Friends

The Mayan Calendar comes to an end on December 21st 2012. Some prophesy this as the end of days; the Bible calls it Armageddon; some as the birth of the Golden Age.

I too have been marking similar auspicious astrological timekeeping. A moment approaches which will create a gaping yawn in the space/time continuum; a tumultuous plunge into the unknown;  a schism of transformation and/or devastation on a scale never before seen or even contemplated by Humankind……… 2 more sleeps………than…………

Bullet gets his license back.

(Please note that Humble Scribe is referring to himself in the 3rd person for the purposes of gravitas.)

To mark the imminent end of the world as we know it, the 6 Riders of the Apocalypse –

• Satnav
• Teflon
• Chippo
• Goose
• Andy Schleck
• Le Bullet

set off in the burning dawn, riding with the ancestral intensity that is their birth right; a pilgrimage following  in the steps of the Odysseus, the Knights Templar, and Cliffie Young……………… the Holy Commute.

Goose tempered the steel of his constitution with a 3 day preparation involving physical self – abuse beyond the tolerances of most men, wining and wassailing himself to the point of collapse, but doing so for the future of our world – thank you Goose.

Teflon showed up twice in one week – proving that lightning does strike twice, moons do turn blue and certain bovine species can grow wings – Teflon, we salute you.

The fear was palpable for Andy Schleck, whose leggings reflected his inner dread by retreating north, revealing ankles with the pallor of one who has stared Destiny in the face  but held firm – Bravo Andy.

Chippo, fearing that his trusty flat bar steed may spook and flee, planned the contingency for the return journey across the River Styx,  through the Gates of Hades on foot – yea, running as Frodo and his trusty manservant Tony “Samwise Gamgee” Rabobbank did across the larva spumed wastelands of Mordor – Gods speed Chippo and Tony.

Satnav took the indigenous approach – smearing his ride in earth and ochre to obscure it from view, thence gliding wraith like southward to Doom or Glory – Hail Satnav.

These 6 Soldiers of Fortune have held true in the aftermath of the Hard Nutters of July, hearts of steel, legs of iron,  minds of porridge.

Brace yourselves, friends, for there is no telling what awaits us. Two more sleeps:

• I hear the Hounds of Destiny baying at the Gates of Oblivion
• I hear the clarion trumpets of the Messengers of the Lord
• I can hear the drums, Fernando.

SHB 6pm, then unleash Hell……

Bullet (Le).

Sydney moved about 400km north this weekend to land in a subtropical zone complete with stinking humidity and oven like conditions overnight. An atmosphere you could cut with an knife this morning, sweat refusing to evaporate leaving a puddle under the bike at all stops looking much like aircon exhaust.

Numbers were down today, could have been weather related or that various vigorous exploits had been undertaken on the weekend, a full report being expected shortly…Chippo from Byron and Drastic on the Highland fling…so where were the other 12 regulars…

I was on Doris’s bequest today due to serious mechanical failure in the TCR which is back in the Hornsby Cycle shop being reassembled after I took it apart on Saturday. The head set bearings had seized up and rusted through, too jammed in I balked at the idea of bashing them out myself, and the frame maker had also added to the issue by ensuring the top bearing cup holder was “carboned in” a lip diameter smaller than the bearing diameter..so into the shop it went..where they found the chain had stretched to beyond replacement size and the cassette needed to be replaced, so in all when I get it back all the drive chain components will have been replaced a couple of times, I don’t seem to be having much luck really considering I have only done about 12000km on that bike. ( Or are my expectations too high )

A gentleman’s pace set no record books alight today, DT managed to swing the KOM by working over an embattled Half Khan, I think we were joined by TFS at that point who had missed the departure by 5 mins and had chased us down. Drastic had taken the highway as he too was a late departure, and had beaten us to the café by a mere 5 minutes, enough to have the tables reserved, which was great because the shock of Friday was still reverberating through the peloton.

Stinking humidity not withstanding, departures as posted last week…anytime you can, but there will be a 6pm bus for those who are keen.

Have a great day all.

BT

There was an eerie mist drifting across the suburbs today, remains discarded from the deluge that drenched your hardy correspondent on the way home last night. El Conjo and I took an early one home in an effort to miss the worst of it but by Naremburn it was clear no escape was available…the bike path in Munro Park proved too slippery for our famous rabbit and he lost the front wheel on a corner by the first tunnel, I was drafting so saw a rabbit in the headlights and did the only thing possible which was to run him over. Luckily only a bit of skin lost and a shiner for yours truly.

The warm northerly made today’s ride in an unseasonably pleasant one, a tad steamy even. meeting at the top of KPR we encountered a finely dressed man carrying a recycled cotton shoulder bag, we pleasantly greeted him which was good because it turned out to be Chippo, which once realised triggered a few witty remarks and mention of a spreadsheet ranking…

B2B peloton arrived at the crack of 6:30, so it was a prompt departure, but by the lights at Commenarra there was a parting of the ways as ERs took off dropping their B2B friends who were fixing a flat.

Browns was dangerously slippery covered as it was with leaves sand and storm water flotsam and jetsam, but all through unscathed. The pace therefrom was never too too fast to slow a continuous banter, so you could hear the ERs approaching although the conversation was clearly too inane to keep Contadore from breaking away to a 100m lead.

Great to see Shorty on the ride, his 220ks from Newcastle have to count for something on the spreadsheet, and he’ll be turning around and heading up the shore again enjoying the day for change instead of finding fault with military equipment.

Cafe Bullet only snared 6 of the 17 or so starters, where there were discussions and votes on the July awards, Drastic will no doubt be announcing the winners in due course.

Rhodes once again conquered Friday underway into a long weekend, it doesn’t get much better than that, except of course for the beers at the Groin tonight after a 5:15 SHB departure…

Have a good one all

BT