A sunny day in Melbourne is one thing. A sunny day in Melbourne, mid-winter AND on a Sunday is a riding oppurtunity not to be missed!

The Peugeot road bike had been dusted off and a mysterious puncture repaired. ‘Mysterious’ because the bike was fine and had been sitting on carpet for months. It wasn’t even due to heat expanding the air in the tube because I’d let most of the air out.. one of those little mysteries, I guess.

Since March, before visiting Europe, I’d not ridden anything except the singlespeed GT. Gears, skinny tyres and dropbars (bars not bears!) were about to become a novelty!

I originally wanted to do the 100k “Springvale Loop” (preparation for an as yet unplanned Melbourne to Mildura “tour”) but I had other stuff I needed to do and didn’t want to spend that much time on the bike. Solution? Climb a nearby hill – the “1 in 20” to be precise.

It was windy but the road bike was obviously a lot more aero than the GT and the gears were fun (yes, I DO remember how to use them!).

The 1:20’s 7k took a slow (not my slowest) 23:50. Numerous muscles, apparently unused on the SS, really let me know they were there – it was a painful return to the climb.

Quite a few other roadies were out and most of them were nodders. Bonus.

The descent was into a reasonable headwind so my max down the tourist road was only just over 60kph.

Sore triceps. Sore knees. Sore back. I think I’ll have to do some more of that – bring on the sun! 🙂

Ride Stats:

Distance: 38k

Total Time: 1hr 35min

“1 in 20”: 23min 50sec

Max Speed: ~61kph (into headwind)