Wellsford Workout

It was a cooler morning than we had experienced for some time as Steve, Rod, Brett, Tony, Paul and I set out for trek on the Wellsford Forest trails. Steve and Brett had been setting a hot pace from the start being keen to get a good workout with the Otway Odyssey only a month away. After a rest stop I took up second position on the trail behind Steve. I was keeping a close eye on his lines and techniques through the many bermed corners that the Wellsford is known for to try and learn the secret of Steve's flowing style. Just when I thought I had things under control I was brought back to earth with a thud - literally! Maybe it was overconfidence, maybe I picked the wrong line or maybe I was just unlucky but one minute I was following Steve through a left hand turn and the next minute I was sailing through the air thinking here comes the ground. I landed with a thud on my left hand side in a cloud of dust. At first I didnt know what had happened except that it felt like I had ridden into a brick wall. A closer inspection of the track revealed that I had missed the ideal line in the corner and ridden through Steve's dust storm into one of the small stumps that dot the edges of the trail ( well it is a forest after all) This was enough to stop me in my tracks and send me over the bars and through the air to a none too gracious landing. The end result was no breaks, a few small grazes, some sore muscles and a hard slog to complete the ride and get back home.

The rest of the ride featured numerous water crossings, a front wheel wash out and some nice gravel rash on one leg for Rod and a series of punctures for two of the crew. Rod had the first one with half a vampire stake through his tyre (see picture). Paul had the next one and as we went to ride off from fixing that one Rod noticed he had another flat. Paul then battled a slow leak the rest of the ride home and we all battled the headwind which slowed our return trip. We arrived at Spencers later than we expected but with a good workout under our belt and with Steve in time for Yum Cha at 12.

Ride Time 2 hours 50 minutes Distance 52 kms