All the news...
Saturday: went over to dinner at Sarah and Chris', partly so I could sleep there (while sending jamver0 home).
Sunday: woke up at 2:30. Got in to Southbank shortly after 3 am. Helped set up the Information/Registration/Cloakroom tables, and the very funky new banners. Thought about taking the "Water" banner home with me. Cyclists started turning up around 4 am. I was on rego, so I handed out rego envelopes to people who'd registered too late to get their stuff in the mail, or those who had let BQ know their rego never arrived. I also reassured lots of people who were already registered that if they had their green wristtag on, and their number on the bike, they were ready to go.
At some time in all this, the riders must have started leaving (we were several hundred meters away from the actual start point) and eventually, we were just telling a few stragglers to hurry up so they could get onto the busway before it closed, and so we could pack up.
By 6:50, we were heading off to cars to drive to Southport. We saw heaps of riders on the busway parallel to the motorway, and Barbara honked the horn, and I waved and cheered out the window. The finish site was constructed by the time we got there around 8, with Caela assigning people to tasks. I persuaded her that I'd be needed for cheering since no-one else around had my experience. So Sherry and I headed over with pompoms and maraccas. The first riders arrived in a big bunch about 8:20, some overshooting the turn-off to the finish site! (apparently last year's finish site was a bit further down the road). We had some dribs and drabs, and gradually the number of riders arriving started to increase again. There was a traffic light not too far away, because they arrived in lumps the entire time I was there. It's not much fun cheering the fast riders, they're too preoccupied with improving their time or whatever, but gradually the riders who really appreciate the cheering started to turn up, including a few CQ riders who obviously recognised us.
I had been thinking about heading back to admin as I'd promised Caela, but at that point I didn't dare leave. The finish was into a little carpark and turning circle, and some riders wanted to either hang around and yack in the turning circle, or wanted to stop and get off the bike as soon as they'd crossed the line, even if there were 30 riders immediately behind them who would have preferred to ride up to the end of the carpark, so Sherry and I found ourselves doing traffic management, getting the riders onto the grass and spread around the finish site in those gaps between arrivals. We had a couple of near accidents, and I think things would have got quite ugly if I hadn't been shooing riders out of the turning circle. It's amazing how people don't really think about the fact that they're only one or a few out of 7500 riders, and they're standing in a place that could fit maybe 100 riders, and they're one of the first to arrive - no, they don't get to be special snowflakes taking up that space.
I can remember a point fairly early on where I hit the "this event is bigger than CQ" stage, but I really didn't get much sense past that of how much bigger, although 1000 to 7500 seems reasonable. My voice was telling me I was working harder than I'd been, and I started to get worried about sunburn. Fortunately, by about 11 am, the lumps were getting a bit smaller again, Wayne (a CQ friend) had arrived, the premier's peloton had arrived, and in the meantime we'd acquired some real traffic control, with a marshalling vest, and a megaphone.
We headed back to the main admin tent. I got a chance to drink some water, and then was recruited by Jane for T-shirts. I spent the next two hours folding T-shirts, putting them into "showbags", in some cases handing them out to riders, and basically trying to relieve the volunteers who'd been doing nothing but T-shirts since 8. When I arrived, there were three of us folding size L as fast as we could just to keep up with the two people handing out Ls. By the time I had a reasonable accumulation of both L and M ready and waiting, I got myself some lunch, and a quick look around the site - although the rush was clearly over and the corporate tents were nearly all empty already.
During the afternoon, volunteers gradually drifted off, and fewer and fewer of us were managing more and more T-shirt sizes, until 3pm when two of us were handling everything. There was some last-minute excitement with riders who'd been shooed across the line so they could make the last shuttlebus back to Brisbane, and then it was time to pack up, seal boxes, collapse empty boxes, dump ice, fold tarpaulins, and put poles in trucks. (Other volunteers' pack up experience was no doubt different). I got to ride in Jane's truck with Sarah, although I was fading rather by then. Back at BQ headquarters, people were running around unpacking trucks but I was basically a bit of a lump on a rock by then. Eventually, we got some transport back to Chris and Sarah's and then Chris drove me home, I think arriving about 7:30.
Overall, I don't think it was as much fun as CQ - too many people over too short a time to get much connection, so much stuff that just had to get done now, rather than having time to talk, and at CQ I had much more sense that I made a difference to the riders' experience and ability to keep going over the nine days, whereas here, we were definitely just there to do all the housekeeping at either end, and the actual ride was entirely up to the riders. The morning weather - cool, overcast, but no actual rain - was great for riding but it got rather hot and sunny later.
Monday: I discovered my forerunner didn't want to turn on. For the record, I rode my bike 35 min. Also jamver0 picked up his new iPhone, and we mailed my forerunner to Garmin.
Tuesday: I finally felt hydrated and rested enough to manage my long Sunday run. Very humid. No idea about my time, because I got myself distracted 1km from home, finding out where the brush turkey is installing its nest (I'm not sure it's figured it out either, because the bit of land it was tossing sticks and leaves onto seems much too steep to support a decent-sized mound); then I saw a fabulous all-white spider (it's a flowerspider, apparently); then I was curious if the king parrot I'd seen in the bush near the start of the riverpath was still there, an hour later, and in fact there were three king parrots who were happy to have me sit on the grass under them, watching them eat seedpods.
Wednesday: it was either too sunny or too wet to head out when I thought about it, and I didn't even get onto the Wii.
Today: I am going out on my bike now.
Sunday: woke up at 2:30. Got in to Southbank shortly after 3 am. Helped set up the Information/Registration/Cloakroom tables, and the very funky new banners. Thought about taking the "Water" banner home with me. Cyclists started turning up around 4 am. I was on rego, so I handed out rego envelopes to people who'd registered too late to get their stuff in the mail, or those who had let BQ know their rego never arrived. I also reassured lots of people who were already registered that if they had their green wristtag on, and their number on the bike, they were ready to go.
At some time in all this, the riders must have started leaving (we were several hundred meters away from the actual start point) and eventually, we were just telling a few stragglers to hurry up so they could get onto the busway before it closed, and so we could pack up.
By 6:50, we were heading off to cars to drive to Southport. We saw heaps of riders on the busway parallel to the motorway, and Barbara honked the horn, and I waved and cheered out the window. The finish site was constructed by the time we got there around 8, with Caela assigning people to tasks. I persuaded her that I'd be needed for cheering since no-one else around had my experience. So Sherry and I headed over with pompoms and maraccas. The first riders arrived in a big bunch about 8:20, some overshooting the turn-off to the finish site! (apparently last year's finish site was a bit further down the road). We had some dribs and drabs, and gradually the number of riders arriving started to increase again. There was a traffic light not too far away, because they arrived in lumps the entire time I was there. It's not much fun cheering the fast riders, they're too preoccupied with improving their time or whatever, but gradually the riders who really appreciate the cheering started to turn up, including a few CQ riders who obviously recognised us.
I had been thinking about heading back to admin as I'd promised Caela, but at that point I didn't dare leave. The finish was into a little carpark and turning circle, and some riders wanted to either hang around and yack in the turning circle, or wanted to stop and get off the bike as soon as they'd crossed the line, even if there were 30 riders immediately behind them who would have preferred to ride up to the end of the carpark, so Sherry and I found ourselves doing traffic management, getting the riders onto the grass and spread around the finish site in those gaps between arrivals. We had a couple of near accidents, and I think things would have got quite ugly if I hadn't been shooing riders out of the turning circle. It's amazing how people don't really think about the fact that they're only one or a few out of 7500 riders, and they're standing in a place that could fit maybe 100 riders, and they're one of the first to arrive - no, they don't get to be special snowflakes taking up that space.
I can remember a point fairly early on where I hit the "this event is bigger than CQ" stage, but I really didn't get much sense past that of how much bigger, although 1000 to 7500 seems reasonable. My voice was telling me I was working harder than I'd been, and I started to get worried about sunburn. Fortunately, by about 11 am, the lumps were getting a bit smaller again, Wayne (a CQ friend) had arrived, the premier's peloton had arrived, and in the meantime we'd acquired some real traffic control, with a marshalling vest, and a megaphone.
We headed back to the main admin tent. I got a chance to drink some water, and then was recruited by Jane for T-shirts. I spent the next two hours folding T-shirts, putting them into "showbags", in some cases handing them out to riders, and basically trying to relieve the volunteers who'd been doing nothing but T-shirts since 8. When I arrived, there were three of us folding size L as fast as we could just to keep up with the two people handing out Ls. By the time I had a reasonable accumulation of both L and M ready and waiting, I got myself some lunch, and a quick look around the site - although the rush was clearly over and the corporate tents were nearly all empty already.
During the afternoon, volunteers gradually drifted off, and fewer and fewer of us were managing more and more T-shirt sizes, until 3pm when two of us were handling everything. There was some last-minute excitement with riders who'd been shooed across the line so they could make the last shuttlebus back to Brisbane, and then it was time to pack up, seal boxes, collapse empty boxes, dump ice, fold tarpaulins, and put poles in trucks. (Other volunteers' pack up experience was no doubt different). I got to ride in Jane's truck with Sarah, although I was fading rather by then. Back at BQ headquarters, people were running around unpacking trucks but I was basically a bit of a lump on a rock by then. Eventually, we got some transport back to Chris and Sarah's and then Chris drove me home, I think arriving about 7:30.
Overall, I don't think it was as much fun as CQ - too many people over too short a time to get much connection, so much stuff that just had to get done now, rather than having time to talk, and at CQ I had much more sense that I made a difference to the riders' experience and ability to keep going over the nine days, whereas here, we were definitely just there to do all the housekeeping at either end, and the actual ride was entirely up to the riders. The morning weather - cool, overcast, but no actual rain - was great for riding but it got rather hot and sunny later.
Monday: I discovered my forerunner didn't want to turn on. For the record, I rode my bike 35 min. Also jamver0 picked up his new iPhone, and we mailed my forerunner to Garmin.
Tuesday: I finally felt hydrated and rested enough to manage my long Sunday run. Very humid. No idea about my time, because I got myself distracted 1km from home, finding out where the brush turkey is installing its nest (I'm not sure it's figured it out either, because the bit of land it was tossing sticks and leaves onto seems much too steep to support a decent-sized mound); then I saw a fabulous all-white spider (it's a flowerspider, apparently); then I was curious if the king parrot I'd seen in the bush near the start of the riverpath was still there, an hour later, and in fact there were three king parrots who were happy to have me sit on the grass under them, watching them eat seedpods.
Wednesday: it was either too sunny or too wet to head out when I thought about it, and I didn't even get onto the Wii.
Today: I am going out on my bike now.