Predictably a prologue to Saturday's lap, Temple found at the south of town at 5 (8 degrees guaranteed arm warmers were yet to be squirrelled away), a cool calm and collected 35k to get the limbs limbered. Southbound on Raftery, there were no kangas today, but a loose horse threw caution at Conrod's dip. A bait of Brett and Rabbit entered Mitchell from Archer, the carrot caught, we enjoyed a draft for a few minutes till patience passed, tackling the long length of River Rd as a duet. North on Boundary then west along Channel, a compact (caramelised?) Couldabeens crew appeared (half the size of last Saturday's squad) AvantiTrev, PistolPete, Rocket, Nick, Cougar, Lenny, Lucy, SuperMario, MasiMario and Wozza with Scott-not-BassoDave on a pre-feline appearance. We u-turned and slipped into the order of rotations, Trav appearing from the east on leg 3, seems he'd pursued our prior prologue per se. I'd finally arrived at the front in Boundary Rd but Lenny was hungry for the lead, the legend of HBK lives on! The bunch sliced against the southwester to the toaster! westward beyond the emu, Pussycats passed eastbound with a trail of latecomers in pursuit, thoughts of a Lemontree breakfast menu masked my 70 k rubber legs syndrome. Many were playing the waiting game as velocity wound up at DECA, Rocket and Pistol in a different league, bolted the Wanganui hill ascent,
Breakfast rhetoric on Strava titles, mohair singlets and green ginger wine a finishing touch to 75k.
Out the driveway at 5:12 Monday, glued to a steady speed at 77 rpm, the slightest hint of an easterly sent the heart rate climbing (125 to 160)....pass the tissues and the Fluvoxamine! Turning South at the Emu (5:37) eased the effort, then better beyond the toaster turn (5:41), several advance parties to the pussycats worked east, Ange, Lynda and co, a gaggle o' girls and the odd soloist. Back to SPC (6:00) finding a group o' goats (Coggo, Heady, Brendan, Phil, Belly, Deb, Baz and Spartacus) forming Monday's peace train. Steaming smoothly out of town, Coggo had legs of dough (a headwind ride to Melbourne likely to cause it), Spartacus smarting from his Dinner Plain effort, Heady unsteady from a Head office reunion. The heart rate idled quietly while Christmas comparisons were conversed but by River Rd's end my time turned tenuous to retreat a shortcut home to keep a boss happy.
I suppressed the average urge Tuesday, a quiet roll to the ten-to-turtles with the eyes off the Garmin, a calmer karma to the cranial crisis of maintaining a speed. Kenworth, Nick, AvantiTrev, Cougar, WhisperingJack, Temple, BigMat and Choppy had enlisted for effort, two unknowns lurking in the shadows hereafter labelled Hit & Miss (for reasons that will become apparent). ChrisA, early for the 6 o'clock supersonic squad, led us on leg one then returned to the startline, Hit moved to the front and filled Foss full o'fear by asking which way we turned, clearly challenged on bunch by-laws too! There was a ragged roll, then Miss misfired and kaboomed straight to the rear, Hit then suddenly freewheeling, shunting the train. The familiarity of BigMat, Nick, Kenworth, WhisperingJack, AvantiTrev, Chops and Temple subsequently smoothed the formation to Boundary Rd restoring the comfort. I tried pairing with Hit again in River Rd, somewhere between half a wheel and a whole bike in arrears, most of my effort confined to concentration on what may happen next. Down to Mitchell Rd it was a relief to pair up with the quality quantity of Temple, but it was sweaty hands, gritted teeth and a gluteus gripped by fear for Raftery. Temple and WhisperingJack got the hurry happening in Conrod straight, I hit the gas too early (but comfortable with a greater distance away from Hit), Chops and Kenworth taking one and two, me three.
A preliminary tap along Graham, Verney and Ford found a fresh crunchy coating on Wanganui (standard COGS specs; bitumen straight over the pot-holes), a massacre on Michelins. Joined Wozza in the main drag to commute to the Couldabeens crowd, Boof, Rocket, Hollywood, Jase, Shorty, Cougar, Chops, Trav, BigMat, Car+Mel, Pistol, WhisperingJack, Temple, AvantiTrev, Rene and Nicholas. A fast flog to Mitchell with Wozz and Boof setting a solid standard, I was towed along with just one or two turns likely to be needed in a large bunch. A comforting calm with Rene relegated to the rear, Car+Mel turned on the talented train driving, WhisperingJack and I taking the last k of River to turn into Boundary. Plenty of curry in the cadence for the Channel Rd Cha Cha, I was 6th last at the kinder, likely to be at the business end when it counted. An oncoming car stalled the final thrash, toasting Temple and WhisperingJack at Prentice Rd. I dialled up full tilt with 200 left, the sun rising behind casting long shadows of those in pursuit. The hallelujah chorus of Rockets Zipps howled by, Hollywood and Wozz in close proximity, but fourth (9th in fastest time) was was enough for this old dinosaur, my normal operations taking a few minutes to resume while oxygen slowly sharpened the senses.
Scrolled through the adjectives to describe the northeaster Thursday, all unprintable for the 10k's to the Pine Lodge church, sheer stubbornness driving me beyond the Boundary Rd shortcut (if only to relish an extended tailwind tour back to town). South to the Toaster and west to the suburbs taking the dust off the 14 tooth cog, greetings to the five separate soloists ranked just one acknowledgement (g'day Dalts, and "yeah, good thanks" to the aloof peleton pariahs). A condensed collection of Goats were found in Fryers St, Phil, Coggo, Bickers, Kate, JB, Tum, JF and Carl were courteously cortèged by Belly, Tina tacking on at the truck route. The ten turned to a dozen with Geoffrey and an unknown joining at Central Ave, newcomer JF (right foot toe-in) questioned the ride direction but his smooth and steady demeanour put my dread to bed (see Tuesday's terror on bunch apprentices). Belly lectured on signal standards for "car up", Carl's flamboyant finger flourish the bunch benchmark. River Rd's rate of knots ramped up with the tailwind euphoria, the Cosmic's Christmas carol chorused allegro fortissimo. Geoffrey's rubber band snapped at River Rd's end, the velocity duely dialled down for Central Kialla. There was just me, JB, Carl, Coggo and Tum working the windy end from Galbraith's gate, steadily steering into the northeaster, straining the sprint. Tum toiled the tempo of Conrod's final 150 metres, Carl with the youthful wattage to win. We threaded the thin (and faded) line of the bike lane home, a slalom of glass, stones, pot-holes and sticks. (seems the COGS bike strategy funds only the consultants glossy brochures and power point presentations)
The pain train habit (#11) continued Friday, Deb and Brendan leading us out of town, but quickly converting to caboose position. AvantiLeigh opened the account to Dobson's bridge, I'd hoped for a later role but the second leg begged me, 170bpm to Central Ave. Spartacus conquered leg 3 then Heady, Dipper, Coggo and Belly followed procedure, halting at the pub for traffic (noting the Deb & Brendan caboose had already detached). AvantiLeigh full steamed to Channel Rd, I was approaching one tree dam wondering which would expire first, legs lungs heart or head. (don't look at the Garmin, don't look at the Garmin.......damn! I looked at the Garmin! (numbers made the head give up). River Roads 6 km was divided amongst the hunched heroes, hurtling and huffing (hysterical and hyperventilating?) headlong homeward, high hoped, harried and hurting. My turn from Archer to the highway went blurry cresting Mt.Nicolaci, there was a "yeah, nah, but" moment for traffic on our cross of Melbourne Rd (is that a 'bogan baulk' Weapon?) which split the bunch, a much needed ease to reform the group for the final fling in Raftery Rd. AvantiLeigh spent all his pennies into the northeaster on Conrod, Belly's push for a podium ended with a Nagasaki moment, while I was left to drive the last 200 home, Spartacus sneaking up the inside to snatch the honours. All but me had the time for post thrash caffeine, my souvenir was Gumby legs till morning smoko.
Week 51 340km. YTD 15,388 km.
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