Ride the Ranges-Euroa

Steve, Alan, Frank and me represented the T de L at this prestigious event today.

Steve came from Echuca but forgot his wallet so couldn't get a caffeine fix-for him that's like riding with a flat tyre-no make that two.

Frank brought Alan and me up from Melb, we arrived in time to get into the milling throng before the starters gun but unfortunately there wasn't time to warm up on the rollers.

But we put all that behind us as we settled into a large peleton motoring along ~35kph.

That was all good until we turned the corner into a savage head wind (~7kph), by this time I was close to the pointy end and the Wattage suddenly jumped from 200 to 300-350, wherupon I beat a very hasty retreat to the rear of the peleton,
or so I hoped but actually ended in no mans land, fortunately 1/2 hr later was rescued by another peleton-I tucked in hard this time.

The lads were waiting for me in Euroa with refreshments, thus ended the first 70k pancake flat section.

The next 60k was the most beautiful scenic ride through the Strathbogie ranges-excellent roads, virtually no traffic, undulating, sometimes a bit lumpy but no long or hard climbs. One of the nicest rides I have seen.

By this time the hard peleton lads were no-where to be seen, Alan and Steve had repaired back to Violet town to find Alan's lost glasses (convenient excuse for more coffees) so Frank and I pressed on into the warm afternoon.

Frank pressed harder so I waved him goodbye as I counted down the meters to the legendary downhill section of the course which is about 5km+ of serious downhill on excellent roads to about 4k out of Euroa.
I couldn't even see a pub in Strathbogie as I looked in vain for the drinks station but that was soon forgotten on the downhill, after that a tail wind time trial road back in to Euroa and we were all through the finish. Our UCI points

-which will be considerable-should enhance the international fame of the T de L.

Weather: superb

Roads: generally very good-excellent

Punctures: nil

Directions and course control: excellent

Distance: 131k
Riding time: ~4'40"

Average speed: 28kph

Summary: strongly to be recommended, a small well run ride through excellent terrain.

rgds Bob