As a warm-up for Saturday's Tat 100, Wozz and I did a quiet little tap out Ford Rd toward the Emu in search of the Saturday Couldabeens, guaging an intercept at the kennels for a tow back to town. Just to loosen legs. We felt the northeaster building at 6.30, the sky a precursor to a hot day ahead. Passed Cranky cruising ahead of the imminent Cat collective and found four single filed Couldabeens with heads down westbound, half a k ahead of the predicted point. We u-turned and wound up the cadence to attach to the rear of a serious 40+ km/h slog to town, Rocket driving like the Energiser bunny with fresh batteries, Shorty, GT Craig and BigMat the only other Saturday starters, admirably adding to the advance. Loosening legs was turning to cooking calves! A good run through the intersections and squeezing the throttle in Wanganui unhooked GT Craig (second wheel to the dismal draft from Rocket) but a regroup in Rudd Rd preserved the harmony to roll back through town. Skipped the post ride caffine to ready the rig for the 100.
By 10am the guage was touching 29, PistolPete, Shane, Cougar, AvantiChris, Wozz and Ro teaming up to take on Tat's 100. At the drop of the flag, we paused for the Pistol pit crew to rectify Ro's reluctant speedo sensor, better to roll away last and let the masses sift into respective groups. The Couldabeens cache settled into a rhythm eastward, soon reeling in the adagio addicts ; newbies, backpacks, MTB's (one a belt drive!), WobblyTrev and the usual peleton peculiarities, sorting the wheat from the chaff. We'd inherited newbieJay and CerveloJosh to our clan, both having one-off performances at the pointy end, quite unsure on bunch protocols. Shane, Pistol, Wozz and I took to the drivers seats with Cougar, Ro and AvantiChris maintaining the minders role admirably (filtering foreigners from fickled frenzy). Eggy had punctured near Toolamba Rd but passed again soon after, motorpaced back to the lead car via a Ulysses volunteer. We weaved past Old Toolamba and back onto the Murchison Rd, growing a tail of half a dozen in tow on the trek south, sailing along in the high 30's while the pace of 51 ahead, tolled on the mere mortals attached. Love the billiard table ride into Murchison, poetry for the posterior, but the aroma of deceased skippy's niggled at the nostrils for our westward rush to Rushworth. The northeaster blowing at 25km/h was made more annoying mixed with the unacustomed ascents of the hills, collecting more cast-offs (including a garish green DeHugg tri-bike with a tired engine). The pace began to take its toll on those at the limit, we'd lost Cougar in the bunch break-up, Ro dropping back to retrieve. The heat (now 33) had emptied bidons briskly but it was a blessing to find a well stocked Lions esky at Rushworth to recover, rehydrate and refill. Ro and Cougar arrived within minutes, and all suitably refuelled, were reformed for the hard yards to follow, 50k of nasty northerly headwind home with a side serving of 35 degrees. Pistol & Shane drove hard toward Stanhope, Wozz, Ro & I keen to keep a collective for survival. Cougar opted for the tough slog solo, Wozz, Ro, Chris and I sharing the load while Shane & Pete dissapeared on the horizon. We'd found the arrow for the turn onto Hill Rd, our long drag along 12ks of Harston Rd tolled on AvantiChris (ushering us on) but collected Jodie for a tow till Springvale Rd. Pointing south was real respite for weary legs (but sent us 4k away from Tatura), nice work from the Ulysses lads on duty for a point and wave at the intersections. The unrelenting hot headwind for the length of Rushworth-Tatura Rd ground down the determination but we slowly caught and collected CerveloJosh with a case of the noddy wobbles (on his limit). Rocket and BigMat suddenly appeared (soft optioned in an airconditioned 4x4) taunting us, toasting our effort with a cold ale. (it triggered an appropriate retort but drove us on to earn the promised chilled post ride refreshment) Emptying a bidon on my heated head recovered some speed and spirit, but Wozz and I kept an eye on Ro & Josh's survival in tow. Tatura's outskirts have never been much to admire till today, a welcome sight after a 2300 calorie effort well spent in 3:05:09. Cougar then AvantiChris arrived soon after, a super solo soldier-on effort by each but no sign of Pistol & Shane. Seems an unsighted arrow took them on a toasty tour through Stanhope-Girgarre-Byrneside and beyond to clock extra k's for the fun (?) of it .
A slothful Sunday spent rehydrating (Wozz merely muscled Mt Hotham as a follow up!) brewed the urge to climb back aboard Monday. Doubtful that the legs would co-operate at Cat cadence, I set sail eight minutes ahead of Mondays masochists with the stiff southerly likely to whittle me down to snails pace. The long dark length of Old Dookie was spent bracing thoughts and thighs on the effect the southerly (26-35km/h) was going to have, turned into Boundary with head on the headstem but pleased the legs propelled me at a reasonable rate. There were some thoughts of a half-strength-decaf-latte-with-a-pink-marshmallow Channel Rd deviation but, on seeing two bikes ahead made it a double-shot-short-black-with-wasabi-chaser push on to River Rd. PistolPete plied north near the Broken bridges (looking for directional arrows?) as I gradually gained on the two ahead, into River Rd the task was a little easier with wind to the portside. My lure turned out to be Fox and Minto on a casual cruise, a brief greet then pushed on to hold off the Cat cache catching. I was nearly nudging zone 5 nearing Mitchell, but got a recovery bearing west with a few pockets of treed shelter en route to the highway. A peek back in Raftery Rd shattered hopes seeing the bunch bearing down behind, the serious wattage of Robbo, Rabbit, Vince, Ron, Trav and three others blurring by at the horse stud. Legs wouldn't respond to to jumping on the back, so plugged away to the finish and kept on the gas homeward, a 7th on the Afterglow and a 2nd best on the Crit sprint some consolation.
Many of the regular Goats were missing Tuesday morning, maybe the wind (20+k's of southerly) turned it slim pickings at Friars? Only Principal Skinner, GiantPhil, BigPaul, Coggo, Tum, Kate, Hommy, Liam and Brendan to begin, Tina rolling in wait on Old Dookie Rd as always. It was a disoriented start to proceedings of rotation, taking till Central Ave to get some coherence. The pace was well down on usual form, almost half the crew and double the wind tolling on tempo, Kate was feeling the bruising of a bash up Baw Baw, Coggo a bit secondhand from a long hot Tat 200. The sun crested the horizon at the one tree dam, shedding light on Liams odd bike set-up, more like a preying mantis pose. There was a bit of echelon education in River Rd to get the best of a side wind, a symposium on squashed snake near Laws Drive too. Rolling turns on the front were frequent given a less populated peleton but the eagerness grew in Mitchell Rd. Contenders for the final thrash whittled down over Raftery's course, pointing into Conrod Giant Phil bore into the dipper with Tum all over his back wheel. I'd had the box seat at third wheel when Tum opened the bid, but his ten second fuse (and compact chainring) burned quickly, leaving me 350 metres to hold off many gallivanting Goats. Hearing Hommy's wheels behind drove my cranks a bit harder (bit chuffed to top 500 watts) to take the chocolates and give Tum the box.
The breeze had finally been turned off for Wednesday, Kialla Lakes roundabout drawing 16 Couldabeens starters in at 6. It was my turn today to score the draft of Pistol's wheel, just as well he's still a bit flat from the magical mystery tour (his version) of theTat 100. AvantiTrev, Cougar, Shane and AvantiChris were all in somewhat the same boat, Trav aboard demo #2 of a new rig. HurtLocker's six grinned southward at Kialla Central's hall, poor old Sosso nearly 2k OTA in River Rd. Jay was along on an invitational, coming to terms with the unwritten testament to bunch ethics and how to pace ones lungs at the sharp end of the pack. It was Couldabeens comeback day with BigMat, Whispering Jack and SuperMario putting in an appearance and a decent dip on the front, although Whispering Jack aerated the front of the bunch with a blast up Boundary beside Nick. It turned pretty pacy in Channel Rd, beside Choppy tapping solidly to the kinder, then trying to match mountain monster Wozz for the Cha Cha. I called him over at half distance (my tank nearly empty) which only unleashed a BigMat, Rocket and Shane battle to Orrvale Rd. A slow tractor and wishes for unity reassembled the bunch at the school for a strong finish, suprisingly a second fastest time on what was once a recovery ride.
Would it be a sacrificial slaughter at the hands of only a few? Negative thoughts brewed on thrash Thursday, finding plenty of punters at the car park turned the mood around quickly, there was at least a chance to recover sharing turns with 14 Couldabeens. Wozz and I took the first shift, the long strip of tarmac to the first kink was a world away, moving my stare to the Garmin didn't help, the heart rate rising to attack level was a mental anchor, better to fix focus on the bitumen blur a few metres ahead. Shane & Pistol applied a 10%GST (gross speed test) to the pace to the kinder, conversations cut to bare essentials toward the business end of the bunch. Whispering Jack was driving a hard bargain beside me in River Rd, pleased when he called for a draft well short of my target, but then I fell short on matching Wozza's distance. I had quite a bit of bogan decision making as the turns came round, "yeah, nah, but" on the positives of the push vs the toll of the toil. Whispering Jack powered up Mt Nicolaci but I got the slingshot to half bike him as an honorary payback for many. There were mutterings of "not going up there again" from the back seats as we crossed the highway, the speed grew and the turns shortened on a determined drive to Arcadia Downs. Rocket vowed he'd be taking things quietly (preservation for Saturday nights Criterium) but seemed to engage warp drive out of the Conrod dipper, opening a widening gap. Wazza earned the golden clothes-peg, being hung out to dry with the entire bunch soaking up the draft till his tank emptied, Shane pounced but ran out of go gas too. I'd had the dream sit watching this unfold in front so took the rare chance to apply more wattage for a silver, rather distant to Rocket but a third fastest lap to gloat over.
Friday finally delivered a mild morning, 20 degrees with just a hint of breeze was the long awaited reward for enduring those cold winter months. A steady circuit with the P&W's put the icing on the week, Fee, Meags, Princess and the once-thought-extinct Ayto had congregated at SPC. Longish turns rotated for Old Dookie and Boundary Rd's, Ayto working off the wombat, Princess dapper as always, Meags and Fee providing pace, it was a far cry from the 20+ P&W's of old but the quality still remains. A swing to single filing started in River Rd with the tempo adjusted up, I took the first shift to Central Kialla Rd, Princess pounded it out till the highway. Ayto stepped up for a squirt to the horse stud, all were swift and smooth to the finish line to enjoy the smoothness and tranquility of the recent Raftery reseal, even a bonus (but narrow) bike lane to use, step one (and only?) in COGS 2012-2016 bike strategy?
Week 46 341km YTD 12,761 km
Word of the Week
"windependant" (noun) 1. A neutral or autonomous solo rider prepared to tough out breezy conditions.
2. A cyclist who relies on tailwind.
3. A rider who must come first.
4. A political person not controlled by a party or lobby group but prone to hyperbole
and rhetoric
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