….. posted on behalf of Bruce McCorkill ….Thursday 26th Sept

Only one cyclist brave enough to ride today, (or just mad) Yours truly.
When Nick rang to say the others were going to Picolos for coffee instead, it was so tempting to say yes, but Geraldine had driven out the front gate and was expecting the relief baby sitter mid morning, so it was on the bike and just go.
But as soon as I set off the rain stopped and the sky began to turn blue, as I rode towards Heidelberg, in front the sky was blue but behind there were clouds, so it was a question of beat the rain. Main problem was the wind which threatened to blow me sideways at times and with a head wind had to slow to a snail’s pace.
The Merri Creek had a sign “closed due to flooding” which as a good OMNI cyclist I ignored and scrambled over one nearly flooded bridge but then had to detour around the next as the workers were still there cleaning up. Another spot the track was totally blocked by a fallen tree and had to break off branches to fight my way through. Bike played up and chain came off a few times, played that one big time and another little step in getting the new bike, but when I had a good look at the cogs they were fairly worn down, maybe the bike is now sooner rather than later.
Just as I got to Georgia’ street it started to rain badly, but I was there. Coffee wasn’t as nice as Picolos but was welcome.
What a ride! Hard but still kind of fun
Cheers
bruce.