Ride report by Lorraine
Pete asked me to wite a post for the main group and, at the risk of being excommunicated, I have rather delayed my humble offering. Lucky for me Nev has written up one already in the comments under Pete’s post. Thanks Nev! So I shall try and keep it brief.
As I had not been on the bike for a couple of weeks I had no itention of fighting for dear life with the fast boys! “Leading” the group is also a bit of a challenge though as I look at the other volunteers… Russell, Nev and Jules and feel my mere 18 months on the bike pales in comparison!
New bike syndrome would have to be calcuted into the mix today with Lisa out for her first excursion on her new Merida AKA “McLovin”! Yes boys… I know you ALL name your bikes too 😉
The lead out with everyone was fairly uneventful except for Lisa dropping her chain near the turn off to Risely Street. Now Pete is often the one to stop and help riders in distress but I reckoned it was my turn to help today… girl power and all that! Without much delay we were soon were going again and with Mike B and Pete’s help joined up again in no time.
I glanced at the fast guys and girls (and those with aspirations apparently greater than their speed) as they turned off and quietly thought to myself that the “more experienced and metally stable and only
slightly slower” group, as Nev so eloquently put it, was definitely the way to go. Even Bec “Hell of a Day” Halliday had joined us… apparently some story about overtraining recently! There was a good mix of old and new faces so it would be interesting to see how we went.
After turning onto Stock Rd, Wally, Paul and Declan decided to do head off and do their own thing. The rest of us headed off at pretty reasonable pace over the rolling hills of Stock Rd and South St and with only a brief regroup manged to keep everyone together. After turning onto Bannister Rd Russell made the wise call to start rolling through. This was definitely going to work better than an intermediate sprint that would splinter us up and make regrouping a necessity… and, of course, our aim was to put as much time between us and the “Mentally Unstable” group! Well, what a well-oiled bunch we were! We rolled through at well over 40k/hr like a bunch of pros. So much so that when we hit Albany Highway we kept it going all the way to the causeway! The scent of coffee in the air urged the sprinters along Riverside Drive. My legs weren’t up to much and I had hopes that I could get sit behind Bec H’s wheel until the end was in sight but she was serious about not going too hard today and so we cruised to the end… not sure who got there first!
There was a
lot of compliments on the pace of our ride and the great team effort we all put in…. So congratulations to all on that!
Be sure to try and make it to the meeting after next Saturday’s ride. The best way to have your needs and concerns met is to get involved and have your say. And let Pete know if you are at all interested in playing any part.