SADSAC: Longford - Seaspray 06 April.

Maybe due to the over optimistic weather forecast fifteen riders made the effort to present at the Longford Hall for the run to the ocean. Along with our regular Sadsac and Tramps riders Dale and Rob were there, although this time with their own bikes. We were also treated to our newest members in the form of Kathy and Rob McKimm. Hopefully these are just the first of the riders that Liz has talked into joining our ranks. While uncertain if Rob holds an honorary position with the Sale Saturday ladies ride he has been on a couple of rides with the club in recent times so knew what he was in for. The wet conditions in the lead up to the start had me worried that some of our fair weather riders might pull out but they held their nerve.
The ride itself started with the major effort for the day with the run up the South Gippsland highway. Once clear of the first few kilometres the terrain flattens out and the rest of the run to Stradbroke was much easier.
The turn towards the east did produce a persistent headwind which did spread the group out somewhat. It was along this leg that our first event happened with Dale managing to puncture. As she did not have a spare tube Rob used his 23 mm spare in the somewhat larger tyre. I commented at the time that this was a brave move. The ride progressed well until I was forced to intervene when ride leader Dave tried to cut about 15 km off the route. The members that were still on summer time did not think kindly of my delaying lunch by this action. The outbound leg was always the longer and we finally made Seaspray at around 1 pm.
Due to the steady cool breeze we set up by the shop and fortunately the showers that had caught us on the way out had finished. Some took advantage of our location to warm themselves up with some chips.
As we were about to leave Ken decided his tyre was going down so another replacement was needed. The repair team managed to catch the rest of the group on the climb out of town but Rob and Dale, who had swapped bikes, stopped at the top for some seat height adjustments. As they headed off to pursue the group Rob's previous brave move backfired and the repaired tyre failed. As he was about to put the bike on the trailer I checked and we had a suitable spare tube. So it was the third tyre repair for the day and another chase to regroup at Stradbroke Road. The rest of the ride went swimmingly until on the detour of 3GI hill Dale took a fall as she stopped at the highway intersection. Apart from a twisted brake handle, bike and rider were fit to continue. At the end of the day we had covered some 78 km. Despite this the two new electric bikes, perhaps not their riders, had enough charge to do it again. All things considered a great day out.

The singing barista

We are enjoying ourselves

Middle Road stop

More of the group

New rider Kathy with Gazelle

No worries. It is a borrowed bike.

TRAMPS: Wonthaggi Weekend 29/30 March.

So far this year the weather has been very kind to the Sunday riders. Apart from a couple of Sundays of too much sun the days have all been rather usable. This weekend was the best so far.
The first of the rides on the Saturday out of Wonthaggi was enjoyed by some twenty one riders. The only new face on the ride was Joelle from Yinnar. The route published for the day was rather testing and that must have found it's way to the ride co-ord as the major climb had been omitted and the distance shortened by some fifteen kilometres. These changes did not detract from the ride as the route covered some lovely countryside and a big first day would have put some pressure on Day 2. Some minor changes to the ride format were introduced on this ride, mainly designed to try to keep the group together, in the form of a slightly slower average speed and a stricter 'no passing the leader' rule. From my position they did not seem to impact the ride, but then I was tail end charlie. Our new rider fell foul on an early climb and was given a 'time out'.  All was progressing well until Tony had an equipment failure just short of Kongwak. Those crafty China men at the bike shop had slipped him a dodgy tyre. Luckily Peter had a repair sleeve and we had him back on the bike.
Lunch was in the new shelter shed at Inverloch. After lunch it was off on the scenic coastal run to Cape Paterson. Here afternoon tea (ice creams) was enjoyed by all. The final run to Wonthaggi was rather easy going.
Dinner at the Golf Club was a somewhat relaxed affair. That was until the big reveal of the Peter and Helen nuptials. Ride Director refused requests for a one off ride to Walhalla and requested all non essential personnel to spend that day at home. We all wished them well.
Day two at San Remo saw our numbers increase by five although we had lost our newbie. Ride leader for the day was occasional local Richard. The route was amended for this day as well with the direction changed to anti-clockwise. This gave Richard the opportunity to visit Newhaven and Rhyll (big stingray) on the way to lunch at Cowes. On the run out along the main road some of us chose the bike path. This concrete path (for the most part) made for more relaxed riding, separated from the traffic. Once we turned off to Rhyll we were back on the normal roads. There must have been some rather rough patches as Tim managed to snap his seat post and had to join Vance in the truck. Conditions at the lunch spot were ideal with a lovely view out over the bay. By the time we managed to drag ourselves away the route had lost the leg to the Nobbies. To make up for this Richard showed us the rest of the roads on the island. The final divert took us to a lookout on the western end of the island with a view down to the Nobbies. The end result was that by the time we arrived at the carpark we had covered the planned 61 km. On the return we all took the bike path and the footpath over the bridge. Coffee and fish n'chips finished the day. All gave a big thank you to Helen, Peter, Vance and Jan. A very successful weekend away.

Post route malfunction/leader hiding

Are you doing it right?

New shed just for us

Afternoon tea at the Cape

Lunch at Cowes

Sunday sightseers

Crikey! That is a big fish

A big weekend for the girls

 

SADSAC: Maffra - Glenmaggie Weir 23 March

For the second Sadsac ride in a row I managed to completely misjudge the  likely attendance. My estimate of about six starters turned into twenty-one. Along with a reasonable Sadsac team we had our now usual quartet from Tramps as well as Dale and Rob from Boolarra. Also new to me but not to Sadsacs was David from Stratford along with daughter, Julie. Just to make the ride a bit more novel Rob and Dale brought along their newly acquired tandem.
The day itself was cool and overcast, but this was not so bad as we had a couple of serious climbs on the way to lunch. The group had a rather easy time initially for the first twenty or so kilometres. The last three to lunch were not so easy. The first was the hardest with Rowley Hill testing even the strongest. Once clear there were a few ups and downs to the river before the final run up to the Weir gates. Luckily we had the use of the shelter shed to enjoy each other's company over lunch. One of the young girls on the ride had a birthday. Linden looked all of her claimed twenty one years. The catering officer had provided plenty of cakes and biscuits but we were advised that the two jelly slices she had recently made were for other functions. I guess we will have to just get out more.
Some of the riders mentioned that we had only covered 23 kilometres of the promised 60. As the way back looked about the same distance, I included a dog leg which also contained Stone Hill. The group were so pleased that I had managed to find another hill. The rest of the run back through Lower Newry was not too taxing with mainly a crosswind. The final test over Pine Hill spread the group out again for the last few K's into Maffra. Due to our early arrival we managed to make L attitude for coffee. Despite being well inside the closing time they seemed to be packing up. I am not sure about some of these places.

Rob and Dale on their tandem

The troublemakers from last week

Good to have these two back

The birthday girl and Peter

Lower Newry Road

About to head back

TRAMPS: Maffra - Heyfield 16 March

The weather was kind for the Tramps visit to East Gippsland. Well it was east of the valley at least. A good roll up of twenty riders made the effort to travel to Maffra for the day. The numbers were increased by a reasonable turnout from the Sadsacs. The last time this happened was the club's last but one visit to Maffra.
The back up for the day was a local couple who have tended to frequent both club's rides for some time.
Their suitability to actually ride has been in question of late but we still hope that there will be an improvement and they will join us again on the road.
The route itself was close to ideal with Peter choosing some very good bike roads for the day. The run to lunch was mainly over flat terrain with only a light headwind. We had not gone too far past crossing the river when our first minor incident occurred. In this case it was a front wheel puncture from Sadsac treasurer George. While this was no big deal it did cause another incident when the rest of the group pulled up to wait. Another of the visitors took a tumble when confusion as to whether shoes were clipped or unclipped was resolved in a crashing spectacle. As seems to be the case in recent times age and medication tend to work together to make even minor spills look far worse than they are. The medical team of Jan and Janette did a great job to sort the old farmer out. After that the rest of the run to lunch proceeded smoothly.
The park at Heyfield has had a good deal of work done to it in recent times and while there were already a number of visitors there was still plenty of room for us. The back up team provided us with ample cake and biscuits with even the signature snowballs making an appearance.
The run home was not timed as it was wind assisted. This condition made the couple of hills that were encountered a bit easier to handle. The first hill, Stone Hill, I can still recall from my first encounter that I had with it some years ago. I was expecting a downhill only to see the ground rising before my eyes. For those of you who struggled I can assure you that the other side is an even more serious challenge. After that we had a good run along the flat before Pine Hill and it did have some welcome wind assistance. The weather was looking threatening towards the end and the edge of town regroup had me worried. In the end the weather held till almost the end of the pack up. It was then off to the Red Rose Cafe for a coffee, although Cappuccino machine broken, and maybe some chips to finish off the day. Overall a top day out.

Only skin deep

You can see the river there somewhere

Nice to have lunch by the water

The starwagon is always watching

No football today

On the side

SADSAC: Bob Graham Ride Heyfield 09 March

Well this would have to be one of the best Bob Graham rides ever. By the time we finally left the Wetlands Centre the rider numbers were around 30. Not only did we have a reasonable turnout from the Sadsacs, we had a good number of Tramps, a solid representation of the Straty group plus two of the Graham boys in David and Jim. My prediction for the caterers of a possible twenty starters was well off.

The weather for the day was for fine conditions warming up by lunchtime. Luckily the lifting fog provided some shade for about the first half. By the end though, it was starting to warm. Despite the route allowing for track shortening the only rider not to do the whole distance was Denis, who had ridden over, leaving the ride near Stone Hill to hurry back to yet another ninetieth birthday party.

The group was not your usual Sadsac riders and a number were quite spritely on the hills. We tried to regroup as often as I thought necessary but were spread out after a very short distance. This ride is quite different from our usual ride as the background was to treat it more as a training ride. To this end riders were allowed to travel at their own pace between regroupings. This format works well for those not used to the usual Sadsac pace. The roads are ideal for cycling and the only time we noticed the traffic was on the run along the lake. This was no doubt a result of it being a long weekend.

Riders of note included Mandy who has been through quite a time of late and still has some to go. By the way she rode you would have thought she had just been taking it a bit easy with her training rather than her actual program. Another couple of riders I was not expecting was a new Tramp, Trevor and an old one Jack. One rider I was very pleased to see, as I had not contacted him, was David from the Ride for Sight. Luckily there are others who are better at keeping in touch.

The Lions of Heyfield, led in this instance by Wallaby Bob, did a great job of feeding the masses, especially given my wayward advice.

Once again this ride has exceeded expectations.

Entering Riverview Road

Old Tramps to the fore

Ray leads the gun riders

Pat Heather Peter almost at lunch

Relaxing at lunch

Not these two again!