Assalamu Alaikum.. ( yes YHC has just made it back from the Sahara Desert .. a little sandy and fragrant of fresh camel )
Getting up before the dawn to test my mettle against the thrills of the OTPe, and the New Line Road wake up adrenalin rush, it was what I like to say “perfect weather for a ride into town”..
Darker than the ace of spades, YHC was concerned that the lights would fail having been dormant for 3 weeks, but as it turned out an ER peloton formed at the Loftus Rd turn off for a very gentlemanly paced trot along the Epping way. Greg was as wheezy as myself so keeping things to a sensible 24km average was not going to be a problem, and as DtB was a DNS, no greyhounds to pace.
A delicious Beecroft decent ended in a dead end at the turn off, some nice person has signposted the path as a pedestrian path, so YHC took the other option only to be stopped by concrete barriers a little further up..no worries climbing to Epping at a conversational 7kph was just as good as sprinting that short section. Once through to Vimera, Simon showed up, (Dobbo a late starter, and TD rampant elsewhere), the OTPe proceeded with vigour and enthusiasm, if only at a snails pace.
3 peaks of Epping were scaled and a small but early peloton of the OTP were spied on Scarramanga Pierro ? and wife a tandem with unattached stoker, making it to town the second best way.
The march over to the SHB via OTPe variant along Amherst St, and thence the freeway took us to the cafe formerly known as B&T for a schedule caffeine hit at 7.30.. The legs beginning to complain but all communications were switched off from around Loftus, luckily the autopilot continued to function.
Have a great day all,
BT