Ah, summer in Melbourne! Four weeks ago, we almost drowned riding back from Phillip Island and last week we had furnace like conditions. Today had me thinking of a children’s book we used many years ago with references to a “blustery, blustery” day.
It goes very well
About 15 of us assembled at Lilydale and decided to enjoy Melbourne’s surrounds by riding today. The sky looked ominous, but we stayed dry all day. It was pleasantly cool. We also had a great variety of people and bikes with another member going to a lighter bike.
Once greetings were completed, we set off with Samuel doing Tail End Charlie duty again. We started with a simple run out the Warburton Hwy to Wandin and then took to back roads past orchards, assorted farms and some forest around the “back” of the Dandenong Ranges. We missed all the rain, but there was evidence of a severe local storm last night between Cockatoo and Pakenham with lots of loose gravel form gravel side roads and some branches across roads adding to the challenge. I had the rear step out once on gravel and also hit a largish stone or similar which moved the front wheel off line. There were also signs of the recent rains and a fresh smell in the forest. That gave us all plenty to discuss during our cuppa rest break in Garfield.
We then rode south across some flat farmland and the cross winds certainly added some challenges and provided some interesting lean angles on straight roads. Once the farmlands were traversed, we rode some more backroads and enjoyed the varied scenery through places such as Allora and Loch,
diverted past the delightful old Mobil servo at Kongwak and then down to Inverloch where we stopped for lunch after about 180 km. Once lunch was done, we rode the Bunurong Coastal Route
past Cape Patterson to Wonthaggi where we had a brief fuel stop. We then rode back into the hills via Ryanston.
The cross winds were very strong again riding up the Wonthaggi - Loch Road before we turned off down to Kernot.
We finally joined the highway at The Gurdies.
Graham, Vaughan and I continued back into the Dandenong Ranges
on our way and had a final rest stop at Emerald. Thank you to all who came along.
Cheers
John Cook