After a busy five days of riding, the RACV Great Victorian Bike Ride today enjoyed a well-deserved rest day in Bendigo. Over 300 kilometres have been pedalled so far and after today’s rest the riders’ legs should be feeling refreshed.
While there are still three days of riding to go on this year’s RACV Great Vic, the talk of the campsite today was about the 2016 event after the route was announced on Wednesday night. Next year’s ride will start in the Grampians at Halls Gap and make its way through to Geelong, travelling along the Great Ocean Road.
Giving riders a slice of both the mountains and the coast, the 2016 RACV Great Victorian Bike Ride will experience the best of both worlds. For the first time ever it will also include a night of camping at one of Australia’s greatest natural wonders, the 12 Apostles.
With the riders – and volunteers – resting up today, it was time to get school students from the Bendigo region active with a special Ride2School event, the Bendigo Bike Ed Challenge.
Over 100 students from seven local schools were put to the test in warm and sunny conditions at the Tom Flood Sports Centre in Bendigo. Challenges included riding to specific patterns, obstacle courses and road simulation tasks where riders must correctly complete turns as if they were on the road.
A favourite amongst the students was the ‘postman run’, where they were required to throw newspapers into buckets while riding. While results were promising, Australia Post’s recruitment team have not yet been in contact.
We’ll be back on the bikes tomorrow for our final days of riding, and it’s good we’ve had a rest because it might get more difficult with a few small climbs coming up and some warm weather predicted. We’re looking forward to getting into Heathcote tomorrow for a big welcome from the locals and to enjoy some of the local food and wine.
Follow the ride live on Twitter: @bicycle_network #GreatVic