Follow this suggested seven-step plan:

1. Gather your best riding buddies and sell them on the idea of riding the Oppy this year.
2. Work out a route. You can’t cover the same road twice in the same direction and you must ride at least the minimum distance to reach one of the designated finish locations within 24 hours.
3. The Team Captain should enter your team online, including your route map.
4. Upon approval by the Ride Organiser, all team members should register.
5. If you’re bringing a support crew, work out where you’ll meet them for food, water and support.
6. Ride it. Take breaks, eat meals, and even sleep if you have spare time.
7. Keep riding. For the Fleche and Petit Oppy, you must ride a minimum distance of 25 km in the last two hours of the event.
8. Finish. Eat breakfast, and tell everyone who’ll listen how good you are.

All states have the same start date: Saturday, 18th March 2023.

In 2023, the official finishing locations will be:

For more details, contact the local Ride Organisers listed above via the registration pages.
(Ideally you should aim to start upwind from these finishing points.)

Please familiarise yourself with the Audax Australia Ride Rules, (especially sections 5.3: Fleche, 5.4: Traces and 5.5: Petit Fleche which all relate to the Oppy) and the Safety Rules.

To summarise Fleche Ride Rules:

• Oppy Teams consist of 3 to 5 “machines”.
• A minimum of 3 “machines” must finish.
• A minimum of 360 km in 24 hours, with 25 km to be completed in the last 2 hours.
• You can do 80% of the nominated distance as long as its >=360 km.
• You can do an extra 15% over your nominated distance if you finish early.

Easy to state, but there are a huge number of wacky possibilities:

Three riders finishing on a triplet? NO – must finish on three machines
Ten riders finishing on tandems YES – five machines finished
Six riders finishing on single bikes NO – only a maximum of 5 machines in a team
A team finishes only 480 km of their nominated 600 km course YES – 80% and >360 km
A team finishes 500 km of their nominated 630 km course NO – < 80% of the nominated distance.

You get the idea… If in doubt ask your Regional Oppy RO. Don’t get hung up by the 20%/15% rule, it rarely applies. The important thing to remember is, that besides the Oppy specific rules above, normal Audax rules apply:

• Obey the Road Rules.
• No support outside of the controls (yes, of course, you can still do the usual self-supporting stuff, buying a pie from a shop, etc). This means that if you have a support crew, they should only be meeting you at the controls. Hint: think carefully where you put the controls.
• No riding same route same direction twice (RO will check your route beforehand in any case).

The Rules were reviewed and amended significantly in 2018 and among the changes the previous lighting rules have been integrated into the section “Bicycles and Equipment”. The bottom line is that it is your own responsibility to ensure that your bicycle complies with the relevant road rules. Obviously, on a ride like the Oppy which involves a significant amount of night riding, you would be well advised to consider the Safety Recommendations as a minimum standard, plan to see and be seen under all likely conditions. If your one light fails you must stop. Riding without lights at night will lead to disqualification.

As well as lighting requirements, you are required to wear reflective clothing. See Audax Australia Safety Rules for details.