Around The Bay in a Day 100km Sorrento-Melbourne

Well what a day that was !

We spent the night at Rye and rose promptly this morning for the short ride to the start at Sorrento. Kevin was over from Hobart for another ride and was back on the Raceline, Chris was aboard his relatively new Cannondale CAAD 8 and I was on the trusty CAADX 105 - I even remembered to bring the Garmin this time !!

All went to plan until Frankston. Then the vicious northerly cracked it all wide open and it was every man for himself. I arrived at Mordialloc about 3 mins ahead of Chris with Kev a further couple in arrears. We regrouped, ate and drank then set off for the last leg at a conservative pace. 

Chris 'fell in with a fast crowd' for a few kms after Mordialloc and was away before pulling up and waiting for us up the road. Meanwhile Kev was cramping in the calves and thighs after Black Rock and he and I stopped a couple of times for him to stretch, eat/drink and recover. He battled on well from there and we regrouped and managed to cruise in at 4:52 crossing the line together. For reference our official time last year was 4:01!!

Chris rode well but was 'done' by the end of his first 100+km ride, Kev showed a lack of actual riding I suppose (as opposed to spin classes) and I just plugged away until the end. It has definitely been a character building day all round.

But we achieved what we set out to do and raised some money from generous donors for The Smith Family. And despite the aches and pains I reckon we all feel pretty good tonight.