The Great Southern Randonnee occupied much of my 4 week vacation from October through to mid November. Although riding the volunteers ride and volunteering on the main ride only occupied the first two weeks and much of the remaining two weeks were dominated by a severe virus. Body defences were probably lowered by ride and lack of adequate recovery and shortage of sleep.
This has meant that I have not achieved a quick early season start to logging the kilometres for the 2012/13 Audax season.
I missed riding the Cafe au Lait 600 at Wangaratta but finally got going on the seventeenth with the Bellarine 200. I had a good ride with Geoff, Sarah and Ken around the Bellarine Peninsula. A 100k permanent the following Saturday was followed with the 200k Eureka Dales permanent on the Sunday. So the November total of 500k was a modest but steady start to the year.
Geoff, Sarah and Ken take a break
Eureka
December started with the old favorite Jump the Gun from Maryborough in Central Victoria. Warmish conditions greeted riders for the 600k on the Saturday but Sunday was cooler if not a little windier. Jimmy Chant, Tim Taylor, Joel Nicholson and myself completed the 600 while Tavis Baker unfortunately had to pull out with illness. It was the usual great weekend with riders undertaking distances from 100 to 600k.
Heading for Moonambel 460k down
