A NORTH Ringwood man has traced the path his great-grandfather took participating in the Melbourne to Warrnambool Cycling Classic more than a century ago.
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E.J. Tilley was among the riders in the 1910 race, which at that time departed Warrnambool for Melbourne.
Adam Williams has spent the past six months researching that race and on Saturday left Warrnambool at 6.19am – the same time Tilley started his ride off a 41-minute handicap.
Tilley reached the finish line at the Melbourne suburb of Haymarket 12 hours, 15 minutes and 45 seconds after starting his journey.
The winner, C.A. Piercey from Arnolds Bridge near Bendigo, took the top prize in just over 10 hours and went on to qualify for Australia in the Tour de France.
“I had it easy – I had a tail wind,” Williams said.
“The bikes back (in 1910) were single speed with a fixed wheel with no gears or brake and they rode on a gravel road. I was only 15 minutes faster between Warrnambool and Camperdown on a 20-speed bike – they must’ve been flying.”
Williams researched stories of the 1910 race from newspaper clippings. His uncle is the keeper of Tilley’s medal, which he earned for placing within the top 200 riders from a field of 355.
“On the Friday a horse and cart picked up changes of clothes (for the end of the race).
“(On the day), a race official rode the train to make sure none of the riders got on,” Williams said.
“The Loaf and Lounge provided the opportunity for some early nutrition, unlike E.J. who received his satchel of food just up the spur of Mt Leura. The satchel contained three bananas, four oranges, a quarter pound of chocolate, muscatel raisins, beef sausages, celery and a pint of warm milk and bread sweetened.
“Now that’s a feed station.”
Williams is a triathlete and is training to qualify for the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii by age 40. He calls it MyProject40.
“I have 18 months to go and this was part of my training,” he said. “I never met my great-grandfather but I’ve found some funny stories in my research. It’s weird to form a connection with someone I’ve never met.”
Williams hopes to ride the Melbourne to Warrnambool once he’s achieved his Hawaiian Ironman dream.
