Around the Bay 2005 — Damian and Frances Harkin
Frances and I had trained for about 2 months, just riding the Flevobike tandem from Yarraville to Mordialloc and back on Sunday mornings. Two weeks before the ride, Steve Nurse and his mate Tony took us for a ride from Geelong to Winchelsea, over the Otways into Lorne, and back up the Great Ocean Road to Aireys inlet. That nearly killed me. The tandem is heavy (30kg) and so am I (93kg). Also it has fairly tall gearing. I had gotten Greenspeed to rebuild the wheels with 11-34 clusters which has helped a bit but it's no hill-climber. We ended up walking much of the way from Deans Marsh to the top of the Otways. Anyway that was our training. I didn't get on the bike again until the Saturday before the big ride. Then I rode it in to Docklands to pick up our bibs and jerseys.
On Sunday morning we struggled out of bed at 3:30 and were on the road by 3:50, rolling past the official start at Docklands in the dark at about 4:10. Bicycle Victoria people were inflating a big archway and we walked beneath it while it was still only half up. Some New Zealanders and New South Welshmen needed a guide and followed us out on to Beaconsfield parade. We knew Steve Nurse would be at the end of Barkly Street at 5am, but we passed there at about 4:30 and kept on. (We were very confident that he would catch us!) We got heckled by the usual drunks in hot cars and didn't see many other bikes until we stopped for a drink at Mordialloc. The sun was getting up and we bathed in sunblock and dug out the sunglasses.
The run to Franskton was uneventful and easy really. I felt pretty good. We got to the foot of Oliver's Hill and dismounted to walk up. All the fast guys who started at 5am hit us then, driving up the hill in what looked like top gear as we plodded up. Frances was getting numb toes, so at the top of the hill we had a rest while she gave them a rub. Steve and Tony came up the hill then and stopped for a chat. We all headed off together, but as soon as we hit the long pull up behind Mt Eliza, they shot through and we didn't see them again. Hundreds of people passed us going up there, but we caught a lot of them on the long run down into Mornington, sitting out in the traffic lane doing about 60. The tandem is an absolute missile on the downhills.
We walked up the Balcombe hill from the creek to the Balcombe camp, then rode the rest of the way up Mt Martha. We were passed by a tasty new Challenge Hurricane from Cycle Café, but didn't get a chance to chat with the rider. The roll down the back of Mt Martha was a hoot and probably pretty irresponsible. I hope the sonic boom didn't alarm the livestock.
At Dromana, we stopped again for water and toilets. We met a Sebastian on a very nice grey Catrike tricycle. As we approached Sorrento we came up on a Flying Furniture bike with a yellow corflute tailbox. Then Franny reported we were being overtaken by a very low low-racer. This turned out to be John Kuljis on the lovely Xevon. He accompanied us into Sorrento, where we got our ferry passes and lunch. It was 9:00am. Alas we didn't get on the 10 am boat and had to wait on the pier with thousands of other bikes in blazing sunshine till 11. The view from the ferry was really lovely, cool green water and golden sands, little yachts bobbing in the harbour, jet skis going about their moronic business, in short idyllic.
The ride down was pretty stress-free, but once we came off the boat at Queenscliff, we were surrounded by hordes of roadies. The tandem isn't very compatible with these guys. We were always holding them up, or they were holding us up. People seemed to use us as a target, passing us and then having a rest. Frances was great as our ambassador, politely responding to the thousand or so people who said she was 'going the wrong way', and the 500 who said 'the other person's not pedalling'.
At Leopold, we were filling up our bottles when I spotted a black streamliner rumbling past. He (Tim) passed us again around Avalon. The trike is a mileage marathon machine from Deakin Uni, mostly carbon fibre, pretty heavy but bloody fast on the flat.
My wife Joany and my parents met us at Bell Parade in Geelong where they had set up a picnic in the park. Daniel Dobrosak pulled in on his low-racer and shared a biscuit with us. Several other riders gathered to gaze at the tandem and scratch their heads. We tried to explain its compelling advantages! This was a lovely break, but all too soon we were off again up the freeway to Melbourne. The Geelong road has a good wide shoulder, but the on and off-ramps are a bit of a worry. Luckily I had Frances as my trusty tail-gunner to tell me when the coast was clear to cross. I'd recommend her to anyone looking for a rear-facing stoker! She was a big help pushing her couch-potato father over the hills too.
The Flevobike was great on this long flat section - as any good Dutch bike would be I suppose. The dream of having the drag of one person and the power of two actually comes true on the flat. Plus I think we had a little tailwind, just to round off the perfect weather we experienced all day. Anyway, we seemed to be able to sit on 35kmh for hours.
I'm not happy with the roads from Werribee onwards. All through Werribee and Hoppers Crossing, there is no sealed shoulder and no bike lane. The brand new suburbs (eg Boardwalk) near Point Cook don't have bike lanes. The Point Cook road, despite serving thousands of new homes, is still a goat track. The bloody roundabout at Laverton is the most dangerous piece of road in the whole trip. Launching a tall heavy recumbent tandem into impatient traffic coming from all directions isn't nice.
Anyway we got through all that and eventually rolled into our drive at 6pm. We were sore all over, but very happy with having made it around. The family feted us as heroes and gave us hot baths and milkshakes. It was a great day!
Thanks to Daniel Dobrosak for the pics.