Audax Australia Cycling Club

THE GREAT SOUTHERN RANDONNEE 1998, 1200km, 26 October 1998 by Matthew Rawnsley

The 1200k started on the 26 October 1998 at the Ride headquarters, on the Oval at the Recreation Camp in Anglesea, Victoria, which is located on the Great Ocean Road. With my backup bags sent to the controls where I thought I might need them, fed, and my bike ready to go, I stood with 12 others; Oliver Portway (PBP 1995) and I (PBP 1995 and ISR) from South Australia, 5 from Victoria (Otto Galliker (who was the only rider to complete the 1998 520k Murray to Moyne by riding straight through), Derek McKean (In 1993 was one of four riders who rode 770k in 24hrs on a OADT event), Peter Martin (PBP 1995), Phil Gallagher and Craig Bassett, 2 from Queensland (Gale Schaub and Thomas Maslen), one from NSW (Craig McKenzie from Tumut), 2 from Denmark (Stig Lundgaard and Bjarne Christensen) and one from Canada (Grant McLeod), started our journey at 6 pm Monday night.

The time was 1:32 am Tuesday and it was cold as hell, so to my surprise the leading pack was still here, anyway I joined the others inside the 'Audax Tent' on the oval for hot pasta , hot coffee and other filling goodies. As are arrival times were being updated all the time on the Internet, a cold Peter Moore said that I had message from a friend from the Netherlands (Yvonne van den Hork). It was good to hear from her at long last.

So it was time to get going again as the others (Oliver, the two Danes, Stig and Bjarne, Otto, Peter Martin) were leaving I stuffed my back pockets with bananas with excitement as I have been looking forward to riding on the Great Ocean Road in an Audax event for some time now. I started off with the group but decided the pace was too hot (the initial loop was done at about 25kph) for now so I dropped off and started enjoying the scenery. I know some of you may say "what scenery, its dark!" . As silly as it sounds I enjoyed seeing the moonlight lighting up the waves as they crashed against the rocks and riding what felt like a roller-coaster winding in and out of the many bays, turning my head around and seeing a single front bike light weaving in and out along the road.

The sun started to show some life as I passed through Lorne and Apollo Bay and then the rain came, but the temperature stayed the same. At Apollo Bay I just managed to take cover from a down pour, so I stretched for awhile until the rain stopped and repaired myself for the climb over the Otway Ranges and then the climb to Lavers Hill. The climb was steeper than I remembered from five years ago. Climbing through the national park it was very lush and green, greener than South Australia at this time of the year. It continued to rain off and on, when I was descending on the final descent of the first hill I was thinking ' O-hell I have to climb back up this one, I got my fastest speed here, I heard it was about 2 or 3 kms and on the way back it turned out to be tough as I thought. Between the two climbs there was a flat spot in the valley where you had a chance to recover. I eventually caught up with Stig first then Bjarne but not before to my surprise I was climbing with snow on the road. Stig and Bjarne were also very surprised as they thought Australia was entering summer! I passed Bjarne when he and a driver were helping an elderly woman get her car out of a ditch which it had slipped into, it was the type of weather vehicles needrd chains on their tyres.

I just managed to get inside the Laver's Hill Roadhouse control point (312), before it started to pour, where I found Oliver drying himself in front of a wood fire. We stayed there for about an hour and a half waiting for the rain to stop. When Stig and Bjarne joined us we headed down hill to Port Campbell Youth Hostel control (362), I arrived 12 noon on the dot. But along the way we saw some fantastic scenery including the 12 Apostles, Loch And Gorge, and Sentinel Rock.

At Port Campbell were Phil Bellette, Des Taylor and David Shaw (SA, who went to on complete his first 600 and Super Series a few days later). They all helped us get fed and fill the water bottles for our next stage. To Cobden control (402), it was up and down pretty valleys with a few sharp pinches at the end. After recovering at the McLaren's Bakery and finally deciding not to wear my jacket and Otto just arriving who said his knee was troubling him. We headed into the wind towards Warrnambool and Port Fairy. The guys were travelling too quickly into the wind so I decided to ride alone Eventually I arrived at the National One Highway, being a week day I thought there would not be much traffic like the rest of the ride had been, but I was wrong with semitrailers and buses roaring past, plus fighting into the wind made life tough. Once over Tower Hill and not without a down pour while climbing it the wind seemed to get stronger as I neared Port Fairy Youth Hostel control (489). When I arrived via the scenic way, Lyndon Stacy and Mike Dippy (both South Australians) were there to greet me. Lyndon said I was the first in at 6:50 pm Tuesday I was puzzled where the others were but about ten minutes later Oliver, Stig and Bjarne arrived, apparently the two Danes were in no hurry and stopped at Warrnambool at McDonalds for a hamburger!

Lyndon and Mike worked tirelessly for 48 hrs with only about 10 hrs sleep and still had a ball, Peter Moore told them to enjoy themselves and they certainly took this on board. Mike brought along two scooters and when nothing was happening they rode around Port Fairy no matter what time of the day or night.

Apparently Stig rode his four 1200's this year on a bet. According to Lyndon, Oliver looked like it was all a stroll in park at Port Fairy in both directions, but I did hear he had some sleep at Halls Gap. The temperature that Tuesday night dropped below zero for Oliver when climbing through the Grampians and Oliver said his water bottle had frozen and could not drink from it for a couple of hours. Lyndon and Mike experimented with the food to brighten it up " no spices, but tasty".. A sad looking Rodney Snibson (on the 600) rolled in an hour after the control closed at Port Fairy and Otto pulled out with knee trouble.

Stig and Bjarne and I decided to stay and sleep for five hours until 1 am Wednesday. Oliver went on to Halls Gap. I finally got to sleep after a great feed and seeing Lyndon and Mike really having a great time. I got a rude shock as someone was trying to wake me up, then I heard "Matt its time to get up". Then I realised it was 1 am, after about an hour getting ready to go Stig and Bjarne and I left, but not before the first signs of the 1000k guys coming through which included Peter Donnan and John Quinn (both PBP vets). As Lyndon called them the "Famous old hands" (of Audax Australia) Peter, John, and Bob Bednarz were riding the 1000 as if they enjoyed every minute of it and to get the job done

So of we adventured into the night towards Macarthur and Hamilton, as it turned out being a very cold night we froze as we dipped in and out of what seemed like endless creek valleys, especially Stig and Bjarne fingers as they did not have long gloves. We finally made the 84k trip to Hamilton's 24 hr Roadhouse control (573) as the sun started to rise for the second time for this ride. The warmth of the roadhouse was a welcome relief for all of us. We all had a good breakfast (hamburger with the lot for me) as we thawed out. With the sun out but still a bit of cool wind around we headed towards the Grampians. Not too much further down the road the air started to warm up and the Grampian Ranges came into view and what a sight it was. The traffic was not too bad along the Glenelg Highway but I was still glad to get off it. After a short drinks break at Dunkeld we were ready to tackle the climbs to Halls Gap. I rode along here about five years ago with a fully loaded mountain bike and don't remember there being so many climbs, but a I do remember the scenery being just as good as we passed Mt Abrupt, Cathedral Rock and Lake Bellfield ( Stig stopped here to take some photographs of the lake). I knew we were getting close when there was a 10 or so kms descent into Halls Gap.

After the long haul from Dunkeld to the Grampians Gardens Caravan Park (66k) just on the other side of Halls Gap, we met Oliver on his return from Moyston and we heard about his cold experiences last night.

At 12:08 pm we arrived at the Caravan Park (671) to find our two controllers (Stephen Brown and Doug Jones). Everyone there told me I was looking tired ( but wasn't everyone!) We stayed longer than usual and again tackled the headwind to Moyston control (701). Stig and I had a chance to laugh along here as Bjarne got swooped by magpies twice, once to and once from Moyston. At Moyston being a small country town we got our brevet cards stamped at a shop that sold everything. Revived with a tailwind on our backs we seemed to be back at Halls Gap (731) in no time at all (4 pm). We always had the Grampians scenery on our side as a reminder of what was to come. Just before Halls Gap we passed a group going in the other direction ( the two Peter's, Grant, Phil, Thomas and John, with Bob just behind).

After the climb back out of Halls Gap the ride back to Dunkeld was a little easier, but not much with the road rolling in and out of valleys. Stig and Bjarne were fascinated by the wild life especially when the kangaroos jumped across the road. I warned them early that the last wild life you want to hit is a kangaroo, you will come off second best, when they saw them they agreed. We passed many kangaroos grazing beside the road and of course they took photographs of them.

The third night was just about upon us as we neared Hamilton, again the traffic was not too bad on the Glenelg Highway. With our lights on we rolled into Hamilton's Robbos 24 hr Roadhouse control (829), but not before we went around in circles looking for it, I think we were tired, confused and disoriented or was it not reading our instruction! So with plenty of coffee and another hamburger with the lot to wake ourselves up, we set out towards Port Fairy, taking a wrong turn for a km at first, but soon we were on the right track. It was cold again but not as cold as last night. We did stop in Macarthur for awhile where I took a 10 minute nap next to the local Post office while Stig and Bjarne made an unsuccessful attempt to phone home (Denmark!). One thing I hate about these night rides is that you think you are close to the next town when you can see its light in the distance, but of course you are not, so for the next 10 or 15 kms you wonder where the hell it is. This was the case when I first saw Port Fairy lights, the road kept on zigzagging around a hill until I came to a T junction and Port Fairy. Just before arriving Bjarne who was riding in front of me suddenly swerved and what sounded like a very loud cat screech and Bjarne, I think swearing something in Danish, to me it sounded and looked very funny and I just started to laugh. But it also brought back an horrible memory of the 1995 Murray to Moyne when Lyndon, Oliver, John Edgar and myself were riding four abreast near Hamilton when suddenly Lyndon and John were lying across each other on the road, caused by Lyndon hitting a cat which we never saw. How Oliver and I stayed up right I will never know (June 1995 'Checkpoint'). When I finally caught Bjarne and asked 'what was that?' Bjarne was not sure! When Stig caught up and we told him what happened, we all started laughing about it!

It was 2 am Thursday morning as we walked through the door of the Port Fairy Youth Hostel control (916). We finally got our brevet cards stamped after waking Lyndon up and finding Mike still asleep and Oliver welcoming us. Lyndon was up and in no time at all asking and getting what we wanted. In the meantime I showered, but to get to these showers you had to go outside and into another room which was not heated; while the showers were hot, getting dried was not. Again I had a great feed and was quickly to bed for an 8 o'clock rise. That came around too quickly as the sun shone through the window and woke me a little early, but it was looking like a warm and nice day ahead. I at first was looking at going with the next group behind me as Stig and Bjarne wonted to leave early by 6 am to try to see some of the Great Ocean Road between Apollo Bay and Anglesea in day light, but this did not eventuate as they got up later than I. Stig and Bjarne plus Grant McLeod all left with me at about 9 am. In the end the next group behind me didn't leave Port Fairy until a couple of hours later.

As the four of us turned onto Gipps Street and across the Moyne River and headed towards Warrnambool, we were down on our handlebars and formed a single file peloton pushing into the headwind all the way to Warrnambool. The traffic along here was the same as before, we finally arrived in Warrnambool and Grant decided to find a restaurant for some more food. Stig and Bjarne and I decided to push on, just before leaving town I saw David Shaw and Darryn Hooper (both doing the 600 and turning around at Port Fairy) riding in the other direction. The temperature started to rise for the first time on this ride, so it was time to put on the sunscreen. We did so at a road side rest area about half way between Warrnambool and Cobden.

As you do at this stage of the ride you feel relieved each time you come to a new town and are able to sit down on a different seat, which was the case when we arrived at McLaren's Bakery control at Cobden (1000). Being a warm day I bought myself the biggest spring water bottle I could find, as did Stig and Bjarne as it had been thirsty work. All I remember about the ride to Port Campbell was that it was very hilly with some very sharp climbs, hard on the legs as my biggest rear cog started to slip when I really needed to stand when climbing, it certainly made life tough when climbing the second half of the Otway Ranges. Also at one stage Stig and Bjarne got me to take a photo of them standing underneath a yellow road sign with a picture of a kangaroo!

At Port Campbell Youth Hostel control (1040) we were greeted by Des and Sue Taylor. I think it was 3 or 4 pm when we arrived there. I asked Sue where Phil was and she said he had to go back to work so she had to take over his job and Sue and Des still did a wonderful job getting drinks and filling our water bottles and serving us yummy whole cooked potatoes with cheese topping. Some of the 400k riders arrived while we were there. It was time get going again as we headed towards Princetown where the climbing would start again. Just as we were about to leave Port Campbell Stig and Bjarne spotted an Australian flag outside a house therefore I grabbed Stig's camera and took a photo of them both standing in front of the flag. After that photo section was over we were down to business grinding into the strongest headwind of the trip with no protection as the wind was coming straight off the sea. We did get some relief from the wind as there were some dips into creek crossings. Passing in the other direction were some more of the 400k riders having a ball!

About five kilometres outside Princetown where the road was curving around a hillside, the piece of road on the edge was rough as hell. It made us ride in the middle for awhile and trying to look out for cars coming from behind. This section soon ended as the 31k climb to Lavers Hill began with only a couple of hours left of daylight, it was still enough to see the wonderfully scenery across the hills to the sea. We were starting to spread out along here, climbing at our own pace, until I caught Stig at a road side lookout admiring the view and taking a few photos. Bjarne soon caught up with us and we climbed the rest of the way to Laver's Hill together.

We finally reached Laver's Hill control (1090) just on dusk, to find Eileen Johnson and Ann Bednarz in one of the cosy cabins ready to stuff food down our throats continuously and at one stage they were cooking so much that the steam from the food set off the fire alarm in the cabin! Thanks guys for wanting me to put on weight, I did not go hungry there. When I got home my mother said I had lost weight!? With one more hill and the finish in site, we thanked Eileen and Ann for another great feed and a warm spot to eat, so we were off again. We set off into our fourth and final night with Stig and Bjarne roaring down the hill but I opted for a more cautious approach but I soon caught Stig who said something felt loose in his headset area, I'm not sure exactly where the problem was. But I do not think he had any more problems with it.

Bjarne seemed to get a second wind here as Stig and I did not catch him until Apollo Bay. Personally I found the second climb over the Otway Ranges very tough starting with that two or three km sharp climb. Stig and I stopped a couple of times to rest our weary minds and tired legs, relief came when we were about 10k from Apollo Bay, we could see the lights of Apollo Bay and it started to go down hill. Feeling tired I stopped for a little while, while Stig met up with Bjarne again and the two went on. Finally deciding that I won't finish staying here I pressed on. Getting even more tired as I wound in and out and up and down along the Great Ocean Road passing through Skenes Creek and Kennett River. When I got to Wye River I found a secret checkpoint and Stig and Bjarne and a chilled controller, Jeremy Tatchell. Peter Moore said about the helpers in his "The Great Southern Randonnee - Final Report" on the Audax email list "They were also wet and cold at various times" This controller was definitely one of the cold ones. Stig and Bjarne were just leaving as I arrived, but I was staying for a 15 minute nap. 15 minutes later and feeling a whole lot better and the controller nowhere to be seen, I think he must have been asleep he his car. With the end in sight I started to move along, time passed quickly as I listened to my small walkman, they were talking about the history of the Sydney Opera House being 25 years old, it was very interesting!

I soon found myself riding under the farewell arch for the Great Ocean Road near Fairhaven. A couple of kilometres down the road at Airey's Inlet I could finally see the lights of Anglesea. Ten kilometres later I entered Anglesea riding through the lit main street, then along a back road to the dirt road and onto the Recreation Camp oval and into the Audax Tent where I again found a cold Peter Moore (who welcomed me back) along with Oliver (who had finished some eight hours ago), Stig and Bjarne (who only finished five minutes ago). I congratulated Stig on successfuly completing four 1200's in a year and therefore becoming the second person to complete an ISR 1200 and when Grant McLeod finisheded he was the third to complete an ISR 1200. The first ISR 1200 (Johannes Kristiansen) also from Denmark and also from the same club as Stig and Bjarne. I rode with Johannes Kristiansen on 1200 in Denmark in 1996 and hearing Stig and Bjarne talk in Danish a lot reminded me of that ride. After discussing the highs and lows, a hot shower in the cold change rooms and something more to eat I got to bed. After some hours of sleep I started to watch the remaining riders roll in. To complete the 1200 ride Phil Gallagher, Peter Martin, Thomas Maslen and Grant McLeod, the 1000 Bob Bednarz, Peter Donnan and John Quinn and the 600 Darryn Hooper and David Shaw. Oliver and I were already on our way back to Adelaide when the 400 riders finished, well done to all. Commiseration to the riders who did not make it this time. Most of us a had huge breakfast in the Recreation Eating Hall then it was thanks for the ride and see you all next time. Thanks Peter for a good ride.

A week later I got a call from Kath Cooper who said Grant was coming to Adelaide, so I caught up with Grant again. At some stage during the night I mentioned that I was planning to do the EL and Super Scandinavia Brevet in a few years. He said 'maybe I will too' 'Then will I see you there then?' I responded 'maybe you will'.

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