All quiet up the slopes of Monte Dural as YHC rolled slowly into the Gall Stone Gorge…Perfect conditions for a ride into town, air chilled to perfection, traffic calm, only the odd ute and the ghost of Ernie’s Milkcart making their way through the back blocks. ( All jokes aside once you get out pedalling at that time of day, it is almost a spiritual experience ) ..a balance of breath, effort, working with the landscape, sound of the chain, and wind past the ears…even the ute brigade cannot break through in a fit of smoky rage.
The gorge delivered again as only it can, no matter the temperature going in, climbing out is tropical. Having a new saddle position makes a big difference on the climb, no records broken but some nice new sores developing where the sun don’t shine. Apparently the hip joint and Glutes are the key and I now know where they are…a pain the @r $e.
The bugler was busy last night, keeping the bongo drummer awake..mustering 20 plus on the one true path to call the OFF on the fat of O’barrel.
A staged roll out, thankfully orderly and well managed into the hills of breath. Man Machine interfaces behaving well, banter at half volume, attention to details such as “Car Back” and “Stopping “ being the order of the day. 15 departed Gordon, building to gone 20 by Chatswoo’ and a smart catch by Clive and WBA …Bucky ..where fore art thou…
Only one incident to report…ute ( yeah strange I know ) piled in rudely turning left into Strickland without indicating then barging through again to turn left again without indicating into Chelmsford Ave..missing an accident by a whisker. Rare to see such aggression..but from my vantage point it looked far from unintentional.
Nothing to dwell on though , the pace continued to be at banter speed, which highlights the best reasons to be pedalling in the first place…why would you be on a “silent” train or be jostled on a bus when there are stories to tell and strava segments to attack.
The KOM champ will have to chime in, as YHC was determined to not be up there, seated climbs and listening to planet Bullet…until it was time to lift out of the saddle and raise the heart rate beyond the threshold of pain.
A gentle roll ensued to the B&T , although I did manage to create confusion on the bridge as I chose to use a lay by on the right side of the carriageway short of the road works, it is not really clear where to wait for on coming traffic but as there are bollards everywhere I used what space there was. Derek nearly cleaned up the approaching traffic .
Coffee …well yes, what a turn out , and there were heaps of ERs too.
All set for the return ride, should be another cool one.
Cheers All
BT