Sunday, October 20, 2013

Spring Cycle 2013 - Perfect Way to Spend a Sunday Morning

So this morning I ticked off the Spring Cycle.

Despite living in Sydney for 2 years now it was my first time doing this event.  I first came across it only a few weeks after we moved to Milsons Point.  It was something I thought would be cool to do but for various reasons didn't get around to actually entering until this year.

It's organised by Bicycle NSW and one of its main drawcards is that it's the only event each year where you get to ride on the road over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  It starts out in North Sydney, heads over the bridge and then winds its way through the city and then west to Olympic Park.  For the kids (and less "able" there is a shorter 15km City Ride which lets you ride over the bridge and then finishes in Pyrmont.  The Classic Ride, which I did, is 50km (well actually it turned out to be 54km according to the Garmin) and then for the first time this year they also offered a 100km Challenge Ride.  This longer distance followed the same route as the Classic Ride but then added 50km of criterium-style laps at Olympic Park, targeted at the elite and club riders.

Spring Cycle Route

Given the size of the event I really wasn't sure what to expect.  In particular, would the crowds make riding a bit of a dodgem game and would that take some of the enjoyment out of it?  Would it be a  bit like the City to Surf (crowds-wise) except on bikes?  In the end, and after a bit of a strategy talk with Coach Dave and St Pete, we decided that I would treat it as simply a bit of fun - go out and have a blast, try and find a bunch or two to hang onto and see what happens.  The important thing would be to get to the end in one piece and have fun doing it.

So being the good irongirl that I am, that's what I did!

We woke to perfect conditions.  The plan would be for St Pete and I to walk up to the start at North Sydney (only about 20min up the road from home).  There were several advertised start options - 6.30am for the 100km riders, 7.00am for experienced riders doing the Classic and 7.30am for the social riders.  I therefore planned for a 7.00am start and then Pete would head out to Olympic Park on the train and meet me at the finish.


A bowl of porridge to start the day and we were out the door just after 6.00am and walking up the road to North Sydney.  As we arrived the first bunch were assembled ready to get started and so we were able to watch them go by as they headed off.  I noticed, though, that there were a number of Classic Ride numbers amongst the Challenge Ride numbers, so it didn't seem that the groups were being policed at all.

Irongirl has ants in her pants...
Furthermore, once the main group went off we realised that other riders were also heading off, rather than reassembling and waiting for a 7.00am gun.  It soon became evident, then, that the start gate was in essence being left open and you could therefore get going whenever you wanted.

Being a non-timed event this was a great way of spreading out the crowds and seeing as I hate waiting around I was soon putting on my bike shoes and saying to St Pete "well I may as well get going"!

By around 6.45am then I was on my way, with probably only around half a dozen people around me and plenty of road space to move.  Soon I was shooting down the hill and into it, up and over the harbour bridge, along Cahill Expressway, up to Hyde Park and down to Mrs Macquarie's Chair.

We then climbed out of the Botanic Gardens and retraced our path to Cahill Expressway, heading down and then through the city and around Darling Harbour before slowly making our way west towards Olympic Park.



What followed, then, was a couple of hours of pedalling fun.  The crowds weren't too bad and the open, "start when you're ready" idea had a lot going for it in terms of thinning the numbers out - although I don't know what it was like further back in the field.  For me it was relatively easy to pick off people.  So I'd pass someone and work towards catching up to the next person, maybe sit behind them for a little bit if I needed a break and then, when they got too slow for me, I'd go around them and hunt out the next guy.

We didn't have closed roads and so there were times when we had to stop for traffic lights and also times that we had to pay attention to the directional signs on the corners.  On most intersections there were Spring Cycle arrows indicating the direction and usually a volunteer also pointing the way.  A couple of times we missed a turn - the first time I hadn't cottoned onto the arrows and followed another couple of riders around a corner only to hear yelling from behind us as the rest of the loose bunch we were in sailed straight through.  I learnt my lesson after that one and paid much closer attention to the arrows for the rest of the ride!  The second time I noticed the left turn arrow but two riders ahead of me didn't and sailed on past.  I doubted myself for a split second before doing a U-Turn to confirm that the arrow did actually point left and not straight ahead.  Thankfully left was the correct way to go - hopefully the others didn't go too far before realising their mistake - they were long gone before I could shout out to them!

Intersections with traffic lights were also mostly manned by police, their most important job being to press the pedestrian crossing button on the signals to change the lights for us.  Well even they deserve an easy day every so often!

Overall it was ride I really enjoyed and one I think will likely go onto our regular schedule.  There were a few short, stiff, climbs to deal with and there was also lots of smooth fast road and cool downhills.  And for the closet mountain biker in me there were also a nice selection of narrow windy (sealed) paths that required nerves of steel to maintain a decent line and hold off the lads behind me!  Even better there was some great scenery and would have also been a great day out for those taking their time further back in the field.

As we got to the end I had some new guys catch up, a couple of them on tri bikes, and so I took the opportunity to jump on behind them to push the final kilometre to the finish, rolling over the finish line 2hr 10min and 54km later.

The finish area at Olympic Park was well set up - plenty of food tents on site for people to grab a bite to eat - and the triple chocolate muffin and coffee that St Pete went to get for me went down a treat afterwards!  We then wandered over to the Bike and Lifestyle Expo and spent a couple of hours there checking out fab bikes, bike tours, meeting my favourite T-Shirt designer, Cycology, and catching up with Em of Em's Power Cookies. Mmmmm.  The bike even got some love - data dot embellished and registered on the national bike register using DataDotDNA, offered free to everyone bringing their bikes to the expo.  Great service!

All up, then, a great day out and a simple train trip back home where I spent the afternoon with feet up reading and getting ready for a certain little 18km training run scheduled for the morning....

... an Irongirl's training never ends :)





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