Sydney to Gong Ride

Thursday 2/11/06
Did nothing

Friday 3/11/06
Flew to Grafton for business and pleasure. Met up with my Mum and Vois and Brien. I took the Tullymorgan challenge again and ran down to Lawrence and the Bluff Point Ferry. The return trip was 14k and I felt surprisingly good since I had gorged myself on Brien's stewed Grammar and cream. Ran the first half at 4.8k/min and came home at 4.2km/min. Very pleasant run with light rain and no wind.

Saturday 4/11/06
No exercise. travelled back to Sydney by car with my mum.



Sunday 5/11/06
First time for the Sydney to Gong ride. It was a frightful morning with gale force southerly winds (headwind) and rain. I expected that the ladies would cancel but at 6am I got the sms "We are going for it". So I drove down to St Peters and happened to bump into John A. He started about 7 and I eventually left about 7.30 after entering. Pip, Alison, Monica and Anne were leaving from Heathcote at 8am.
There were a lot of bikes and riders of all different abilities and types crammed into one lane. The wind wasn't too bad in the suburbs but it was brutal in the open. This created a few collisions. I rode off the course in places and went up parallel roads just to get away from the crowds. Finally the stream thinned out after Sutherland but then at Heathcote we joined the 56k group and it was worse than ever. I made a stop at Waterfall to put some more air in the back tyre. Then I had a 15 minute wait until we were allowed to ride into National park. Thru National Park was pleasant and because we had both lanes there was no congestion. We were again stopped at the top of Stanwell Park and then it was back to one lane with a lot of tired riders making unpredictable moves. After Thirroul the course followed the coastal bike track which was very exposed to the wind, but did have spectacular views. About this time I caught Monica and Alison, and I developed a bad back pain. I slowed quite a bit in the last 7 kms and finally came in at about 11.15.
After everyone arrived we moved up to a cafe and had a leisurely lunch. During lunch John announced that he was catching a flight to London at 5pm. It was 1.30 and we were in Wollongong. He certainly is cool, he hadn't even packed.
We all caught the train north. The trains were well organised and it was a trouble free trip. The ladies got off at Heathcote and John and I arrived at St Peters at 4.05pm. He had 55 mins to get to Maroubra, pack, get to Mascot and board the flight.
In summary the ride is a good day out so long as you are happy to go with the flow.