The short: 4:01:58 | 91km (the ride itself is 85km, but we rode to the start from our weekend base)
The long: I tagged along with my Mum and a few of her riding buddies for the Bass Coast Challenge, riding to raise awareness about road safety - something that has been close to my heart throughout my career. With recent rostering it felt rather indulgent to have a reasonably weathered Saturday to just ride.
We started out of Inverloch and it wasn't too long before the group split. I was out on my own. After a nice 20km warm up I was climbing "Mt Misery" a 3km climb. 500m to the top we were cheered on by a devil and her cross-dressed Heidi.
I found the second climb of the day to be a touch more brutal, but it was rewarded with gorgeous views of green rolling hill tops and some long descents.
From Wonthaggi back to Inverloch I tacked onto the back of a group. I'm not usually one to do this when riding, given I don't know the quality of rider I'm tacking onto and vice versa but the headwind was brutal and I was feeling less than fresh.
The ride was incredibly well run, plenty of aid stations, stocked well with food (ANZAC biscuits, fruit cake, bananas and oranges) and water (or sports drink) and masses of friendly and supportive volunteers. I'd come back and do this ride in a heartbeat, it's always nice to mix up the scenery and take on a slightly different challenge. It was kind of nice to ride with Mum for a bit, at my own pace for a bit and then regroup. Certainly my longest ride in quite some time and a very satisfying one at that.
Needless to say I slept well that night.
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