6am – Wake (just) and decide getting the bike ready and riding to Doncaster in under an hour ain’t gonna happen, even with my Superman-like abilities .

9am – Wake (for real this time)

9.50am – Leave, after printing Dutchy’s directions.

10am – Return home, after forgetting Dutchy’s directions.

10.20am – Waved down by PYT (pretty young thing). Supply her with directions to Ringwood and continue on my merry way knowing my good deed for the day is done.

Turn onto Mitcham Rd, spotting Old Warrandyte Road (map reference and possible bunch meeting place?) on the way.

Ride along Doncaster Road reaching High St.. hmm.. where was Manningham Road?

Ride all the way back along Doncaster Rd. (with obligatory high speed ‘Bland Rover’ pass thrown in) and manage to miss Manningham Road again.. maybe I’m looking for the wrong street?

“Shortly after turn east into Tindals Road” didn’t quite work out for me. I’m sure this road isn’t signposted on Springvale Rd. so I went straight passed it. At the end of Springy Road,

after that evil short/sharp hill, I did a U-turn and turned left up the continuation of Old Warrandyte Road. “Tindals Road.” was on a letterbox up here so I guess I’m blind or the road is marked strangely?

The scenery was great out here even though I spent more time looking at the bitumen, gasping for air, than appreciating it!

The roads are nicer than up in the ‘nongs with lots of sealed shoulder to give ‘bail room’ when that P-Plater wants to ‘take you from behind’.

I got as far as “Take next major left which is STILL called Eltham-YarraGlen Road” when I lost the ride’s scent. I’d been huffing and puffing for 3hrs and was dreading the thought of the hilly return, so I decided to turn around and head back over the river before I ran out of juice. It turns out that the return was HEAPS faster than the climb out so I was on the

Ringwood-Warrandyte Road in no time – fun!

Dutch: Are you sure the road isn’t “Wattle Glen Road” rather than Eltham-YarraGlen Road? After the round-a-bout, there was a left turn to Hurstbridge but I’m sure it didn’t have the same name (Wattle Glen Road?).. I continued passed it for a while and gave up at the “Alma Road” bus stop before I saw anything that resembled a “major left”.

With the second sunny Sunday in a row – it was a really good ride – my winter tan is coming on nicely! The rolling hills here are much more fun than a pure climb like I’d do in the ‘nongs and challenging in a different way due to the power on/power off style riding.

I know it was still reasonably hard because I was out of the saddle a fair bit and for a heavy guy like me, that rarely happens! This could also be a lack of fitness or a singlespeed hangup?

I’ll have to try extra hard to make it to the next bunch ride so I can do the rest of it.

Ride Stats:

4hr 5min

No other stats due to *&%*&^ing Polar speed sensor not working