Goulburn Cycle Grand Prix

[Jono]

This morning I went to Goulburn for the cycle grand prix, which was held as part of NSW bike week. On offer were a choice of the 85, 50 and a community fun challenge around a park. I got to the park which was the start point for the Cycle Grand Prix and signed on and got a number and a bag with some goodies in it. I decided to use the old Shogun Katana road bike for the ride.
At 08:30 the Grand Prix started after being waved off by the Mayor or Goulburn. The ride left Goulburn and headed down to the Bungonia Road. The town soon gave way to countryside as I headed through what was originally sheep farms that have now become cattle country. We were advised that there would be a turn around at Windellama, if we did not reach that by a certain time we would be turned around. I kept up with the main body of riders which began to break up into bunches as the ride went on.
I passed the turn around and road on to the village of Windellama. I the countryside was pretty undulating. I was able to make some good time as I rode on. When I reached Windellama I notice that the rear tyre was getting soft. I found myself riding out of the saddle as for a while to make sure that the tyre lasted till the feed station at Bungonia.
As the ride went on the countryside changed again from sheep and cattle farms to bush and scrub. There were also some climbs but the ride was still good and I was adveraging over 25 km an hour. At around the 60 km mark I reached Bungonia. I passed a general store and then I reached the actual village and the long awaited food stop. Outside a community hall built in 1907, I had a muffin and some jelly snakes before getting stuck into changing the tube.
After changing the tube I had a Gatorade and then got underway to the climbs. Almost halfway through the serious climbs I needed to change the tube again - a passing rider lent me a tube. I then began the ascent again. Eventually I reached the final climb and began the descent. About halfway down the tube in the front tyre exploded and I had to struggle to stay upright and come to a stop. I tried patching the other tube but the sag wagon arrived and one of the mechanics decided to take a look. He pumped up the patched tube and found that the front tyre had split near the bead. Given it was reaching the rides finishing time I wound up in the sag wagon. We made it back to Goulburn and I scored a couple of sausage sandwiches and a pepsi max. I then got changed and caught up with a friend in Goulburn.
We visited the Green Grocer and I got a couple of Vredestein tyres for $50. It was quite a good ride even though I did not finish. I gather the course was the old motorcycle Grand Prix circuit. If anyone is interested the Goulburn council are interested in holding the Grand Prix again and Goulburn is accessable by city rail.

[jbcow]

Sounds like a fun ride except for the flats, blow out and ride in the sad wagon