Amying high

Stretching and contorting like an orb of sardines, the mass movement along the Great Ocean Road is not fish out of water. Totally at one on a scintillating stretch of bitumen, the lithe beings on bikes beetle towards the finish line.

It’s September in the seaside township of Lorne in Victoria, where legions of cyclists gather to compete in Amy’s Gran Fondo (AGF).

Batteries of bikes roll into town. Locked and loaded on top of vehicles they arrive in menacing numbers from all points north, south and west. There is safety in numbers: close to 4000 riders, spread across three events, bolster the ranks of a green army that rules the closed roads to traffic.

Man is not a mouse but Mamils (Middle-aged men in lycra) are in plague proportions at Gran Fondo time. From teens to 60+ veterans, mates and girlfriends assemble at the starting line. Age is no barrier but time is of the essence for stragglers who might fail to make the cutoff.

Starting in rhythmic waves of 200 riders from Lorne, the agitated mood is tempered only for a kilometre as groups coast through the neutral zone before rounding a sweeping bend at the historic Grand Pacific Hotel, cross the timing mat and put pedal to the metal.

Shaved v hairy, svelte v stout, my legs are pumped for a podium finish. The pace is fast and furious: no time to gaze at the fickle Southern Ocean, stop at Cape Patton Lookout or pay homage to The Twelve Apostles standing in sea water further down the road.

A 110km Lorne to Lorne loop it might be but this one-day Aussie ‘classic’ bike ride has a bit of Paris-Nice, Dauphine and Roubaix all cobbled together. The first 39km of jaw-dropping coastline revives memories of the Corsican shoreline beamed into lounge rooms during stages of the 2013 TDF. Riding the iconic Great Ocean Road, which was carved out of cliffs by returned servicemen between 1919-1932, is exhilarating stuff. Wheels hum, hubs whir and myriad bike chains shimmer like scales.

At Separation Creek there’s little between us. Elite cyclists set a fast pace in excess of 50kph around chicanes and twisted straits. Weekend hackers like me try to suck on to the wheel of quicker riders who zip past faster than World Champ Rui Costa.

Reaching Skenes Creek, our peddling posse farewells the coast, swings right and begins a cracking 10km climb into Cape Otway National Park. Spinning for KOM glory, the winner reaches the top averaging more than 22kph. “Froome, that’s fast”.

The cycling sortie rolls on through undulating pockets of Old Growth forest. On a nuggety road bathed in dappled light, our strung-out bunch weaves its way along slippy sections to hazardous Devils Elbow before plunging out of the Ardennes-like landscape and onto the flat lands. The picture-postcard setting is front, centre and all encompassing.

From the coast through forest to farmland – 78km are now done and dusted. At Barwon Downs the course quickens on gun-barrel straight sections. Fuelled-up and well-watered, we all share quick turns at the front, piloting the peloton towards the finish line.

The remaining distance is rapidly whittled away but the sting in Amy’s tail hits in the last 10ks or so from Deans Marsh where there’s just enough uphill to ensure my pistons seize up and are completely drained of juice by the end.

Closed roads, volunteer marshalls, safety briefings, SMS updates, free bike tuning and a growing expo ensure Amy’s Gran Fondo runs as efficiently as a Campagnolo group set. Also known as a cyclosportif or l’etape, a Gran Fondo is a group-ride phenomenon which often pays tribute to cycling legends and identities, in this case, Australian track cyclist Amy Gillett who was tragically killed during a training accident in Germany in 2005. With the aim to reduce the incidence of injury and death caused by cyclists and motorists, and brandishing the slogan “a metre matters” between bikes and motor vehicles, AGF puts the cycling safety issue on the podium.

Rolling back into town after the event, post-race banta begins and sustenance is shared with my cycling buddies at tables lining the footpaths at Lorne. The Milk Bottle café serves up burgers worth riding a very long way for; amber liquid flows at the Lorne Hotel; and the pizza shop, noodle bar, bakery and countless other eateries offer every excuse to replace mountains of burned calories well into the afternoon.

If you’re hungry for more, book a flight, box your bike and fast-track it to Lorne for AGF in 2014.