Dragon Fly Larvae ride on Friday

OK, you asked for it….being a holiday, hope this is not “tl;dr”. Mrs Dragon, asks me “don’t you have anything better to do?”

A small group of intrepid travellers gathered at the carpark opposite Pattisons, which was unusually deserted, but this was no surprise, it being Good Friday morn. Comet (who I’m sure was so keen to ride that he must have arrived 15 minutes early), RTG, Chris (not Warrawee Chris), Flasshhhh, YHC accompanied by (is it official?) AOT (ie. arse-over..John), with Michael arriving moments before take-off.

Weather conditions were pristine, a comfortable 17 degrees C. After a short delay for YHC to return to remote base HQ (RBHQ) to don essential protective equipment, DFL1 – Dragon Fly Larvae 1, was successfully launched; our mission to to cycle to West Head along routes well travelled by some, but new to others, and to return safely to base.

DFLV1 travelled along MVR at a steady pace, the wind-chill noticeable but within design tolerances of the Egg and Tomato. A passing peloton with strong forces (visual and olfactory) provided the opportunity for the engine room of DFLV1 to send a recon scout team (Michael and Flash) ahead; no rendezvous point was arranged, but was assumed.

The flight to the Thai – the last outpost where fresh water is available – went without incident, but on arrival, no sign of Michael and Flash.

The journey continued down McCarrs creek Rd, with YHC in his usual downhill position leading from the back of the pack. The first significant climb, up West Head Rd was led by RTG, Chris, and John, leaving YHC and Comet behind. As per Dragon rules, KOM RTG return to accompany us to the top of the first hill on the West Head tarmac where a short re-fuelling stop was convened. Comet’s fuel gauge was far from empty, but was convinced refuelling was necessary and has nothing to do with hunger.

A few more hills on and time was at an end for RTG, who needed to return to RBHQ for a appointment with higher authorities, it being Good Friday as previously noted, so after bidding farewell, retros were fired and he was off at higher speed after getting a slingshot orbit.

After the perfect conditions of the launch and descent into the National Park we entered a dense sector of space, not uncommon in this area, but unexpected on such a nice day – a magellanic cloud of sorts. The foggy conditions reduced visibility to <50m, Egg and Tomato looked like grey on grey, approaching vessels only visible because of their navigation lights. Witnessing the birth of a small star here would have been no surprise.

Comet was concerned about the spatial anomaly called “The Wall”, and asked frequently: “Are we there yet?” YHC was more concerned that with the pea-soup conditions, whether we would be able to see the wall before we hit it, and if we would be robbed of the view of at end the journey. Luckily for us the mist the cleared and we turned on the afterburners down the following hill and flats in a tidy 1-wide line travelling way faster than we have been before. Shortly after, we hit the wall, went over it, and were rewarded with the view at the end. Comet has the photographic evidence.

We enjoyed the view, refuelled, and just as were were preparing to leave for the return journey, Flash and Michael turned up, apparently distracted by who/what they were following and ended up doing an orbit of AB – sometimes the laws of physics cannot explain some attractive forces in effect in the universe.

Despite John offering to call Mrs John to fly the Tarago out for a mercy mission, we hit the road. The first hill from the lookout up to the LTS150mOR being the biggest challenge.

The peloton was strung out to say the least on the way back, with KOM returning down to ride up again with the trailing rider. Hitting McCarrs Creek Rd with Michael, YHC could see Flash 100m ahead with some other traveller. Seeing that John, Chris, Comet were riding comfortably together some metres behind, decided to give chase. Ground was slowing being made up as the hill progressed. The relatively flat bit saw the other guy overtake Flash and also YHC making up more ground to come with 60m of them, then the incline increased again and YHC saw Flash overtake the other guy and pull away. YHC was now gaining ground quickly and passed him (the other guy) 25m from the top – dare I say it was with great satisfaction to pass that close to the top. At the top Flash and YHC waited (neither of us mentioned the KOM rule), with Michael, followed shortly by John, with Comet and Chris bring up the rear.

We went through the Horse-Shit Nebula (the underpass under MVR) and rode as a line back to Stives. Flash was ahead and did not notice when YHC sufferred a equipment failure – loss of pressure on rear-dampener traction control.

Travelling again, we thought we had safely navigated through the asteroid belt of detritus and loose particles of unformed planets surrounding the black-potholes just before the nasty hill leading into Stives, but alas just over the hill, shortly after the peleton re-docked with Flash, the distress call, akin to, “Houston, we have a problem”

was heard. Comet had suffered a similar fate to YHC with a micro-particle causing sudden pressure loss.

How many ERs does it take to replace and re-pressurise? Too many! Comet impressed with his survival kit of every possible tool, pity he did not know how to use them! None of us could work out to use Comet’s emergency CO2, mouth-to-valve provided initial inflation, and CPR was suggested, but we ended up using Flash’s CO2 injector, YHC having depleted his own previously and had no spares. Prior to departing, Flash, the engineer that he is, discovered the operational secret of Comet’s emergency CO2 inflator and thought he would use it, the pressure monitor on his own rear tyre indicating a top up may be required.

All went well for 50m when a loud explosion cause YHC to turn around to see the peloton stalled again on the side of the road. Hyper-inflation had caused explosive and catastrophic pressure loss, tearing open the inner lining, but luckily, not leading to life-threatening outer skin penetration.

Once again the ERs were replacing and re-inflating. The hiss of gas, sudden release of pressure from the canister freezing components parts, the wisps of condensation – was reminiscent of a space-shuttle launch.

We finally rolled back into RBHQ and our journey was at its end. All handled the journey with courage, HTFU pills swallowed in overdose that morning. We have KOMs in waiting… watch out

See you all on the next mission.

Dragon out.