One in the cast of thousands.

19Th October 2007
Another ‘Bay ride down. http://www.bv.com.au/great-rides/20005/
Well, not exactly. Myself along with 2 other mates met up at Kerford Rd & rode out to Portsea @ back – 216kms. We didn’t actually enter the ‘Bay ride as such, we just joined along with the masses & rode together in the spirit of camaraderie that all cyclists share. The 5:30am roll out of Kerford rd anticlockwise down to Sorrento was pretty much when the bulk of the field had set off from the official start @ Alexandra gardens in the city, so we had no end of peletons & groups to latch onto for the tow down the coast. Funny thing was the way it turned out we found ourselves leading a few groups for a majority of the way down.
A warm morning soon changed to a cool southerly with a few drizzling periods as we hit Sorrento for out U-turn back. The cooler southern really didn’t start up until late morning which coincided perfectly for our return run, the wind at our backs.
With so many riders out it was kind of a blessing in disguise. Sure there were some questionable maneuvers which meant riding in groups was a pretty stressful situation, but the volume of riders did allow us to hop from one group to another without spending too much time out on our own.
A stop @ Maccas at Mornington on the return & later a coffee stop At Portabellas @ Kerford rd, I don’t really thing I had the opportunity to shed much weight, blowing at least $50 on food along the way. Still, it’s the way to do it though.
We stopped heaps & didn’t really go-the-rivet on any one stage, so we finished up pretty fresh, probably the freshest I’ve ever felt after 210-odd kms. This with no real training looks like it wasn’t my training regime I had a problem with, but my approach to the ride. The riding time overall (less the periods we stopped) was almost the same as all my other ‘balls to the wall’ efforts in the past. You see, I leant something today, so it wasn’t a complete waste of a day.

Some big races coming up, it’s that time of year for them: The Gravity 12hour & the 24hr @ Forrest. Time to get serious with the time on the bike & watch those chocolate biscuits.