Syd to Gong 2003

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

Quoted message said:

So who did the syd to gong (sutherland) ride last weekend? I went along for the fun and had a
pretty fun time with my mates. Saw alot of people injured on the begining downhill section of the
RNP and also saw some guy brake his arm!! they had a motorbike leading us down in groups to stop
us from speeding, mind you the motorbike was going 50-60km/h.. Got back in time before the southly
hit.. total riding time 3hr 33min Average heart 141bpm Max 170bpm( holding my breath in the porta
loo maybe?). Did anyone really drink a redbull for morning tea? that stuff is lethal...

I joined around Sylvania after riding from Concord. Good thing I started at 0630, those clouds
looked huge! I felt sorry for the people still heading south when I finished...

Ritch

Hi

Yes went along for fun, and it was fun. Riding time on my old GT MTB was 3:46, I don't know about my
heart rate but I think would have hit max. going up to Helensberg. Our group managed to miss the
Southerly too. Caught a train home...hats off to the SRA they can orginise something after all. One
rider from our group had a Red Bull at the Loftus stop. He took of like a bull after that, but ended
up suffering about an hour later and fell far behind. Perhaps they should have offered it at
Stanwell Tops and not Loftus. Best part of the ride? hard to say it was all good, but propably the
ride through the crisp eucalypt smell and Lyre bird chirps of the car free national park. Worse
part. Even though this was a well sign-posted event the F'ing idoit drivers whom still toot you to
get out of the way whilst they speed past in their 2 tonne projectiles. Can nothing can be done to
help these brain deficient neanderthals.

Thanks to the Organisers and volunteers, we had a great day.

DavMen

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

Quoted message said:

So who did the syd to gong (sutherland) ride last weekend? I went along for the fun and had a
pretty fun time with my mates. Saw alot of people injured on the begining downhill section of the
RNP and also saw some guy brake his arm!! they had a motorbike leading us down in groups to stop
us from speeding, mind you the motorbike was going 50-60km/h.. Got back in time before the southly
hit.. total riding time 3hr 33min Average heart 141bpm Max 170bpm( holding my breath in the porta
loo maybe?). Did anyone really drink a redbull for morning tea? that stuff is lethal...

dyno said:

So who did the syd to gong (sutherland) ride last weekend? I went along for the fun and had a
pretty fun time with my mates. Saw alot of people injured on the begining downhill section of the
RNP and also saw some guy brake his arm!! they had a motorbike leading us down in groups to stop
us from speeding, mind you the motorbike was going 50-60km/h.. Got back in time before the southly
hit.. total riding time 3hr 33min Average heart 141bpm Max 170bpm( holding my breath in the porta
loo maybe?). Did anyone really drink a redbull for morning tea? that stuff is lethal...

Yep, did it with three friends in 2:40, starting at 6:15 when they opened the course. HR was 155-175
bpm most of the way. A recumbent led the pack for ages, but we usually caught him up the hills and
we finished ahead of him. Geez those things can motor.

The ride was billed as 88km but our speedos only logged 84km - anyone else find this?

Most heart-stopping moment was just into the descent from Waterfall, when the cop car leading the
field decided to pull up on the wrong side of the road next to a line of stationary cars on the
left, blocking the road completely. There was lots of yelling, locked-up rear wheels, and stained
knicks until the cop realised the error of his ways and moved on.

Sitting in the cafe for lunch, I felt sorry for the poor mugs still out in the wind and rain (not
least the volunteers, who did a great job as always).

&roo

Andrew Swan said:

The ride was billed as 88km but our speedos only logged 84km - anyone else find this?

I found 82Km, but allowing for inaccuracies, it sounds about right. Their distance specs are
always out.

--
Linux Registered User # 302622 <counter.li.orgcounter.li.orgOpen ↗

well all up i did about 114km.. i parked my car at the start and rode back from the finish, plus a
detour to a friends house.. "John Tserkezis" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Andrew Swan said:

The ride was billed as 88km but our speedos only logged 84km - anyone else find this?

I found 82Km, but allowing for inaccuracies, it sounds about right.

Their

Quoted message said:

distance specs are always out.

--
Linux Registered User # 302622

<counter.li.orgcounter.li.orgOpen ↗

dyno said:

well all up i did about 114km.. i parked my car at the start and rode back from the finish, plus a
detour to a friends house..

Same here. Since they changed the route, we don't have to bother with transporting home. Rode from
home to the start, and back home from sutherland, all up about 120K.

BTW, does anyone know why the diverted traffic to backstreets from the freeway for about a
kilometre on the way back? The backstreets just ran parallel with the freeway, and didn't add any
real distance to the overall trip, so it couldn't have been for padding distance.

Only other reason I can think of (that section was on a downhill run), they didn't want anyone
coming off on the freeway shoulder. On those backstreets, we did 65Km/h+ in a 50 zone. That's
safer is it?

--
Linux Registered User # 302622 <counter.li.orgcounter.li.orgOpen ↗

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

Quoted message said:

dyno said:

well all up i did about 114km.. i parked my car at the start and rode

back

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

from the finish, plus a detour to a friends house..

Same here. Since they changed the route, we don't have to bother with transporting home. Rode
from home to the start, and back home from

sutherland,

Quoted message said:

all up about 120K.

BTW, does anyone know why the diverted traffic to backstreets from the freeway for about a
kilometre on the way back? The backstreets just ran parallel with the freeway, and didn't add
any real distance to the overall trip, so it couldn't have been for padding distance.

Only other reason I can think of (that section was on a downhill run),

they

Quoted message said:

didn't want anyone coming off on the freeway shoulder. On those

backstreets,

Quoted message said:

we did 65Km/h+ in a 50 zone. That's safer is it?

--
Linux Registered User # 302622

<http://counter.li.org>

Quoted message said:

i thought the same.. i was doing 60 or so in the 50 zone..not sure why it was diverted. did anyone
see the guy with a rola roof rack on the back of his bike? Shaped it like a car spoiler. I also saw
a kid, he must of been 4 or 5 years old riding the long course.. not sure how far he got...My
favourite is how everyone talks and laughs etc but into the climb everyone was dead silent just
trying to climb the hills. Weird seeing around 200 hundred people not makin a single noise.

dyno said:

did anyone see the guy with a rola roof rack on the back of his bike? Shaped it like a car
spoiler.

No, I hadn't seen it. Wasn't for downforce was it? Perhaps it made him go faster- at the very
least in his imaginiation? :-)

Quoted message said:

I also saw a kid, he must of been 4 or 5 years old riding the long course.. not sure how far
he got...

You'd be suprised. I ride with (or at least try to) a rather chunky bloke that runs circles around
most of the rest of our group.

Quoted message said:

My favourite is how everyone talks and laughs etc but into the climb everyone was dead silent just
trying to climb the hills. Weird seeing around 200 hundred people not makin a single noise.

You're just not fast enough to keep up with the front runners. They're engaged in casual
conversation over the whole ride, all the time overtaking everyone else.

--
Linux Registered User # 302622 <counter.li.orgcounter.li.orgOpen ↗

John Tserkezis said:

You're just not fast enough to keep up with the front runners. They're engaged in casual
conversation over the whole ride, all the time overtaking everyone else.

Actually there didn't seem to be many hotshots this year, otherwise there's no way me and my C-grade
friend would have finished in the top 15 or so. Maybe the ride not finishing at the Gong this year
turned them off (although there was "a" gong at the finish, nice visual gag I thought).

There certainly wasn't much chat up the front though, unless you count the yelping when the cop
blocked the descent. But yes, in years past I remember huge bunches breezing past while chatting at
the top of their lungs - depressing and annoying at the same time! :-)

&roo

Andrew Swan said:

Actually there didn't seem to be many hotshots this year, otherwise there's no way me and my
C-grade friend would have finished in the top 15 or so. Maybe the ride not finishing at the Gong
this year turned them off

You're right, there wasn't nearly as many people at the 6am start as there used to be.

Quoted message said:

(although there was "a" gong at the finish, nice visual gag I thought).

Ah, that's what the gong was for. It hadn't dawned on me.

Quoted message said:

There certainly wasn't much chat up the front though, unless you count the yelping when the cop
blocked the descent. But yes, in years past I remember huge bunches breezing past while chatting
at the top of their lungs - depressing and annoying at the same time! :-)

One of the guys I ride with had the privelage of (at least for a short time) riding with a bunch
of pros. He said he struggled to keep up with them, all the while they were casually chatting to
each other.

This guy was no slouch mind you. Certainly puts things into perspective.

--
Linux Registered User # 302622 <counter.li.orgcounter.li.orgOpen ↗

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

Quoted message said:

John Tserkezis said:

You're just not fast enough to keep up with the front runners. They're engaged in casual
conversation over the whole ride, all the time overtaking everyone else.

Actually there didn't seem to be many hotshots this year, otherwise there's no way me and my
C-grade friend would have finished in the top 15 or so. Maybe the ride not finishing at the Gong
this year turned them off (although there was "a" gong at the finish, nice visual gag I

thought).

Quoted message said:

There certainly wasn't much chat up the front though, unless you count the yelping when the cop
blocked the descent. But yes, in years past I remember huge bunches breezing past while chatting
at the top of their lungs - depressing and annoying at the same time! :-)

&roo

i tried to make it for the early start but slept in!! i didnt get too the start until 7:30 so i was
riding with the "slower" riders which was fine for
me.. still recovering from the flu

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Dyno
So who did the syd to gong (sutherland) ride last weekend? I went along for the fun and had a pretty
fun time with my mates. Saw alot of people injured on the begining downhill section of the RNP and
also saw some guy brake his arm!! they had a motorbike leading us down in groups to stop us from
speeding, mind you the motorbike was going 50-60km/h.. Got back in time before the southly hit..
total riding time 3hr 33min Average heart 141bpm Max 170bpm( holding my breath in the porta loo
maybe?). Did anyone really drink a redbull for morning tea? that stuff is lethal...

REPLY..

Yeh, I did the ride..also noticed it was only 84klm..not 88. Had one of the best rides for quite a while. Started at 7.15am and finished at 11.10am, although I stopped twice for about 15 mins each. My average speed was around 26 klm per hour ..Just arrived in time for a quick massage ($5 bucks for 15 mins is pretty good value) which was fantastic. And beat the rain by an hour or so.

I was also a bit perplexed by the guy on the motor bike who was "supposed" to have keep the pace into the RNP..he was doing at least 65klm and the were riders flying past me at 70+

So much for trying to keep a safe speed.

Personally I thought the route back to Sutherland was a bit tougher than the usual route to the Gong...keen to hear what other think.

I actually did have some Red Bull at the stop...but only because the girls on the stand we too cute to resist talking to....

All in all a great day out...
😄