Post #625
Well, there goes another year..........and the obsession continues. 16 years and 285,000+ km since catching this disease tells me I've got a serious case of it. Are there tablets to take or a cream to apply to ease it?
2021 was yet another year of Covid constraints and challenges, six lock-downs (that I counted) forced a lot of paired or solo rides (alone with one's thoughts can be a scary thing!) and doesn't that get you craving the fellowship of a bunch! Looking forward to a chance chat with with a mate (suitably distanced) in a cold car-park while warming your fingers around a take-away coffee proved it. Restrictions of 5 km from home tested the patience (and navigational skills if you wanted an interesting lap!) although some had very strange distance calculations.
But bunches were possible before, between and beyond those incessant lock-downs (albeit limited to ten at times) ; the Sanctuary squad turned out to be my staple diet but the odd spin of Beach Road, Barwon Heads, Castlemaine, JanJuc, Faraday, the Great Ocean Road, Mt.Alexander, Newstead and the Otway Classic got some different tarmac under the wheels. Occasional spins with Goats and the Adams clan put some perspective on performance. Without setting any goals, I managed to get a hundred k ride in most months to shake up the routine. Seven tyres, three chains and cassette were needed to clock 13,841 kilometres for the year. Strava tells me that was 248,846 calories burned...and that's 2,764 TimTam's worth!) Winters always seem worse than the last, but this years 32 days of 3 degrees or below equaled 2020. 25 days where rain stopped play seemed damper than others.
2021 saw the inauguration of Couldabeen's kit Friday, the rise and rise of newcomer Greg, an au revoir to GreatScottSteve (though he still makes the occasional surprise cameo appearance), the birth of the Squirrels as a development squad for rising young stars, the Butter Factory becoming home base, never ending entertainment from The Godfather (some people pay for theirs ; we get it free!), Liam's horizontal malfunction (3/3), Rocket's new Trek, Boof's new Focus and Tina's new knee, but the sudden and sad adieu to our mate Col. (still miss those epic stories)
If something positive came from his passing, our focus on #neveralone sharpened.
2021 marks the tenth year of writing these whimsical words too (this addiction is serious Doc!) Dare I continue?
So stay safe, stay upright, contemplate Rule #5 and make that #ruok conversation folks. See you somewhere in 2022.
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