Post #642
16/4 A little sting in Saturday.
The commute was cruisy Saturday, the pressure to perform at Emil's pace was off (in his absence) yet I reached Sanctuary Drive no later than usual (Go figure! All that hurry and huff and puff is in my head!) I'd wondered if Easter may thin the numbers at the grid but the fair showing of Wozza, TatMat, Grumpy, Gazza, Rocket, Bo, PistolPete, The Godfather, Molly, Boof, the 5ft Ninja and Greg proved that thought wrong. This bunch was heavily weighted with wattage though....brace yourself Foss, there might be a little sting in this Saturday! I felt comfortable in third wheel as PistolPete set us south toward the truck route though the advance line was yet to form (if this stayed Indian file I'd better harden up quickly!) Rocket, Wozza, Gazza and Grumpy saved my skin by forming the advance line on the leg toward Mitchell Rd so the toughening up process could be put on hold for a while. TatMat strangely stayed at the back ; a broken headlight bracket had him in the dark (daylight, soon to come, would bring him forward)
I'd joined the advance line in River Rd with the aerodynamic disadvantage of the 5ft Ninja ahead, Molly, worried by the wattage ahead, quick to take up residence in the caboose. Calm conditions had calmed my concerns of facing the front though a precedence on pace had already been set ; I'd be relying on considerate partners when I got to the business end. Boof kept his wheel aligned with the Ninja when she fronted at the Broken River, even as pace slowly faded at the Channel Rd intersection. There was no nodding of head or grab of a lower gear, and not a gasp or groan to be heard (I must take lessons!) Quite comfortable with the compliant company of PistolPete beyond the highway (none of these guys with wattage bite, it's just that I feel like a ball and chain beside them!) I was chuffed to still have high 30's on the speedo at the fig farm and (psychologically) enough in the tank to reach Old Dookie Rd. Fingers crossed the legs and lungs would co-operate (they did)
Now that enough light lit the way to the Toaster, TatMat came forward in Old Dookie Rd when Bo shortened his shift. Little time had passed and I was nearing the rear again (particularly when the Ninja withdrew from advancing) so with the heap of horsepower ahead, I cautiously joined the advance line again. (With Boof ahead, at least I now had a decent draft) I could deal with the sting of the speed a little later. You'd think Lemnos-Cosgrove was downhill 'cause the hurry nearly always starts headed west (or is it the craving for caffeine that demands the urgency?) The speed is applied gradually though, so unless you've got an eagle eye on the speedo, it usually goes unnoticed....till you need to perform at the front. I wonder if the Garmin was switched off would the hurt go away?)
Getting closer to town and closer to the front again wasn't so stressful, given the success of the previous turn, though legs were already telling me this shift would be shorter (or they'd divorce me!) Time came to pair with Boof at Verney's roundabout and ignoring the derision from a late starting '51, I reckon I could cope with the short squirt (1100 metres) to the highway as a half way point. A halt for traffic would have allowed a bit more oxygen intake.....but no such luck! Part two with Pistol didn't quite get to the DECA target , the urge ran out at the water treatment plant. Happy that Bo didn't hit the boost button beside Pistol, I could restock the lungs in their draft to Mt. Wanganui, predicting a spike in speed would come. Good forecast Foss, it was Rocket who pressed the button on The Boulevard, possibly incited by The Godfather I'd reckon, and two rows turned quickly to one.
Hanging onto the hurry tends to narrow the focus to the wheel ahead, but a keen eye was needed today with a rising sun fair in the face and parked cars along the Boulevard to avoid. Wits sharpened. The bunch had bits breaking off the back by Tarcoola's roundabout and that game of "find a friend to suffer with" was played as the half dozen still with horsepower to spare stretched ahead into the distance (Drop just a few metres from the wheel ahead and it's all over! ) Traffic lights however have a great effect of leveling the playing field (unless you're The Godfather) so the clan was re-united to breach the Butter Factory for breakfast. Sinking social standards, sweetening up sponsors and dad's discipline spread a bit philosophy across the table.
20/4 Eroding the excesses of Easter.
Rain and a poorly judged radar had forced a couple of days respite from riding so you could call me "keen as" Wednesday morning, despite the feels like 4.4 to deal with. Trav, Boof, The Godfather, Gazza, Bo, Tina, Kel, Rocket, Emil, Wozza, Kim, Lenny, Bruce, Kreeky, Jen and Greg were keen too, lining up behind PistolPete at Sanctuary's roundabout. The 5:40 roll out found me conveniently berthed behind Pistol in the left line while Emil led the advance. By the numbers in today's bunch I'd have a long wait till arriving at the front (a gentle introduction might be a good thing given the three day lay-off)
Today the bunch looked a little different, mostly clad in knee warmers / long kniks, thick gloves and neck warmers, though a few devotees to Rule #5 had braved bare knees. (June / July will sort that decision out!) So it was through the bustling metropolis of Central Kialla (two dozen houses, a school, a public hall and a fire station), over the cobblestone like roughness to River Rd and east toward a narrow slit of light on the horizon to rooster corner (where the sun would show up.......forty five minutes later. So much for all that extra daylight on the recent change to Eastern Standard Time!) A handy west southwester eased the pressure to Coach Rd and I wondered why we weren't nudging the 40's till remembering it was social Wednesday. Eventually at the back of the bunch on the turn north, a lookout in the darkness for the Coach Rd pot-holes was the first priority (I'll give even odds there'll be more to dodge in the months to come!) Kim had taken up residence in the caboose and Bo seemed to be a bit off-form, shortening his time in the drivers seat en-route to the highway. My time for a contribution slicing through the atmosphere was till a long way off so the three and a bit k's to Old Dookie was spent serenely socializing while others worked. (It's a good gig if you can get it!) That west southwester was now a westerly fair in the face for the 9 k's back to town, wearing down The Godfather on his drive toward Dobson's and trimming his turn considerably (didn't that fire up the sledges!) but social the speed stayed......till the truck route where Trav turned up the heat (to burn up the calories that Easter happens to heap on us) to speed to SPC. With more good luck than good management, today was a free tow 'round for me.
21/4 Sedate squirrels.
Tina and Molly led the ritual lap around Archer St's shop for a change (just to soak up a minute or two before 5:30 struck) and took the executive decision to head the path east into Channel Rd when the Ninja turned up.......but they weren't so keen to lead the line of squirrels into the circuit. (Emil's the CEO of first shift after all!) Tina did brave second wheel, but Molly crept into fourth with Kim, Jen and the 5ft one astern. Made a bit of a change from the same old, same old.
Shifts stayed the same though; the truck route, Orrvale Rd, the Kinder and the cypress trees seem to be set in stone as the shifts end. Kim called the S bend the end of her drive from the cypress trees and Jen took charge of the effort east (but it wasn't the Jen we're accustomed to, this was a slow motion version) And her time in the drivers seat was short, 200 hundred metres and the Ninja was given the reigns, taking the team the next k to Coach Rd. The turn north had the Ninja's trademark tempo (full steam toward the highway) but I'd sensed this scenario happening and played shock absorber for the three behind me. The Ninja's enthusiasm north of the Midland needed similar shock treatment but shadows cast ahead by the headlights behind me were fading fast. That spelled an o.t.a. occurrence (the holler of "Easy!" got the turbo turned down while a scattered seven reformed)
A quiet k or so kept the crew assembled, the shifts continuing per schedule but Jen kept herself confined to the caboose. A little ease from the usual effort isn't such a bad thing and given the feels like 6, a slightly slower speed prevented frostbite (silly me was playing the martyr's role in short knicks) Duty continued in Lemnos-Cosgrove Rd and Ford, so seeing that Jen wasn't dropped like a hot spud even tamed Emil's usual urge to stretch the friendships with the fast stuff at Grahamvale Rd and along Verney. A most civilised conclusion.
22/4 The circus on the circuit.
Despite the feels like 4.8 there was quite the commitment to Couldabeens Kit Friday, Tina, Emil, PistolPete, Bruce, Greg, Kreeky, Trav, Kel, The Godfather, Bo, Rocket, Boof, Wozza, Liam, the 5ft Ninja and Gazza filling the Sanctuary grid (so good on 'ya Kel and The Godfather for the CKF concept, it's had a positive effect in negative weather) Being a bit tardy as the bunch got rolling south had me near the back early, so joining the advance line approaching Kialla Central (or is that Central Kialla? Depends on which way you approach it I guess!) meant there would be duty to serve, somewhere on the circuit. The Godfather had done a little manipulative manoeuvring to to get himself out of an early shift at the front, the move quickly prompting sledges from Bo. And so started the circus act for the circuit (some folk pay for Netflix but we get our entertainment for free!)
Speed had stayed surprisingly social for a while, or was the intake of cold air preventing any sort of pace? (Spoke to soon, Gazza was flat chat out of Mitchell and north to River Rd to set the speed to speechless for the tail-enders to stay aboard) It was good to have young Liam back in the bunch ; stitches in the knee, half a yard of skin off a hip and shoulder barely two weeks ago and he's back aboard! (look up tough in the dictionary....there you'll find his picture) Unfortunately, his near new bike is trash but MyRide tweaked the spare Scott to be a decent stand-in. Temperature (or the lack of it) had me prepared with knees insulated and it felt rather good, particularly looking at some who'd braved them bare! With Kel ahead and The Godfather behind (explains why I wasn't saying much!) in Coach Rd a motivational lecture was already being delivered in my skull; I'd had a fairly low suffer score this week according to Strava so it was high time to harden up! (there's an internal alarm that shrieks with any sign of softening ; we've seen what happens to those who take the easy option and choose less labor. Next minute they're permanent residents of the caboose and within weeks, grizzle about pace! Not mentioning names though.....)
Bo reckons he's been running at 22% all week yet delivered a decent drive along Coach Rd to the highway. It was time to do duty for a drive to Old Dookie Rd for me and I could only guess a half way point to call for a co-pilot change so set the fig farm as a target. Living up to my own expectations seemed to ease when Kel called the roll 200 metres before it. Just as well really, there was plenty of work to do beside The Godfather for another 1500. I'd made it to Old Dookie without the boiler bursting and the headspace was helped with Greg's compliment but my concentration was on suppressing that sound of an amplified asthmatic in recovery. The Godfather and Greg kept the pain percolating for another couple of k's to Central Ave so an ease of 3 km/h on the next shift to Dobson's was the first chance of gaining an extra breath. By the bridge, high 30's was back on the menu. A moment's rest crossing the truck route and it was back on the gas ; Emil had to inflict a bit of 40's cruelty to SPC.
This week 215km YTD 4,629km
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