IT’S been 40 years since Portland’s own Andrew Lindsey crossed the line in the Melbourne to Warrnambool bike race, claiming a famous victory that still feels like it just happened yesterday.

“Sometimes I sit back and think, ‘where has the time gone?’ It’s something that still really sticks out in my memory,” Lindsey said.

“To this day when I drive along that road I can pinpoint landmarks along the way and recall what was happening in the race and how I was feeling at the time.”

The final leg of the race is the part that Lindsey remembers best of all, as it came down to grit and determination in overcoming a challenging section of the race.

“I remember as we were travelling through Mount Moriac, some knee problems flaring up which I’d been dealing with in the lead-up, and there was a moment there where I thought about throwing in the towel,” he said.

“But in a split-second I thought ‘no I’ve done all this work, I’m going to see this through.’

“And then again with about 40 kilometres to the finish I could feel the pedals starting to get a bit heavier… but then those last 20 ks or so I just felt unbelievable.

“You’re always going to have those moments over the course of a six or seven hour race where you don’t feel so good… but I had done 40,000 kilometres on the bike in the year leading up to the race so I knew how to push through.”

For Lindsey, winning the 1983 race was not just the culmination of a year’s worth of training, but rather a lifelong dream that he had held from a very young age.

“It was a dream I’d had since I was a kid… the pinnacle that I wanted to reach,” he said.

“My dad used to take me over there when I was younger to watch the finish of the race, and from then on it was something that just continuously motivated me to keep working on my cycling.”

He said the finish to the race was equally memorable, as it came down to a multi-racer sprint to the line.

“I remember coming in towards Warrnambool, I had been following a guy who I knew was very experienced and I was about fifth place.

“With about 200 metres ago I realised it was time, so I broke away from the pack and just let it rip.

“I can distinctly remember the yellow banner across the finish, and when I went under the banner I just thought ‘is this a dream or did it really just happen?’

“It was a weird feeling actually… fulfilling a goal I’d had for so many years in front of my friends and family… there were some pretty big celebrations after.”

Although Lindsey has long since retired from racing competitively – he finished up in the mid-1990s due to those ongoing problems with his knee – he has remained actively involved in the cycling community in the years since.

“I started up a National Road Series team about 10 years ago now and ran that for about seven or eight years… now I’ve kind of taken a step back and allowed some other people to run it,” Lindsey said.

“I still get myself out on the bike when I can, I probably do a 20k ride four times a week just to keep myself fit.”

Next generation

Clearly, given how he was introduced to cycling through his father, the sport is deeply entrenched in the Lindsey family.

Andrew’s son Dylan has continued that legacy by being a regular starter in the Melbourne to Warrnambool race.

Tomorrow race will be Dylan’s ninth Melbourne to Warrnambool, and he will line up with the Onyva Racing team.

“Dad rode in Warrnambool after he came back from the Second World War, so it was his story that kind got me interested,” Andrew said.

“When Dylan was little I think he found a DVD which showed the finish of my race in ’83, and I think that’s what started to get him keen on it.

“He’s going to enter the race (tomorrow), he’s been recovering from glandular fever so we weren’t sure if he was going to make it, but yes he’ll be there, hopefully he does really well.”

Dylan’s best finish being in 2021 when he placed 38th, just 13 seconds behind the winner.