Newsletter No 15: February 2018
Posted 16 February 2018
Newsletter No 15 – February 2018
Over 30 wonderful years, more than 30,000 riders,
46,000 kilometers and $20,000,000 raised.
Registrations Close Monday 26 March 2018.
Graham Woodrup Memorial Award – 2018 – Please think about nominating someone special!
Each year 'The Graham Woodrup Memorial Award' recognises someone who has displayed 'exceptional effort and inspiration' to others in the course of his/her team's involvement with the Murray to Moyne, In memory of 'Woody'.

Who is eligible for the award?
Any person associated with the Murray to Moyne, as a Rider, Support Crew or Event Volunteer. All potential recipients of the award (nominees) are required to be present at the Final Presentation Ceremony in Port Fairy on Sunday 8 April 2018.
Criteria - Exceptional effort and inspiration:
Graham Woodrup or ‘Woody’ as he was fondly known, was a visionary. He had a dynamic and enthusiastic personality, inspiring others by example to be generous with their talents by using them to help others. These characteristics epitomise this award for 'exceptional effort and inspiration to others'.
Nominations should address the following criteria
A person who has overcome difficult circumstances to participate in or be associated with the M2M.
A person who has inspired others by their actions and commitment to the M2M.
A person who, through the M2M, has motivated others to get on a bike and have a go!
A person who has encouraged others through the M2M to fundraise for a hospital or health related organisation.
A person who has contributed significantly to the M2M at a team level.
Go to the Website for more details about nominating someone special
2017 Joint Awardees:
Ann Hennessy & Christina Mavridis (Colac Cranks Team 30)
Full nomination details can be found at the M2M Website: https://www.murraytomoyne.com.au/woodrup_award.php
From the Ride Directors Desk:
Reminders to Team Captains and Riders.
The M2M provides riders of all abilities with the physical challenge to cover the full distance in not much more than 24 hours as a team in relay.
The Ride Director on each leg will have ultimate control of decisions to be made once the ride is in progress. He or she will have radio contact with Motorcycle Marshals, Lead and Rear Vehicles, Medical Vehicles and can contact the Police if necessary.
Riders looking for more of a challenge can increase the distance of their relay sections or try riding a double shift. In the interests of safety and a directive from the Police, teams found racing will be stopped. No full distance riders are permitted.
We do not want the distance from the front of the ride to the back to be more than 60 kms, so if too many riders sit on the Lead Vehicle it may need to stop to allow the Rear Vehicle to catch up and keep the ride within the 60 km range. This occurred on each route last year, so riders need to keep this in mind. It is NOT a race !
In order to keep the relay moving down the road at a reasonable pace, teams should aim to keep some riders on the road at all times. Ie During the dinner break, the whole team should not stop. You should stagger those having a meal with those who keep riding. In this way you keep your team moving and this helps keep the ride within the 60 distance range.
Teams should not waste time on changeovers. You should be aiming to have your fresh riders ready to go as soon as your team comes along. They need to be ready and organised!
Teams should not have too many riders on the road at the one time, to ensure riders get enough rest before they do their next stint. You need riders to pace with, but you can join into a bunch with other teams of similar ability, so, 2 to 3 riders at a time means that your team does not have to changeover as often, thereby conserving energy.
Riding 1 hour on and 3 hours off would mean each rider would cover approximately 130kms out of the full 520km ride. If there are stronger riders in the team, they may elect to do longer relays, giving weaker riders a longer rest. No set distance is laid down for relaying, and change overs may be altered to suit the location of towns, wayside stops and riders' ability, but 20 to 30 kilometres is generally a comfortable distance for each riding stint.
Medical units will be strategically placed throughout the ride, but it is advised for all teams to carry their own First Aid equipment.
Riders who will be riding at dusk should be carrying lights and be able to turn these on once the official lighting up time occurs. Lights MUST be located on the bike and not on a helmet or person (as per the road law).
Riders and team support should have the correct fluro vest for night riding. That is - the vest has some reflective element to shine at night!
Motor Cycle Marshals are strategically placed along the M2M route. They are there to assist riders and teams with any emergencies and to ensure you are all following correct safety procedures and heading in the correct direction. Please follow a Motorcycle Marshal’s directions as they have your safety as their prime responsibility. Most charity bike rides do not have Motorcycle Marshals and they are there for the safe running of the event and to ensure we comply with all VicRoads and VicPol requirements.
Team Drivers – Please ensure you stop in a safe place and not just anywhere along the side of the road. (Many teams stop exactly where the kilometer mark comes up). This is not necessarily the safest place to get off the road. Remember – your team members need space to get their bikes off trailers and get organised, so you need room and you need to be off the road. Safety comes First!!
Don't hesitate to ask the M2M Co-ordinator, a competitive cyclist or someone who has done this ride before for help with your training, bike set-up, food, clothing, etc.
The M2M has been trying to source a venue close to the finish in Port Fairy to be used for people to change clothes etc. once completing the ride. This has not been successful and we direct teams to the Belfast Aquatic Centre – where modern clean toilets, showers are available for a gold coin donation. We will keep looking!
Catering on route options as of early February.
Echuca Route: The Rapid Relief organisation have confirmed they will supply catering at the following venues for this year’s ride. Start of Echuca and Swan Hill ride – Breakfast. Dinner at Stawell for the Echuca ride.
Swan Hill Route: Dunmunkle Lodge at Minyip – Dinner – At the Heart of the Wheat Belt – this is a new opportunity for all those on the Swan Hill ride. Well worth it!
Mildura Route: Beulah Primary School – Dinner – Relaxing venue, great food, cool drinks and great facilities.
We will send out menus and order forms for these catering arrangements ASAP.
Hamilton Compulsory Stop: The Lions Club of Hamilton will provide a BBQ and soup at the Hamilton Show Grounds well into the night and a Breakfast before the ride commences from Hamilton to Port Fairy.
Hamilton to Port Fairy Via Macarthur: The Lions Club of Macarthur will provide pancakes, egg and bacon rolls and hot drinks. This proved very popular last year and the Lions should be setting up in the Lions Park, Main Street.
Hamilton to Port Fairy Via Hawkesdale: Waiting on information re catering for 2018.
Team Captains: Please ensure your members are registering and please send these Newsletters out to all your team members via e-mail- being informed in a timely manner is vital to any efficient organisation.
All previous Newsletters are located at: https://www.murraytomoyne.com.au/
Training Tips #3 Murray to Moyne 2018 – 7 Weeks to Go
We now have 7 weeks to the Murray to Moyne on the 7thand 8thApril, enough time to sharpen up your training, increase your speed, and peak for the event. If you have been following the methods of these training tips, your endurance should be well developed and your strength much improved, you should be feeling fairly good by now, ready to meet the next challenge.
The next improvement you can make is to increase your cruising speed, so that you feel a bit more comfortable riding at a higher speed, which is often required in the Murray to Moyne should you hook up with a faster bunch, or need to pick up a higher pace for one of your stints. Normally riders do about 1 hour between changeovers, so the faster you can ride in an hour the better. This does not mean you go out and ride for an hour as fast as you can in your training sessions - this would be too taxing if done often, and your speed would not increase that much. The best method is to break up your efforts, into intervals where you can ride at a higher speed.
These are tough, to be done 2 times a week at most. I like to start with 5 minute intervals, I find these achievable as it takes a lot of mental fortitude to ride hard for a considerable time. Start conservatively, put it in a higher gear, do not start too fast, ease into it, otherwise you will blow up after a minute. You will initially feel fresh, but fatigue kicks in very quickly and you get slower and struggle to push the gear. The idea is to average your effort (power) over the whole interval. Concentrate on your form, smooth pedalling, relaxing the upper body, and do what is achievable according to your fitness. Do not be over ambitious, you may be fresh the first time you do this, and ready to take on the world. Remember, you need to do these over the next few weeks and it may be too difficult to keep up to that initial high standard.
Further, safety is paramount. If you can, find a course without interruptions (no problem for country cyclists) and watch where you are going, because you are going faster under effort and need more concentration. Start with 5 minute efforts, then recover on a small gear. This recovery time could be between 2.5 to 5 minutes, depending on your fitness and how you feel. To gain improvement in your cruising speed, ride your intervals faster and reduce your recovery time, so for early sessions, have a good recovery time, so you have room for improvement. At first, you may be able to do 2 or 3, 5 minute efforts, perhaps more. Build them up to your capabilities. If you are experienced, you can do up to 6 or more. You can change the interval time to 10 minutes, but just do half as many, or a 20 minute effort, increasing to 2 efforts, if possible, just to test how you are going after a few weeks. Everyone is different, do what you are comfortable with. You do not have to do that last interval which could destroy you!
You can do this training in a 4 week block, 3 weeks hard, 4thweek recovery, leaving 3 weeks to sharpen up and then peak for the event. As well as this interval training, you need to maintain your longer rides once a week, keeping up your bunch riding skills, and one session to maintain your strength training, which could be incorporated into your longer rides.
Happy and safe cycling.
Jeff McLean
Team Biographies:
The M2M Committee would like to include more Team Bio’s on the website, so if you would like to submit some information about your team, please do so. Some guidelines include:
Who initiated the team and when was the team established? Official Team Name and M2M Team number?
Why was the team established – who are you raising funds for? How have the funds raised been used?
Do you have any notable experiences from the M2M relay – what do you enjoy most / least about the ride?
What fundraising activities have you run and how successful are they!
How has your team’s fitness improved as a result of the relay ie How much training does the team do, How often; All year or just in the months before the ride?
Have you had any funny / amusing events occur as a result of participating in the relay?
Please include a team photo or similar and send any Team Bio’s to: admin@murraytomoyne.com.au
Winner of the Early Bird Registration Prize:
Congratulations to David Castles Registration No 74 from Horsham whois the winner of the accommodation package for 2 at Hearn’s Port Fairy Accommodation. David has been the bus driver for the Warrnambool College Team 12 and he will be driving the support bus this year for the 23rd time. That is a total of 23,920 Kms from Warrnambool to Mildura and back 23 times. Now that is a very deserving winner!
Teams Riding in 2018 (Some)
Team 1 B – Belfast Bikers - Moyne Health Team 101 – BIOYA – Altona Nth Primary School
Team 361 – Boort District Health Service Team 71 – Casterton Memorial Hospital
Team 220 – Castlemaine Rouleurs Team 70 – Chiropractic for Health - Wodonga Hospital
Team 60 – Cohuna District Hospital Team 953 – Flying Angels –WRAD Lookout Project
Team 360 – Monash Health Service
Team 104 – Portland Whitelioners –P'land Regional Health
Team 354 – The Hunters - Huntingtons Victoria
Team 121 – Scrubbers & the Gasman -South West Healthcare
Team 104 – Lorne Spinners – Lorne Community Hospital
Team 128 – Cytotoxic Cyclists - Childrens Cancer Foundation
Registration Timetable:
Normal Registrations: Close Monday 26 Monday 2018.
If you have any questions:
Please contact Lou, M2M Administrator
0467 6788 765 or via email: admin@murraytomoyne.com.au
