Bring back BQ Brisbane Mt Cootha ride

[stevenaaus]

Hmmm... I'm not riding the UCI Brisbane Gran fondo this year. A few things have put me off it.

Mainly - it's just too racey and dangerous, with no time to take in the (amazing) course scenery. This is kindof accentuated by the forced start time by age, which I also dislike.
The huge price isn't conducive either.
I don't have much good will for the organisation. Last week they even had a (nice person) cold-call me, trying to re-sign me

Of course there are arguments against my dislikes, but I'm not going to over-analyse here.. Suffice to say...

Bicycle Queensland, please bring back your Cootha event with the Ipswich ferry. It was just amazing. I think even a $200 fee would be gratefully accepted. PLEASE.

[foo on patrol]

Hmmm... I'm not riding the UCI Brisbane Gran fondo this year. A few things have put me off it.

Mainly - it's just too racey and dangerous, with no time to take in the (amazing) course scenery. This is kindof accentuated by the forced start time by age, which I also dislike.
The huge price isn't conducive either.
I don't have much good will for the organisation. Last week they even had a (nice person) cold-call me, trying to re-sign me

Of course there are arguments against my dislikes, but I'm not going to over-analyse here.. Suffice to say...

Bicycle Queensland, please bring back your Cootha event with the Ipswich ferry. It was just amazing. I think even a $200 fee would be gratefully accepted. PLEASE.

Don't they use finishing times for the Worlds qualifications, hence why there are quick ones in it?

Foo

[Mr Purple]

Hmmm... I'm not riding the UCI Brisbane Gran fondo this year. A few things have put me off it.

Mainly - it's just too racey and dangerous, with no time to take in the (amazing) course scenery. This is kindof accentuated by the forced start time by age, which I also dislike.
The huge price isn't conducive either.
I don't have much good will for the organisation. Last week they even had a (nice person) cold-call me, trying to re-sign me

Of course there are arguments against my dislikes, but I'm not going to over-analyse here.. Suffice to say...

Bicycle Queensland, please bring back your Cootha event with the Ipswich ferry. It was just amazing. I think even a $200 fee would be gratefully accepted. PLEASE.

I had free entry for the Tour de Brisbane this year and did it. I entirely agree with your summary and won't be doing it again.

The course design is just plain dangerous. And although I wasn't at peak fitness it resembled a 'Zwift Race' start. This has you going through a narrow, high speed and quite technical section at the beginning at well over 40km/hr and surging between 200 and 400W in a big pack and seemed hideously dangerous, though I'm very much not experienced in a race of this size. Even with my limited group experience I'm pretty sure riders shouldn't be apexing corners they're going into four wide at 40km/hr, and suspect a few people let the adrenaline go to their head.

This is followed by 70km of flat concrete and tunnels and then a Mount Cootha where absolutely everyone is fried and completely off their best. Why you wouldn't start with an early climb to space out the field or even send everyone out on the nice, wide Centenary Freeway first to sort out the running order is beyond me. Presumably it's dictated by the road closures but it seems a bit bizarre to do the most dangerous part of the course first.

I'm with you. There's plenty of lesser road closures you could do around Cootha/Gap Creek and run a much nicer event without disrupting the whole city. Mind you knowing the residents out that way (Brookfield, I'm looking at you) there would inevitably be screaming in the streets about having a few roads closed for 6 hours one Sunday a year.

[vbplease]

How much you enjoy TdB is completely dependant upon how hard you want go..

Last year I was riding with a couple mates who wanted to do well, but we weren't going full-gas. Riding through the city, story bridge, tunnels, kingsford smith drive etc, I was having an absolute ball, almost giggling to myself that we had these roads to ourselves.

Last weekend was a completely different story though, I was riding solo and pushing full-gas for the first 20-30km and I didn't appreciate any views and all the tunnels blurred into one.. it really wasn't fun at all. But I attribute 100% to how much i enjoyed it to how much I was redlining myself. (stomach cramps and leg cramps also didn't help).

From riding around countless people (this year and last) I only saw 1 x person that was riding like a complete porkchop.. I found most people to be extremely cautious and courteous.

Is the TdB dangerous compared to say, crit racing? I don't think so..

[foo on patrol]

I've never done it but I may think about it fro next year. I believe things are dangerous (on closed roads) if you push past your limits and abilities for handling a bike. If you are aware of your surroundings and those around you, there shouldn't be any problems. It's when the wannabee's around you that push past their limits of abilities where the problems come in.

I did the Brisbane to Bay ride about 4yrs ago and it astounded me how many riders really had no idea at all and I just got around these clowns and out of harms way.

Foo

[blizzard]

I did the TdB a couple years ago and loved it. I did start with the mass start section rather than my age group, which maybe made it less competitive. As always, there were some idiots that drifted across the road or took bad lines in corners but no more than Brissie to the Bay or the Brissie to GC rides. I did really like the fully closed roads too.

My main issue with it is cost, but closing the roads is expensive I guess. Also agree that Cootha at the start makes more sense, however the NRS race normally does multiple repeats so the Grand Fondo might interrupt that.

[Mr Purple]

Last weekend was a completely different story though, I was riding solo and pushing full-gas for the first 20-30km and I didn't appreciate any views and all the tunnels blurred into one.. it really wasn't fun at all. But I attribute 100% to how much i enjoyed it to how much I was redlining myself. (stomach cramps and leg cramps also didn't help).

From riding around countless people (this year and last) I only saw 1 x person that was riding like a complete porkchop.. I found most people to be extremely cautious and courteous.

Is the TdB dangerous compared to say, crit racing? I don't think so..

Yeah, I suspect this is the case - how you're aiming to do the event makes a huge difference to how much you enjoy it.

It'd probably be a great ride if you had a good group of mates who you were experienced at riding with, and decided your own pace at the beginning. The first 20km was hell but I really did enjoy myself when I got into a group that were working together and not actively trying to kill each other. There was a bit of chat, some communication and we covered a solid 70km together at a decent clip.

I assume the course used at the start is determined by the road closure requirements rather than logic. Personally I would have thought even sending everyone along the Western Freeway together first would be a lot more clever - you'd have 20km on massive wide roads to sort out the running order then. There were a lot of moments in those first 20km where the course suddenly narrowed and everyone needed to be be on the brakes pretty sharply - largely well communicated fortunately, but you could definitely see how it would go wrong.

[Lukeyboy]

The road closures are a mute point. NRS run a different course than the UCI version but all fall under the tour de brisbane banner. And even then the NRS mens course is different from the NRS womens course. You won't have any mass start at Mt Coottha or the western freeway as the NRS mens and womens events do multiple laps of the western freeway and Mt Cootha. Basically the dog legs that the UCI course does allows the NRS races be undertaken before the UCI guys use the same road closures. The second part of the dog legs is that it also allows for the family ride to use the same streets in the city that would be closed for the event - it just happens that the family ride is in the reverse direction through the city.

For reference the different courses are.
NRS Mens 103km: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/45596224
NRS Womens 82km: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/45596237
UCI 113km: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/45314565
Family Ride 10km: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/45638647

If you pick the UCI race age group and you don't like race speeds then that's on you. Its your age group but its still a race group. Its not NRS but its still a race category after all so you will have people racing hard at times. If you drop off you will get picked up by the next group which is also a race group. Unfortunately this catches some people out such as the first years running where newbies with flats and runners suddenly found themselves with riders that are regulars in other NRS/QRTS/Elite level events/the usual local big hitters. If you are in the general group you will always get sketchy riders just like any other mass participation event which is why you try to space yourself but the speeds are a lot more relaxed.

I also wouldn't exactly call the first part technical. I thought it was quite fun. That could be a little biased considering I treat Mt Glorious barriers like an F1 driver at Monaco

[Mr Purple]

If you pick the UCI race age group and you don't like race speeds then that's on you. Its your age group but its still a race group. Its not NRS but its still a race category after all so you will have people racing hard at times. If you drop off you will get picked up by the next group which is also a race group. Unfortunately this catches some people out such as the first years running where newbies with flats and runners suddenly found themselves with riders that are regulars in other NRS/QRTS/Elite level events/the usual local big hitters. If you are in the general group you will always get sketchy riders just like any other mass participation event which is why you try to space yourself but the speeds are a lot more relaxed.

I also wouldn't exactly call the first part technical. I thought it was quite fun. That could be a little biased considering I treat Mt Glorious barriers like an F1 driver at Monaco

Yep. Fair call. I was caught out a bit because I can usually hang with the front group but this was not happening this time! In retrospect my fitness was a fair bit down after two weeks off the bike and I was hoping to mask it by drafting most of the race but wasn't strong enough to keep up. That's on me.

Not so much 'technical', just more 'technical' than the rest of the race. Would have had no issues doing it solo, just very uncomfortable four wide and with no forward visibility. Still reckon riding with the 'race' group in the age division was safer than the general category though. At least most of those guys knew what they were doing.

In retrospect it was good practice on nutrition and a good learning curve. I've entered the Brissie to Bay 130km and expect it to be far more a paced procession which will give me some group riding practice at least. At least now I can open a gel without falling off.

[vbplease]

In retrospect it was good practice on nutrition and a good learning curve. I've entered the Brissie to Bay 130km and expect it to be far more a paced procession which will give me some group riding practice at least. At least now I can open a gel without falling off.

I'll probably have a go at the 130km route too.. although the roads won't be closed, I imagine the ride will have a lot less tension than the TdB..

Fuelling is my biggest challenge for these events.. During TdB I ended up wearing cargo bibs so i could reach for chopped up pieces of cliff bar from my right thigh and gels from my left thigh.. I'm a complete retard reaching from my backpockets (when I'm fatigued). I still managed to get really bad stomach cramps which I suspect was from the drink mix being too rich in combination with a gel, which I didn't follow up with water. I might try experimenting with 2 x 750ml bottles with not so strong mix and cliff bars.. I think gels don't agree with my stomach.

What was your fuelling for TdB Mr Purple?

[Mr Purple]

What was your fuelling for TdB Mr Purple?

I ran two bottles - one with a combined electrolyte/sugar mix (High5 Citrus - 44g) and managed to get down 3 Marten Gels (25g each).

120g was probably only enough for two hours and I took 3, but I didn't vomit everywhere or even have any nausea so I'll take that.

Given my only other experience was the 160km BVRT E2E event (I literally had 15g of gel and one Cliff bar over 6 hours because I was unable to open anything without falling off on dirt) this was a success story!