The alarm and I have finally arrived at a compromise, I set it to go off at a time and it does as it’s told. So 4:30 was announced as 4:30…but YHC was still not amused.
Great darkness…owls hooting….no traffic…all the indications that the rest of the population in Dural had not yet stirred, so it was great time to set out on the second best way.
Heat was still a major factor, steamingly hot, I am sure the temp was somewhere in the mid 20’s but you only felt the humidity when stopped, so with 50 odd kms to the office that was not going to be a problem. A brisk pace set to move swiftly to the bottom of GG, still smarting from being dropped on the weekend I was determined to flog the horses a bit to build up some staying power…but hurtling into the depths of the ravine in full on night with a pair of Ayups vibrating on the handlebars does not encourage one to kick over the pedals to lift the speed into record territory. Arrival was at 5:15 enough time for a quick bite and a drink before Satnav hailed in from the gloom…puncture apparently had slowed him by 5 mins…( he can change the rubber in the dark, and be traveling before the dam thing has finished deflating )
Tapping into the climb, seemed to be a bit faster this morning and then arrival at Bobbo Kalkari by 5:55 meant some time had been trimmed, but being at the Gordon off by 6:32 was confirmation..Strava has a lot to answer for.
The gathering at Gordon was pretty much the full turnout, all that was missing was a brass band to pipe the advance…as it was am FM rolled past on the appointed hour and called it a rolling start …20 odd looking Mamils proceeded to cane the kilometres at a ridiculously
strenuous pace charging the now smooth Werona avenue breaking what I am sure is the 50km limit by some margin.
It was mentioned that this is a special time for ERs…an imminent 3 peaks challenge, training mile tests on Strava,”Pamp your ride” being a slogan we will hear a lot more about…it is hard to not get caught up in all this wild enthusiasm for turning a pedal to the office..but that is the magic of the morning ..turning sedentary old f**ts like myself into a racing greyhound with tickets on himself.
I digress…
KOM was a split affair, the A team ..lead out by Drastic…have yet to report in, the second wave was KOM’d by DT in fine style pulling up the hill at a satisfactory clip, avoiding several bikes, ladies and their dogs, walkers, all the usual mayhem on the SUP…Half podiumed as YHC started getting tunnel vision somewhere up the third blast.
A regroup at the Crows Nest layby…the A team rolling out as the second wave hit the beach…splitting the peloton into groups of 20… ( yeah nearly)
Coffee another triumph for the B&T…Vic had to sit down for a quick rest before filling 20 plus coffee cups, and by the time we had commandeered the outdoor furniture they were nearly all served…round 2 followed after a good half hour of banter…3peaks, Pamp your ride, weekend rides to do, Schleck’s Manly jaunt to work …looking for recruits for the return.
Hard to believe it is only Tuesday…
A normal return run for myself, looking for a 5 bells roll out, Brownies 6pm bus looking to be on schedule…it is always a toss up I know …
Have a great day all
BT