17.89km / 1:36:26 / 568m / 9.4°C
Out for my daily ride after lunch, it had been really windy down on the beach so I headed inland. Nearly ended in disaster before I’d begun, at the right angle turn at the bottom of our street a woman in a Range Rover came around the corner completely on my side of the road, head turned off to the side, tooting on the horn and waving to her friends in a house nearby and completely ignoring the fact that she nearly put me up and over the bonnet! Just about had to stop and compose myself and honestly thought about turning around and shakily heading back up to the house
Off inland up the Deans Marsh and, yet again, far too many of the passing drivers coming far too close. I really was not enjoying it, finally being passed by two 4WDs in convoy, both towing caravans and both well within a metre and I gave up on the idea of the Lorne - Benwerrin - Erskine falls loop and turned off onto Five Mile track for the “short” return ride to Lorne
Five Mile track is closed for the winter to cars, I think its still open for cyclists and walkers, but its definitely a slippery wet mud soaked adventure. Not at all suitable for the Marathon touring tyres, especially on the chewed up sections that the trail bikes have left! I probably took a few months of life off the brake pads crawling and slithering down the hills and ended up having to walk up a lot of the steeper slipperier patches. Regardless, it was great to be in the forest and the immediacy of it all takes the mind off the bad drivers earlier.
Finally arrived at the crossing of the Little Erskine river and had to tentatively ride through the ford, its only a few centimetres deep, but the rock shelf is slippery and I did NOT want to fall in. Then up the final steep slope to the back of the golf course, rejoin the tar and down into town and home… exhausted and muddy
Overcast clouds, 12°C, Feels like 9°C, Humidity 85%, Wind 4m/s from N - by Klimat.app
Riding 564th day in a row, including my ;
Garmin | Strava | ridewithgps
