A Greendale father and son are getting ready to tackle this year’s Great Vic Bike Ride, where riders will pedal from Mortlake to Camperdown.
Running between November 24 to 28, riders will cover 364 kilometres in southwest Victoria, with this year’s route including the Great Ocean Road.
Jeremy Vanderklift and son Tor, 12, decided to take on the ride together as a way of spending some time with each other and meeting likeminded riders.
Mr Vanderklift said that Tor has always had a keen interest in riding, increased by watching European bicycle tours – like the Tour de France – on television.
“He got the hang of it pretty early. He was kind of – some would say – brainwashed … he was drawn to the sport with the amount of TV coverage I had at home,” Mr Vanderklift said.
“He was always keen to jump on a scooter or bike … when he was 18-months-[old], we went to a bike shop in Ballarat, and he was already at that age super keen on bikes, and he wanted to touch or grab anything in the shop … he jumped on a kids’ miniature bike in the shop with training wheels and started riding around the shop … as the cliché goes, he hasn’t looked back,” he said.
Mr Vanderklift said he has been heading out for rides to train two or three times a week, and Tor has been consistent in keeping up his fitness by competing in junior mountain bike competitions and training at home.
He said Greendale offers plenty of quieter roads, country lanes, and tracks to practice riding safely – such as those around the Wombat State Forest.
