Not enough teeth on Bullet’s rear cassette to count the masses at Gordon this morning….great to see the return to the humble beginnings of ER by so many for this Second Wednesday of the Month.

No incidents or accidents to report – all riders managing to clip in/out today – with everyone arriving safely to join our Epping path brethren who were already firmly entrenched on arrival at the B&T.

Plenty out in their purple jerseys from the weekend’s exploits before the return to the traditional tomato and egg tomorrow. Thanks TD for the photos as attached. Drastique’s busily photoshopping a few more for the website that Colette kindly took on the weekend.

A great 3P write up by Mike – many thanks mate – summed it all up well.

Great to see a wing-clipped Magoo both on the way home last night and at the B&T this morning….looking forward to your return pronto.

The Spring Classics calendar will soon be updated…..diarise the Bobbin Head Classic and VD’s assault on the Blayney to Bathurst as next on the list – arrange your leave passes carefully.

Hope BT of the Sahara is doing well – looking forward to normal service being resumed when he gets back.

In other breaking news, Drastique’s lawnmower has broken down, and DT mowed his before running in this morning.

Have a good day all.

Mark / Satnav

Chippo Displays his 2.5 finishers jersey

The ER 2014 3P Crew – well most of them anyway

Morning all

Beautiful morning for it….not too cold, a bit of fog in the dips but nothing that could dampen the spirits of B1M, MRP and Goaders who were toey for action come 5.15am.

A good tempo start until the fixie ran the chain off the front derailleur coming down nasty little hill….fixed in 5 mins, thanks boys. I was only providing Clutters a chance to catch up….

Picked up Tony at the Forest Way corner – he comes from Roseville proving that it is possible for our Roseville-based brethren and sisteren to join the ride…..great to have you along mate.

All fine down into Akuna but for “the wall” corner where B1M had a slide into the said wall….thankfully all OK with our man….bike recovered well too…”thank goodness it’s not carbon”….”thank goodness it wasn’t Turnip as all that would be left would be a tidy pile of calcium on the ground” (that’s code for great to have you back mate).

Steady pace up and out of Akuna….onto Bayview to pick up Sean, suffering nosebleed being this far north of his Collaroy HQ…great to have you along mate and apols for the slight timing cock-up.

Nothing to report for remainder of journey; rounded out by meeting the throng of 30 or so at the B&T by some caffeinated restoratives.

Welcome new girl Sonya to the fray, fresh from the mountains of the Caymans…..

We do it all again tomorrow….well almost the same anyway….come join the Fluffer.

Thanks for a great spin all.

Mark / Satnav

Goaders and Satnav lead the charge

As previously advertised our Goaders had been ordered to Melbourne to pick up Bullet’s recently purchased NOS Pinarello frame….and delegated all care and no responsibility for his growing throng of Flufferers to B1M and I. A big pair of Sidis to fill…..

B1M and I arranged to meet in transit at Turramurra well before the sparrows started fa^&oing to rehearse the rider briefing and engage in some general tactical foreplay. Flash’s trailer was mentioned, but more re that one later.

12 with their names ticked off the roll at Snives, detailed briefing given “right we all know the terms and conditions….let’s go”…..and onwards into the darkness picking up Andy H in transit. DNS’s recorded against our Milsons Point and Newport chapters.

Norman threw a right spanner in the works when crossing the Forest Way junction…..thinking she’d spotted Laura, which was interpreted by the remainder as Dora…..neither showed up in the end; peloton concluded Norman was up to her old tricks again, watch out on the 6pm return tonight.

Wet roads and a touch of fog on the way down McCarrs – all safely through the esses, usual hammer down through Church Point to the next regroup point, PWR reached all in good time and spirit.

First run at a rolling paceline executed with……panache and precision….well done all giving something different a go with minimal preparation beforehand.

Then the first of just four punctures for the day – Daf, Bri and Si being the culprits, sorry, victims…..progress slowed somewhat however no-one raised a sweat over it, in true ER fashion…..

A bit of excessive tooting got our Andy fired up through the Neutral sector…..good mornings exchanged and nothing more, aware of the weight on the shoulders of carrying the ER name.

Arrival at the B&T found earlier shifts still in situ, many remaining to share seconds with Fluffs one and all.

A great start to the day; herewith handballing the baton to our Admin for Thursday’s edition.

Have a good remainder of the day all.

Mark/Satnav

Afternoon all

Just the 10 loitering with intent at 5.30am opposite Pattisons this fine morning:

• Schleck
• WBA
• B1M
• B1C
• Admin
• Dobbo
• Tony
• Stealth
• CCChris
• with me taking the minutes

Simba wasn’t there despite threats otherwise on the return route last night. Next time mate.

B1C wanted the itinerary firmed up there and then in terms of the route – whether the boys go left and do Akuna and the others turn right, whether we take in the beaches etc etc. B1M concluded matters by stating “we’ll sort it out at the bottom of Akuna”. Great to see everyone heeding that direction…..

Having not seen our Stealth for a few weeks I thought best to ensure he was awake by “locking up” the TSS 3P Shamal rear on the slalom run into Akuna – thankfully our boy was indeed awake and didn’t contribute any additional forward momentum that could have resulted in me seeing the landscape at close vicinity. Overestimated my own ability after seeing Schleck disappear from site off the front. Lesson learnt.

Rolling regroup in advance of the climb out of Akuna – young fella up the road in front of us provided target practice. All executed a perfect ascent with little huffing, puffing etc.

A great spin through the Church Point sector onto Pittwater Road – eyes eagerly peeled for our Capt aboard the L90 – how rude of us to consider, he was of course on the OTP.

Great tempo along PWR notwithstanding red lights aplenty. Through the Spit, Parriwi etc, and onto the B&T without incident, in time to see our OTP brethren. Apart from learning afterwards that Tony lost 2 phones in transit – no, one wasn’t his xylophone. Dobbo tracking said phones via Latitude.

Strava at breaking point from all the PR’s recorded – great effort all – sings the praises of getting into a decent tempo that everyone can live with.

Schleck has tabled a motion for the Flutter to be a permanent fixture on Wednesdays….all those in favour. Unanimous.

Have a good one all.

Mark / Satnav

Fellow practitioners of the pedal

A great morning for it this morn – warm temperatures, 20-odd out – the remainder pleading some form of distant relationship with the banking sector to warrant a sleep in.

Much activity on the weekend if Strava’s anything to go by – Maraylya, Calga TT, West Head, West-to-East across the UK to name a few…..all good practice for our next formal outing being the SCC Bowral Ride – shout if you haven’t received an entry form and I’ll flick on.

Great to see our Simba back on the pedals again this morning – flirting with touching up Bullet’s 34s record on the Lavendar sprint – comes in handy as he lives just around the corner. Only Danny Boy and Simba challenging in the Under 23 age group at this point.

Much chatter around the eastern end of the B&T desks (-33° 51′ 44.6184″, 151° 12′ 14.6586″), seemingly led by our British born contingent, re Australia’s Olympic medal (singular). There was widespread confusion amongst those born on these shores as the WTF they were referring to. Lawn Bowls is the only sport Australia follows or truly aspires to, now that our junior development Darts squad was beaten by Djibouti over the weekend.

Stealth full of lip on other matters too – chose to come in on his day off to address ER emails, there’s a good lad. Still waiting to see some quality output.

Exciting news of the Girls of ER coming together – new jerseys being designed as we speak – not sure whether to ask for new zips or not. The recent preponderance of ride names of the fairer ilk should see numbers off to a flying start. So come summer with a fair wind we’ll have ER, Girls of ER, and kids of Girls of ER. What a proposition.

Marketing efforts getting a boost of late – an ER “bus” timetable taking shape – and more consideration of whether we incorporate as it’s easier when we IPO (no, not EPO)…..watch this space.

Norse bound men and women gathering SHBS at 5.15pm and 6pm.

Not much else to report; have a good remainder of the day all.

Marcia/Satusha Navratilova

Morning all

Yes, they can be spotted a mile off with such trained eyes as those within the ER Peloton. Even without C.Hippo’s guidance.

Awaiting in full expectation was our newboy Andrew “not the rugby” Blades – in brilliant white, awaiting any passers by going his way. He jumped on the back of our 15 strong peloton with glee, and the rest was history. Henceforth known as Virgin, for the kind consideration of our our FM naming committee. Zlatko proposed “Angel” but that sounded marginally more complimentary, so Virgin herewith proposed.

(rewind) A brisk morning at the Fox Valley Road meeting point for our West of the Highway sect – just B1 and myself. Regular contender Teflon not seen, presumably still recovering from being told “where to go and how best to get there” from a little altercation on the SHB last night. Our two new Mark’s promising return soon, and RTG still working out how to address the quip yesterday of having both a Pinarello and a Volvo (there’s a few others in that basket mind you….)

Much excitement and anticipation of BT’s return; amounted to nothing as he was apparently late all the way through, and had to suffer Contador’s company by way of penalty…..

Stealth looking for a softer cassette – anyone have a 32 at the top end that can assist our man with spinning a bit more freely?

Bullet sporting his trial-by-chamois knicks – gave a detailed account of his experience at the B&T to the 20 odd or so who braved Vic’s lack of patio heaters. Coffees in the duplicate taken for only the hardened….

Formations taking shape already for the 5.15pm and 6pm entourages northbound.

Have a good one all.

Regards

Mark/Satnav