A warm nor-westerly last night rustling through the leaves of the Nor’shore wafting in over the sound of the bongos…damn the natives were restless. As dawn broke, ERs who had been girding their loins in the Sanctified Ives , Col du Colah, Ra de Turramur and all the Wees of Wara started gathering in there clan colours for the winter highland to lowland roll.
Elders piped in, some rarely seen, could not resist the bongo’s call.. 3 FMs in one place, an event Mayan Astrologers predicted would occur in 2012 heralding the end of life as we know it…Drastique, swung into view, Cavewoman, Bucky ( making the catch early today), indeed we were overweight in leading lights( Brownie was even tempted off the Pacific driveway too) , although the gap in formation made by the Chippo and DLHK was noted by YHC.
26 clad in “Egg and Tomato” made the sacred march along the one true path, blazing the trail where Rouleurs have transformed themselves from Middle aged into Mamil, ( and Mawil) from rotund to rake, ( and there were a few rakes on show today)
The honour roll was at gentlemans pace, YHC wheezing into the hills of breath, a balmy 16C making for delightfully sweaty conditions, fooling all those in winter garb, FM Goose stripped down before the off, YHC was not so inclined, and melted in the unseasonably warm air. Old friends chatted, new chums genuflected, and the peloton sallied forth triumphally.
In aviation terms this was a wide bodied heavy…traffic that gets all priority, pushing aside light weights and prop traffic…and we did…traffic was stopped as we passed, lights changed to green on our approach , and the fat controller above smoothed the tarmac and dried the path to ensure all made their way into town in tip top condition.
KOM leaders were a good kilometre ahead of KOM trailers…YHC took up the lantern rouge ceremoniously as it was of yore, then as only the tardy were watching, YHC launched at full gas along the Burlington sprint finding a suitable opportunity to thrash the horses and smash through the threshold of pain. ( You can see how I do like to keep these sprints secret )
A sedate if wind broken correspondent then filtered purposefully through the shambles of North Sydney and SHB to arrive at the B&T in time to see the first sitting finish their first cup of coffee.
FM Goose has again struck gold…watch this space for more about the St Lucy Hill climb, an ER event that will no doubt be the stuff of legend soon.
Coffee / Communion as I call it was exceptional, Vic taking on new staff to manage the avalanche of lycra.
Return to your family seats, clan grounds, or castles when all business for the day is done…Bullet saying his Lunch was the keynote of todays effort, but I have also heard that the 5:15 is tipped to be bus du jour.
Have a good one all…
BT
Top stuff BT – you surpassed your usual eloquent haute modernist, nay, Joyce-ian stream of consciousness prose this fine morning.
since an up-date on the state of the DLHK has been requested (yes BT is to blame for what follows), let me say, firstly thanks to the messages from fellow ERs asking after my well-being – i can assure you all that i am a) not bed-ridden, b) not off work – though of course i understand the scepticism of those ER colleagues who see the juxtaposition of “work” and “usyd” as signifiying anything other than a state of profound inactivity. In my defence (and as the Dominator will attest) 150 minute meetings such as this mornings with the “Senior Executive Group” constitutes work the like of which would drain the remaining energy of a Kulak in a Siberian salt mine. c) i can confirm a diagnosis which in technical medico-Australian parlance is deemed a “stuffed up back”. unfort even the enthusiastic attention of Usyd’s finest physio could not produce a quick turnaround and thus iam condemned to a period of what the DLHK’s personal medical assistant boringly, indeed pedantically referred to as “rest”. even more unfort. this means d) that all hopes of the Mighty Romulan cresting the 4 peaks connecting Pau to Bagnere de Luchon on the Etape du Tour are out the window. the summit of my ambition is to stay sober long enough to see ER heroes, BT and Phantom, make it to the end. DLHK being of Irish origin and having Madame O’Phantom for company for Bastille Day, the challenge is will be every bit as demanding as staying awake in “Senior Executive Group” or, indeed making it over the 4 dread cols themselves.
Have a great one all – looking forward to joining the very back of the peloton carrying the lantern rouge aloft sometime in June …
DLHK