Dear Rouleurs,

Last Saturday, yours truly completed the middle distance course (65km) on the Cadel Evans Peoples Ride.  MMT did the 111km version last year, which in hindsight not the smartest of ideas, given he was still recovering from pneumonia.  That experience and the threat (and actual occurrence…) of some truly dreadful weather, scared MMT off this year.  The last 15 km of last year’s ride is something that still lingers in MMT’s mind.  Oh well.

This time MMT drove down on the morning of the event, parked in the back streets and just got to the start line ot 7am.  MMT then had to hang around 30 minutes, before being able to roll across the startline.  There were some 3,500 fellow cyclists there for the event.    Honestly, it looked a lot more than that. This photo has been creatively stolen from the Cadel Evans Road race site. Yep, C’est moi, right up the back.  Next time MMT be there at 6.30 am, to get a better spot.

The actual 65km ride is  ride is a pretty straightforward course.  MMT is surprised that its supposed to have 365m of climbing.  The course and profile are provided below.

2018 Course Profile

2018 Course Route

This is what MMT’s Strava account had to say about the ride.

so here’s MMT’s photo gallery.

Getting ready for the big event…	Waiting at the start line.
Still waiting at the start line	Crossing the start line…finally after a 30 minute wait.
Feed zone at the beach.	View along 13th Beach.
Another view of the feed zone.	On the road to Geelong.
How cool is this racing trike?	Finish line in sight..hooray 😉
Main stage in the village.	In the the village, is this Puff’s cousin?
Team BMC signing autographs.	Looking towards the merchandising tent.

Overall, the 2018 event was really well organised.  The event seems to be growing, year to year, which is a great sign for cycling in Victoria. MMT thinks that short course of 35Km may have attracted larger numbers of recreational cyclists as opposed to Wannbes or MAMILs like MMT ;-).  About the only negative MMT experienced was the event merchandising.  The move to Santini has resulted quite nicely designed kit.  But the fitting was skin tight in the jersey which is a) a bad look on MAMILs and b) became a sweaty plastic bag after 10Km of riding.  MMT was really unimpressed with the $30 price tag of the event’s cotton cap.  MMT even overheard a fellow cyclist complaining about the quality of the cap, whilst in the Merchandising Tent.  Last year’s kit was much better value.

Until next time, ride safe.

MMT