“Same, same, but different” is how the event marshal described the event as she noticed my Ballarat Classic jersey.  “We modelled Bendigo on Ballarat, I hope you enjoy it”; and enjoy it I did.  You can’t help but compare this against its Ballarat rival.    Ballarat and Bendigo have that Melbourne vs Sydney one-upmanship, that lends itself to unconscious measurement of one city against another.    It may not have the highlights of Mt Buninyong and Lake Wendouree, but it has a similar amount of climbing as its rival (465m in fact) that creeps up on you, and by the second rest stop  (at approximately the 45 km mark), my legs were happy to receive a top-up of cut oranges and jelly snakes.

This event winds itself through the Great Dividing Range south of Bendigo on its outward journey and skirts it as you head back north to the town, through what you could imagine as bushranger territory.   The eucalypts provide dappled shade, which would be a godsend on a hotter day.

Being a good hour and three quarters drive away from Melbourne, this is not as populous as the Ballarat equivalent.  Dare I say it, this event has a quaintness to it, providing an Australian, country town ambience.   The approach of staggered start times for rides between 12 and 100 km’s,  results in a lively village around lunchtime when you would expect most participants would wander in.

The event is well organised, with many friendly volunteers and even a couple of budding musicians  helping you along the course.   I would suggest though that you follow someone with local knowledge as you ride out and back into the town, as course signage was lacking in those spots.  Dobbing myself in, I, along with several others, missed a vital left turn at the end of the course and managed to squeeze an additional kilometer or so onto the ride.

I’ll be back no problems.  I am glad I saw this advertised on social media, otherwise I would never have known it existed.  Rivalry aside,  being scheduled a month after its Ballarat cousin, it would make sense to promote it as a sister event to increase its popularity and provide more opportunity for groups to form on the day.

Oh, and watch out for the wildlife, both alive and dead.  The kangaroos definitely blend into those gum trees.