Ellie & Grace are home.

… from 10 days in Singapore. This trip had been postponed due to Ellie’s broken foot.

We had to take Grace out of school for it, but with a little planning and negotiation with the school there wasn’t too much of a disruption – we hope.

Anyway, all accounts in the car have it as a great success. I’ll find out more tonight. First priority was sleep: we didn’t get home until midnight and we still had work/school in the morning.

Mumballup Run

A great day on the bike. It was a little wet until we reached Serpentine, but after that it was dry. Quite cloudy which helped keep the temperature down in the humidity.

Our ride leader had a little fright. Riding second behind him, I saw Turtle managing a rear wheel lockup in a moment of panic when 3 dogs appeared at the side of the road. Luckily I’d seen them early (‘cos I was riding to the left of the lane and had better vision up the verge).

200 km and we reached Mumballup. It’s really just the pub and a postcode.

image

I had to scarper once I’d had a rest and a drink as I had another 4 hours of riding to do. Most of the others stayed for what I heard was a very nice homemade burger.

The road on the way into Mumballup and the roads west of Boyup Brook were very nice to ride on.

A little gravel in some places but Ok. I did have one moment though: it was mostly 80 zones with lots of twists and turns, & peaks and gullys. A brief lack is attention had me entering a turn a little too “hot”. Luckily there wasn’t anyone else around otherwise it would have been instant crash-test dummy as I crossed to the other side is the road under heavy brakes. A puckering moment.

A quick stop to drop off abandoned Easter chocolates in Busselton and then back home.

Surprisingly, the calluses I’d built on the trip to SA (only 3 weeks ago!) had all gone. After 600+ KMs my bum wanted off.

I’ve done it

I finally arrived at 4:00pm. First thing was a shower. Tonight it’s my own bed and pillow. Yay.

Total distance…. drum roll please…

Before

After

7,551 km.

Will I do it again? Yes. I loved every minute of it. Next year OzSToc will be held in Ballarat – only 600km further than Middleton. Unfortunately I don’t think I’ll have the leave available.