1. Norm – 664km
2. HY – 651km
3. Keith – 277km
4. HP – 241km
5. Tuong – 53km

Congrats, Norm. His first YJOM. It was a hard-won battle too. HY was just back from holidays and was determined to get some mileage under his belt. But it was no match for Norm, who had a couple of Tours to really boost his mileage. Not to mention all the distance training in preparation for these rides too.

It was good to see HP and Tuong getting in on the action too. I was taking a break in the 2nd half of the month. I just needed a short break from cycling. I’ve been doing early morning rides consistently for almost a year now, and I was just getting a bit mentally fatigued.

“The Hell of the Northcote”

Keith – 608km
Norm – 403km
HY – 35km

Not much happened this month. The Hs were off in Malaysia, so not much riding for them. Norm and I had a bit of a duel for a while, although I managed to overtake towards the end. I had my big Great Ocean Rd ride and Norm went skiing in France. Although, I know which one I’d prefer to be doing.

I’m gonna count this as a YPR ride, even though it was just Al and I, since there’s been a lack of YPR rides lately.

This turned out to be an awesome ride. The weather was perfect and everything just went smoothly. There was about 10 of us in the group. It was mainly a bunch of guys who work at NAB, Alan and I. Morning was a bit chilly but we warmed up pretty quickly on the slight climb out of Torquay. The conditions turned out just beautiful – not a cloud in sight, hardly a breeze and temps of mid-20s the whole day.

Riding to Dean’s Marsh was pretty uneventful. Field was still quite dense at this stage, so lots of large peletons forming. I basically just sat in the middle and slacked off. We stopped at the refreshment point At Dean’s Marsh. It was quite well organised. There were large vats of electrolyte drinks or spring water to refill your bottle, and big tubs of snakes for some quick energy.

On the climb out of Dean’s Marsh, I deliberately tried to restrain myself from climbing too fast. Last time, Norm and I were battling it out for KoM, and I suffered for it, with pretty bad cramps on the return home. So this time, I climbed at a conservative pace. I climbed just fast enough to keep the leaders of our group within visual range. I managed to catch them on the descent anyway. It was much more enjoyable climbing it this way. I could actually enjoy the scenery and atmosphere. Once again, the two Devils were there to motivate everyone.

I loved the descent. It was fast but with no real sharp turns. Just nice sweeping corners that didn’t require braking. For the amount of climbing, we were really getting our value for altitude – the descent seemed to last ages.

We stopped off in Lorne for lunch. I had a meat pie with Coke. Not a good choice. The meal felt heavy in my stomach for the first half the Great Ocean Rd. Despite this, the return leg along the Great Ocean Rd was spectacular. Not a cloud in sight. I could see for miles. Latched onto a nice fast bunch, and got a great tow to Anglesea at about 40-45km/hr.

Last regroup at Anglesea. Took about 15min for the rest of the group to arrive, but didn’t see Al. We headed off anyway, for the last section back to Torquay. The group broke up again, but I managed to finish with the leading group of 4 riders, at about 2.30pm.

A great ride, despite a poor TYP turnout. And also, missing the shenanigans of TYP members from previous years.

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/lh/photo/OtMeyGqCyZ1M9QqzuA2ZjA?feat=directlink

(I don’t know why Al is wearing arm and leg warmers in 26deg weather)