In the October of most years, several thousand riders take a bicycle trip around Port Phillip Bay, a piece of the Southern Ocean held captive by a pair of peninsulas — Mornington and Bellarine — forming a protected coastline around which the greater City of Melbourne, capital of Victoria, the southernmost mainland state of Australia, sits.
Large enough to be clearly visible from space** the bay circumference measures more than 260 kilometres.
Each year groups of cyclists – amateur, club, professional and dilettante*** – perform this rite of passage journey. In 2004, 5, 6 and 7 gazbro was there.
The following pages show the task and the scientific method that team gazbro adopts to meet the challenge - head on!
Note: the dotted secton between Sorrento and Queenscliffe is NOT a swim (or cycle) leg; "The Rip" is traversed by ferry.
Mental
Notes - things that surface during my hellish training rides. Amazing
hallucinatory insights.
Training Zone - a shambolic pseudo-scientific contraption
- but it works for me. Sometimes you've just got to believe.
The Gear - how gazbro will look as he flashes around the "large
marine embayment". What mid-life crisis?
The Drugs - how this thing will be powered and made possible. The
modern nutritional regime being employed.
The Purpose - so far all I've got is, "It'll be great
when I stop!" Or, what about, "We'll find those WMDs somewhere".