Don't you just love the serenity! Saturday morning at 6 is strangely peaceful (just a hollow sound between the ears), hardly a car about. 2.5 degrees with a south southwest breeze slowly running out of steam made it quite ride-able. Good to have some numbers back for the start ; BigMat (on a flash black Avanti), Liam, Cougs, Hoffy & Kel were ready to roll (Bo's blowout retired the Ridley home to board the Bianchi) but all paused to await the promised attendance of Temple. Start time having expired, the 6 rolled out Raftery only to ease at Arcadia Downs when Daniel, Temple & newbie Teo were noticed chasing, afternoon shift had arrived! Back to cruising speed, gathering up Bo at Roubaix corner (relearning the old steed) for the journey east. Mass confusion struck at Central Kialla Rd, some headed south, some continued east, previous weeks shortcuts had confused the agreed course. Votes were for a Mitchell-Boundary-Toaster-Emu-Boundary-Old Dookie course (magical mystery tours in recent cold weeks) so straight out Mitchell it was. Somewhere approaching Boundary we'd lost Bo & Kel (an urge to fraternize with faster felines?) a Catpack near River Rd gave a g'day and Liam exited in Channel with a Melbourne mission. Quite the scenic sunrise to view turning toward the toaster, liberal application of sledges between Daniel & BigMat kept the team amused. Up to the Emu and west to Boundary, south over the rumble strips and down to Old Dookie started to knock the wind from Teo's sails, compassion for the remainder the order of the day. A sprint to cap off 40k won well by Daniel, BigMat 2nd and Coug's a fine 3rd. Great post ride analysis, caffine and tall stories in abundance in a somewhat peaceful environment, bereft of the usual exhuberant Cats.
The urge to ride was too much in the early hours of Sunday, sleep not coming easy. Headed south through town a bit before 6 with a planned toaster loop, was off the traffic light inductive loops though, every set was red with not enough metal in me to trigger a quick change. Finally out of town, I set the course on auto pilot and i-pod to auto shuffle, thick fog up Mitchell made even the road edges barely visible. Tapped away east to a magic sunrise (ironically to Caribou's "Sun") well worth the effort of crawling out of bed for, despite just 1.5 degrees. The hint of a SSE breeze had fizzled out arriving at the Emu and the dawn horizon distracted all cranial concerns (enough to snap the picture above). Not a bad part of the world here, eh? The fog slowly lifted to navigate easily home, chalking up 50k before 7.30.
History records low numbers for P&W's mid year (this year is no exception) just Cougs and Chaddy at the start on Monday. To be fair, the mercury at zero probably kept most regulars wrapped in doonas. A steady lap of the usual course proved ideal (particularly for Chaddy's introduction back to reality from a weeks' holiday) pussycats passing politely at the Mitchell Rd chicane. Princess' preparation for his first 70.3 in just over 12 weeks will be epic (all the best young fella) he's already gone aero, minus several kg's.
Gently built up speed down to the Couldabeens start on Tuesday, (the Steve, Kel & Bo trio were northbound for 51 duty) takes a bit longer to warm up lately (hopefully the 0.9 degrees is to blame and not age). A turn up of 10 diehards in the carpark, Daniel in a long kit a rare sight, great to have Tim back (his 3rd ride in 7 weeks apparently) but where's the come back kid; BigMat? A bit of a push out Channel Rd but worth the slog to reap the benefit of favourable winds for the southern and westward legs, Ryan & Nick putting in great turns. Rob's impeccably timed sprint (and victory) is of course de riguer, Jason a fine 2nd with a closeknit pack only metres behind. A great team ride, over the rail lines before Cats and the Melbourne bound loco too.
Dalton, Sav, Rob, Kev, Trev and Nath (on a vintage Diamondback but with 10 speed make-over) were at the hospital Tuesday night, 9 degrees and just a puff from the northeast, ideal weather. A few hearts sank sighting Bomber (predicting punishment?) at the Ford Rd roundabout, but he & Steigy were left to do their own thing 100 metres ahead. A tempo convivial to conversation lasted till the Pine Lodge church, Sprinter and Gerrard joining in, Bomber & Steigy finally easing to blend in too. Things were cooking after the toaster (excuse the bad pun) chat cut back to bare essentials, breathing taking priority. A few brave souls ventured up to pair with Bomber (entrenched at the pointy end) most retired behind though. Liam managed to hook on to bring the numbers to a dozen, I dug deep to survive a 3k lead duty to River Rd. Just the noise of wheels humming and most selecting the big gears to survive, did another 3k turn again with Bomber for the last bit of River Rd then the 2k of Central Kialla. Got brave to roll across entering Mitchell, ending his dominance but not the tempo. More pain approaching the highway with more 'front of house' duty, but by Roubaix corner the biscuit barrel was emptying, all had gone single file now. (cheers to Nath handing me a little respite with a tow) Only 5 had survived after the highway and taking the lead was both rare and short lived. Bomber took the spoils of victory of course (well earned considering he did the lions share) , i just hung on for 2nd (52km/h @190 bpm) with Kev and the wily Sprinter nipping at my heels. Double dessert earned tonight.
Early to bed now with le Tour over (no withdrawals though from the Swisse / Eftpos / QBE / Skoda / Avanti /
Eli Lilly saturation........perhaps those 'romantic moments' will occur anytime now?) so a chance to get proper sleep, well until the Vuelta anyway. Nursed a few Tuesday night aches Wednesday morning, the roll south made pleasant with an aromatic waft of bacon cooking at Sebastians, a big dose of au de fresh baked bread from Higgins, all then shattered with Foott's garbage compactor passing. A 24km/h NNE made hard work of Channel Rd and there was no respite in Boundary either, the multitude of oncoming peletons clearly taking the soft option of a tail-wind advantage. At least there was relief on the westerly leg home but not much relief from an abrasion giving a little hell lately (suffice to say I could be mistaken for a papio cynocephalus ursinus)
Wednesday nights downpour left us a sloshy Couldabeens course for Thursday. Gav had punctured before turning a wheel in anger, his tube change was duely lampooned by all watching at the carpark. The 10 finally rolled out at 6.05, wary of less than ideal conditions (some were lining up puddles though to ensure all had a decent shower before work). Good to have Steve, Bo & Kel back in the fold, Shorty firing on all cylinders too. As we were a little behind schedule, the Cats were just ahead in Boundary Rd. Bo, Kel, Steve and Rocket took us smoothly up to latch on and join in the rotation. Straddles, Sly, Simon, Steve and a few others were driving a smooth feline train and made us welcome by ramping up the pace. Long turns in Mitchell at 40 kept us all occupied, but several of us had early work starts, so I joined Shorty, Leon, Cougs and cat Simon to bid adieu to the bunch for a shortcut up Archer. Took the soft option on Thursday night, a hint of an approaching evening shower spelled a sofa sabbatical.
A fair old downpour overnight gave us a bleak sky and saturated roads Friday morning, chose a sinful sleep-in till 6.30, to avoid a drenching, surely purgatory will follow. Penance was cleaning a filthy bike.
Week 30 333km 12,287 calories (72 cups of Coco Pops) 32.7 average YTD 11,406km
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results"
Albert Einstein 1879-1955
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