Shut up legs

The Dandenong Ranges fog was not quite so nice as the London Fog this morning.

In fact rolling away from Emerald after coffee was steer-wobbling freezing - especially when most of the 6am-ers applied fewer layers of clothing considering the forecast (part of which was for fog!).

About 14 of us were in the group as we cruised by Knox headed to the hills. A small group turned off at Menzies Creek as the main ride headed out for a lap of the old Gembrook racing loop. Others actually put motor-racing before cycling and headed off home early to watch Bathurst.

I needed one of those "Shut up legs!" t-shirts as soon as I hit the first hill this morning. Yes, I'm old, but I still managed to learn a few things about my body this morning. The main point being that a heavy week on the mountain bike, especially a hard-tail, can have significant effects on your ability to complete a hard weekend road ride. Leg fatigue had me in the blender from the outset so as much as I still loved the ride, I was in a pretty painful place for most of the day.

Rest, rest, rest is therefore the message. In the lead up to the Warny I know it's incredibly important for me to take it super easy this week. I'm kinda looking forward to that... and I'm actually quite excited about cracking out the FZ1 to get to and from work tomorrow. It needs a bit of a blast.

Despite my obvious suffering (no one could have ignored my whinging), the guys didn't hesitate to leave me sitting on the front.

Illustrated in this photo.

You can see the sympathy on Shawie's face.

That Distorted Road is a ripper and the climb up to Sherbrook is one we should do more often (usually a descent). I'm also looking forward to that Black Bitch Shawie (Aunty Jan and mum just ignore that bit). You Shaw's are the best hidden climb finders in the nongs and I'm sure it'll be a ripper.

I loved the descent of the 1:20 on a nice dry sunny day. It couldn't have gone better tactically for me so a little hit of the pedal had me easily pip Mad Mike at the post for the sprint at the bottom. Ha! I'll help out with the work effort any time but I can be a real prick on that descent.

Another absolutely bloody fantastic 6am-er ride today guys. Such a privilege to ride with you all.

I'm looking forward to all that support we will give each other next Saturday... that's if we actually see each other after the start line!