day 2: Ocean Grove – Sally’s Place

The Vision Splendid

28^th Dec 2009; 6:40am(start)
71.6km (dist); 4h 24m (saddle time);
16.3 kph (av);
163.4 km (tot)

We left Dave’s place after demonstration of how to harness two golden retrievers to pull scooter. Mal pumps up James tyres. Pulls valve off. James nonplussed. Mal puts his spare on James bike. Mark pumps up Mals tyres. Splits tire wall (find out later).

Dave advises us to take the Thirteenth Beach Road. Favourite of roadies. Cross bridge into Barwon Heads. Words “Go Cadel” still visible on bridge. Tingle along spine. 1 km out of Barwon Heads: trio of riders pass. Cadel Evans at front!

Too quick to get camera out of the back pocket. Couple of minutes later they passed again, overtaking. We rode with World Champion for some (small amount of) time. Highlight of trip. The rest will be embellishment of this one moment. Decide to continue nevertheless.

Regroup at Blackrock Rd. Mal does not appear. Retrace. Find he’s walked 5km with puncture. No spare. Ride to get James spare. Replace tube. Pump doesn’t work. Roadie stops and lends pump. Observe split tire. Continue on soft tire. Roads must have the highest concentration of roadies in Oz. Very assertive, saw one 40+ bunch leaving narrowest gap for car as they crossed highway.

Cape Otway Rd. Moriac (2nd breakfast). Past the limit of lycra tolerance. Bogans reassert. James mooned. Leah & James shot with supersoaker. Lake Murdiboluc for lunch. Wesleydale Station Rd. Forest. Trees.

Leah’s pedal crank falls off her brand new bike. This just does not happen! We’ll be giving you a visit Epic Cycles, Brisbane. Up the Otways. Gravel road. Scott breaks spoke. Soft gravel road. Robert sweeps some with trailer. Finally very bad gravel road. Otway summit, artistic oasis. Far too much natural and person-made beauty.

Malcolm withdraws. Bike is immediately cannabilized. Scott augments his K-Mart special with a working back wheel. James scores second bidon & cage. Food. Beer. Tales of Otway Underbelly. Scott nails John Cooper Clarke’s Monster.

Todays sign: The wise man will ride near sea and glimpse immortality

more pics

day 1 | day 3