Great Victorian Bike Ride 2004

Congratulations to the riders from Tallyho who participated in the 2004 Great Victorian Bike Ride.

The bike ride was just short of 600 km. There were over 8000 riders making it the biggest bike ride in the world. Started on 27 November at Port Fairy and finished nine days later on 5 December, at Geelong. Each morning it was getting up as dawn broke, packing the tent and belongings into the kit bag and off to have breakfast. Then after washing the dishes pack them in the bag, load the bag on to your semi trailer and be ready for riding about 7:00am.

It was not a race, as the idea was to ride along at a pace comfortable to you. We went along the Great Ocean Road, with deviations of into areas of interest (like Camperdown with its hills and the Otway Mountain Range). Distances covered generally varied between about 70 and 100 km per day. Most people finished riding by early afternoon, (noon to 2:00pm). Then it was time to find your kit bag from your semitrailer, find a camp spot, pitch the tent, have a walk about town, a couple of beers, a glass or two of wine, eat dinner and go to bed, ready to start the process again the next day. The first day was hot, the second and third days had some long uphills and some rain. After that the countryside was a bit less hilly and the weather was mild. So the ride became very pleasant.

Logistics were a major exercise. There were 160 buses to carry most of the participants to the start on the Saturday morning. Some left earlier and some drove to Port Fairy. There were 12 semi trailers, each with about 25 tonnes of personnel luggage. Meals, showers, toilets were all provided, so there were many more semitrailers of showers loos, etc. to be moved each day. Camping was generally in the local Showgrounds areas. Opinions on the Bike Ride varied according to how easy or difficult people found the trip. Some people should not have been riding, others found it challenging but easy.

 Photographs by Winston Marsh and Lindsay Spittle

Peter, Graeme, Mike, Ivan, Winston, Lindsay, Tony and Barry all made the Ride to the end.

Getting ready to 'Smell the Roses' after lunch at Lorne

Join the masses at dinner Time

Just Clowning around

Ready for the trip home.

(Click on any image to see an enlarged version)