Big business sucks. Most of us know this.

And those who didn't are no doubt now convinced by recent global events.

Decisions made in boardrooms in Sydney and Melbourne can have far-reaching consequences.

The first of more than four thousand cyclists arrived in Halls Gap on Wednesday and within minutes the town's only ATM was empty.

That's right. There is only one ATM in Halls Gap. There's a second one at the pub on the edge of town, and that ran out of cash too.

A bank (which bank?) withdrew the only other machine sometime last year.

The local supermarket helped out a bit with Eftpos withdrawals but soon it also ran out of funds. It sporadically resumed a limited service when it had enough money in the till.

The ATM at the pub came online then went down again an hour or so later.

The Great Victorian Bike Ride is in town to give riders a break until Friday morning.

But in this hard-hit community recovering from the bushfires of two years ago and still feeling the effects of high fuel prices, the single biggest economic opportunity of the year was dampened.

I stood in queues while visitors rattled around in purses and searched backpacks for change to buy a pie or a sausage roll at the bakery.

"This is a bloody joke," said Heather, a teacher from Werribee. "This event has been planned for months. Bloody banks."

Another man chipped in: "The banks outsource cash deliveries when the ATMs are in shopfronts. I know about this. My son works at a bank."

And sure enough, a private security van rolled up mid-afternoon as per its normal schedule and refilled the machine - and suddenly the queue outfront was 20-people deep.

But it's not only big business that makes mistakes.

The Halls Gap pub turned off counter lunches promptly at 2pm, as per normal trading.

"I'm surprised that you did that," one disappointed rider said, when told that lunches had finished for the day. "I thought you would've kept serving all day."

"We've got a life too," a woman behind the counter snapped.

Admittedly, the pub continued to run a cheap and cheerful barbeque out front to ease the strain on the kitchen, but events with 4200 famished bicycle riders don't come along every year.