In Which Cheryl Reveals a Secret

With the current poor state of the trail it had been some time since I had ridden the full ride from Mt Evelyn to Warburton. How could I forget the near disaster that almost struck me on the Mt Evelyn climb when my bike sank into a deep bank of soft gravel and left me spawling onto the track in front of an elderly couple ? I won’t even mention my recurring nightmares of being swallowed in quicksand. The only problem is that I have not been getting long enough rides to keep my magnificent physique in top condition.

I had made the decision to tackle the rough section by arriving early at Wandin and then riding back to Mt Evelyn to join any riders starting there. Although the surface was still worse than I would have liked I was relieved to see that it had improved somewhat since my last experience. When I arrived at the top of the hill I noticed Peter and Lex getting ready to leave. I U-turned and headed straight back down again towards Wandin.

By the time I arrived at Woori Yallock we had formed a small peloton. We were joined by Cheryl but all three Johns were still missing. At least Hooters had said he would be starting at Launching Place but the other two Johns were nowhere to be seen.

Eventually the final peloton took shape and we arrived at Warburton in good shape, although a tad slower than usual. We were somewhat surprised to see Bob riding up the Main St to join us. Since he had been telling us for weeks about his imminent return to geriatric racing, we had not expected him to make an appearance.

While we enjoyed our coffee we started to talk about the special club ride to Upper Yarra Dam which is scheduled for next Saturday and also about our plans for the coming long weekend. When we asked Cheryl what she was planning to do, she blythely replied that she was planning to “clean out her drawers”. I immediately suggested that this was “too much information” and tried to change the topic.

After lunch we started the long ride back and again noticed how much colder it always is on the opposite side of the river. We wondered whether the people who live on the cold side of the river actually take holidays on the other side of the river, just so that they can see the sun sometimes.

With daylight savings due to start in two days’ time I think we are all looking forward to being able to ride during the long warm afternoons. In fact we have already planned our first twilight ride for Thursday 2nd December, so I am looking forward to a big turnout for that ride.