Around the Bay in a Day is a recreational cycling event organised by Bicycle Victoria

Bicycle Victoria

Bicycle Network Victoria is a community-based not-for-profit organisation, one of the largest cycling membership organisations in the world , whose mission is to get More People Cycling More Often. The name was changed from Bicycle Victoria to Bicycle Network Victoria in July 2011...

 in Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Cyclists register to ride a 210 km course starting and ending in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

 around Port Phillip

Port Phillip

Port Phillip Port Phillip Port Phillip (also commonly referred to as Port Phillip Bay or (locally) just The Bay, is a large bay in southern Victoria, Australia; it is the location of Melbourne. Geographically, the bay covers and the shore stretches roughly . Although it is extremely shallow for...

, either clockwise or anti-clockwise, catching the ferry between Queenscliff

Queenscliff, Victoria

Queenscliff is a small town on the Bellarine Peninsula in southern Victoria, Australia, south of Swan Bay at the entrance to Port Phillip. It is the administrative centre for the Borough of Queenscliffe...

 and Sorrento

Sorrento, Victoria

Sorrento is a township in Victoria, Australia, located on the shores of Port Phillip on the Mornington Peninsula, about one and a half hours south of Melbourne...

.

For those brave enough to tackle the 210 km, their journey begins and ends at Alexandra Gardens

Alexandra Gardens, Melbourne

The Alexandra Gardens are located on the south bank of the Yarra River, opposite Federation Square and the Melbourne Central Business District, in Victoria, Australia. The Gardens are bounded by the Yarra River to the north, Princes and Swan street bridges, with Queen Victoria Gardens and Kings...

. Half of the riders head towards the east-side of the bay, riding to Sorrento, and the other half head west towards Queenscliff. Riders cross the bay on ferries

Searoad ferry

Searoad Ferries is an Australian company that operates a roll-on/roll-off vehicle and passenger ferry service between the heads of Port Phillip, near Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....

 to complete the ride.

In 2005 entrants were also offered less strenuous alternatives of a 100 km ride from Sorrento to Docklands, or a more leisurely 50 km ride to the Western suburbs and return using the West Gate Bridge

West Gate Bridge

The West Gate Bridge is a steel box girder cable-stayed bridge in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It spans the Yarra River, just north of its mouth into Port Phillip, and is a vital link between the inner city and Melbourne's western suburbs with the industrial suburbs in the west and with the city...

 in both directions.

The event was first run in 1993. In 2005 almost 11,000 people registered for the ride and raised about $300,000 for The Smith Family

The Smith Family

The Smith Family is an Australian, independent non-profit children's charity committed to unlocking opportunities for disadvantaged children and their families to participate more fully in society, using education as the key.-The Smith Family history:...

 charity for disadvantaged children. In October 2004, over 8,600 riders took part.
Responding to the growing number of cyclists wanting to take part in Australia's biggest one-day challenge ride, Bicycle Victoria devised four options for the ride on 15 October 2006.

In 2006 organisers expected 9000 participants to choose from the Legend 250 km or the Challenge 210 km ride. Less experienced riders could pick the Classic, which included the West Gate Bridge, or the Bay Ride. A post ride count put the number of total entrants to more than 14,000, raising $440,000AU.

• The Legend starts at Docklands, heads down to Queenscliff via Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula, crosses on the ferry to Sorrento, then back to Melbourne.

• The Challenge takes the opposite tack down to Sorrento, cross to Queenscliff on the ferry, then back to Melbourne, without the Bellarine Peninsula section.

• The Classic starts in Sorrento, heads back to Melbourne via the Mornington Peninsula.

• And the 42 km Bay Ride starts at Docklands, pedals to Williamstown, over the West Gate Bridge
  West Gate Bridge
  The West Gate Bridge is a steel box girder cable-stayed bridge in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It spans the Yarra River, just north of its mouth into Port Phillip, and is a vital link between the inner city and Melbourne's western suburbs with the industrial suburbs in the west and with the city...
  
   and back to the cycling festival.

In 2008 more than 16,000 riders participated in Round the Bay in a Day. Several riders were injured before the start of the ride when a car hit a leading rider in a group on the Nepean Highway at around 4am just south of Mt Eliza. Later on the same day, a male rider collided with a fellow rider and fell head first on to the road at Olivers Hill near Frankston

Frankston, Victoria

Frankston is a suburb within the Greater Melbourne metropolitan area in Victoria, Australia. It is located 40 km southeast of the state capital Melbourne at the southernmost edge of Greater Melbourne, near the beginnings of the Mornington Peninsula...

. He was taken to the Alfred Hospital but later died from his injuries.