And so the road racing season comes to an end

I'd like to be able to say I ended the season on a winning note so I will. I didn't win the race- didn't even come second or third. As a matter of fact I came perilously close to finishing "Stone Motherless Last" as one of my cycling mates says. But I won in the sense that I finished every race I started.

That was my commitment when I decided I would try racing and I held to it. There were a couple of times I thought I just wasn't going to cut it but being a bit of an ornery b*st*rd by times, I managed to stick it through. I finished a few on my own, but I found that when I'm conducting my own personal time trial while the rest of the grade has scampered away, I can come back to some of the joys of cycling. The sounds and smells that are so often missed by those hurtling down the roads at 100 km/hr with the windows rolled up. The sight of red-backed wrens along the roadside or a jabiru flying overhead- cockatoos and parrots squawking in the trees. You tend to miss those things when you're concentrating on the wheel in front of you.....

Contrary to last week's painful episode, today was a walk in the park- a 40km walk at an average of about 37 km/hr mind you- but much more enjoyable over all. And yes I got dropped but not at the turn like Sunday last but much further on. And again it was as I came off the front and just couldn't grab the rear wheel to stay in touch. There was a bit of a surge as I neared the back of the group and the poor old pegs just didn't have another 55 metres @ 45 km/hr to bridge the gap.

Anyway I had a lovely ride back in, picked up a couple of others who had been spit out the back and we kept the peloton in sight but just couldn't make up any ground.

There was an end of season barbecue/party this afternoon hosted by one of our club members and his wife. Lots of fun and laughs and making me look forward to next year already- March seems so far away!! There is always the track season......I don't have a track bike yet!!!!!

And "Thanks Dee" for coming out and supporting me and helping at the races. It'll be great when we're both racing next year, eh??

Ride safe
Cheers
BoaB