Paul Trotter - So why do Brisbane to Gold Coast on a Brompton

So why do Brisbane to Gold Coast on a Brompton?

I am not sure, but I use mine almost every day as a commuter craft and don't have another suitable bike. I had also designed some bike jerseys with Scody Australia, and I was keen to get them seen along with my magpie proof helmet. Maybe I just like the attention because, in combination, it was an unusual setup but still well short of the efforts of the two guys on unicycles!

On the Saturday before the event, the rain was coming down, and conditions looked grim for race day. I put out all my kit the night before including two bananas, four muesli bars, two water bottles, dry change of clothes, towelette, raincoat and spare tube. I was ready for anything but vowed I would stay in bed if the course were covered in yellow and green on the BOM radar.

I awoke at 1:30 am having experienced a realistic nightmare. I dreamt my alarm did not go off and I awoke at 6 am missing the race!!!!

Thankfully I did arise at 4:30 am as planned and I went through my regular morning routine, and I was ready for action.

My mate Cookie drove me in with his wife Amanda looking good in his magpie jersey! We were dropped off at Roma Street Station and made our way over the Kurilpa bridge and down to the marshaling area adjacent the ABC studios.

I have never been before, but I suspect numbers were well down on previous years. We had time for a team photo with our fellow magpie mates before joining the cue and heading into the busway tunnel.

My legs felt fresh, and I kept up with Cookie (on a real bike) all the way up the 80-metre ascent to Mt Gravatt. I passed two guys on unicycles and mucked around with my raincoat as we got hit by some heavy showers.

I finally dispensed with the raincoat idea to rely on my new Scody jersey, and the rain just got heavier and heavier. Near Springwood in an unusually heavy burst the cold water made it down to puddle in the padding in my cycling nicks and puddles were forming in my shoes! However, we were still doing fine!

James from my office (I had persuaded him to come along) then also joined Cookie and I so we could all suffer together in the deluge.

Later we flew down a hill near Loganholme to a roundabout full of water at the bottom. I squeezed the brakes hard...NOTHING and ploughed through the water at some sub 60km /hr but amazingly kept on track.

Would the 40km / hr rest area ever appear? We headed through some lovely green farm country near the Albert River, and I felt I was a world away from the city with full dams, grassy paddocks and happy ducks.

Just as we arrived a stop No. 1, the heavens opened again in time to enjoy a muesli bar and the best banana I have ever eaten in my life all in the heavy rain. We did not hang around long, and we were on our way again, and before long we reached the 50km halfway mark and a large hill that just kept on giving.

This was the point I lost my colleagues, and I was left to fend for myself. Some cyclists elected to walk the top of this hill, but I was having none of that, pushing my Brommie hard!

The course moved out into the canefields and some lovely flat country, and as I went every few kilometres there would be a man in a truck serving a broken bike or someone struggling with a new tube in the rain! There were also exhausted couples sitting on the side of the road and two distinguished gentlemen wrapped in foil standing and staring out into space.

At the 60km mark, Strava tells me I hit 'The Wall' with my average speed of just under 20km/hr dropping down to 15km /hr with more hills and then that diabolical headwind after we crossed the Coomera River.

Its a fascinating ride passing through some places you never knew existed with some delightful country scenes and industrial sites and some major boating operations.

After the Coomera River, we headed into the most dangerous part of the ride on a dual carriageway with lots of roundabouts and 'nuts' in big utes keen to cut you off as you exit the intersections. The bridges were also very narrow so for an exhausted cyclist it was critical to keep a straight line to avoid being collected by passing traffic.

The route eventually finds you near the Broadwater with excellent exposure to that gusty South Easterly breeze that almost knocked you off your bike.

With three kilometres to go my knees finally said they had had enough so the wind was an unwelcome guest and it was a relief but confusing when we reached the finish line. In my delirium at the end, I had strayed into the park and entered the finish from the wrong side. Nothing was going to stop me finishing so I doubled back and came back through the finish line to complete the course.

Strava says it all with a race time of 5:41mins being one of the slowest with an average speed of 17.4km / hr but all on little wheels. Maybe next year I should race a 'real' bike and see if the time improves?

Congratulations to Bicycle Queensland and all the volunteers, marshals, police and photographers for putting up such an event in what were challenging conditions.