sadsacnews2014: 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.