Two options for this morning; I can stay in bed, get up at a reasonable hour and then have a leisurely bacon and eggs, or I can get up far too early, fumble my way into my bike gear and go out to join some friends for a ride up to Kinglake and back. Sure enough, I’ve picked the riding option — about time I got my lazy self out and rode up a few hills…
First surprise, sometime between getting home last Sunday and this morning Norky bike’s front tyre has gone flat — I guess I picked up some glass. Quick change of plan and the road bike — desperately in need of a clean and some lubrication — goes into the back of the car and I head off to meet the others in Alfington.
Eight o’clock rolls around, as can be expected the three of us turned up in the opposite order to our distance from the start. I arrived first, Evan ten minutes later then Kelvin, who only had to ride a block or two from home, was quarter of an hour late. Then off for a tour of the suburbs on a twisty route that they seem to use on a Thursday evening, before we were out of the suburbs and heading towards the hills.
It is definitely a long time since I last went on this sort of ride! Heading up the lst long climb towards Kinglake I was left well behind, dropping down through my gears and winding up through the forest trying to simply get there in one piece!
