Longford - Seaspray 29 April

The weather was fine but cool for the 18 riders that headed off from Longford on Sunday.
The fifteen minutes of climbing predicted was pretty close but this was followed by a comfortable run down to Stradbroke. Once the turn was made to the east a welcome tailwind made for easy cruising to the Middle Road. The rest of the leg down Middle Road and Owens lane was uneventful apart from Alistair's Chain problems and a chance meeting with our long lost riding partner, Reg. We eventually made our way to the Mouth of Merrimans Creek for the lunch stop (somewhat late for some although still only 12:30). The four sided shelter shed gave us options of sun or views with many opting for the warmth, it was a bit chilly.
After a comfortable break with plenty of good company and ample delicious cakes we managed to remount our bikes for the relatively short (30K) run back to Longford. We received a pleasant surprise with the completion of the widening of the northern 9Km of Middle/Giffard Road. It has taken almost 12 months but was worth the wait. As it turned out we encountered very little, in places no traffic, on some of these roads.
The final run down 3GI hill is always a good way to end a ride.
We trialed a slightly more relaxed pace for the ride after some comments received relating to recent rides. It did not appear to lengthen the ride significantly as we managed to complete our longest ride for the year by 3:30. It is really only sticking to our published pace of 20-22 Kph. We ended up averaging 19.

nervous passenger?

Oh I do like to be beside...

escape from the breeze