65.08km / 2:38:08 / 604m / 26.0°C
Out onto the GOR at around 2.20, bumper-to-bumper traffic coming in to town, tail-back all the way to the start of North Lorne. Thankfully not much traffic heading back towards Geelong. I saw a solitary Christmas beetle squashed on the road on the way up Big Hill, but not wanting to stop part way up so no photo.
Kept my eyes open but no others seen all the way to Angelsea. Lots of traffic, lots of noise, decided to go on to Marshall & avoid Gazepore Rd, although Horseshoe Bend Rd to Marshall is just as bad, then when I got to it found it closed! Well, sign said closed but I crossed my fingers & rode up a completely empty road all the way up to the barricaded damaged bridge, went around the barricades on north! A faded chalked IPWR on the road brings back memories of dot-watching back in 2017 and the shock news when Mike Hall was killed, there’s another I see in Lorne, between the pier and the hospital on the way in to town from the south west
Then a second closure for a new housing estate or rail works, again I took a chance & rode up a ’local access only’ road then trough a gap in the fence, 50m of dirt, a second gap, & back over the rail lines to the station! Phew, no back-tracking required.
Got off the train at H’dale thinking I’d maybe have a beer – no such luck, all closed on a Monday – but was called up by a PSO who wanted to chat about gravel bikes! named ‘Adrian’ too! With a Sri Lankan last name, Somaratnam maybe – I remembered it half-way home, but forgot by the time the pen was in my hand. Conversation cut short as I was tired and starting to get shivery with the temperature drop and having sat in slightly damp sweaty gear for the hours in the train
Scattered clouds, 28°C, Feels like 29°C, Humidity 55%, Wind 5m/s from SSW - by Klimat.app
My 1104th day in a row riding a bike; the last 6 days of 2019, my and all of 2021, 2022 and 2023 so far…
Garmin / Strava / ridewithgps
