There were many happy smiling faces at the car-park morning with discussions focusing on 4 issues:

1. Those recounting stories of the Old Papa’s ride of Boxing Day
2. Those recounting stories of the carnage in the hills on Boxing Day
3. Those showing off their new bike bling (lots of new Garmins)
4. Those who hadn’t ridden for a few days, eaten and drunk too much over the past few days and were quite apprehensive about the 60 km that lay ahead.

The ground rules were set in the de-brief with the emphasis on the “recovery” part of the ride of the ride. Sprint sections and re-group points were de-lineated and soon we were off, with Paul and Jason leading us away. The wind was certainly less damaging then yesterday and down past Curtin the pace was civilized. We had a couple of splits due to lights but once we were altogether heading towards Shelley, and with a tailwind, things began to pick up. I did a head count and there were 48 of us so the group was quite large but manageable.

Onto the Shelley foreshore and Zac picked it up with a few others following. I stayed back to make sure no one was dropped but did enjoy stretching the legs in a little section with Stu, John B and Geoff. There was only a short wait at the end before we went back into cruise mode along Mt Pleasant. We did drop about 4 people hear and they seemed happy to slow down a bit. The rest of the group were very chatty, talking about Christmas day adventures and forthcoming holidays and generally enjoying the stretch down Canning Highway. We split at some lights, but once on Burke Drive, we were all back together.

The Stock Road hill was pretty easy this morning with the tail wind (although there were some complaints!) and before too long the pace increased heading towards the Left Bank. Everyone held lines well through this tricky section with traffic islands and speed humps, with the only drama being a mechanical with Davina. This was sorted out quickly and after a regroup it was time to turn north for the last 25 km into the wind.

The stronger boys did some good turns at the front through North Freo as I sought out Russell, Matt and Shane to sit behind. Cottesloe was very busy and to everyone’s credit we dropped the pace, went single file and stayed out of any trouble. Once off Marine Pde, the group began to splinter a bit and those who’d take short cuts were appearing off the front. Jono and a couple of others missed the right turn at Swanbourne but were soon back with us heading into Claremont.

The last stretch through Dalkeith was a typical push with the wind not causing too many issues. The front group was down to about 15 by this stage and I had enough after the hill in gumnut alley and was soon picked up by the second group. We made our way together passed the Uni and Paul and I did turns on Mounts Bay Rd before being overtaken in the sprint to line. Off then to the Bell Tower to catch up with everyone again, before heading home to collapse in front of the cricket.