sadsacnews: SADSAC: Buchan Weekend 27/28 October

The conditions were kind to the 30 odd riders for the run to Buchan and back on the weekend.
The forecast tailwind on Saturday arrived on cue and gave the riders an easy run through the hills.
The Sunday conditions were milder than expected and helped those who suffer from overheating.
We had a good spread of riders with a large number of starters from the Bairnsdale area as well as a good roll up from the valley. This in turn helped fill the gaps from our own ranks.
The weekend was also yet another organisational success thanks to the efforts of Shirley and Phillip.
These two have ensured that the whole show goes off smoothly and the riders feel they must be the team's "favoured rider" as in the tour. The Buchan Hotel again provided another high standard meal for the participants.
While there we no significant incidents on the ride, the sight that I encountered on arrival at the backpackers had me somewhat puzzled. The appearance of an upturned bicycle, minus a wheel, is certainly not rare. A group of fellow cyclists looking over the scene is also rather common. The young rider tackling what looked like a puncture repair seemed to me to be encountering, going by her actions, a completely new experience.
The onlookers, from my past experience, tend to offer no end of advice, but this group was somewhat silent. I concluded that either they were being mean to her or they did not know either. I concluded that it was most likely the latter and assisted said rider with the fitting of the tube/ tyre combination. She claimed that in her five years of riding, this was her first puncture, a serious case of lady luck.
Having done my usual of choosing what most would claim to be an inappropriate mount for the ride, I was not surprised to see the Schwinn tandem on the support vehicle after the first leg to Bruthen. Despite my attempts to encourage the stronger riders to ride their "clankers", they still seem to roll up on their TDF replicas.
Once again a rather outstanding weekend.