This weekend is Labour Day Weekend here in Australia, so it is a long weekend.
It's also my birthday weekend (birthday on Tuesday)!!
Yesterday (Friday), Rowan and I drove about 150 km to Lancefield and arrived here in pouring rain. We spent the evening setting up our bicycles and gathering all our wet weather gear together.
Today (Saturday), Rowan and I rode our first 200K brevet since early 2008!! 205 km in total!!
It was a relief to see clear skies when we set off for the Start/Finish area in the morning, but we still carried our wet weather gear with us just in case. At about 6:30 a fairly large assortment of riders gathered for the 7 am start. There were rides of several distances going on ... 100K, 200K, 300K, 400K, and 600K. Rowan and I opted for the 200K.
At 7 am, we all started, and just when I was starting to settle into the ride, about 5 km down the road, I flatted!! The same thing happened on my 100K two weeks ago!! We determined that the problem was not the brand new tire I put on, but rather the rim tape which is old, worn, and out of place. Rowan fixed it as best he could and we fixed the flat and set off again. Fortunately Rowan's fix worked and I did not flat again for the rest of the ride.
Shortly after the flat we rode into an area of heavy, wet fog. We could hardly see, and our glasses kept misting up from the fog. The fog went on for kilometers ... kilometer after kilometer of white.
Finally, about 60 km into the ride, with about 40 km to go to the turn-around, we got out of the fog and into sunshine. Then it started heating up which combined with the humidity made it rather uncomfortable, and we stopped to shed some layers. From there all the way into Bendigo, it was warm and sunny.
Our control in Bendigo was a pleasant little 24-hour store where we had sandwiches and squares, and coke before heading back.
As we were leaving Bendigo, we could see storms forming in the distance ... where we were headed. As we rode, more and more clouds formed above us ... and then it started to rain. But only for 5 or 10 minutes at a time. We would discuss stopping to put on our jackets, and then the rain would stop. Then, all of a sudden it was like we rode into a fridge. One minute the temperature was fairly warm ... the next minute the temperature dropped. And shortly after that we put on the jackets.
It continued to rain on and off all the way back, with several loud rumbles of very close thunder around. We noticed hail heaped up on the side of the road, and found out when we got in that quite a number of the other cyclists had been caught in that hail. And then we found out on the news that Melbourne had a superstorm during the day and was blanketed in hail, some as large as golf balls, and waist-deep flooding in the CBD.
We stopped for a bite to eat in one little town, and when we set off again, I struggled. I felt like a hamster in a wheel ... like I was riding for all I was worth and getting nowhere. But apparently that bit of road is like that. It's a long, long gradual climb, but some of it is a false flat ... it doesn't look like anything, but it is. We had a great run out to Bendigo, but the route there came out of the highlands and into flatlands, and then we had to climb back out again. Fortunately when we finally got to the top, I was able to pick up a bit of speed again.
We rolled in after 11 hours and 48 minutes of cycling ... with 1 hour and 42 minutes before the cut off. I was really pleased with that time!!
And then, we ordered a chicken pizza to eat while watching Australian Rules Football in our room ... and I must say, it is quite the chicken pizza - it's huge and heavily laden with toppings. Mmmmmm!!
So ... what did you do this weekend? Did you get out for a ride? Did you ride your trainer or rollers? Did you go to the gym?