would be desirable). Are meals run for extended hours? How
many toilet/shower units compared to previous years? And are they kept
running or frequently out of action?

One meal area on one side of the camp with all the campers on the other
side. The speed got better especially for breakfast but that may have
been because a lot of people gave and bought breakfast. Toilets were
frequently out of action. Did seem to be enough but were not maintained
so thathalf were not working. Not enough showers and they closed at
9:00pm whether people were waiting or not. This was a problem because
many people got into camp late.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I hope that many people had a good time because it should be possible
to run this successsfully. I do not think it acceptable to say that it
is always chaotic for the first two days. If it is always that way you
can fix it.

This ride _is_ always chaotic in the first couple of days. People don't
get the chance to practice riding in groups of several hundred at a
time, with traffic on open roads. And very little BV does can avoid
this. It is a case of gaining the experience on the ride with more
experienced riders helping. Maybe everyone should start out on seperate
route with only 1000 riders then converge on day 3 in a group of 6000.
But imagine the logistical nightmare of that!

You are right starting at different locations would be impossible. The
raod condtions were generally good. Only occaisonally did riders do
silly things near me but I was prepared for that. I just wish cyclist
would not play chicken with cars and trucks. You come off seconds best
even if the car is in the wrong.

Quoted message said:

No, good marshals, signs for hazards, police on deck and a fair spread
of experienced riders along are the only way to deal with this issue.
And you, as an experienced rider have a role to play in telling people
directly how to ride safely and predictably, how to use their gears, how
to call out warnings of cars, potholes, gravel, stopping etc. So get out
there and do it.

Agree but I was refering to the campsite not the road. The cyclist on the
road were pretty good moslty. The route marshalls and Police were great.

Quoted message said:

Cheers
Peter

The campsite chaos was was due to things like not putting up the truck
number flags so you find your luggage. The huge size of the campsite.
One meals area on one side of the camp so a long walk for those on the
other side. It is mostly small things but if the first 2 days always
have those teething problems it can be fixed. If there were 3000 to 4000
they would not have mattered but with 8000 it becomes a problem. I am
trying not to be too negative here and I hope most people had a good
time. These events should be fun, it is unfortunate when it does not work
out that way for some.
My concern is that it will put off people from going in the future. I
guess I am contributing to that, but I am trying to be contructive and
will write to BV with my comments.

John

Peter Signorini said:

This ride _is_ always chaotic in the first couple of days.

I gather that you are talking about the riders impression, rather than
the organisation. Organisation should be very smooth after 20 years.

http://www.geelonginfo.com.au/readarticle.asp?articleid=13920

It's good to ride, but it's great to get a rest

Gail Adams gets a helping hand from Gol Taban. Photo: RICHARD KUMNICK

Friday, December 3
DANIEL FOGARTY

GOL Taban has only recently started riding bikes - but he already proudly
bears the scars of the VicRoads Great Victorian Bike Ride.
The Sudanese immigrant said he didn't have time to ride in his homeland
because he was too busy playing soccer and doing homework.

Before migrating to Australia Gol, now 14, rode a bike in Kenya.

But it has only been this year that the Springvale Secondary College student
has become a keen cyclist - taking bike rides around Melbourne and now
riding from Port Fairy to Apollo Bay.

Gol said he joined the ride after a teacher at his school asked for
volunteers.

``They asked `Who wants to go on the ride?' and I said `Yeah','' Gol said.

Yesterday with scars and scrapes on both legs and a wide grin on his face,
Gol worked on fixing a friend's bike.

``Then I am heading to the beach again,'' Gol said.

Gol was not the only rider making the most of the rest day.

Relaxing in his tent, Nelson Park teacher Neil Christensen rested his legs
and tried to find some energy.

This is Mr Christensen's third ride and this time nine students came with
him.

``It is very hard, the cycling is the easiest bit,'' Mr Christensen said.

He said the students completed Tuesday's 100km section with little worry.

Among hundreds of other school students lining the Apollo Bay football oval
were a group from Hawthorn's Bialik College.

Spokesman David Rees said the group would ride today, but for religious
reasons tomorrow was out of the question.

``We will rest on Saturday and our gear will be bussed through to
Queenscliff,'' Mr Rees said. Event director Vincent Ciardulli said reports
3000 people had pulled out were overstated.

Mr Ciardulli said about 1000 people chose not to ride on Wednesday ``for a
variety of reasons, some because they didn't do the training''.

He said the majority of those people would resume riding today.

Riders travel to Aireys Inlet today, stopping in Queenscliff tomorrow,
before finishing in Geelong on Sunday.

--

D

----------------------------------------------------------
Dallas

When in doubt, jiggle the cable.
----------------------------------------------------------
"John Venables" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Peter Signorini said:

"John Venables" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In noticed an article in the Warnabool Standard where it was reported
that 16 people had been taken to Timboon Hospital but the ride director
had only heard about one. I think there has been a lot of problems
with communication.

Well I just finished the ride and probabl won't do anoth (this was my 4th).

The basic problem is that the expanded their customer base with the free
bike and pulled in some less serious cycles.
Also there really was not enough said about the need to train for it and the
fact there would be hills.
They then did 3 hard days in a row, which made it nolonger fun for the less
fit.
Add to this there was no warning given to the riders that some of the
decents were steep, wet and the road surface poor.
One day there were 5 broken collar bones on one corner! I wouldn't be
surprised if they were liable as this was forseable and preventable.

They were short of volenteers so they worked the ones they had hard, but
should have got paid help to make up teh numbers as a lot of stuff fell
though the cracks.

Alot of the old timers won't go again as the queues were really bad, you
couldn't fine you mates and the essence of the ride seemed to have changed.

If BV want to go mass market that's fine. but them need to have an easy
route option (say 50km) as well as a hard route (100km) each day.
The also need you to testify on the form that you have riden 90km in the
last 3 months as people were turning up with there free bikes still in the
boxes.

My 2c worthe

Phil

"flyingdutch" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

and this...

http://the.standard.net.au/articles/2004/12/01/1101577523127.html

"Bike ride toll blamed on roads
By LIZ McKINNON
December 1, 2004
A MOBILE Intensive Care Ambulance (MICA) paramedic on the Great
Victorian Bike Ride has blamed the condition of south-west roads for
the high percentage of casualties less than halfway into the event.
A quarter of the 8000 field had pulled out of the ride by yesterday
afternoon as the ride headed into Gellibrand on the final leg of day
four's
72km ride.Paramedic Bruce Rae said rough roads and poor weather
conditions had contributed to the 2000-cyclist fall-out and growing
injury list. "The roads are rough, the edges are deep and there is lose
gravel on corners
which is contributing to a lot of the incidents," Mr Rae said.
"Combined with a loss of concentration riders are being injured. If the

roads were in better condition there would be a lot less falls."
The roads rated as B and C class by Mr Rae had resulted in 15 cyclists
being transported to hospital on Monday with fractured bones, with more
serious
respiratory and cardiac conditions due to exhaustion.
Yesterday, the injured list rose further with five more fractures and
several cardiac arrests in what Mr Rae referred to as a quiet day,
largely
spent attending to common cuts and abrasions.
As of last night about 20 people had been transported to various
hospitals
by ambulance and about 400 people had been treated at the clinic set up
for the ride.
Mr Rae has ridden four Great Victorian Bike Rides and this year's is
his
sixth as a volunteer paramedic. He is among a team of four volunteer
paramedics touring the route on BMW motorbikes fitted with full medical

equipment.
"This is a tough ride for the inexperienced. Yesterday (Monday) was
very
hectic and today has been a breeze," Mr Rae told The Standard yesterday

afternoon.
"The number of people getting injured is totally unpredictable. There
could
be a whole stream at once and then none. Things are quieter now because
it is the more experienced left - it's taken its toll on the novices."
Tackling the non-competitive ride are people of all ages including an
85-year-old male, a five-month-old baby and a daredevil blind cyclist
on a
tandem bike towing his dog.
The ride will finish in Geelong on Sunday."

--
flyingdutch

On Wed, 01 Dec 2004 at 03:27 GMT, Brad McArthur (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

Greetings,

A friend's son is on the current Great Victorian Bike Ride. He's done it
before so he knows what to expect. However, when he rang home the other
day, he wasn't happy. Queues are longer than they have ever been before.
I heard that there are about 8000 riders this year. Yikes! I did it in
2000 and there were around 3000 and I thought that was too many.

Anyone heard similar complaints about numbers this year. Does Bicycle
Victoria need to limit the number of riders?

The queues were horendous on the first day, but they mostly sorted
them out. The worst queues were for the fish and chip shops on rest
day 🙂 I also sat in the massage queue for an hour to get the very
last massge of the ride, lastnight.

Yum.

--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
Error: Fuzzy Pointer Exception

On Thu, 02 Dec 2004 at 04:45 GMT, Stuart Lamble (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

* Koroit. Long queue for dinner, although it only took ~15 minutes to
get from the end to the start for me.
* Koroit. Long queue for breakfast. Ten minutes I was in it, and it
didn't move an inch.

People didn't suss the queues.

You arrived before 6:00am, or left just afterwards, did you?

I saw one morning that it wasn't yet moving at 6:10, opening time is
nominally 6:00am. So I just continued to pack up my tent. By 6:15, it
was flowing, and by 6:25, the queue was about 10 minute long. Easy.

My big complaint is the toilets -- they were foul. But I have stayed
at a friends place with an out-toilet before (with no sewage -- it was
little more than a hole in the ground), and it was worse.

My other complaint that I can thknk of right now, was the hot day 3
didn't have enough rest stops. It was easily 30 degrees, and between
lunch and afternoon rest-area, was large steep uphills. My 2 bidons
weren't enough. I ran out on hill into it. I went about 2 hours
without water, and was desperate by the time I got to the rest
area. Waiting in that queue was not so fun, but a person behind me
poured their bidon into mine. It wwent straight down my gulp, and then
when I got to the taps, I filled up one, poured it down, then filled
them both. Only at that point did I discover that the water tasted
foul. So heavily chlorinated - I don't believe the regional towns we
sourced the water from, have to put up with that.

--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
The prolonged application of polysyllabic vocabulary infallibly
exercises a deleterious influence on the fecundity of expression,
rendering the ultimate tendancy apocryphal. --unk

TimC said:

On Thu, 02 Dec 2004 at 04:45 GMT, Stuart Lamble (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

* Koroit. Long queue for dinner, although it only took ~15 minutes to
get from the end to the start for me.
* Koroit. Long queue for breakfast. Ten minutes I was in it, and it
didn't move an inch.

People didn't suss the queues.

You arrived before 6:00am, or left just afterwards, did you?

I saw one morning that it wasn't yet moving at 6:10, opening time is
nominally 6:00am. So I just continued to pack up my tent. By 6:15, it
was flowing, and by 6:25, the queue was about 10 minute long. Easy.

My routine on the ride is usually:

* Wake up between 5 and 5:30 (aiming for 5.30, but usually around a
quarter hour before that, because of other people around me already
up and about doing their thing.)
* Get dressed in my cycling gear.
* Pack up my bag, excluding my tent, cycling stuff (bidons, etc.) and
meal stuff.
* Pack up my tent.
* Shove my tent into my bag. It fitted fine before the ride, damnit;
why's it so hard now...? 🙂
* Load my bag onto the truck (by this stage, it's around 6 o'clock.
Most people are at the breakfast queue, so there's no waiting around
for the luggage truck.)
* Join the breakfast queue, get the food, eat.
* Wash the plates.
* Shove the (still damp) plates in my panniers (usually enclosed in a
plastic bag) and set off.

Quoted message said:

My big complaint is the toilets -- they were foul. But I have stayed
at a friends place with an out-toilet before (with no sewage -- it was
little more than a hole in the ground), and it was worse.

I generally manage to arrange things so I don't need to use the provided
toilets. Pubs are good. :-) If I'd had to have gone in the provided
toilets, I would have; fortunately, I didn't.

The complaint that I didn't mention in my earlier post: they turned off
the water to the showers in Gellibrand, without any warning. Reason:
they had nowhere to put the waste water. I was fortunate; I'd just
finished my shower. I pity those who had just lathered up, though. At
the time they turned it off, they estimated it would be about an hour
before it would be turned back on.

For me, at least, the feel of the ride was subtly different to the
previous ones I'd done. I don't know how or why; I do know that it was
very off-putting for me. Maybe that magnified the problems I perceived;
I don't know. All I do know is that I didn't enjoy it anywhere near as
much as I have in the past, and that BV would have to work pretty damn
hard to get any money out of me for any future rides. It probably came
down to a whole slew of small problems adding up and making it worse
than I remember it being.

--
My Usenet From: address now expires after two weeks. If you email me, and
the mail bounces, try changing the bit before the "@ to usenet".

Brad McArthur said:

Greetings,

A friend's son is on the current Great Victorian Bike Ride. He's done it
before so he knows what to expect. However, when he rang home the other
day, he wasn't happy. Queues are longer than they have ever been before.
I heard that there are about 8000 riders this year. Yikes! I did it in
2000 and there were around 3000 and I thought that was too many.

Anyone heard similar complaints about numbers this year. Does Bicycle
Victoria need to limit the number of riders?

Brad.

I've just got back too. It was a large ride, and considering that the infrastructure has to be dismantled, moved and re-assembled daily, it wasn't a bad job. there's always going to be problems on rides of this size though:
there was a vast disparity in riding ability on the ride creating more than the usual traffic problems
local infrastructure becomes swamped - example, even though I had Optus reception much of the time my phone was next to useless as the network was always saturated and I was unable to make a call.
food was surprisingly good at dinner time and you could avoid the queues if you didn't mind eating at 7:30. Of course i was hungry and did mind! It is always going to be a compromise though. there was not enough food provided, lunch in particular was bad, sometimes still frozen.
Toilets and showers were always too busy and toilets too smelly.
The quiet camping area was always the furthest from the 'action' (that's what makes it quiet I suppose) but it meant walking up to 1 km at times and often there were no showers and few toilets in that area - an area that attracted families with little kids.
the day over Laver's Hill reminded me of the ATB2003 weather!
people were generally patient and generous with their time and overall it was OK.
I had the bizzarre experience of 3 flat tires but no punctures! (2 seperated valves and 1 pinch flat from using the tyre lever to replace the tyre).

On Sun, 05 Dec 2004 at 10:40 GMT, ProfTournesol (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

Toilets and showers were always too busy and toilets too smelly.
The quiet camping area was always the furthest from the 'action'
(that's what makes it quiet I suppose) but it meant walking up to 1 km
at times and often there were no showers and few toilets in that area -
an area that attracted families with little kids.

What?! You're saying the quiet area attracted families with kids?
There is a reason there is a bloody family section. Damn that mother
behind my tent who had some stupid whinging child the whole time at
Apollo Bay. I wanted to throttle the kid, then move on to the parent
to make sure she doesn't breed more stupid little brats.

Quoted message said:

I had the bizzarre experience of 3 flat tires but no punctures! (2
seperated valves and 1 pinch flat from using the tyre lever to replace
the tyre).

Not a complaint from my crappy GV bike. 🙂

I was impressed that the only thing I "lost" was my el-cheapo mug - I
know where I left it - I forgot it at the dish-washing place (another
complaint - consistently strong hot water would have been welcome). I
left my bike computer in my tent one day (the fast day[1] - I have no
idea how fast I went down lavers hill. I left it in a pair of shorts
another day, and turned everything upside down and still couldn't find
it until I next went to wear the same pair of shorts. I lost my helmet
mirror when I dropped my helmet this afternoon at the finish line
(where was the chear squad, dammit? You know, the women in skimpy
clothing hugging me[2]?). But I recalled when the bike fell over, went
back, and there it was.

I'm stuffed. Still haven't done all the washing. None of the
dishes. And only a little of the packing up.

[1] As a data point -- my max recorded speed was 64.7 down the hill
into apollo bay. It felt the second fasteest I had ever gone. The
fastest was the fast day when I didn't have my computer. Fastest
accelaration was those quick successive hills yesterday. At the top, I
ws going at a crawl. About 100m further, I was already doing 60kmh,
and then by the time I was back at the top of the next hill, I had
just enough speed left to get me over. These hills were about 50m
high. Today's average for the morning was about 23, and I felt like I
was flying. Unfortunately, it then started to heat up, so I slowed
down to 20 by the end of the day (only 56km today).

[2] Coming out of Lorne, IIRC, was fun. I bunch of 6 or so girls in
bikinis just cheering at every cyclist passing. Thanks girls!

--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
However, my preamp still has a meat-driven knob. -- A. de Boer @ ASR

"TimC" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

I'm stuffed. Still haven't done all the washing. None of the
dishes. And only a little of the packing up.

Sounds like me on a normal day..

pigsty hippy ;-)

"dave" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

Phil wrote:

[...]

Quoted message said:

Really? With the bike still in the box? Wow. Impressive display of
stupidity that.

Please don't quote 6k of extraneous text.

--

A: Top-posters.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?

Phil said:

Well I just finished the ride and probabl won't do anoth (this was my 4th).

The basic problem is that the expanded their customer base with the free
bike and pulled in some less serious cycles.
Also there really was not enough said about the need to train for it and the
fact there would be hills.
They then did 3 hard days in a row, which made it nolonger fun for the less
fit.
Add to this there was no warning given to the riders that some of the
decents were steep, wet and the road surface poor.
One day there were 5 broken collar bones on one corner! I wouldn't be
surprised if they were liable as this was forseable and preventable.

They were short of volenteers so they worked the ones they had hard, but
should have got paid help to make up teh numbers as a lot of stuff fell
though the cracks.

Alot of the old timers won't go again as the queues were really bad, you
couldn't fine you mates and the essence of the ride seemed to have changed.

If BV want to go mass market that's fine. but them need to have an easy
route option (say 50km) as well as a hard route (100km) each day.
The also need you to testify on the form that you have riden 90km in the
last 3 months as people were turning up with there free bikes still in the
boxes.

My 2c worthe

Phil

"flyingdutch" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

and this...

http://the.standard.net.au/articles/2004/12/01/1101577523127.html

"Bike ride toll blamed on roads
By LIZ McKINNON
December 1, 2004
A MOBILE Intensive Care Ambulance (MICA) paramedic on the Great
Victorian Bike Ride has blamed the condition of south-west roads for
the high percentage of casualties less than halfway into the event.
A quarter of the 8000 field had pulled out of the ride by yesterday
afternoon as the ride headed into Gellibrand on the final leg of day
four's
72km ride.Paramedic Bruce Rae said rough roads and poor weather
conditions had contributed to the 2000-cyclist fall-out and growing
injury list. "The roads are rough, the edges are deep and there is lose
gravel on corners
which is contributing to a lot of the incidents," Mr Rae said.
"Combined with a loss of concentration riders are being injured. If the

roads were in better condition there would be a lot less falls."
The roads rated as B and C class by Mr Rae had resulted in 15 cyclists
being transported to hospital on Monday with fractured bones, with more
serious
respiratory and cardiac conditions due to exhaustion.
Yesterday, the injured list rose further with five more fractures and
several cardiac arrests in what Mr Rae referred to as a quiet day,
largely
spent attending to common cuts and abrasions.
As of last night about 20 people had been transported to various
hospitals
by ambulance and about 400 people had been treated at the clinic set up
for the ride.
Mr Rae has ridden four Great Victorian Bike Rides and this year's is
his
sixth as a volunteer paramedic. He is among a team of four volunteer
paramedics touring the route on BMW motorbikes fitted with full medical

equipment.
"This is a tough ride for the inexperienced. Yesterday (Monday) was
very
hectic and today has been a breeze," Mr Rae told The Standard yesterday

afternoon.
"The number of people getting injured is totally unpredictable. There
could
be a whole stream at once and then none. Things are quieter now because
it is the more experienced left - it's taken its toll on the novices."
Tackling the non-competitive ride are people of all ages including an
85-year-old male, a five-month-old baby and a daredevil blind cyclist
on a
tandem bike towing his dog.
The ride will finish in Geelong on Sunday."

--
flyingdutch

Really? With the bike still in the box? Wow. Impressive display of
stupidity that.

Dave

quote='John Venables'On Fri said:

Quoted message said:

"I don't remember there being quite so many last year," the spokesman
said.

Quoted message said:

"They're all in keeping with the kind of injuries we'd expect," he said,

adding that none were life-threatening.

Fair call.
The injury list is pretty good considering the number of people.

i was working part-time on the medical centre team (not the road team). Proportionally, it was apparently no busier than in other years with an average 75 cases a day.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I also agree that the numbers are too high, the camp sites too big. I
spent an hour in the breakfast queue and the bloke next to me had had a
15 minute walk from his camp.

I agree. 'camplets' would probably be better, but logistically difficult (more expensive)

One meal area on one side of the camp with all the campers on the other
side. The speed got better especially for breakfast but that may have
been because a lot of people gave and bought breakfast. Toilets were
frequently out of action. Did seem to be enough but were not maintained
so thathalf were not working. Not enough showers and they closed at
9:00pm whether people were waiting or not. This was a problem because
many people got into camp late.

The showers closed at 9 so that they could leave to set up for the following day. the location of the showers was always determined by the availability of water (surprise surprise). this was not necessarily the most convenient location.

Quoted message said:

This ride _is_ always chaotic in the first couple of days. People don't
get the chance to practice riding in groups of several hundred at a
time, with traffic on open roads.

I agree. I had several near death experiences with riders wandering all over the road. It did improve after a few days though.

I heard a woman talking to her friend at the end saying how pleased she was with her Orange bike (not an Orbea) and how she now had confidence to continue riding it on the road. i suppose that is the purpose of the ride. My 10 year old (who pretends she hates cycling) is keen to return next year with a school team, so it has worked for some people despite the problems.

My big complaint is the toilets -- they were foul. But I have stayed
at a friends place with an out-toilet before (with no sewage -- it was
little more than a hole in the ground), and it was worse.

I agree, but when you have 100s [censored] in the same room for hours then it will always be like that unless people take responsibility for cleaning up their own mess. there was less gastro this year.

My other complaint that I can thknk of right now, was the hot day 3
didn't have enough rest stops. It was easily 30 degrees, and between
lunch and afternoon rest-area, was large steep uphills. My 2 bidons
weren't enough. I ran out on hill into it. I went about 2 hours
without water, and was desperate by the time I got to the rest
area. Waiting in that queue was not so fun, but a person behind me
poured their bidon into mine. It wwent straight down my gulp, and then
when I got to the taps, I filled up one, poured it down, then filled
them both. Only at that point did I discover that the water tasted
foul. So heavily chlorinated - I don't believe the regional towns we
sourced the water from, have to put up with that.

I agree. Inadequate water supplies (too few and too far apart) and not enough food. Given that most bikes only had one bidon cage fitted although many people used camelbaks.

--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
The prolonged application of polysyllabic vocabulary infallibly
exercises a deleterious influence on the fecundity of expression,
rendering the ultimate tendancy apocryphal. --unk[/QUOTE]

"ProfTournesol" <[email hidden]> wrote
in message news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

My big complaint is the toilets -- they were foul. But I have stayed
at a friends place with an out-toilet before (with no sewage -- it was
little more than a hole in the ground), and it was worse.

I agree, but when you have 100s [censored] in the same room for hours
then it will always be like that unless people take responsibility for
cleaning up their own mess. there was less gastro this year.

My other complaint that I can thknk of right now, was the hot day 3
didn't have enough rest stops. It was easily 30 degrees, and between
lunch and afternoon rest-area, was large steep uphills. My 2 bidons
weren't enough. I ran out on hill into it. I went about 2 hours
without water, and was desperate by the time I got to the rest
area. Waiting in that queue was not so fun, but a person behind me
poured their bidon into mine. It wwent straight down my gulp, and then
when I got to the taps, I filled up one, poured it down, then filled
them both. Only at that point did I discover that the water tasted
foul. So heavily chlorinated - I don't believe the regional towns we
sourced the water from, have to put up with that.

I agree. Inadequate water supplies (too few and too far apart) and not
enough food. Given that most bikes only had one bidon cage fitted
although many people used camelbaks.

--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
The prolonged application of polysyllabic vocabulary infallibly
exercises a deleterious influence on the fecundity of expression,
rendering the ultimate tendancy apocryphal. --unk

--
ProfTournesol

The trick with those events is to go down the back of the shops in the
shopping areas and by law, all shops must have a toilet, usually you can
find one that is open.
Take your own toilet paper too.

Marty

On Sun, 05 Dec 2004 08:22:58 GMT,

TimC said:

My big complaint is the toilets -- they were foul. But I have stayed
at a friends place with an out-toilet before (with no sewage -- it was
little more than a hole in the ground), and it was worse.

This is an issue that needs attention. I remember on the last GVBR I
did the male toilets were a disgrace. There was always a queue, half
the stalls were closed or overflowing and they stunk! It is the only
bad memory I have of the ride actaully. The rest was great.

"Brad McArthur" <[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

On Sun, 05 Dec 2004 08:22:58 GMT,

TimC said:

My big complaint is the toilets -- they were foul. But I have stayed
at a friends place with an out-toilet before (with no sewage -- it was
little more than a hole in the ground), and it was worse.

This is an issue that needs attention. I remember on the last GVBR I
did the male toilets were a disgrace. There was always a queue, half
the stalls were closed or overflowing and they stunk! It is the only
bad memory I have of the ride actaully. The rest was great.

Have you used a public male toilet, not in a
casino or hotel that DIDN'T stink?

You must normally hang out in better toilets
than me.. ;-)

hippy

"hippy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

"Brad McArthur" <[email hidden]

[...]

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

This is an issue that needs attention. I remember on the last GVBR I
did the male toilets were a disgrace. There was always a queue, half
the stalls were closed or overflowing and they stunk! It is the only
bad memory I have of the ride actaully. The rest was great.

Have you used a public male toilet, not in a
casino or hotel that DIDN'T stink?

You must normally hang out in better toilets
than me.. ;-)

You beat me to it. I'm still wondering what his complaint is. :-)

--

A: Top-posters.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?

On Tue, 07 Dec 2004 at 12:05 GMT, DRS (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

"hippy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

"Brad McArthur" <[email hidden]

[...]

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

This is an issue that needs attention. I remember on the last GVBR I
did the male toilets were a disgrace. There was always a queue, half
the stalls were closed or overflowing and they stunk! It is the only
bad memory I have of the ride actaully. The rest was great.

Have you used a public male toilet, not in a
casino or hotel that DIDN'T stink?

You must normally hang out in better toilets
than me.. ;-)

You beat me to it. I'm still wondering what his complaint is. :-)

I work at a university. On a floor where undergrads attend
labs. Enough said. Ewwww.

Can't they learn to lift the seat when pissing? To flush when they are
finished? To not sit on the toilet seat to have a bog? Too hard for
their puny minds? Furrfu.

--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
Yay! I have found the last bug bug bug bug bug bug bug
bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug
bug bug bu%$@#$@#%$@# Error: Missing Carrier Signal

hi all

well ive had many emails re the Harry Barber interview audio on 774 am radio
last week

i hope everyone emails BVwith their griefs AND posts a copy here too

please chase up your disappointments on the ride and keep us informed of any
reply

D
--

----------------------------------------------------------
Dallas

When in doubt, jiggle the cable.
----------------------------------------------------------
"dave" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Phil said:

Well I just finished the ride and probabl won't do anoth (this was my
4th).

The basic problem is that the expanded their customer base with the free
bike and pulled in some less serious cycles.
Also there really was not enough said about the need to train for it and
the fact there would be hills.
They then did 3 hard days in a row, which made it nolonger fun for the
less fit.
Add to this there was no warning given to the riders that some of the
decents were steep, wet and the road surface poor.
One day there were 5 broken collar bones on one corner! I wouldn't be
surprised if they were liable as this was forseable and preventable.

They were short of volenteers so they worked the ones they had hard, but
should have got paid help to make up teh numbers as a lot of stuff fell
though the cracks.

Alot of the old timers won't go again as the queues were really bad, you
couldn't fine you mates and the essence of the ride seemed to have
changed.

If BV want to go mass market that's fine. but them need to have an easy
route option (say 50km) as well as a hard route (100km) each day.
The also need you to testify on the form that you have riden 90km in the
last 3 months as people were turning up with there free bikes still in
the boxes.

My 2c worthe

Phil

"flyingdutch" <[email hidden]> wrote
in message news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

and this...

http://the.standard.net.au/articles/2004/12/01/1101577523127.html

"Bike ride toll blamed on roads
By LIZ McKINNON
December 1, 2004
A MOBILE Intensive Care Ambulance (MICA) paramedic on the Great
Victorian Bike Ride has blamed the condition of south-west roads for
the high percentage of casualties less than halfway into the event.
A quarter of the 8000 field had pulled out of the ride by yesterday
afternoon as the ride headed into Gellibrand on the final leg of day
four's
72km ride.Paramedic Bruce Rae said rough roads and poor weather
conditions had contributed to the 2000-cyclist fall-out and growing
injury list. "The roads are rough, the edges are deep and there is lose
gravel on corners
which is contributing to a lot of the incidents," Mr Rae said.
"Combined with a loss of concentration riders are being injured. If the

roads were in better condition there would be a lot less falls."
The roads rated as B and C class by Mr Rae had resulted in 15 cyclists
being transported to hospital on Monday with fractured bones, with more
serious
respiratory and cardiac conditions due to exhaustion.
Yesterday, the injured list rose further with five more fractures and
several cardiac arrests in what Mr Rae referred to as a quiet day,
largely
spent attending to common cuts and abrasions.
As of last night about 20 people had been transported to various
hospitals
by ambulance and about 400 people had been treated at the clinic set up
for the ride.
Mr Rae has ridden four Great Victorian Bike Rides and this year's is
his
sixth as a volunteer paramedic. He is among a team of four volunteer
paramedics touring the route on BMW motorbikes fitted with full medical

equipment.
"This is a tough ride for the inexperienced. Yesterday (Monday) was
very
hectic and today has been a breeze," Mr Rae told The Standard yesterday

afternoon.
"The number of people getting injured is totally unpredictable. There
could
be a whole stream at once and then none. Things are quieter now because
it is the more experienced left - it's taken its toll on the novices."
Tackling the non-competitive ride are people of all ages including an
85-year-old male, a five-month-old baby and a daredevil blind cyclist
on a
tandem bike towing his dog.
The ride will finish in Geelong on Sunday."

--
flyingdutch

Really? With the bike still in the box? Wow. Impressive display of
stupidity that.

Dave