Though the day was cold and overcast, the Wandong Winter Wander, attracted a field of exactly 100 riders on Sunday - one-seventh of the nation's audax riders taking part in the one ride! Such a large turnout shows the strength of the club in Victoria, with 25 starters in the 200km, 12 starters for the 150km, 51 starters in the 100km and 12 starters for the 50km. It marks my ninth audax ride for the year, and the middle of my season. 1,150km down, 1,400km to go. The hard ones are yet to come!
I was happy to finish the 100km in under 5 hours, despite not feeling my best and the rolling hills in the last 30km. Early on, the group I was in came across a rider who'd just been knocked off his bike by another rider, who'd left the scene shortly afterwards. Help was called and he was off to hospital with a broken wrist. Otherwise it was a most pleasant day, grinding the big road bike gears across the undulations south of Seymour. My knees didn't thank me and I spent most of the ride on my own anyhow, so the road bike wasn't that much of an advantage. I suspect I'll be back on the Surly next time, for the benefit of the more comfortable ride and the granny gears on the triple crankset up the big hills. Although I've heard horror stories about it, I might give the Kinglake 100 a look this weekend.
It turns out there's a cult, or at least a mailing list of Surly Long Haul Trucker devotees. I'm waiting for a sunny day to take some photos of mine for the feature spot on the homepage. One of their rides shown above. Such devotion. Thankfully they stop short of giving their bikes names. That would be taking it just a bit too far.
I was happy to finish the 100km in under 5 hours, despite not feeling my best and the rolling hills in the last 30km. Early on, the group I was in came across a rider who'd just been knocked off his bike by another rider, who'd left the scene shortly afterwards. Help was called and he was off to hospital with a broken wrist. Otherwise it was a most pleasant day, grinding the big road bike gears across the undulations south of Seymour. My knees didn't thank me and I spent most of the ride on my own anyhow, so the road bike wasn't that much of an advantage. I suspect I'll be back on the Surly next time, for the benefit of the more comfortable ride and the granny gears on the triple crankset up the big hills. Although I've heard horror stories about it, I might give the Kinglake 100 a look this weekend.
It turns out there's a cult, or at least a mailing list of Surly Long Haul Trucker devotees. I'm waiting for a sunny day to take some photos of mine for the feature spot on the homepage. One of their rides shown above. Such devotion. Thankfully they stop short of giving their bikes names. That would be taking it just a bit too far.
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I can't help laughing regarding your comment about naming bikes going a bit too far. All our bikes are/have been named. Andrew's favourite road bike is named Sally (after Mustang Sally since he believes he goes that fast .... well ... down hill maybe) and my latest road bike is named the Terminator since, within a month of purchase, we were involved in 3 nasty accidents.
It's too much. I know I should have a name for the Surly, but I've owned the road bike - in various forms - for 21 years now and it still doesn't have a name. I've been out with women who named their cars, and yet despite my great affection I can't bring myself to name any of my bikes. It must just be an emotional deficiency on my part. I will work hard to overcome it, I promise.
"The hard ones are yet to come!" I suppose you mean next summer PBP qualifiers!
Ha! Not on your Nelly! OK, maybe, perhaps. I might just ride the qualifiers, just to see. It depends a bit on where I'm living.
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