Crazy - Just a little

At Lancefield the You would have to be crazy ride attracted a good number of riders for various distances from 200 to 600k. Ron McInnes was the chief organiser for this ride this year but the usual organiser Andy Moore was there to help out at the start. After being the sole finisher on the 600 last year I thought I might try to keep my current run of 200s going as I feel I am getting a little better with each ride. On leaving Lancefield I tagged on to the back of the fast bunch but after a few k I knew the wise thing was to drop off and ride at my own pace. I settled in to a good rythem and it was with about 70k done that Leigh Paterson, Pepe Ochoa and Gareth Evans caught me and we rode the next 30k into Bendigo together. Just before the stop we passed, in the opposite direction, the quickest riders who were already heading back to Lancefield. Sandwich lunch at a milk bar and I left before the others as I knew I did not have their strength in the hills. They caught up to me after the grinding hills through Metcalfe at about 160k. Leigh and Pepe riding strongly with Gareth working hard to stay on terms. I quickly decided cruise mode was my better option so that meant letting the 3 of them move off ahead. Riding through Kyneton I could see that they had paused to top up their bottles or something as I was only a short distance behind. Gareth must have been taking a slightly longer stop as I could not see him ahead. I continued riding as the finish for me was only about 30k away. I rode into Lancefield just before 2:30 pm. My riding time was 7hrs 8 mins making it one of my quicker 200k rides in a while. The 1672 metres of climbing, the gusty northerly wind and warm afternoon were all aspects that meant I was quite pleased with my effort.