In Which Andrew Embraces the Wetness

Story suplied by Andrew Dunne after the President exercised common sense and stayed home

I met Paul at Mount Evelyn just before 1:00PM and went to get a coffee @ cogs, wondering who else was going to turn up. Not long before 1:00, Phil H arrived after cycling up from Woori Yallock. It looked like a 3 person start, but Little John arrived just on 1:00. At around 1:05, we left for Wandin, setting a cracking pace. Not long before the rise to Wandin, we slowed a little to keep together and Little John announced that he was pulling the pin on the ride. I couldn’t tell whether it was due to the inclement weather or the astonishing pace we set in the rain. Either way, we pressed on to Woori without incident, the only discussion was whether to get coffee immediately at Milgrove or to include the ‘ascent’ to Warburton before returning to Milgrove.

Upon arrival at Woori Yallock, Phil “retired” to get warm & dry, whilst Paul & I set off after the occupants of some familiar cars as no-one was at waiting at Woori to join the ever diminishing peleton.
We caught the next lot of hardy souls at the car park near the Don Rd intersection. We met Mal (Bolter) , Heather, [Gail,Gayle,Gael ?] who is an acquaintance of Glenda (conspicuously absent), Mandy (a fried of
G????) and another chap whose name began with D (Damien/Daniel?) who knew Mal and was going to ride with us.

Paul (and I) must have been a fearsome sight,dressed in yellow with brown stripes front & rear, as it seemed to put off the rest of the peleton, who slowly disappeared into the distance dehind us. Mal encouraged us to do a bolt to Milgrove….honest!

Milgrove coffee & cakes never tasted so good, especially after rinsing out the trail from your mouth with water from the crusty old bidon. By the time Paul & I were getting cool, the remainder of the group arrived, sheltering under the verandah at TrailBlazers.

The return trip to Mount Evelyn was uneventful, non-stop and _slightly_ damp, spurred on by the though of another hot drink @ Cog Bike Cafe. It must have been a quick trip, since we arrived at Mount Evelyn at 4:10, compared to a “normal” return time between 4:45 and 5:00.

The bikes definitely needed some cleaning after this ride, I have attached a few photos of post ride state. It should be noted that riding the trail in the wet gives you an excuse to clean & maintain your bicycle (or give one of our sponsors more work !) Besides, cleaning your bike allows you to check over the bike to see how things are going. As one of the attached photos shows, I was badly in need of a new rear tyre. To my amazement, I didn’t suffer a p_______ !