The Gong – Sunday 6 November 2016

The Gong is a 90 kilometre bike ride from Sydney Park near the Sydney CBD and Wollongong.   It is used to raise funds for Multiple Sclerosis and is an annual event. 

Last year Bev and I had been training for the Gong but two weeks before I had an unfortunate accident, hitting a dog that had appeared from nowhere.  The impact flung me off my bike and I was rather bruised and battered but fortunately nothing was broken. However, riding the Gong was out of the question.  I am not a Tour de France rider who can ride for days after tumbling off the bike.

On the train to St Peter's

Coming into this ride I was a little concerned as to whether I would have both the fitness and stamina to complete the ride as the weather had been awful in Wellington plus I had managed to get a cold.  Fortunately, all was well in a physical sense. The only question was fitness and stamina and that would be tested by the 90 kilometre ride.

We left for the Hornsby train station at about 5:15am and were there with a couple of minutes to spare, having sped along the 2 kilometres of Pacific Highway to get there.  Initially we were the only cyclists on the train but collected more on the way.  At Central Station we weren’t quite sure what train to get on but followed some people to a platform only find that they were doing the shorter ride.  We made our way back to the correct platform and soon we were riding through the rather nice Sydney Park to the start. 

The patient queue waiting to start

There was a quite a crowd at the start area, with a queue of people waiting to leave and another waiting to go to the toilets. 

When we were in the line for the toilets I spotted a woman wearing a black New Zealand cycle jersey with the colours of fern and writing reversed.  Bev and I were wearing the designed New Zealand jerseys with the silver fern swiped across it our jersey was white and lettering in black.  She then spotted us and gave us the thumbs up.  

We were meant to start at 7am but it ended up being 7:30 am before we headed off. While in the

We are away

queue to start I spoke to a man who had done it several times before. He talked a bit about the profile, saying that after the Georges River, it climbed gradually to the highest point on the ride. There was then a steep drop and sometime after that a 3km climb.  It undulated for a while with a couple of steep climbs before it was flat for the final run to the end.  The profile below certainly demonstrates that effect.

The course

The route took us along streets of south Sydney, slightly to the west of the airport and then along some nice coastline to the south of the airport.  It was still cool during at this stage and we made good time except for the stops at traffic lights.  About 13 kilometres into the ride was the first stop but we decided to continue as it was still cool and we didn’t feel the need for a break.  Once over the Georges River we started to climb.  Initially the climb was imperceptible but then we realised we needed to change our gears as the effort was getting greater.  We took a break at the next rest stop, Loftus Oval, and had a bit to eat as well filling our water bottles. We were then back on our bikes and off to Waterfall - the highest point.  The road continued to climb and we were in lower gears for much of the time except at relief points where it flattened out.  All the while we were battered by a head wind adding to the slowness and a lot of extra effort.

Loftus Oval

A couple of kilometres before Waterfall a person came past me and made a comment about me being unsteady.  He didn’t realise that the wind had pushed me into the verge and into a rough area.  It was our friend Phil who was with his son-in-law. They planned to do a shorter trip and only ride to Waterfall and then ride back to Sutherland.  We parted ways at Waterfall and then we descended into the Royal National Park. 

Cycle repair shop at Nattional Park

It was calm and cool and for the first part we had a police motorcyclist leading us down as a group - apparently accidents had occurred on previous events because of riders going too fast and losing control. The road had been closed to other traffic so it was very nice having it all to ourselves. Bev and I were used this kind of descent as we do it regularly down to Bobbin Head near Bev’s home. 

About leave National Park - the Irishman behind me

The ride then flattened out a bit - there was no wind and it was cool in the forest.  Even nicer was the slick tarmac which made riding much easier.  As a result, we were able to make good progress despite the fact that we were climbing very slowly.  The lunch stop was at National Park and was about ten kilometres from where descended and it was a good opportunity to have a break as by that time we had covered about 52 kilometres.  A banana and energy bar were consumed and it was nice not to be pedalling for a while.  At that stop, I met the woman in the silver fern jersey again.  She was living in Sydney and this was her first time doing the Gong.  It seemed like the city had been good to her job wise. 

At Otford Point

We left a little after her but did not see her for the rest of the ride so she must have gone a bit faster than us – not surprising as she would be have been in her late twenties or so.  As we were taking some pictures of people arriving one of the road rage bikers came steaming along the and yelled at the people who were about mount their bikes telling them to get off the road.  A very nice Irishman who we had been chatting to commented that it was people like him who gave riders a bad name. 

The next part of the ride was about five or so kilometres long which started climbing slowly then got steeper and steeper.  We went past people

Second to steepest part of course in the far background

who were really struggling to get to the top, but while we were also slow, we made reasonable time with Bev on her flash new bike going up slightly faster than me.  The climb was worth it because we then levelled out at wonderful viewpoint called Otford Point.  Here we could see our destination in the hazy distance.  There was however a portent  of things to come with a rather nasty steep road  not so far away that we would soon have to tackle. 

We continued on for three kilometres to another spot called Bald Point viewpoint where we could see a bridge that swept out almost into the ocean.  It is an iconic bridge called Sea Cliff which is often featured in tourist brochures.  Our destination at Wollongong could now be seen clearly in the distance.

The iconic Sea Cliff bridge - steepest part of course just after it

Leaving that viewpoint we were delayed for a while as someone had had an accident and they had closed the road.  By this time too there was some heat in the sun and we made sure we applied some more sunscreen. When we saw the ambulance we knew that the person had been attended to and  after some cars were let through, we were escorted down  by a police motorcyclist as before.  It flattened out for a bit before we had a steady climb up to the bridge.  Here I stopped to take a photo but I could not get quite the shot I wanted. 

As we left, a Marshall told us it was about 30 kilometres to go and that there was a steep hill ahead.  He was not kidding.  I was down to my lowest gear and wondering whether I could get up it without walking.  I panted away trying to draw in oxygen and wished that my heart would go a bit faster to get blood to my tiring thighs.  There was a large number of people who were pushing their bikes up the hill by this stage.  Fortunately, it was not too long and I managed to get to the top where the slope became a little gentler.  It was a relief to then freewheel down the other side. 

After that point the climbs became easier but I hit the wall as they say. It was time to stop and have a rest.  Bev who looked very fresh kindly agreed to have a break as well.   I saw a nice shady spot to stop where fuel was taken on board and I rehydrated.

I think we had about 15 kilometres to ride when we stopped.  There were a few more gentle hills but after 75 kilometres of them we started to both groan, change gears and grind our way up them, a couple of times I thought my legs were going to turn to mush.  Finally, we came to Nicholson Park where the ride became nice and flat apart from the odd hundred metres or so of a gentle rise where some people got off their bikes and pushed them.  Nonetheless, on the flat parts I was able to cruise along without too much effort at between 22 and 25 km/h.  The final hundred metres to the finish was another short climb but I coped well with it and my legs kept pumping. 

It was a relief to finally go over the finish line to claps of a few people who were clearly paid to do so for this masochistic middle aged couple in lycra.  We had conquered 87 or so kilometres at an almost respectable speed.

At the park, which was in centre of Wollongong, there were lots of tents for corporate activities but it looked like most of the people had arrived and gone as the tents looked abandoned. To celebrate we had a chocolate soft serve ice-cream which was cold and delicious. 

We made it and looking so fresh!

The temperatures had been very kind to us.  It was 26 degrees by the time we got to Wollongong and without too much humidity it was really good riding weather.  Apart from the early head wind we were lucky with the weather because the day before it had been blowing a gale and the day after temperatures reached 33 degrees!

While we had arrived at the end we then had to find the train. Fortunately, it was only a kilometre or so away.  When we got there, they had us organised to wait in the carpark.  A few minutes later we were given the all clear to go to the train.  We found a place to put our bikes and then found a seat in an almost empty carriage.  The train returned on a similar route to the one we had ridden.  It was good to see where we had gone before we then plunged into the bush.  It was relatively slow trip back to Sydney although the train did not stop at many stations.  We changed at Central and coincidentally the next train was the one we need to take us to Asquith so instead of a 2km ride from Hornsby we only had a few hundred metres to coast home.

While I prepared our dinner Bev had a very long shower. I was desperate (well almost) for the bubbles we had had cooling all day but wanted to shower first. That glass of bubbles went down very well and provided some anaesthetic to some tired legs. 

Will I do it again?  I think I want to be a little fitter for the ride before doing it again but already I can see myself planning for it next year.  One thing I think I would like would be a slightly lighter bike than my hybrid.