Rove 2011

My congratulations must firstly go to all those riders who successfully completed the Rove on Saturday. Some had to dig deeper than others, but we (nearly) all crossed the line. Secondly to those stoic riders (John, Tim and Scottish Steve) who avoided the temptation to get into a cool, comfortably seated car at DWP and continued to Mindarie. That last 50km must have been tough. Well done guys. And thirdly to John P for all of the time and effort he put into Rove this year – many hours work behind the scenes to make it so seamless. My name may have been attached to the event but in all honesty if not for John we would still be cycling around Halls Head.

A special thanks to the drivers of the support vehicles aka camera crew and dinner partners. You made the two days a lot more pleasurable. Hopefully some of you will be inspired to join the ride next year.

I personally had a great time – other than the total frustration of getting lost near Mandurah. We did however, notwithstanding the slight detour, eventually find our way to lunch. The weather generally played along – despite Bruce’s thoughts as to my forecasting talents (or lack thereof). We would always have a cross wind at some point with the route we take. By the time we started from Bunbury the worst of the easterly winds had passed. Not too hot, not too cold, just right as far as the rest went. I thought the average speed of close to 30kph was a great effort, as was the esprit de corps.

For next year I would be tempted to try a 250km ride from, for example, Busselton to DWP. Or would that be from Mindarie to Bunbury? Any takers?

My only regret is that we did not get more riders outside of the BFJ / PCS groups. It was not for lack of trying and the website had nearly 1 400 hits but no entries were generated. Too far, too fast, long weekend? Please let us know what you think the reasons could be and we will try and address this for next year.

See you in 2012, if not sooner.